# Default Sorting Criteria after custom criteria

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/default-sorting-criteria-after-custom-criteria/327207>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [March 7, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/default-sorting-criteria-after-custom-criteria/327207 "2023-03-07T16:06:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MrIacono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MrIacono](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MrIacono)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/default-sorting-criteria-after-custom-criteria/327207/1 "2023-03-07T16:06:07Z")

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Hi,  
If I have these two sorting criteria:

```auto
"_score": "desc"
"date": "desc"

```

And the query result consists of two documents with same date and same score,  
What's the third defult criteria?

Thank you,  
Manuel

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RabBit\_BR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rabbit_br/32/82261_2.png) [@RabBit\_BR](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/RabBit_BR)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/default-sorting-criteria-after-custom-criteria/327207/2 "2023-03-07T18:29:57Z")

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Hi @MrIacono

I suspect it's the document indexing order.

> Allows you to add one or more sorts on specific fields. Each sort can be reversed as well. The sort is defined on a per field level, with special field name for `_score` to sort by score, and `_doc` to sort by index order.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MrIacono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MrIacono](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MrIacono)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/default-sorting-criteria-after-custom-criteria/327207/3 "2023-03-15T15:34:34Z")

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> [@RabBit\_BR](#):
>
> The sort is defined on a per field level, with special field name for `_score` to sort by score, and `_doc` to sort by index order.

Thank you!  
Can I just ask the reference of the paragraph you reported?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RabBit\_BR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rabbit_br/32/82261_2.png) [@RabBit\_BR](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/RabBit_BR)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/default-sorting-criteria-after-custom-criteria/327207/4 "2023-03-15T18:51:09Z")

</div>

Of course, doc is [here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/sort-search-results.html#sort-search-results).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/default-sorting-criteria-after-custom-criteria/327207/5 "2023-04-12T18:51:16Z")

</div>

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