grails-data-hibernate5/docs/src/docs/asciidoc/advancedGORMFeatures/defaultSortOrder.adoc

You can sort objects using query arguments such as those found in the <<ref-domain-classes-list,list>> method:

[source,java]
----
def airports = Airport.list(sort:'name')
----

However, you can also declare the default sort order for a collection in the mapping:

[source,java]
----
class Airport {
    ...
    static mapping = {
        sort "name"
    }
}
----

The above means that all collections of `Airport` instances will by default be sorted by the airport name. If you also want to change the sort _order_, use this syntax:

[source,java]
----
class Airport {
    ...
    static mapping = {
        sort name: "desc"
    }
}
----

Finally, you can configure sorting at the association level:

[source,java]
----
class Airport {
    ...
    static hasMany = [flights: Flight]

    static mapping = {
        flights sort: 'number', order: 'desc'
    }
}
----

In this case, the `flights` collection will always be sorted in descending order of flight number.

WARNING: These mappings will not work for default unidirectional one-to-many or many-to-many relationships because they involve a join table. See <<ref-orgbrowse-grails-4089-this issue,this issue>> for more details. Consider using a `SortedSet` or queries with sort parameters to fetch the data you need.