Last Updated: February 25, 2016

Django order_by custom order in Postgres

Add this to your custom Manager:

def with_custom_ranking(self):
 # this should return a list of ids in order you want to sort
 ids = get_custom_ranking()

 if ids:
 clauses = ' '.join([
 'WHEN "app_model"."field"=\'%s\' THEN %s' % (id, idx)
 for idx, id in enumerate(ids)
 ])
 ordering = 'CASE %s END' % clauses
 return self.extra(
 select={'custom': ordering}
 )

# You can now sort the queryset in a custom order
Model.objects.with_custom_ranking().order_by('custom')

Take note, only use this if the list you want to sort is small.