Sorting Your API Results

Single-column API sorting, with direction control

// Handles /dogs?sort=name and /dogs?sort=-name
Route::get('dogs', function (Request $request) {
    // Get the sort query parameter (or fall back to default sort "name")
    $sortColumn = $request->input('sort', 'name');
 
    // Set the sort direction based on whether the key starts with -
    // using Laravel's Str::startsWith() helper function
    $sortDirection = Str::startsWith($sortColumn, '-') ? 'desc' : 'asc';
    $sortColumn = ltrim($sortColumn, '-');
 
    return Dog::orderBy($sortColumn, $sortDirection)
        ->paginate(20);
});

we do the same for multiple columns (e.g., ?sort=name,-weight)

// Handles ?sort=name,-weight
Route::get('dogs', function (Request $request) {
    // Grab the query parameter and turn it into an array exploded by ,
    $sorts = explode(',', $request->input('sort', ''));
 
    // Create a query
    $query = Dog::query();
 
    // Add the sorts one by one
    foreach ($sorts as $sortColumn) {
        $sortDirection = Str::startsWith($sortColumn, '-') ? 'desc' : 'asc';
        $sortColumn = ltrim($sortColumn, '-');
 
        $query->orderBy($sortColumn, $sortDirection);
    }
 
    // Return
    return $query->paginate(20);
});