Scenario

A CSV file contains employee data that needs to be sorted by salary for analysis and reporting purposes.

Task

Complete the Python script at /home/interview/sort_data.py to read /home/interview/data.csv, sort the rows by the salary column in descending order, and save the result to /home/interview/sorted_data.csv.

Example

Input (data.csv):

id,name,department,salary
1,John Doe,Engineering,75000
2,Jane Smith,Sales,95000
3,Bob Johnson,HR,55000

Expected output (sorted_data.csv):

id,name,department,salary
2,Jane Smith,Sales,95000
1,John Doe,Engineering,75000
3,Bob Johnson,HR,55000

Step 1: Examine the input data

head /home/interview/data.csv

Review the structure and identify the salary column that needs to be sorted.

Step 2: Complete the Python script

nano /home/interview/sort_data.py

Complete the script to sort by salary:

import pandas as pd

# Read the CSV file
df = pd.read_csv('/home/interview/data.csv')

# Sort by salary column in descending order
df_sorted = df.sort_values(by='salary', ascending=False)

# Save to new CSV
df_sorted.to_csv('/home/interview/sorted_data.csv', index=False)

print(f"Sorted {len(df_sorted)} records by salary (descending)")

The sort_values() method sorts the DataFrame by the specified column. Setting ascending=False sorts in descending order (highest to lowest).

Step 3: Run the script

python3 /home/interview/sort_data.py

Step 4: Verify the output

head /home/interview/sorted_data.csv

The first rows should show employees with the highest salaries at the top.