How do I sort natural in MongoDB?

Use $natural to sort documents in MongoDB by their natural order (the order they were inserted into the database). This operator sorts documents based on their physical storage order on disk.

Syntax

db.collection.find().sort({ $natural: 1 })   // Ascending (insertion order)
db.collection.find().sort({ $natural: -1 })  // Descending (reverse insertion order)

Sample Data

Let us create a collection with documents ?

db.demo684.insertMany([
    {Value: 10},
    {Value: 50}, 
    {Value: 60},
    {Value: 40}
]);

{
    "acknowledged": true,
    "insertedIds": [
        ObjectId("5ea530cea7e81adc6a0b3957"),
        ObjectId("5ea530d1a7e81adc6a0b3958"),
        ObjectId("5ea530d4a7e81adc6a0b3959"),
        ObjectId("5ea530d8a7e81adc6a0b395a")
    ]
}

Display all documents from the collection ?

db.demo684.find();

{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530cea7e81adc6a0b3957"), "Value": 10 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d1a7e81adc6a0b3958"), "Value": 50 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d4a7e81adc6a0b3959"), "Value": 60 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d8a7e81adc6a0b395a"), "Value": 40 }

Example 1: Natural Sort Ascending

Sort documents in natural order (insertion order) ?

db.demo684.find().sort({ $natural: 1 });

{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530cea7e81adc6a0b3957"), "Value": 10 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d1a7e81adc6a0b3958"), "Value": 50 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d4a7e81adc6a0b3959"), "Value": 60 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d8a7e81adc6a0b395a"), "Value": 40 }

Example 2: Natural Sort Descending

Sort documents in reverse insertion order ?

db.demo684.find().sort({ $natural: -1 });

{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d8a7e81adc6a0b395a"), "Value": 40 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d4a7e81adc6a0b3959"), "Value": 60 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530d1a7e81adc6a0b3958"), "Value": 50 }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5ea530cea7e81adc6a0b3957"), "Value": 10 }

Key Points

• $natural: 1 sorts in insertion order (oldest first)
• $natural: -1 sorts in reverse insertion order (newest first)
• Natural sort reflects the physical storage order on disk
• Cannot be combined with other sort criteria

Conclusion

The $natural operator provides a simple way to sort MongoDB documents by their insertion order. Use 1 for ascending (oldest first) and -1 for descending (newest first) natural sorting.