How to Sort by Columns using dplyr Arrange in R
06.02.2021
Intro
Sorting data by columns is a common task in data wrangling. The
Tidyverse includes a useful method arrange in the dplyr package that
makes sorting simple. There is support for sorting by multiple columns,
which is often complicated in default sorting functions. In this
article, we will learn how to sort using arrange in R.
If you are in a Hurry
If you don’t want to read the explanation here is the code. Read on for more details.
library(tidyverse)## -- Attaching packages --------------------------------------- tidyverse 1.3.1 --
## v ggplot2 3.3.3 v purrr 0.3.4
## v tibble 3.1.0 v dplyr 1.0.5
## v tidyr 1.1.3 v stringr 1.4.0
## v readr 1.4.0 v forcats 0.5.1
## -- Conflicts ------------------------------------------ tidyverse_conflicts() --
## x dplyr::filter() masks stats::filter()
## x dplyr::lag() masks stats::lag()res = mtcars %>% arrange(mpg)
res## mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
## Cadillac Fleetwood 10.4 8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98 0 0 3 4
## Lincoln Continental 10.4 8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82 0 0 3 4
## Camaro Z28 13.3 8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41 0 0 3 4
## Duster 360 14.3 8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84 0 0 3 4
## Chrysler Imperial 14.7 8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42 0 0 3 4
## Maserati Bora 15.0 8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60 0 1 5 8
## Merc 450SLC 15.2 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00 0 0 3 3
## AMC Javelin 15.2 8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30 0 0 3 2
## Dodge Challenger 15.5 8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87 0 0 3 2
## Ford Pantera L 15.8 8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50 0 1 5 4
## Merc 450SE 16.4 8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SL 17.3 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60 0 0 3 3
## Merc 280C 17.8 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90 1 0 4 4
## Valiant 18.1 6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1
## Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
## Merc 280 19.2 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30 1 0 4 4
## Pontiac Firebird 19.2 8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05 0 0 3 2
## Ferrari Dino 19.7 6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50 0 1 5 6
## Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
## Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
## Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
## Volvo 142E 21.4 4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60 1 1 4 2
## Toyota Corona 21.5 4 120.1 97 3.70 2.465 20.01 1 0 3 1
## Datsun 710 22.8 4 108.0 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
## Merc 230 22.8 4 140.8 95 3.92 3.150 22.90 1 0 4 2
## Merc 240D 24.4 4 146.7 62 3.69 3.190 20.00 1 0 4 2
## Porsche 914-2 26.0 4 120.3 91 4.43 2.140 16.70 0 1 5 2
## Fiat X1-9 27.3 4 79.0 66 4.08 1.935 18.90 1 1 4 1
## Honda Civic 30.4 4 75.7 52 4.93 1.615 18.52 1 1 4 2
## Lotus Europa 30.4 4 95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90 1 1 5 2
## Fiat 128 32.4 4 78.7 66 4.08 2.200 19.47 1 1 4 1
## Toyota Corolla 33.9 4 71.1 65 4.22 1.835 19.90 1 1 4 1Loading the library
To use the dplyr library we can either load the dplyr library
library(dplyr) or we can load the full tidyverse library. We will use
the full suit of tidyverse as we will want some other features.
library(tidyverse)Loading the data
For our data set, we will use the mtcars that comes with tidyverse.
data(mtcars)
str(mtcars)## 'data.frame': 32 obs. of 11 variables:
## $ mpg : num 21 21 22.8 21.4 18.7 18.1 14.3 24.4 22.8 19.2 ...
## $ cyl : num 6 6 4 6 8 6 8 4 4 6 ...
## $ disp: num 160 160 108 258 360 ...
## $ hp : num 110 110 93 110 175 105 245 62 95 123 ...
## $ drat: num 3.9 3.9 3.85 3.08 3.15 2.76 3.21 3.69 3.92 3.92 ...
## $ wt : num 2.62 2.88 2.32 3.21 3.44 ...
## $ qsec: num 16.5 17 18.6 19.4 17 ...
## $ vs : num 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 ...
## $ am : num 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ...
## $ gear: num 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 ...
## $ carb: num 4 4 1 1 2 1 4 2 2 4 ...By One Column
The first task we are going to perform is to sort by one column. We can
do this by passing the dataset and the column we want to sort by to the
arrange column. Below, is an example of sorting by the mpg column.
