The Ping Proxies API provides sorting capabilities that allow you to control the order of returned results. Proper sorting is essential for creating intuitive, user-friendly interfaces and for optimizing data processing workflows.

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The sort_by Parameter

All search endpoints in the Ping Proxies API support the sort_by parameter, which allows you to specify fields to sort by and the direction of the sort.

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Basic Sorting

The simplest form of sorting uses a single field name without any suffix, which sorts in ascending order (A-Z, oldest to newest):

GET /public/user/proxy/search?sort_by=proxy_last_update_datetime

This sorts results by the creation datetime in ascending order (oldest to newest).

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Sort Direction

You can specify the sort direction by adding a direction suffix:

  • Ascending: Add _asc suffix (default when no suffix is specified)
  • Descending: Add _desc suffix
GET /public/user/service/search?sort_by=service_expiry_datetime_desc

This sorts services by expiry date in descending order (expiring soonest first).

GET /public/user/proxy/search?sort_by=country_id_asc

This sorts proxies by country ID in ascending order (A-Z).

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Special Sorting Options

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Random Sorting

Some endpoints support a special random sort option:

GET /public/user/proxy/search?sort_by=random

This returns results in a random order, which can be useful for:

  • Load balancing across multiple proxies
  • Selecting random samples for testing
  • Presenting different options to users

Random sorting should not be used with pagination if you need to access the complete randomly ordered set, as each page will have its own random order.

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Sorting and Pagination

Sorting works in conjunction with pagination. When you specify both a sort order and pagination parameters, the API:

  1. Applies the sort to the entire result set
  2. Divides the sorted results into pages
  3. Returns the requested page

For example:

GET /public/user/proxy/search?sort_by=proxy_last_update_datetime_desc&page=2&per_page=25

This returns the second page of proxies, with 25 proxies per page, sorted by creation date from newest to oldest.

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Code Examples

# Sort by creation date (newest first)
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.pingproxies.com/1.0/public/user/proxy/search?sort_by=proxy_last_update_datetime_desc' \
  --header 'X-API-Public-Key: your_public_key' \
  --header 'X-API-Private-Key: your_private_key'

# Sort alphabetically by country
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.pingproxies.com/1.0/public/user/proxy/search?sort_by=country_id_asc' \
  --header 'X-API-Public-Key: your_public_key' \
  --header 'X-API-Private-Key: your_private_key'

# Sort randomly
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.pingproxies.com/1.0/public/user/proxy/search?sort_by=random' \
  --header 'X-API-Public-Key: your_public_key' \
  --header 'X-API-Private-Key: your_private_key'

# Sort by expiry date and paginate
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.pingproxies.com/1.0/public/user/service/search?sort_by=service_expiry_datetime_asc&page=1&per_page=10' \
  --header 'X-API-Public-Key: your_public_key' \
  --header 'X-API-Private-Key: your_private_key'

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Examples for Common Use Cases

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Show newest items first

GET /public/user/service/search?sort_by=service_creation_datetime_desc

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Alphabetical order by name

GET /public/user/proxy_user/search?sort_by=proxy_user_id_asc

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Find proxies expiring soon (earliest first)

GET /public/user/service/search?sort_by=service_expiry_datetime_asc

By effectively using the sorting capabilities of the Ping Proxies API, you can create more intuitive and efficient applications that present data in the most useful order for your specific needs.