polars.DataFrame.top_k#

DataFrame.top_k(
k: int,
*,
by: IntoExpr | Iterable[IntoExpr],
reverse: bool | Sequence[bool] = False,
) → DataFrame[source]#

Return the k largest rows.

Non-null elements are always preferred over null elements, regardless of the value of reverse. The output is not guaranteed to be in any particular order, call sort() after this function if you wish the output to be sorted.

Parameters:
k

Number of rows to return.

by

Column(s) used to determine the top rows. Accepts expression input. Strings are parsed as column names.

reverse

Consider the k smallest elements of the by column(s) (instead of the k largest). This can be specified per column by passing a sequence of booleans.

See also

bottom_k

Examples

>>> df = pl.DataFrame(
...     {
...         "a": ["a", "b", "a", "b", "b", "c"],
...         "b": [2, 1, 1, 3, 2, 1],
...     }
... )

Get the rows which contain the 4 largest values in column b.

>>> df.top_k(4, by="b")
shape: (4, 2)
┌─────┬─────┐
│ a   ┆ b   │
│ --- ┆ --- │
│ str ┆ i64 │
╞═════╪═════╡
│ b   ┆ 3   │
│ a   ┆ 2   │
│ b   ┆ 2   │
│ b   ┆ 1   │
└─────┴─────┘

Get the rows which contain the 4 largest values when sorting on column b and a.

>>> df.top_k(4, by=["b", "a"])
shape: (4, 2)
┌─────┬─────┐
│ a   ┆ b   │
│ --- ┆ --- │
│ str ┆ i64 │
╞═════╪═════╡
│ b   ┆ 3   │
│ b   ┆ 2   │
│ a   ┆ 2   │
│ c   ┆ 1   │
└─────┴─────┘
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