Node.js - PostgreSQL - select last N rows

In this article, we would like to show you how to select the last N rows in the PostgreSQL database using Node.js.

Note: at the end of this article you can find database preparation SQL queries.

 Ascending order

const { Client } = require('pg');

const client = new Client({
    host: '127.0.0.1',
    user: 'postgres',
    database: 'database_name',
    password: 'password',
    port: 5432,
});

const getLastUsers = async (count) => {
	const query = `
		    SELECT * FROM (
		    	SELECT * FROM "users" 
		    	ORDER BY "id" DESC
		    	LIMIT $1
		    ) subquery
		    ORDER BY "id" ASC;
    `;
    try {
		
        await client.connect(); // gets connection
        const { rows } = await client.query(query, [count]); // sends query
        console.table(rows);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error(error.stack);
    } finally {
        await client.end();     // closes connection
    }
};

getLastUsers(3); // get last 3 users in ascending order

Result: 

┌─────────┬────┬─────────┬───────────┐
│ (index) │ id │  name   │  country  │
├─────────┼────┼─────────┼───────────┤
│    0    │ 5  │ 'Marco' │  'Italy'  │
│    1    │ 6  │ 'Kate'  │  'Spain'  │
│    2    │ 7  │  'Nam'  │ 'Vietnam' │
└─────────┴────┴─────────┴───────────┘

Descending order

const { Client } = require('pg');

const client = new Client({
    host: '127.0.0.1',
    user: 'postgres',
    database: 'database_name',
    password: 'password',
    port: 5432,
});

const getLastUsers = async (count) => {
	const query = `SELECT * 
                   FROM "users" 
		           ORDER BY "id" DESC 
                   LIMIT $1;`;
    try {
        await client.connect(); // gets connection
        const { rows } = await client.query(query, [count]); // sends query
        console.table(rows);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error(error.stack);
    } finally {
        await client.end();     // closes connection
    }
};

getLastUsers(3); // get last 3 users in descending order

Result: 

┌─────────┬────┬─────────┬───────────┐
│ (index) │ id │  name   │  country  │
├─────────┼────┼─────────┼───────────┤
│    0    │ 7  │  'Nam'  │ 'Vietnam' │
│    1    │ 6  │ 'Kate'  │  'Spain'  │
│    2    │ 5  │ 'Marco' │  'Italy'  │
└─────────┴────┴─────────┴───────────┘

Database preparation

create_tables.sql file:

CREATE TABLE "users" (
	"id" SERIAL,
	"name" VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
	"country" VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
	PRIMARY KEY ("id")
);

insert_data.sql file:

INSERT INTO "users"
	("name", "country")
VALUES
    ('Tom', 'Poland'),
    ('Chris', 'Spain'),
    ('Jack', 'Spain'),
    ('Kim', 'Vietnam'),
    ('Marco', 'Italy'),
    ('Kate', 'Spain'),
    ('Nam', 'Vietnam');

Native SQL query (used in the above example):

Ascending order

SELECT * FROM (
    SELECT * FROM `users` 
	 ORDER BY `id` DESC
	 LIMIT 3
) subquery
ORDER BY `id` ASC;

Descending order

SELECT * 
FROM `users` 
ORDER BY `id` DESC 
LIMIT 3;