Sorting

Since data in CAS can be spread across many machines and may even be redistributed depending on events that occur, the data is not stored in an ordered form. In general, when using statistical actions, this doesn’t make much difference since the CAS actions doing the work will handle the data regardless of the order that it is in. However, when you are bringing a table of data back to the client from CAS using the fetch action, you may want to have it come back in a sorted form.

In [1]: conn = swat.CAS(host, port, username, password)

In [2]: tbl = conn.read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/'
   ...:                     'sassoftware/sas-viya-programming/master/data/cars.csv')
   ...: 

Note: Cloud Analytic Services made the uploaded file available as table TMPC3F30S9L in caslib CASUSER(castest).
Note: The table TMPC3F30S9L has been created in caslib CASUSER(castest) from binary data uploaded to Cloud Analytic Services. In [3]: tbl.fetch(to=5) Out[3]: [Fetch] Selected Rows from Table TMPC3F30S9L Make Model Type Origin DriveTrain MSRP Invoice EngineSize Cylinders Horsepower MPG_City MPG_Highway Weight Wheelbase Length 0 Acura MDX SUV Asia All 36945.0 33337.0 3.5 6.0 265.0 17.0 23.0 4451.0 106.0 189.0 1 Acura RSX Type S 2dr Sedan Asia Front 23820.0 21761.0 2.0 4.0 200.0 24.0 31.0 2778.0 101.0 172.0 2 Acura TSX 4dr Sedan Asia Front 26990.0 24647.0 2.4 4.0 200.0 22.0 29.0 3230.0 105.0 183.0 3 Acura TL 4dr Sedan Asia Front 33195.0 30299.0 3.2 6.0 270.0 20.0 28.0 3575.0 108.0 186.0 4 Acura 3.5 RL 4dr Sedan Asia Front 43755.0 39014.0 3.5 6.0 225.0 18.0 24.0 3880.0 115.0 197.0 + Elapsed: 0.00781s, user: 0.006s, sys: 0.001s, mem: 2.07mb In [4]: tbl.fetch(to=5, sortby=['MSRP']) Out[4]: [Fetch] Selected Rows from Table TMPC3F30S9L Make Model Type Origin DriveTrain MSRP Invoice EngineSize Cylinders Horsepower MPG_City MPG_Highway Weight Wheelbase Length 0 Kia Rio 4dr manual Sedan Asia Front 10280.0 9875.0 1.6 4.0 104.0 26.0 33.0 2403.0 95.0 167.0 1 Hyundai Accent 2dr hatch Sedan Asia Front 10539.0 10107.0 1.6 4.0 103.0 29.0 33.0 2255.0 96.0 167.0 2 Toyota Echo 2dr manual Sedan Asia Front 10760.0 10144.0 1.5 4.0 108.0 35.0 43.0 2035.0 93.0 163.0 3 Saturn Ion1 4dr Sedan USA Front 10995.0 10319.0 2.2 4.0 140.0 26.0 35.0 2692.0 103.0 185.0 4 Kia Rio 4dr auto Sedan Asia Front 11155.0 10705.0 1.6 4.0 104.0 25.0 32.0 2458.0 95.0 167.0 + Elapsed: 0.0124s, user: 0.01s, sys: 0.002s, mem: 5.61mb

Of course, it is possible to set the direction of the sorting as well.

In [5]: tbl.fetch(to=5, sortby=[{'name':'MSRP', 'order':'descending'}])
Out[5]: 
[Fetch]

 Selected Rows from Table TMPC3F30S9L
 
             Make                  Model    Type  Origin DriveTrain      MSRP   Invoice  EngineSize  Cylinders  Horsepower  MPG_City  MPG_Highway  Weight  Wheelbase  Length
 0        Porsche            911 GT2 2dr  Sports  Europe       Rear  192465.0  173560.0         3.6        6.0       477.0      17.0         24.0  3131.0       93.0   175.0
 1  Mercedes-Benz              CL600 2dr   Sedan  Europe       Rear  128420.0  119600.0         5.5       12.0       493.0      13.0         19.0  4473.0      114.0   196.0
 2  Mercedes-Benz  SL600 convertible 2dr  Sports  Europe       Rear  126670.0  117854.0         5.5       12.0       493.0      13.0         19.0  4429.0      101.0   179.0
 3  Mercedes-Benz           SL55 AMG 2dr  Sports  Europe       Rear  121770.0  113388.0         5.5        8.0       493.0      14.0         21.0  4235.0      101.0   179.0
 4  Mercedes-Benz              CL500 2dr   Sedan  Europe       Rear   94820.0   88324.0         5.0        8.0       302.0      16.0         24.0  4085.0      114.0   196.0

+ Elapsed: 0.0122s, user: 0.011s, sys: 0.001s, mem: 5.61mb

If you are using the pandas.DataFrame style API for CASTable, you can also use the sort_values() method on CASTable objects.

In [6]: sorttbl = tbl.sort_values(['MSRP'])

In [7]: sorttbl.head()
Out[7]: 
Selected Rows from Table TMPC3F30S9L

      Make             Model   Type Origin DriveTrain     MSRP  Invoice  EngineSize  Cylinders  Horsepower  MPG_City  MPG_Highway  Weight  Wheelbase  Length
0      Kia    Rio 4dr manual  Sedan   Asia      Front  10280.0   9875.0         1.6        4.0       104.0      26.0         33.0  2403.0       95.0   167.0
1  Hyundai  Accent 2dr hatch  Sedan   Asia      Front  10539.0  10107.0         1.6        4.0       103.0      29.0         33.0  2255.0       96.0   167.0
2   Toyota   Echo 2dr manual  Sedan   Asia      Front  10760.0  10144.0         1.5        4.0       108.0      35.0         43.0  2035.0       93.0   163.0
3   Saturn          Ion1 4dr  Sedan    USA      Front  10995.0  10319.0         2.2        4.0       140.0      26.0         35.0  2692.0      103.0   185.0
4      Kia      Rio 4dr auto  Sedan   Asia      Front  11155.0  10705.0         1.6        4.0       104.0      25.0         32.0  2458.0       95.0   167.0

In [8]: sorttbl = tbl.sort_values(['MSRP'], ascending=False)

In [9]: sorttbl.head()
Out[9]: 
Selected Rows from Table TMPC3F30S9L

            Make                  Model    Type  Origin DriveTrain      MSRP   Invoice  EngineSize  Cylinders  Horsepower  MPG_City  MPG_Highway  Weight  Wheelbase  Length
0        Porsche            911 GT2 2dr  Sports  Europe       Rear  192465.0  173560.0         3.6        6.0       477.0      17.0         24.0  3131.0       93.0   175.0
1  Mercedes-Benz              CL600 2dr   Sedan  Europe       Rear  128420.0  119600.0         5.5       12.0       493.0      13.0         19.0  4473.0      114.0   196.0
2  Mercedes-Benz  SL600 convertible 2dr  Sports  Europe       Rear  126670.0  117854.0         5.5       12.0       493.0      13.0         19.0  4429.0      101.0   179.0
3  Mercedes-Benz           SL55 AMG 2dr  Sports  Europe       Rear  121770.0  113388.0         5.5        8.0       493.0      14.0         21.0  4235.0      101.0   179.0
4  Mercedes-Benz              CL500 2dr   Sedan  Europe       Rear   94820.0   88324.0         5.0        8.0       302.0      16.0         24.0  4085.0      114.0   196.0

As previously mentioned, this doesn’t affect anything in the table on the CAS server itself, it merely stores away the sort keys and applies them when data is fetched (either through fetch directly, or any method that calls fetch in the background).