Find Options

Basic options

All repository and manager find methods accept special options you can use to query data you need without using QueryBuilder:

  • select - indicates which properties of the main object must be selected
userRepository.find({ select: ["firstName", "lastName"] });

will execute following query:

SELECT "firstName", "lastName" FROM "user"
  • relations - relations needs to be loaded with the main entity. Sub-relations can also be loaded (shorthand for join and leftJoinAndSelect)
userRepository.find({ relations: ["profile", "photos", "videos"] });
userRepository.find({
    relations: ["profile", "photos", "videos", "videos.video_attributes"],
});

will execute following queries:

SELECT * FROM "user"
LEFT JOIN "profile" ON "profile"."id" = "user"."profileId"
LEFT JOIN "photos" ON "photos"."id" = "user"."photoId"
LEFT JOIN "videos" ON "videos"."id" = "user"."videoId"

SELECT * FROM "user"
LEFT JOIN "profile" ON "profile"."id" = "user"."profileId"
LEFT JOIN "photos" ON "photos"."id" = "user"."photoId"
LEFT JOIN "videos" ON "videos"."id" = "user"."videoId"
LEFT JOIN "video_attributes" ON "video_attributes"."id" = "videos"."video_attributesId"
  • join - joins needs to be performed for the entity. Extended version of "relations".
userRepository.find({
    join: {
        alias: "user",
        leftJoinAndSelect: {
            profile: "user.profile",
            photo: "user.photos",
            video: "user.videos",
        },
    },
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "user" "user"
LEFT JOIN "profile" ON "profile"."id" = "user"."profile"
LEFT JOIN "photo" ON "photo"."id" = "user"."photos"
LEFT JOIN "video" ON "video"."id" = "user"."videos"
  • where - simple conditions by which entity should be queried.
userRepository.find({ where: { firstName: "Timber", lastName: "Saw" } });

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "user"
WHERE "firstName" = 'Timber' AND "lastName" = 'Saw'

Querying a column from an embedded entity should be done with respect to the hierarchy in which it was defined. Example:

userRepository.find({
    where: {
        project: { name: "TypeORM", initials: "TORM" },
    },
    relations: ["project"],
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "user"
WHERE "project"."name" = 'TypeORM' AND "project"."initials" = 'TORM'
LEFT JOIN "project" ON "project"."id" = "user"."projectId"

Querying with OR operator:

userRepository.find({
    where: [
        { firstName: "Timber", lastName: "Saw" },
        { firstName: "Stan", lastName: "Lee" },
    ],
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "user" WHERE ("firstName" = 'Timber' AND "lastName" = 'Saw') OR ("firstName" = 'Stan' AND "lastName" = 'Lee')
  • order - selection order.
userRepository.find({
    order: {
        name: "ASC",
        id: "DESC",
    },
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "user"
ORDER BY "name" ASC, "id" DESC
  • withDeleted - include entities which have been soft deleted with softDelete or softRemove, e.g. have their @DeleteDateColumn column set. By default, soft deleted entities are not included.
userRepository.find({
    withDeleted: true,
});

find methods which return multiple entities (find, findAndCount, findByIds) also accept following options:

  • skip - offset (paginated) from where entities should be taken.
userRepository.find({
    skip: 5,
});

SELECT * FROM "user"
OFFSET 5
  • take - limit (paginated) - max number of entities that should be taken.
userRepository.find({
    take: 10,
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "user"
LIMIT 10

** skip and take should be used together

** If you are using typeorm with MSSQL, and want to use take or limit, you need to use order as well or you will receive the following error: 'Invalid usage of the option NEXT in the FETCH statement.'

userRepository.find({
    order: {
        columnName: "ASC",
    },
    skip: 0,
    take: 10,
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "user"
ORDER BY "columnName" ASC
LIMIT 10 OFFSET 0
  • cache - Enables or disables query result caching. See caching for more information and options.
userRepository.find({
    cache: true,
});
  • lock - Enables locking mechanism for query. Can be used only in findOne method. lock is an object which can be defined as:
{ mode: "optimistic", version: number|Date }

or

{
    mode: "pessimistic_read" |
        "pessimistic_write" |
        "dirty_read" |
        "pessimistic_partial_write" |
        "pessimistic_write_or_fail" |
        "for_no_key_update";
}

for example:

userRepository.findOne(1, {
    lock: { mode: "optimistic", version: 1 },
});

