[Numpy-discussion] 1D array sorting ascending and descending by fields

[Benjamin Root]

On Monday, June 4, 2012, Chris Barker wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Patrick Redmond <plredmond at gmail.com<javascript:;>>
> wrote:
> > Here's how I sorted primarily by field 'a' descending and secondarily by
> > field 'b' ascending:
>
> could you multiply the numeric field by -1, sort, then put it back --
> somethign like:
>
> data *- -1
> data_sorted = np.sort(data, order=['a','b'])
> data_sorted *= -1
>
> (reverse if necessary -- I lost track...)
>
> -Chris



While that may work for this users case, that would not work for all
dtypes. Some, such as timedelta, datetime and strings would not be able to
be multiplied by a number.

Would be an interesting feature to add, but I am not certain if the
negative sign notation would be best. Is it possible for a named field to
start with a negative sign?

Ben Root
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