ENH, closes #773 PR, deprecating column for columns

Author: adamklein

pandas/core/frame.py

@@ -2159,7 +2159,7 @@ def duplicated(self, cols=None, take_last=False):
     #----------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Sorting
 
-    def sort(self, columns=None, axis=0, ascending=True):
+    def sort(self, columns=None, column=None, axis=0, ascending=True):
         """
         Sort DataFrame either by labels (along either axis) or by the values in
         column(s)
@@ -2178,6 +2178,10 @@ def sort(self, columns=None, axis=0, ascending=True):
         -------
         sorted : DataFrame
         """
+        if column is not None:
+            import warnings
+            warnings.warn("column is deprecated, use columns", FutureWarning)
+            columns = column
         return self.sort_index(by=columns, axis=axis, ascending=ascending)
 
     def sort_index(self, axis=0, by=None, ascending=True):

pandas/tests/test_frame.py

@@ -3553,14 +3553,18 @@ def test_sort_index(self):
         assert_frame_equal(sorted_df, expected)
 
         # check for now
-        sorted_df = frame.sort(column='A')
+        sorted_df = frame.sort(columns='A')
         expected = frame.sort_index(by='A')
         assert_frame_equal(sorted_df, expected)
 
-        sorted_df = frame.sort(column='A', ascending=False)
+        sorted_df = frame.sort(columns='A', ascending=False)
         expected = frame.sort_index(by='A', ascending=False)
         assert_frame_equal(sorted_df, expected)
 
+        sorted_df = frame.sort(columns=['A', 'B'], ascending=False)
+        expected = frame.sort_index(by=['A', 'B'], ascending=False)
+        assert_frame_equal(sorted_df, expected)
+
     def test_sort_index_multicolumn(self):
         import random
         A = np.arange(5).repeat(20)