res = arrange(mtcars, mpg)
res## mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
## Cadillac Fleetwood 10.4 8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98 0 0 3 4
## Lincoln Continental 10.4 8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82 0 0 3 4
## Camaro Z28 13.3 8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41 0 0 3 4
## Duster 360 14.3 8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84 0 0 3 4
## Chrysler Imperial 14.7 8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42 0 0 3 4
## Maserati Bora 15.0 8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60 0 1 5 8
## Merc 450SLC 15.2 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00 0 0 3 3
## AMC Javelin 15.2 8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30 0 0 3 2
## Dodge Challenger 15.5 8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87 0 0 3 2
## Ford Pantera L 15.8 8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50 0 1 5 4
## Merc 450SE 16.4 8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SL 17.3 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60 0 0 3 3
## Merc 280C 17.8 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90 1 0 4 4
## Valiant 18.1 6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1
## Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
## Merc 280 19.2 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30 1 0 4 4
## Pontiac Firebird 19.2 8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05 0 0 3 2
## Ferrari Dino 19.7 6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50 0 1 5 6
## Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
## Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
## Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
## Volvo 142E 21.4 4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60 1 1 4 2
## Toyota Corona 21.5 4 120.1 97 3.70 2.465 20.01 1 0 3 1
## Datsun 710 22.8 4 108.0 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
## Merc 230 22.8 4 140.8 95 3.92 3.150 22.90 1 0 4 2
## Merc 240D 24.4 4 146.7 62 3.69 3.190 20.00 1 0 4 2
## Porsche 914-2 26.0 4 120.3 91 4.43 2.140 16.70 0 1 5 2
## Fiat X1-9 27.3 4 79.0 66 4.08 1.935 18.90 1 1 4 1
## Honda Civic 30.4 4 75.7 52 4.93 1.615 18.52 1 1 4 2
## Lotus Europa 30.4 4 95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90 1 1 5 2
## Fiat 128 32.4 4 78.7 66 4.08 2.200 19.47 1 1 4 1
## Toyota Corolla 33.9 4 71.1 65 4.22 1.835 19.90 1 1 4 1Pipe
When using the tidyverse package, you often will use the pipe %<%
operator. This send one result to another. So, instead of passing our
dataset as the first parameter, we can do the following. This is saying,
send the dataset mtcars to the arrange function and sort by mpg.
