In MongoDB, the $orderBy query modifier sorts the results of a query in ascending or descending order.

$orderBy accepts a document that specifies the field to sort, and the sort order. The sort order can be either 1 for ascending or -1 for descending.

$orderBy has been deprecated in the mongo shell since v3.2. Use the cursor.sort() method instead.

Sample Data

Suppose we have a collection called pets with the following documents:

{ "_id" : 1, "name" : "Wag", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 20 }
{ "_id" : 2, "name" : "Bark", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 10 }
{ "_id" : 3, "name" : "Meow", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 7 }
{ "_id" : 4, "name" : "Scratch", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 8 }
{ "_id" : 5, "name" : "Bruce", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 100 }
{ "_id" : 6, "name" : "Hop", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 130 }
{ "_id" : 7, "name" : "Punch", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 200 }
{ "_id" : 8, "name" : "Snap", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 12 }
{ "_id" : 9, "name" : "Ruff", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 30 }

Sort in Ascending Order

To sort in ascending order, we use 1 for the sort order.

Below is an example of a query that uses the $orderBy query modifier to sort that collection by the weight field in ascending order.

db.pets.find( { $query: {}, $orderBy: { weight: 1 } } )

Result:

{ "_id" : 3, "name" : "Meow", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 7 }
{ "_id" : 4, "name" : "Scratch", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 8 }
{ "_id" : 2, "name" : "Bark", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 10 }
{ "_id" : 8, "name" : "Snap", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 12 }
{ "_id" : 1, "name" : "Wag", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 20 }
{ "_id" : 9, "name" : "Ruff", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 30 }
{ "_id" : 5, "name" : "Bruce", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 100 }
{ "_id" : 6, "name" : "Hop", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 130 }
{ "_id" : 7, "name" : "Punch", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 200 }

Sort in Descending Order

To sort in descending order, we use -1 for the sort order.

db.pets.find( { $query: {}, $orderBy: { weight: -1 } } )

Result:

{ "_id" : 7, "name" : "Punch", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 200 }
{ "_id" : 6, "name" : "Hop", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 130 }
{ "_id" : 5, "name" : "Bruce", "type" : "Kangaroo", "weight" : 100 }
{ "_id" : 9, "name" : "Ruff", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 30 }
{ "_id" : 1, "name" : "Wag", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 20 }
{ "_id" : 8, "name" : "Snap", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 12 }
{ "_id" : 2, "name" : "Bark", "type" : "Dog", "weight" : 10 }
{ "_id" : 4, "name" : "Scratch", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 8 }
{ "_id" : 3, "name" : "Meow", "type" : "Cat", "weight" : 7 }

An Alternative Form

The $orderBy query modifier can also be used with the following form:

db.pets.find()._addSpecial( "$orderby", { weight : 1 } )

More Information

As mentioned, the $orderBy query modifier has been deprecated in the mongo shell since v3.2. Use the cursor.sort() method instead.

See the MongoDB documentation for more information.