
        
        
            
                
                
                    df = pd.DataFrame({"A":pd.to_datetime(["2020/12/25","2020/12/26","2020/12/24"]),"B":["a","b","c"]})
df
                
            
               A           B
0  2020-12-25  a
1  2020-12-26  b
2  2020-12-24  c

Here, column A is of type datetime64.

To sort by dates in column A:


        
        
            
                
                
                    df.sort_values(by="A")
                
            
               A           B
2  2020-12-24  c
0  2020-12-25  a
1  2020-12-26  b

Note the following:

a new DataFrame is returned and so the original df is kept intact. To directly modify df, set inplace=True.
by default, ascending=True.

Case when column is date string

You must first convert the date strings to datetime64 using Pandas' to_datetime(~) method:


        
        
            
                
                
                    df = pd.DataFrame({"A":["2020/12/25","2020/12/26","2020/12/24"],"B":["a","b","c"]})
df["A"] = pd.to_datetime(df["A"])
df
                
            
               A           B
0  2020-12-25  a
1  2020-12-26  b
2  2020-12-24  c

Sorting by date index

Consider the following DataFrame with a DatetimeIndex:


        
        
            
                
                
                    df = pd.DataFrame({"A":["a","b","c"]}, index=pd.to_datetime(["2020/12/25","2020/12/26","2020/12/24"]))
df
                
            
                        A
2020-12-25  a
2020-12-26  b
2020-12-24  c

To sort by dates in the index, use sort_index():


        
        
            
                
                
                    df.sort_index()
                
            
                        A
2020-12-24  c
2020-12-25  a
2020-12-26  b