res = mtcars %>% arrange(mpg)
res## mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
## Cadillac Fleetwood 10.4 8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98 0 0 3 4
## Lincoln Continental 10.4 8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82 0 0 3 4
## Camaro Z28 13.3 8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41 0 0 3 4
## Duster 360 14.3 8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84 0 0 3 4
## Chrysler Imperial 14.7 8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42 0 0 3 4
## Maserati Bora 15.0 8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60 0 1 5 8
## Merc 450SLC 15.2 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00 0 0 3 3
## AMC Javelin 15.2 8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30 0 0 3 2
## Dodge Challenger 15.5 8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87 0 0 3 2
## Ford Pantera L 15.8 8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50 0 1 5 4
## Merc 450SE 16.4 8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SL 17.3 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60 0 0 3 3
## Merc 280C 17.8 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90 1 0 4 4
## Valiant 18.1 6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1
## Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
## Merc 280 19.2 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30 1 0 4 4
## Pontiac Firebird 19.2 8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05 0 0 3 2
## Ferrari Dino 19.7 6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50 0 1 5 6
## Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
## Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
## Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
## Volvo 142E 21.4 4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60 1 1 4 2
## Toyota Corona 21.5 4 120.1 97 3.70 2.465 20.01 1 0 3 1
## Datsun 710 22.8 4 108.0 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
## Merc 230 22.8 4 140.8 95 3.92 3.150 22.90 1 0 4 2
## Merc 240D 24.4 4 146.7 62 3.69 3.190 20.00 1 0 4 2
## Porsche 914-2 26.0 4 120.3 91 4.43 2.140 16.70 0 1 5 2
## Fiat X1-9 27.3 4 79.0 66 4.08 1.935 18.90 1 1 4 1
## Honda Civic 30.4 4 75.7 52 4.93 1.615 18.52 1 1 4 2
## Lotus Europa 30.4 4 95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90 1 1 5 2
## Fiat 128 32.4 4 78.7 66 4.08 2.200 19.47 1 1 4 1
## Toyota Corolla 33.9 4 71.1 65 4.22 1.835 19.90 1 1 4 1Multiple Rows
Sorting by a single column is fine, but often we would like to sort by
multuple columns. We can do this by passing our column names to the
arrange function. We can pass as many columns as we would like. Below
is an example of sorting by mpg and cyl.
res = mtcars %>% arrange(mpg, cyl)
res## mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
## Cadillac Fleetwood 10.4 8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98 0 0 3 4
## Lincoln Continental 10.4 8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82 0 0 3 4
## Camaro Z28 13.3 8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41 0 0 3 4
## Duster 360 14.3 8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84 0 0 3 4
## Chrysler Imperial 14.7 8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42 0 0 3 4
## Maserati Bora 15.0 8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60 0 1 5 8
## Merc 450SLC 15.2 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00 0 0 3 3
## AMC Javelin 15.2 8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30 0 0 3 2
## Dodge Challenger 15.5 8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87 0 0 3 2
## Ford Pantera L 15.8 8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50 0 1 5 4
## Merc 450SE 16.4 8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SL 17.3 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60 0 0 3 3
## Merc 280C 17.8 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90 1 0 4 4
## Valiant 18.1 6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1
## Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
## Merc 280 19.2 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30 1 0 4 4
## Pontiac Firebird 19.2 8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05 0 0 3 2
## Ferrari Dino 19.7 6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50 0 1 5 6
## Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
## Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
## Volvo 142E 21.4 4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60 1 1 4 2
## Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
## Toyota Corona 21.5 4 120.1 97 3.70 2.465 20.01 1 0 3 1
## Datsun 710 22.8 4 108.0 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
## Merc 230 22.8 4 140.8 95 3.92 3.150 22.90 1 0 4 2
## Merc 240D 24.4 4 146.7 62 3.69 3.190 20.00 1 0 4 2
## Porsche 914-2 26.0 4 120.3 91 4.43 2.140 16.70 0 1 5 2
## Fiat X1-9 27.3 4 79.0 66 4.08 1.935 18.90 1 1 4 1
## Honda Civic 30.4 4 75.7 52 4.93 1.615 18.52 1 1 4 2
## Lotus Europa 30.4 4 95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90 1 1 5 2
## Fiat 128 32.4 4 78.7 66 4.08 2.200 19.47 1 1 4 1
## Toyota Corolla 33.9 4 71.1 65 4.22 1.835 19.90 1 1 4 1Descending
By default, we sort in ascending order. If we would like a column to
sort descending, we can wrap it in the desc function call. In this
next example, we sort by cyl again, but reverse the mpg sorting.
