Efficient method to calculate the rank vector of a list in Python

Question

I\'m looking for an efficient way to calculate the rank vector of a list in Python, similar to R\'s rank function. In a simple list with no ties between the ele

Answer 1

Using scipy, the function you are looking for is scipy.stats.rankdata :

In [13]: import scipy.stats as ss
In [19]: ss.rankdata([3, 1, 4, 15, 92])
Out[19]: array([ 2.,  1.,  3.,  4.,  5.])

In [20]: ss.rankdata([1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5])
Out[20]: array([ 1.,  2.,  4.,  4.,  4.,  6.,  7.])

The ranks start at 1, rather than 0 (as in your example), but then again, that's the way R's rank function works as well.

Here is a pure-python equivalent of scipy's rankdata function:

def rank_simple(vector):
    return sorted(range(len(vector)), key=vector.__getitem__)

def rankdata(a):
    n = len(a)
    ivec=rank_simple(a)
    svec=[a[rank] for rank in ivec]
    sumranks = 0
    dupcount = 0
    newarray = [0]*n
    for i in xrange(n):
        sumranks += i
        dupcount += 1
        if i==n-1 or svec[i] != svec[i+1]:
            averank = sumranks / float(dupcount) + 1
            for j in xrange(i-dupcount+1,i+1):
                newarray[ivec[j]] = averank
            sumranks = 0
            dupcount = 0
    return newarray

print(rankdata([3, 1, 4, 15, 92]))
# [2.0, 1.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0]
print(rankdata([1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5]))
# [1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 4.0, 4.0, 6.0, 7.0]