Web/API/IDBCursor/direction

The direction read-only property of the IDBCursor interface is a DOMString that returns the direction of traversal of the cursor (set using IDBObjectStore.openCursor for example). See the Values section below for possible values.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

Syntax

var direction = cursor.direction;

Value

A string (defined by the IDBCursorDirection enum) indicating the direction in which the cursor is traversing the data. Possible values are:

Value	Description
`next`	This direction causes the cursor to be opened at the start of the source.
`nextunique`	This direction causes the cursor to be opened at the start of the source. For every key with duplicate values, only the first record is yielded.
`prev`	This direction causes the cursor to be opened at the end of the source.
`prevunique`	This direction causes the cursor to be opened at the end of the source. For every key with duplicate values, only the first record is yielded.

Example

In this simple fragment we create a transaction, retrieve an object store, then use a cursor to iterate through all the records in the object store. Within each iteration we log the direction of the cursor, something like this:

prev

Note: we can't change the direction of travel of the cursor using the direction property, as it is read-only. We specify the direction of travel using the 2nd argument of IDBObjectStore.openCursor.

The cursor does not require us to select the data based on a key; we can just grab all of it. Also note that in each iteration of the loop, you can grab data from the current record under the cursor object using cursor.value.foo. For a complete working example, see our IDBCursor example ([[../../../../../../../mdn.github.io/indexeddb-examples/idbcursor/index|view example live]].)

function backwards() {
  list.innerHTML = '';
  var transaction = db.transaction(['rushAlbumList'], 'readonly');
  var objectStore = transaction.objectStore('rushAlbumList');

  objectStore.openCursor(null,'prev').onsuccess = function(event) {
    var cursor = event.target.result;
      if(cursor) {
        var listItem = document.createElement('li');
        listItem.innerHTML = '<strong>' + cursor.value.albumTitle + '</strong>, ' + cursor.value.year;
        list.appendChild(listItem);  
          
        console.log(cursor.direction);
        cursor.continue();
      } else {
        console.log('Entries displayed backwards.');
      }
  };
};

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Indexed Database API 2.0The definition of 'direction' in that specification.	Recommendation
Indexed Database API DraftThe definition of 'direction' in that specification.	Recommendation

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`direction`	Chrome Full support 24 Full support 24 No support 23 — 24 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 16 Full support 16 No support 10 — 16 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: moz	IE Partial support 10	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 22	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 8	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
Partial support: Partial support
Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.': Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.