Sort direction (asc, desc) in Rest API - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this REST API query with ascending sort?

Consider a REST API endpoint that returns a list of users sorted by age. The query parameter sort=age:asc is used.

Given the following user ages in the database: [34, 21, 45, 29], what order of ages will the API return?

A [34, 21, 45, 29]

B [45, 34, 29, 21]

C [21, 29, 34, 45]

D [29, 21, 34, 45]

💡 Hint

Ascending means from smallest to largest.

Ascending sort orders the ages from the smallest to the largest value.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this REST API query with descending sort?

Using the same user ages [34, 21, 45, 29], what order will the API return if the query parameter is sort=age:desc?

A [45, 34, 29, 21]

B [34, 21, 45, 29]

C [29, 21, 34, 45]

D [21, 29, 34, 45]

💡 Hint

Descending means from largest to smallest.

Descending sort orders the ages from the largest to the smallest value.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

Which query parameter correctly sorts by name in ascending order?

You want to get a list of users sorted by their name in ascending order using a REST API. Which query parameter is correct?

A sort=asc:name

B sort=name:asc

C order=name:asc

D sort=ascending:name

💡 Hint

Look for the format sort=field:direction.

The correct format is sort=field:asc to sort ascending by a field.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

What error occurs with an invalid sort direction?

If a REST API receives the query parameter sort=age:upwards, what is the most likely response?

A 500 Internal Server Error

B 200 OK with unsorted results

C 200 OK with results sorted ascending by default

D 400 Bad Request with error message about invalid sort direction

💡 Hint

APIs usually validate query parameters and reject invalid values.

An invalid sort direction causes the API to respond with a 400 error indicating the client sent a bad request.

🚀 Application

expert

How many items are returned when sorting with pagination?

A REST API returns a list of 100 users sorted by age descending. The query parameters are sort=age:desc and limit=10. How many users will be in the response?

A 10

B 100

C 90

D Depends on the API default

💡 Hint

The limit parameter controls how many items are returned.

The API returns only the number of items specified by limit, here 10.