Method: ActiveRecord::QueryMethods#order

Defined in:

activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb

#order(*args) ⇒ Object

Applies an ORDER BY clause to a query.

#order accepts arguments in one of several formats.

symbols

The symbol represents the name of the column you want to order the results by.

User.order(:name)
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY "users"."name" ASC

By default, the order is ascending. If you want descending order, you can map the column name symbol to :desc.

User.order(email: :desc)
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY "users"."email" DESC

Multiple columns can be passed this way, and they will be applied in the order specified.

User.order(:name, email: :desc)
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY "users"."name" ASC, "users"."email" DESC

strings

Strings are passed directly to the database, allowing you to specify simple SQL expressions.

This could be a source of SQL injection, so only strings composed of plain column names and simple function(column_name) expressions with optional ASC/DESC modifiers are allowed.

User.order('name')
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY name

User.order('name DESC')
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY name DESC

User.order('name DESC, email')
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY name DESC, email

Arel

If you need to pass in complicated expressions that you have verified are safe for the database, you can use Arel.

User.order(Arel.sql('end_date - start_date'))
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY end_date - start_date

Custom query syntax, like JSON columns for PostgreSQL, is supported in this way.

User.order(Arel.sql("payload->>'kind'"))
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY payload->>'kind'

# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb', line 656

def order(*args)
  check_if_method_has_arguments!(__callee__, args) do
    sanitize_order_arguments(args)
  end
  spawn.order!(*args)
end