OData query options cheat sheet

Q: Why does $count not work on my V2 service?

OData V2 has no $count=true . Use $inlinecount=allpages to get the total next to the rows, or /EntitySet/$count for the number alone. The viewer picks the right one from the service's version.

Q: Are query options case-sensitive?

The option names ( $filter , $top ) are lower case in the specification; V4.01 services may accept other casings, older ones often do not. Property names are always case-sensitive.

OData services share one URL grammar for querying entity sets. The options below go into the query string after the entity set, for example People?$filter=…&$top=10. Each Try it link opens the viewer with the query already filled in and runs it against the public sample service — no URL typing, and the exact request URL is shown next to the results.

$filter — which rows

Purpose	Expression	Try it
Equality	`FirstName eq 'Scott'`	TripPin People
Comparison	`UnitPrice gt 50`	Northwind Products
Logical	`UnitPrice gt 20 and Discontinued eq false`	Northwind Products
String function	`startswith(CompanyName,'A')` (V4), `startswith(CompanyName,'A') eq true` (V2)	Northwind Customers
Contains	`contains(ProductName,'Chef')` (V4), `substringof('Chef',ProductName)` (V2)	Northwind Products

Operators: eq, ne, gt, ge, lt, le, and, or, not, in (V4.01). Strings use single quotes; a quote inside a string is doubled ('O''Neil'). Dates are 2026-10-19 (V4) or datetime'2026-10-19T00:00:00' (V2).

$select — which columns

$select=FirstName,LastName returns only these properties, which keeps responses small on wide SAP entities. Try it on TripPin.

$orderby — sorting

$orderby=UnitPrice desc sorts descending; several keys are comma-separated (Country,City). In the viewer you can also click a column header. Try it on Northwind.

$top and $skip — paging

$top=10&$skip=20 returns rows 21 to 30. Many services also page on their own and add a next link (@odata.nextLink in V4, __next in V2); the viewer follows it with Next ›. Try it.

$expand — related entities in one request

$expand=Category embeds the navigation property's target. V4 allows nested options: $expand=Orders($select=OrderID;$top=3). In V2, nested paths use a slash: $expand=Orders/Order_Details. Try it on Northwind.

$count — how many

V4: $count=true adds @odata.count to the answer. V2: $inlinecount=allpages. The viewer requests the count by default and shows it above the table.

$search — free text (V4)

$search=blue is a free-text search whose meaning the service defines; many services do not implement it.

Building the URL by hand

The full request for the first example is

https://services.odata.org/TripPinRESTierService/People?$filter=FirstName eq 'Scott'&$count=true

Spaces and quotes must be percent-encoded when you paste it into code; the viewer's Copy as menu does that for curl, JavaScript, C#, Python and Power Query.

Open the TripPin data explorer

Questions

Why does $count not work on my V2 service?

OData V2 has no $count=true. Use $inlinecount=allpages to get the total next to the rows, or /EntitySet/$count for the number alone. The viewer picks the right one from the service's version.

Are query options case-sensitive?

The option names ($filter, $top) are lower case in the specification; V4.01 services may accept other casings, older ones often do not. Property names are always case-sensitive.