limit/skip
limit caps how many documents return and skip jumps over the first ones, which together give pagination.
In this page:
Syntax
db.collection_name.find(filter).skip(n).limit(n)limit/skip
cursor.limit(n) returns at most n documents and cursor.skip(n) omits the first n. Combine them with sort for stable pages. Large skips are slow because MongoDB still walks the skipped documents; range queries on an indexed field scale better.
Note:
Always sort before paging so pages stay consistent.
Example: limit/skip
test> db.items.insertMany([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].map((n) => ({ _id: n, label: "item" + n })))
{
acknowledged: true,
insertedIds: { '0': 1, '1': 2, '2': 3, '3': 4, '4': 5, '5': 6, '6': 7 }
}
test> db.items.find().sort({ _id: 1 }).limit(3)
[
{ _id: 1, label: 'item1' },
{ _id: 2, label: 'item2' },
{ _id: 3, label: 'item3' }
]
test> db.items.find().sort({ _id: 1 }).skip(3).limit(3)
[
{ _id: 4, label: 'item4' },
{ _id: 5, label: 'item5' },
{ _id: 6, label: 'item6' }
]
test> db.items.find().sort({ _id: -1 }).limit(2)
[ { _id: 7, label: 'item7' }, { _id: 6, label: 'item6' } ]⚠️ Run this in your own terminal or Node.js environment.
Related Topics
Common Mistakes
- Paging without sort
- Using huge skip values
- Forgetting limit applies after sort
Chapter Summary
- limit caps the result size
- skip omits leading documents
- Sort first for stable pages
- Prefer range paging for big collections
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