Order and limit data with Cloud Firestore

Cloud Firestore provides powerful query functionality for specifying which documents you want to retrieve from a collection. These queries can also be used with either get() or addSnapshotListener(), as described in Get Data.

Order and limit data

By default, a query retrieves all documents that satisfy the query in ascending order by document ID. You can specify the sort order for your data using orderBy(), and you can limit the number of documents retrieved using limit().

For example, you could query for the first 3 cities alphabetically with:

Web

citiesRef.orderBy("name").limit(3)test.firestore.js

Swift

citiesRef.order(by: "name").limit(to: 3)ViewController.swift

Objective-C

[[citiesRef queryOrderedByField:@"name"] queryLimitedTo:3];ViewController.m

Java

citiesRef.orderBy("name").limit(3);DocSnippets.java

Kotlin

citiesRef.orderBy("name").limit(3)DocSnippets.kt

Java

Query query = cities.orderBy("name").limit(3);QueryDataSnippets.java

Python

db.collection(u'cities').order_by(u'name').limit(3).stream()snippets.py

Node.js

let firstThree = citiesRef.orderBy('name').limit(3);index.js

Go

query := cities.OrderBy("name", firestore.Asc).Limit(3)query.go

PHP

$query = $citiesRef->orderBy('name')->limit(3);order_by_name_limit_query.php

C#

Query query = citiesRef.OrderBy("Name").Limit(3);Program.cs

Ruby

query = cities_ref.order("name").limit(3)order_limit_data.rb

You could also sort in descending order to get the last 3 cities:

Web

citiesRef.orderBy("name", "desc").limit(3)test.firestore.js

Swift

citiesRef.order(by: "name", descending: true).limit(to: 3)ViewController.swift

Objective-C

[[citiesRef queryOrderedByField:@"name" descending:YES] queryLimitedTo:3];ViewController.m

Java

citiesRef.orderBy("name", Direction.DESCENDING).limit(3);DocSnippets.java

Kotlin

citiesRef.orderBy("name", Query.Direction.DESCENDING).limit(3)DocSnippets.kt

Java

Query query = cities.orderBy("name", Direction.DESCENDING).limit(3);QueryDataSnippets.java

Python

cities_ref = db.collection(u'cities')
query = cities_ref.order_by(
    u'name', direction=firestore.Query.DESCENDING).limit(3)
results = query.stream()snippets.py

Node.js

let lastThree = citiesRef.orderBy('name', 'desc').limit(3);index.js

Go

query := cities.OrderBy("name", firestore.Desc).Limit(3)query.go

PHP

$query = $citiesRef->orderBy('name', 'DESC')->limit(3);order_by_name_desc_limit_query.php

C#

Query query = citiesRef.OrderByDescending("Name").Limit(3);Program.cs

Ruby

query = cities_ref.order("name", "desc").limit(3)order_limit_data.rb

You can also order by multiple fields. For example, if you wanted to order by state, and within each state order by population in descending order:

Web

citiesRef.orderBy("state").orderBy("population", "desc")test.firestore.js

Swift

citiesRef
    .order(by: "state")
    .order(by: "population", descending: true)ViewController.swift

Objective-C

[[citiesRef queryOrderedByField:@"state"] queryOrderedByField:@"population" descending:YES];ViewController.m

Java

citiesRef.orderBy("state").orderBy("population", Direction.DESCENDING);DocSnippets.java

Kotlin

citiesRef.orderBy("state").orderBy("population", Query.Direction.DESCENDING)DocSnippets.kt

Java

Query query = cities.orderBy("state").orderBy("population", Direction.DESCENDING);QueryDataSnippets.java

Python

cities_ref = db.collection(u'cities')
cities_ref.order_by(u'state').order_by(
    u'population', direction=firestore.Query.DESCENDING)snippets.py

Node.js

let byStateByPop = citiesRef.orderBy('state').orderBy('population', 'desc');index.js

Go

query := client.Collection("cities").OrderBy("state", firestore.Asc).OrderBy("population", firestore.Desc)query.go

PHP

$query = $citiesRef->orderBy('state')->orderBy('population', 'DESC');order_by_state_and_population_query.php

C#

Query query = citiesRef.OrderBy("State").OrderByDescending("Population");Program.cs

Ruby

query = cities_ref.order("state").order("population", "desc")order_limit_data.rb

You can combine where() filters with orderBy() and limit(). In the following example, the queries define a population threshold, sort by population in ascending order, and return only the first few results that exceed the threshold:

Web

citiesRef.where("population", ">", 100000).orderBy("population").limit(2)test.firestore.js

