MongoDB: How to Sort by Multiple Fields

You can use the following syntax to sort documents in MongoDB by multiple fields:

db.myCollection.find().sort( { "field1": 1, "field2": -1 } )

This particular code sorts the documents in the collection called myCollection first by field1 ascending and then by field2 descending.

The following examples show how to use this syntax with a collection teams with the following documents:

db.teams.insertOne({team: "Mavs", points: 30, rebounds: 8})
db.teams.insertOne({team: "Spurs", points: 30, rebounds: 12})
db.teams.insertOne({team: "Rockets", points: 20, rebounds: 7})
db.teams.insertOne({team: "Warriors", points: 25, rebounds: 5})
db.teams.insertOne({team: "Cavs", points: 25, rebounds: 9})

Example 1: Sort by Multiple Fields in MongoDB (Ascending)

We can use the following code to sort the documents in the teams collection first by “points” ascending and then by “rebounds” ascending:

db.teams.find().sort( { "points": 1, "rebounds": 1 } )

This query returns the following results:

{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203b"),
  team: 'Rockets',
  points: 20,
  rebounds: 7 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203c"),
  team: 'Warriors',
  points: 25,
  rebounds: 5 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203d"),
  team: 'Cavs',
  points: 25,
  rebounds: 9 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb2039"),
  team: 'Mavs',
  points: 30,
  rebounds: 8 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203a"),
  team: 'Spurs',
  points: 30,
  rebounds: 12 } 

Notice that the documents are sorted by the “points” field ascending (smallest to largest) and then by the “rebounds” field ascending (smallest to largest).

Example 2: Sort by Multiple Fields in MongoDB (Descending)

We can use the following code to sort the documents in the teams collection first by “points” descending and then by “rebounds” descending:

db.teams.find().sort( { "points": -1, "rebounds": -1 } )

This query returns the following results:

{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203a"),
  team: 'Spurs',
  points: 30,
  rebounds: 12 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb2039"),
  team: 'Mavs',
  points: 30,
  rebounds: 8 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203d"),
  team: 'Cavs',
  points: 25,
  rebounds: 9 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203c"),
  team: 'Warriors',
  points: 25,
  rebounds: 5 }
{ _id: ObjectId("61f952c167f1c64a1afb203b"),
  team: 'Rockets',
  points: 20,
  rebounds: 7 } 

Notice that the documents are sorted by the “points” field descending (largest to smallest) and then by the “rebounds” field descending (largest to smallest).

Note: You can find the complete documentation for the sort function here.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in MongoDB:

MongoDB: How to Sort By Date
MongoDB: How to Group By and Count
MongoDB: How to Group By Multiple Fields