How to Use the Order By Feature in Django's QuerySet

django queryset order by guide
10 November 2024

In the programming language Python and frameworks such as Django, working with data is very simple and straightforward. One of the essential features for interacting with data in the data layer is the Order By capability, which allows us to sort query results based on one or multiple fields.

The Order By capability in QuerySets is a powerful tool that can help developers organize retrieved data in a meaningful order. This feature is particularly useful in displaying sorted product lists on web pages, such as an online store's list of products or blog articles.

Using this capability is very straightforward; all you need is to create a QuerySet, add the order_by() method to it, and specify the fields you want to sort by.

For example, consider a model that maintains a list of products and requires that this list be sorted in ascending order based on the price of each product. To achieve this in Django, you can use the Order By capability.

Let’s review an example of how you can create a list of products sorted using the order_by() method:

from myapp.models import Product

# Retrieve products in ascending order based on price
products = Product.objects.all().order_by('price')

In the above example, the Product model is used to fetch all available products in the data layer and then they are sorted based on a field called price using the order_by('price') method.

Line-by-Line Explanation

from myapp.models import Product
This line imports the Product class from the models.py file of the user-defined myapp application.
products = Product.objects.all()
This creates a QuerySet that retrieves all instances of the Product model from the data layer.
order_by('price')
The retrieved instances are then sorted based on the price field.

FAQ

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How can I sort data in Django in descending order?

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Can I sort by multiple fields?