sort(), skip() and limit()

These three cursor methods are usually chained together to page through query results.

sort()

Orders the returned documents by one or more fields. Use 1 for ascending, -1 for descending.

db.employees.find().sort({ age: 1 })   // ascending
db.employees.find().sort({ age: -1 })  // descending
db.employees.find().sort({ name: 1 })

skip()

Skips the first n documents in the result set — handy for pagination.

db.employees.find().skip(1)   // skip the first document
db.employees.find().skip(2)   // skip the first two
db.employees.find().skip(10)  // returns nothing if fewer than 10 documents exist

limit()

Caps the number of documents returned, so your app isn't handed more data than it needs.

db.employees.find().limit(2)
db.employees.find({ city: "Palghar" }).limit(2)

Putting Them Together: Pagination

sort(), skip() and limit() combine to build classic "page 2 of results" style queries:

// page 2, 5 results per page, newest first
db.employees.find()
  .sort({ doj: -1 })
  .skip(5)
  .limit(5)

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

• Inconsistent pagination results without a sort — skip()/limit() without an sort() don't guarantee a stable row order between calls; always pair them with sort() on a field with unique values (like _id) for reliable pagination.
• skip() getting slower as the page number grows — MongoDB still has to walk past every skipped document internally; for very deep pagination on huge collections, filter by the last-seen _id instead of an ever-growing skip() value.
• Sorting on an unindexed field at scale — sorting a huge collection without a supporting index can be slow and hit memory limits; add an index on the sort field for large collections (see the Indexing section).

Key Takeaways

• sort() decides the order; skip() and limit() decide the "window" of results.
• These three methods chain directly off find() and can be combined with a query filter too.
• Together they're the standard recipe for pagination in MongoDB.