Support of lock modes, and SQL statements they translate to, are listed in the table below (blank cell denotes unsupported). When specified lock mode is not supported, a LockNotSupportedOnGivenDriverError error will be thrown.

|                 | pessimistic_read         | pessimistic_write       | dirty_read    | pessimistic_partial_write   | pessimistic_write_or_fail   | for_no_key_update   |
| --------------- | --------------------     | ----------------------- | ------------- | --------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------- |
| MySQL           | LOCK IN SHARE MODE       | FOR UPDATE              | (nothing)     | FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED      | FOR UPDATE NOWAIT           |                     |
| Postgres        | FOR SHARE                | FOR UPDATE              | (nothing)     | FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED      | FOR UPDATE NOWAIT           | FOR NO KEY UPDATE   |
| Oracle          | FOR UPDATE               | FOR UPDATE              | (nothing)     |                             |                             |                     |
| SQL Server      | WITH (HOLDLOCK, ROWLOCK) | WITH (UPDLOCK, ROWLOCK) | WITH (NOLOCK) |                             |                             |                     |
| AuroraDataApi   | LOCK IN SHARE MODE       | FOR UPDATE              | (nothing)     |                             |                             |                     |

Complete example of find options:

userRepository.find({
    select: ["firstName", "lastName"],
    relations: ["profile", "photos", "videos"],
    where: {
        firstName: "Timber",
        lastName: "Saw",
        profile: {
            userName: "tshaw",
        },
    },
    order: {
        name: "ASC",
        id: "DESC",
    },
    skip: 5,
    take: 10,
    cache: true,
});

Advanced options

TypeORM provides a lot of built-in operators that can be used to create more complex comparisons:

  • Not
import { Not } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: Not("About #1"),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "title" != 'About #1'
  • LessThan
import { LessThan } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    likes: LessThan(10),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "likes" < 10
  • LessThanOrEqual
import { LessThanOrEqual } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    likes: LessThanOrEqual(10),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "likes" <= 10
  • MoreThan
import { MoreThan } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    likes: MoreThan(10),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "likes" > 10
  • MoreThanOrEqual
import { MoreThanOrEqual } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    likes: MoreThanOrEqual(10),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "likes" >= 10
  • Equal
import { Equal } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: Equal("About #2"),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "title" = 'About #2'
  • Like
import { Like } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: Like("%out #%"),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "title" LIKE '%out #%'
  • ILike
import { ILike } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: ILike("%out #%"),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "title" ILIKE '%out #%'
  • Between
import { Between } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    likes: Between(1, 10),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "likes" BETWEEN 1 AND 10
  • In
import { In } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: In(["About #2", "About #3"]),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "title" IN ('About #2','About #3')
  • Any
import { Any } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: Any(["About #2", "About #3"]),
});

will execute following query (Postgres notation):

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "title" = ANY(['About #2','About #3'])
  • IsNull
import { IsNull } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: IsNull(),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "title" IS NULL
  • Raw
import { Raw } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    likes: Raw("dislikes - 4"),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "likes" = "dislikes" - 4

In the simplest case, a raw query is inserted immediately after the equal symbol. But you can also completely rewrite the comparison logic using the function.

import { Raw } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    currentDate: Raw((alias) => `${alias} > NOW()`),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "currentDate" > NOW()

If you need to provide user input, you should not include the user input directly in your query as this may create a SQL injection vulnerability. Instead, you can use the second argument of the Raw function to provide a list of parameters to bind to the query.

import { Raw } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    currentDate: Raw((alias) => `${alias} > :date`, { date: "2020-10-06" }),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "currentDate" > '2020-10-06'

If you need to provide user input that is an array, you can bind them as a list of values in the SQL statement by using the special expression syntax:

import { Raw } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    title: Raw((alias) => `${alias} IN (:...titles)`, {
        titles: [
            "Go To Statement Considered Harmful",
            "Structured Programming",
        ],
    }),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE "titles" IN ('Go To Statement Considered Harmful', 'Structured Programming')

Combining Advanced Options

Also you can combine these operators with Not operator:

import { Not, MoreThan, Equal } from "typeorm";

const loadedPosts = await connection.getRepository(Post).find({
    likes: Not(MoreThan(10)),
    title: Not(Equal("About #2")),
});

will execute following query:

SELECT * FROM "post" WHERE NOT("likes" > 10) AND NOT("title" = 'About #2')