Swift

citiesRef
    .whereField("population", isGreaterThan: 100000)
    .order(by: "population")
    .limit(to: 2)ViewController.swift

Objective-C

[[[citiesRef queryWhereField:@"population" isGreaterThan:@100000]
    queryOrderedByField:@"population"]
    queryLimitedTo:2];ViewController.m

Java

citiesRef.whereGreaterThan("population", 100000).orderBy("population").limit(2);DocSnippets.java

Kotlin

citiesRef.whereGreaterThan("population", 100000).orderBy("population").limit(2)DocSnippets.kt

Java

Query query = cities.whereGreaterThan("population", 2500000L).orderBy("population").limit(2);QueryDataSnippets.java

Python

cities_ref = db.collection(u'cities')
query = cities_ref.where(
    u'population', u'>', 2500000).order_by(u'population').limit(2)
results = query.stream()snippets.py

Node.js

let biggest = citiesRef.where('population', '>', 2500000)
  .orderBy('population').limit(2);index.js

Go

query := cities.Where("population", ">", 2500000).OrderBy("population", firestore.Desc).Limit(2)query.go

PHP

$query = $citiesRef
    ->where('population', '>', 2500000)
    ->orderBy('population')
    ->limit(2);where_order_by_limit_query.php

C#

Query query = citiesRef
    .WhereGreaterThan("Population", 2500000)
    .OrderBy("Population")
    .Limit(2);Program.cs

Ruby

query = cities_ref.where("population", ">", 2_500_000).order("population").limit(2)order_limit_data.rb

However, if you have a filter with a range comparison (<, <=, >, >=), your first ordering must be on the same field:

Valid: Range filter and orderBy on the same field

Web

citiesRef.where("population", ">", 100000).orderBy("population")test.firestore.js

Swift

citiesRef
    .whereField("population", isGreaterThan: 100000)
    .order(by: "population")ViewController.swift

Objective-C

[[citiesRef queryWhereField:@"population" isGreaterThan:@100000]
    queryOrderedByField:@"population"];ViewController.m

Java

citiesRef.whereGreaterThan("population", 100000).orderBy("population");DocSnippets.java

Kotlin

citiesRef.whereGreaterThan("population", 100000).orderBy("population")DocSnippets.kt

Java

Query query = cities.whereGreaterThan("population", 2500000L).orderBy("population");QueryDataSnippets.java

Python

cities_ref = db.collection(u'cities')
query = cities_ref.where(
    u'population', u'>', 2500000).order_by(u'population')
results = query.stream()snippets.py

Node.js

citiesRef.where('population', '>', 2500000).orderBy('population');index.js

Go

query := cities.Where("population", ">", 2500000).OrderBy("population", firestore.Asc)query.go

PHP

$query = $citiesRef
    ->where('population', '>', 2500000)
    ->orderBy('population');range_order_by_query.php

C#

Query query = citiesRef
    .WhereGreaterThan("Population", 2500000)
    .OrderBy("Population");Program.cs

Ruby

query = cities_ref.where("population", ">", 2_500_000).order("population")order_limit_data.rb

Invalid: Range filter and first orderBy on different fields

Web

citiesRef.where("population", ">", 100000).orderBy("country")test.firestore.js

Swift

citiesRef
    .whereField("population", isGreaterThan: 100000)
    .order(by: "country")ViewController.swift

Objective-C

[[citiesRef queryWhereField:@"population" isGreaterThan:@100000] queryOrderedByField:@"country"];ViewController.m

Java

citiesRef.whereGreaterThan("population", 100000).orderBy("country");DocSnippets.java

Kotlin

citiesRef.whereGreaterThan("population", 100000).orderBy("country")DocSnippets.kt

Java

Query query = cities.whereGreaterThan("population", 2500000L).orderBy("country");QueryDataSnippets.java

Python

cities_ref = db.collection(u'cities')
query = cities_ref.where(u'population', u'>', 2500000).order_by(u'country')
results = query.stream()snippets.py

Node.js

citiesRef.where('population', '>', 2500000).orderBy('country');index.js

Go

// Note: This is an invalid query. It violates the constraint that range
// and order by are required to be on the same field.
query := cities.Where("population", ">", 2500000).OrderBy("country", firestore.Asc)query.go

PHP

$query = $citiesRef
    ->where('population', '>', 2500000)
    ->orderBy('country');invalid_range_order_by_query.php

C#

Query query = citiesRef
    .WhereGreaterThan("Population", 2500000)
    .OrderBy("Country");Program.cs

Ruby

query = cities_ref.where("population", ">", 2_500_000).order("country")order_limit_data.rb