Getting Started with MongoDB

MongoDB is a NoSQL database, that provides more flexible and less rigidly structured data storage than traditional relational databases. This MongoDB guide introduces you to all the basic MongoDB operations you need to get started, including commands for operations like queries, inserts, updates, and deletions. It sets you up to begin effectively populating and using your MongoDB instance.

Before You Begin

To perform the steps in the guide, you need to have a running MongoDB database as well as the MongoDB Shell installed (either locally or on your remote instance). To deploy MongoDB, follow the instructions on MongoDB’s documentation site or use one of the following Linode guides:

- [Installing MongoDB on Ubuntu 20.04](/docs/guides/install-mongodb-on-ubuntu-20-04/)
- [Installing MongoDB on CentOS 7](/docs/guides/install-mongodb-on-centos-7/)

Working with Databases

Each MongoDB instance can have multiple databases. The commands in this section cover creating databases, determine the current database you are operating on, and switching to other databases.

Check Current Database

You can ascertain the name of the database your MongoDB shell is currently in using the following command:

db

test

As you see, by default you start in the test database.

Create a Database

You can create a custom database to fit your needs with the use command. It accepts the database name as a parameter. It assumes your instance does not already have a database with that name.

The example below creates a database named exampleDb, assuming that a database with that name does not already exist on the instance:

use exampleDb

switched to db exampleDb

MongoDB automatically switches the current database to the new database:

db

exampleDb

List Databases

MongoDB provides a command that lets you see a list of your instance’s databases:

show databases

admin   0.000GB
config  0.000GB
local   0.000GB

You can see from the example above that exampleDb has not been included. This is because a database does not get permanently stored until data gets added to it.

Once data gets added to the exampleDb database, which you can see in later sections of this guide, the database displays in the list:

admin      0.000GB
config     0.000GB
exampleDb  0.000GB
local      0.000GB

Change Current Database

The use command is not only used to create a database, but also to change the current database. It creates a database if it does not already exist.

If the exampleDb database already exists, the following command switches over to it as your current database:

use exampleDb

switched to db exampleDb

Working with Documents

Databases become useful once they have data stored in them. With MongoDB, data is stored in the form of documents. A MongoDB document is an object in the BSON format, which is similar to JSON. (Take a look at the specifications in the link to know more about the differences between BSON and JSON).

Documents are stored in a given database within a collection. If you are familiar with SQL databases, you can think of a collection as a table. Collections provide ways of organizing documents within a given database.

The following sections cover everything you need to start working with collections and documents and to start filling your MongoDB database with useful data.

Using Collections

To create a collection, you can simply call the collection name appended to the db prefix. For instance, the command below creates a collection named exampleCollection in the current database (which is exampleDb which was created in the previous section).

db.exampleCollection

exampleDb.exampleCollection

You can list the collections in the current database using the command below. However, a collection only persists once data has been added to it. Collections with no data thus is not displayed from the command below.

The following example assumes that data has already been added to the exampleCollection, which you can see in the following section of the guide.

show collections

exampleCollection

Adding Documents

You can add documents to a MongoDB collection through the insert method. This method takes one object or a list of objects, adding each object to the collection.

db.exampleCollection.insert([
    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "First Test Entry"
    },
    {
        "id": 2,
        "name": "Second Test Entry"
    }
])

BulkWriteResult({
    "writeErrors" : [ ],
    "writeConcernErrors" : [ ],
    "nInserted" : 2,
    "nUpserted" : 0,
    "nMatched" : 0,
    "nModified" : 0,
    "nRemoved" : 0,
    "upserted" : [ ]
})

MongoDB also has two methods dedicated to adding a single document or in bulk.

• You can use the insertOne method when you only want to insert a single document.

  db.exampleCollection.insertOne(
      {
          "id": 3,
          "name": "Another Test Entry"
      }
  )

  {
      "acknowledged" : true,
      "insertedId" : ObjectId("62757aa798fcda5eac416190")
  }

• You can use the insertMany method when you want to insert a list of documents.

  db.exampleCollection.insertMany([
      {
          "id": 4,
          "name": "Another Entry for Testing"
      },
      {
          "id": 5,
          "name": "Test Entry, yet Another"
      }
  ])

  {
      "acknowledged" : true,
      "insertedIds" : [
          ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416191"),
          ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416192")
      ]
  }

Functionally, the insert method can handle both the single entries of insertOne and the multiple entries of insertMany methods. However, these additional methods provide different outputs, as seen above, which may prove useful depending on the kind of response you need.

Querying Documents

MongoDB has two primary query commands-find() and findOne(). When used without a filter, each query command fetches from the entirety of a given collection.

The find() command fetches all matching documents while the findOne() command fetches the first document from the matches.

