Reverse a list or string: reverse

The reverse filter reverses the order of items in a list or characters in a string. When applied to a list, the last item becomes the first and vice versa. When applied to a string, the characters are reversed.

This is useful when you need to display items in the opposite order from how they are stored. For example, you might have a list of recent events sorted oldest-first and want to show them newest-first, or you might want to reverse the order of entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] returned by expand after sorting. It provides a convenient way to flip any sequence without needing to re-sort with reverse=true.

Usage

Here’s how to use this template function. Copy any example and adjust it to your setup.

{{ [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] | reverse | list }}

[5, 4, 3, 2, 1]

Function signature

The signature is a technical summary of this template function. It shows the name of the function, the values (called parameters) it accepts, and what type of data each parameter expects (for example, a piece of text or a number).

Function parameters that have a = with a value after them are optional. If you leave them out, the default value shown is used automatically. Function parameters without a default are required.

reverse(
    value: list | str,
) -> list | str

Function parameters

The following parameters can be provided to this filter.

Reversing a string

When applied to a string, the characters are reversed directly.

{{ "hello" | reverse }}

olleh

Good to know

• Returns a reverse iterator for lists. Add | list before counting or accessing by index.
• On strings, the characters are reversed, which can break multi-byte sequences like emoji in some cases.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Template, paste the example into the Template editor, and watch the result update on the right. Edit the values to see how the function adapts to your own entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more].

More examples

Real scenarios where this function comes up in automations and templates. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Display entities in reverse order

Reverse the alphabetical order of expanded entities.

{{
  expand("group.all_lights")
  | sort(attribute="entity_id")
  | reverse
  | map(attribute="entity_id")
  | list
}}

["light.porch", "light.kitchen", "light.bedroom"]

Show most recent events first

Reverse a chronologically sorted list so the most recent items appear first.

{% set events = ["06:00 Motion detected", "07:30 Door opened",
                 "08:15 Light turned on"] %}
{% for event in events | reverse %}
  {{ event }}
{% endfor %}

08:15 Light turned on
07:30 Door opened
06:00 Motion detected

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with your template and expected result, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related template functions

These functions work well alongside this one:

• Sort a list: sort - Sorts the items in a list, with optional attribute-based and reverse sorting.

• Get first item: first - Returns the first item of a list or the first character of a string.

• Get last item: last - Returns the last item of a list or the last character of a string.