>>> k = np.array([[ 35, 48, 63], ... [ 60, 77, 96], ... [ 91, 112, 135]]) >>> flat=k.flatten() >>> flat.sort() >>> flat array([ 35, 48, 60, 63, 77, 91, 96, 112, 135]) >>> flat[-2] 112 >>> flat[-3] 96