res = mtcars %>% arrange(desc(mpg), cyl)
res## mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
## Toyota Corolla 33.9 4 71.1 65 4.22 1.835 19.90 1 1 4 1
## Fiat 128 32.4 4 78.7 66 4.08 2.200 19.47 1 1 4 1
## Honda Civic 30.4 4 75.7 52 4.93 1.615 18.52 1 1 4 2
## Lotus Europa 30.4 4 95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90 1 1 5 2
## Fiat X1-9 27.3 4 79.0 66 4.08 1.935 18.90 1 1 4 1
## Porsche 914-2 26.0 4 120.3 91 4.43 2.140 16.70 0 1 5 2
## Merc 240D 24.4 4 146.7 62 3.69 3.190 20.00 1 0 4 2
## Datsun 710 22.8 4 108.0 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
## Merc 230 22.8 4 140.8 95 3.92 3.150 22.90 1 0 4 2
## Toyota Corona 21.5 4 120.1 97 3.70 2.465 20.01 1 0 3 1
## Volvo 142E 21.4 4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60 1 1 4 2
## Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
## Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
## Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
## Ferrari Dino 19.7 6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50 0 1 5 6
## Merc 280 19.2 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30 1 0 4 4
## Pontiac Firebird 19.2 8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05 0 0 3 2
## Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
## Valiant 18.1 6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1
## Merc 280C 17.8 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90 1 0 4 4
## Merc 450SL 17.3 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SE 16.4 8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40 0 0 3 3
## Ford Pantera L 15.8 8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50 0 1 5 4
## Dodge Challenger 15.5 8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87 0 0 3 2
## Merc 450SLC 15.2 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00 0 0 3 3
## AMC Javelin 15.2 8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30 0 0 3 2
## Maserati Bora 15.0 8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60 0 1 5 8
## Chrysler Imperial 14.7 8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42 0 0 3 4
## Duster 360 14.3 8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84 0 0 3 4
## Camaro Z28 13.3 8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41 0 0 3 4
## Cadillac Fleetwood 10.4 8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98 0 0 3 4
## Lincoln Continental 10.4 8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82 0 0 3 4Extra
As an extended example. We can combine the across and starts_with
method to sort a number of columns. You can also use other select
helpers. In this example, we sort all columns that start with c.
mtcars %>% arrange(across(starts_with("c")))## mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
## Datsun 710 22.8 4 108.0 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
## Fiat 128 32.4 4 78.7 66 4.08 2.200 19.47 1 1 4 1
## Toyota Corolla 33.9 4 71.1 65 4.22 1.835 19.90 1 1 4 1
## Toyota Corona 21.5 4 120.1 97 3.70 2.465 20.01 1 0 3 1
## Fiat X1-9 27.3 4 79.0 66 4.08 1.935 18.90 1 1 4 1
## Merc 240D 24.4 4 146.7 62 3.69 3.190 20.00 1 0 4 2
## Merc 230 22.8 4 140.8 95 3.92 3.150 22.90 1 0 4 2
## Honda Civic 30.4 4 75.7 52 4.93 1.615 18.52 1 1 4 2
## Porsche 914-2 26.0 4 120.3 91 4.43 2.140 16.70 0 1 5 2
## Lotus Europa 30.4 4 95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90 1 1 5 2
## Volvo 142E 21.4 4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60 1 1 4 2
## Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
## Valiant 18.1 6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1
## Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
## Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
## Merc 280 19.2 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30 1 0 4 4
## Merc 280C 17.8 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90 1 0 4 4
## Ferrari Dino 19.7 6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50 0 1 5 6
## Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
## Dodge Challenger 15.5 8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87 0 0 3 2
## AMC Javelin 15.2 8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30 0 0 3 2
## Pontiac Firebird 19.2 8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05 0 0 3 2
## Merc 450SE 16.4 8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SL 17.3 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SLC 15.2 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00 0 0 3 3
## Duster 360 14.3 8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84 0 0 3 4
## Cadillac Fleetwood 10.4 8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98 0 0 3 4
## Lincoln Continental 10.4 8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82 0 0 3 4
## Chrysler Imperial 14.7 8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42 0 0 3 4
## Camaro Z28 13.3 8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41 0 0 3 4
## Ford Pantera L 15.8 8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50 0 1 5 4
## Maserati Bora 15.0 8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60 0 1 5 8