The find() used on the exampleCollection from above looks like the following:

db.exampleCollection.find()

{ "_id" : ObjectId("62757a0798fcda5eac41618e"), "id" : 1, "name" : "First Test Entry" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("62757a0798fcda5eac41618f"), "id" : 2, "name" : "Second Test Entry" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("62757aa798fcda5eac416190"), "id" : 3, "name" : "Another Test Entry" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416191"), "id" : 4, "name" : "Another Entry for Testing" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416192"), "id" : 5, "name" : "Test Entry, yet Another" }

Similarly, the findOne() on the exampleCollection from above looks like the following:

db.exampleCollection.findOne()

{ "_id" : ObjectId("62757a0798fcda5eac41618e"), "id" : 1, "name" : "First Test Entry" }

You can also get a count of documents in a given collection using the count method:

db.exampleCollection.count()

5

Filtering Documents

You often want to query more specifically by applying filters. Both the find() and findOne() methods can take an object as an argument. In the object, you can provide properties to filter your query by using the following command:

db.exampleCollection.findOne(
    {
        "id": 2
    }
)

{
    "_id" : ObjectId("62757a0798fcda5eac41618f"),
    "id" : 2,
    "name" : "Second Test Entry"
}

MongoDB filters also support comparison operators; the full list can be found in the MongoDB official documentation.

For demonstration, the following are some of the useful operators for filtering queries:

• Use $lt for “less than” and $lte for “less than or equal to”:

  db.exampleCollection.find(
      {
          "id": { $lt: 3 }
      }
  )

  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757a0798fcda5eac41618e"), "id" : 1, "name" : "First Test Entry" }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757a0798fcda5eac41618f"), "id" : 2, "name" : "Second Test Entry" }

• Use $gt for “greater than” and $gte for “greater than or equal to”:

  db.exampleCollection.find(
      {
          "id": { $gte: 3 }
      }
  )

  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757aa798fcda5eac416190"), "id" : 3, "name" : "Another Test Entry" }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416191"), "id" : 4, "name" : "Another Entry for Testing" }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416192"), "id" : 5, "name" : "Test Entry, yet Another" }

• Use $ne for “not equal to”:

  db.exampleCollection.find(
      {
          "name": { $ne: "First Test Entry" }
      }
  )

  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757a0798fcda5eac41618f"), "id" : 2, "name" : "Second Test Entry" }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757aa798fcda5eac416190"), "id" : 3, "name" : "Another Test Entry" }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416191"), "id" : 4, "name" : "Another Entry for Testing" }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416192"), "id" : 5, "name" : "Test Entry, yet Another" }

• Use $and and $or for logical and and or operations. These operators should be used as if they were properties with the desired conditions provided as a list of objects.

  The example below combines a search for documents where id is greater than 2 and less than 5:

  db.exampleCollection.find( {
      $and: [
          {
              "id": { $gt: 2 }
          },
          {
              "id": { $lt: 5 }
          }
      ]
  } )

  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757aa798fcda5eac416190"), "id" : 3, "name" : "Another Test Entry" }
  { "_id" : ObjectId("62757b4298fcda5eac416191"), "id" : 4, "name" : "Another Entry for Testing" }

Learn more about comparison and logical query operations in our guide on How to Navigate Your Data in MongoDB Databases.

Updating Documents

MongoDB documents can also be updated, allowing you to change existing documents in a collection.

There are two methods for modifying existing documents, and each one takes two required arguments. The first argument is the query filter identifying the document or documents you want to modify. The second argument uses the $set property to modify one or more fields on the document.

Use the updateOne method for modifying just one document. The example below queries the document where id is 1 and modifies its name to The First Test Entry:

db.exampleCollection.update(
    {
        "id": 1
    },
    {
        $set: { "name": "The First Test Entry" }
    }
)

WriteResult({ "nMatched" : 1, "nUpserted" : 0, "nModified" : 1 })

Use the updateMany method, on the other hand, for modifying multiple documents at once. The example below shows a filter matching all documents where id is greater than 2. For each, the name is changed to Another Test Entry:

db.exampleCollection.updateMany(
    {
        "id": { $gt: 2 }
    },
    {
        $set: { "name": "Another Test Entry" }
    }
)

{ "acknowledged" : true, "matchedCount" : 3, "modifiedCount" : 2 }

Removing Documents

Removing a document from a MongoDB collection is straightforward and uses the deleteOne() and deleteMany() methods. Much like the update methods above, each takes a filter as an argument. The filter identifies the document or documents you want to remove.

So, to remove the first entry from the exampleCollection, use the command below:

db.exampleCollection.deleteOne(
    {
        "id": 1
    }
)

{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 1 }

And to remove all entries after "id": 3, use the command below:

db.exampleCollection.deleteMany(
    {
        "id": { $gt: 3 }
    }
)

{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 2 }

MongoDB also comes with the ability to remove all documents from a collection at once. This is accomplished using the deleteMany() method with a blank object as the argument:

db.exampleCollection.deleteMany( {} )

{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 3 }

Removing a Collection

The deleteMany() method described in the section above removes all of the documents in a collection. However, it does not remove the collection itself.

To do that, you can use the drop() method:

db.exampleCollection.drop()

true

Conclusion

This tutorial has laid out the basics of MongoDB you need for getting started. From how to work with databases and collections, to inserting and modifying documents, this guide gives you the tools you need.

Looking to dive deeper into MongoDB? Be sure to peruse our other MongoDB guides for more on setting up and getting the most out of MongoDB. And take a look at our How to Navigate Your Data in MongoDB Databases for more on querying and text searches.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• MongoDB: Getting Started
• freeCodeCamp: How to Get Started with MongoDB in 10 Minutes
• GeeksforGeeks: MongoDB — Getting Started