Pandas: Sort a dataframe based on multiple columns - python-3.x

Question

I know that this question has been asked several times. But none of the answers match my case.
I've a pandas dataframe with columns,department and employee_count. I need to sort the employee_count column in descending order. But if there is a tie between 2 employee_counts then they should be sorted alphabetically based on department.
Department Employee_Count
0 abc 10
1 adc 10
2 bca 11
3 cde 9
4 xyz 15
required output:
Department Employee_Count
0 xyz 15
1 bca 11
2 abc 10
3 adc 10
4 cde 9
This is what I've tried.
df = df.sort_values(['Department','Employee_Count'],ascending=[True,False])
But this just sorts the departments alphabetically.
I've also tried to sort by Department first and then by Employee_Count. Like this:
df = df.sort_values(['Department'],ascending=[True])
df = df.sort_values(['Employee_Count'],ascending=[False])
This doesn't give me correct output either:
Department Employee_Count
4 xyz 15
2 bca 11
1 adc 10
0 abc 10
3 cde 9
It gives 'adc' first and then 'abc'.
Kindly help me.

Answer 1

You can swap columns in list and also values in ascending parameter:
Explanation:
Order of columns names is order of sorting, first sort descending by Employee_Count and if some duplicates in Employee_Count then sorting by Department only duplicates rows ascending.
df1 = df.sort_values(['Employee_Count', 'Department'], ascending=[False, True])
print (df1)
Department Employee_Count
4 xyz 15
2 bca 11
0 abc 10 <-
1 adc 10 <-
3 cde 9
Or for test if use second False then duplicated rows are sorting descending:
df2 = df.sort_values(['Employee_Count', 'Department',],ascending=[False, False])
print (df2)
Department Employee_Count
4 xyz 15
2 bca 11
1 adc 10 <-
0 abc 10 <-
3 cde 9