directus/docs/reference/filter-rules.md

Filter Rules

Permissions, validation, and the API's filter parameter all rely on a specific JSON structure to define their rules. This page describes the syntax for creating flat, relational, or complex filter rules.

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Syntax

• Field — Any valid root field, relational field, or logical operator
• Operator — Any valid API operator prefaced with an underscore
• Value — Any valid static value, or dynamic variable

{
	<field>: {
		<operator>: <value>
	}
}

Examples

{
	"title": {
		"_contains": "Directus"
	}
}

{
	"owner": {
		"_eq": "$CURRENT_USER"
	}
}

{
	"datetime": {
		"_lte": "$NOW"
	}
}

Filter Operators

Operator	Description
_eq	Equal to
_neq	Not equal to
_lt	Less than
_lte	Less than or equal to
_gt	Greater than
_gte	Greater than or equal to
_in	Exists in one of the values
_nin	Not in one of the values
_null	It is null
_nnull	It is not null
_contains	Contains the substring
_ncontains	Doesn't contain the substring
_between	The value is between two values
_nbetween	The value is not between two values
_empty	The value is empty (null or falsy)
_nempty	The value is not empty (null or falsy)

Relational

You can target related values by nesting field names. For example, if you have a relational Many-to-One author field, you can set a rule for the author.name field using the following syntax.

{
	"author": {
		"name": {
			"_eq": "Rijk van Zanten"
		}
	}
}

Logical Operators

You can nest or group multiple rules using the _and or _or logical operators. Each operator holds an array of rules, allowing for more complex filtering.

{
	"_or": [
		{
			"_and": [
				{
					"owner": {
						"_eq": "$CURRENT_USER"
					}
				},
				{
					"status": {
						"_in": ["published", "draft"]
					}
				}
			]
		},
		{
			"_and": [
				{
					"owner": {
						"_neq": "$CURRENT_USER"
					}
				},
				{
					"status": {
						"_in": ["published"]
					}
				}
			]
		}
	]
}

Dynamic Variables

In addition to static values, you can also filter against dynamic values using the following variables.

• $CURRENT_USER — The primary key of the currently authenticated user
• $CURRENT_ROLE — The primary key of the role for the currently authenticated user
• $NOW — The current timestamp