# Overview

The **`nsmallest` method** is used to return the first `n` rows in ascending order, with the smallest values in columns. The columns that aren't provided are also returned, but they're not used for sorting.

> **Note:** Refer to "[What is pandas in Python](https://www.educative.io/answers/what-is-pandas-in-python)" to learn more about pandas.

## Syntax


```python
DataFrame.nsmallest(n, columns, keep='first')
```

## Parameters

- `n`: The number of rows to return.
- `columns`: The column label to order by. This parameter can be a list specifying multiple columns.
- `keep`: This parameter says how to handle duplicate values. There are three possible values for this attribute that are as follows:
     
    - `first`: This picks the first occurrences of the duplicates. This is the default value for `keep`.
    - `last`: This picks the last occurrences of the duplicates.
    - `all`: This does not drop any duplicates, even if it involves choosing more than 'n' items. 


## Example 1

import pandas as pd

df= pd.DataFrame({'Name':['Dom', 'Celeste', 'Abhi', 'Gaby', 'Rachel', 'Sam'],'Age':  [20,25,30,18,25,20]})

print("Dataframe---")
print(df)
print("\n")
print("Top 2 youngest people:")
print(df.nsmallest(2,'Age'))

python39

# 
## Explanation

- Line 1: We import the `pandas` module.
- Line 3: We create a pandas DataFrame called `df`.
- Line 6: We print `df`.
- Line 9: We print the top two youngest people using the `nsmallest` method.

The value of the `keep` argument of the `nsmallest` method is by default `first`. Hence, though there were two records with `Age` as `20`, the first occurring record, meaning `0   Dom   20` is taken into consideration.

## Example 2

import pandas as pd

df= pd.DataFrame({'Name':['Dom', 'Celeste', 'Abhi', 'Gaby', 'Rachel', 'Sam'],'Age':  [20,25,30,18,25,20]})

print("Dataframe---")
print(df)
print("\n")
print("Top 2 youngest people:")
print(df.nsmallest(2,'Age', keep='last'))


## Explanation

- Line 1: We import the `pandas` module.
- Line 3: We create a panda DataFrame called `df`.
- Line 6: We print `df`.
- Line 9: We print the top two people in ascending order of the `Age` column using the `nlargest` method with the `keep` value as `last`.

Here, the value of the `keep` argument of the `nlargest` method is `last`. Hence, though there were two records with `Age` as `20`, the last occurring record, meaning `5   Sam   20` is taken into consideration.

pandas.tar.gz

What is the nsmallest method in pandas?

It returns the first n rows in ascending order based on specified columns, handling duplicates with 'first', 'last', or 'all'.