Sort id and reverse the items with MongoDB

The $natural operator returns documents in natural insertion order. To reverse the items and get them in reverse insertion order, use $natural:-1 with the sort() method.

Syntax

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

Sample Data

Let us create a collection with documents ?

db.demo710.insertMany([
    {id: 101, Name: "Robert"},
    {id: 102, Name: "Carol"},
    {id: 103, Name: "Mike"},
    {id: 104, Name: "Sam"}
]);

{
    "acknowledged": true,
    "insertedIds": [
        ObjectId("5ea83a855d33e20ed1097b7a"),
        ObjectId("5ea83a8d5d33e20ed1097b7b"),
        ObjectId("5ea83a935d33e20ed1097b7c"),
        ObjectId("5ea83a9b5d33e20ed1097b7d")
    ]
}

Example 1: Display Documents in Natural Order

Display all documents in their natural insertion order ?

db.demo710.find();

{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a855d33e20ed1097b7a"), "id": 101, "Name": "Robert"}
{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a8d5d33e20ed1097b7b"), "id": 102, "Name": "Carol"}
{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a935d33e20ed1097b7c"), "id": 103, "Name": "Mike"}
{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a9b5d33e20ed1097b7d"), "id": 104, "Name": "Sam"}

Example 2: Reverse Items Using $natural

Sort and reverse the items using $natural:-1 ?

db.demo710.find().sort({$natural: -1});

{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a9b5d33e20ed1097b7d"), "id": 104, "Name": "Sam"}
{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a935d33e20ed1097b7c"), "id": 103, "Name": "Mike"}
{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a8d5d33e20ed1097b7b"), "id": 102, "Name": "Carol"}
{"_id": ObjectId("5ea83a855d33e20ed1097b7a"), "id": 101, "Name": "Robert"}

Key Points

• $natural: 1 returns documents in natural insertion order (default behavior)
• $natural: -1 reverses the natural order, showing most recently inserted documents first
• This is useful when you want to retrieve documents in reverse chronological order without sorting by a specific field

Conclusion

Use sort({$natural: -1}) to reverse the natural insertion order of documents in MongoDB. This provides a simple way to get the most recently inserted documents first without needing additional sorting criteria.