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mongoexport Examples

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  • Export in CSV Format
  • Export in JSON Format
  • Export from Remote Host Running with Authentication
  • Export Query Results
  • Connect to a MongoDB Atlas Cluster using AWS IAM Credentials
  • Learn More

This page shows examples for mongoexport.

Run mongoexport from the system command line, not the mongo shell.

Export in CSV Format

Export Data in CSV Format using --fields option

In the following example, mongoexport exports data from the collection contacts collection in the users database in CSV format to the file /opt/backups/contacts.csv.

The mongod instance that mongoexport connects to is running on the localhost port number 27017.

When you export in CSV format, you must specify the fields in the documents to export. The operation specifies the name and address fields to export.

mongoexport --db=users --collection=contacts --type=csv --fields=name,address --out=/opt/backups/contacts.csv

The output would then resemble:

name, address
Sophie Monroe, 123 Example Road
Charles Yu, 345 Sample Street

Use a File to Specify the Fields to Export in CSV Format

For CSV exports only, you can also specify the fields in a file containing the line-separated list of fields to export. The file must have only one field per line.

For example, you can specify the name and address fields in a file fields.txt:

name
address

Then, using the --fieldFile option, specify the fields to export with the file:

mongoexport --db=users --collection=contacts --type=csv --fieldFile=fields.txt --out=/opt/backups/contacts.csv

Exclude Field Names from CSV Output

The --noHeaderLine option can be used to exclude field names in a CSV export. The following example exports the name and address fields in the contacts collection in the users database and uses --noHeaderLine to suppress the output of the field names as the first line:

mongoexport --db=users --collection=contacts --type=csv --fields=name,address --noHeaderLine --out=/opt/backups/contacts.csv

The CSV output would then resemble:

Sophie Monroe, 123 Example Road
Charles Yu, 345 Sample Street

Export in JSON Format

This example creates an export of the contacts collection from the MongoDB instance running on the localhost port number 27017. This writes the export to the contacts.json file in JSON format.

mongoexport --db=sales --collection=contacts --out=contacts.json

Export from Remote Host Running with Authentication

The following example exports the contacts collection in the marketing database from a remote MongoDB instance that requires authentication.

Specify the:

Tip

Omit the --password option to have mongoexport prompt for the password:

mongoexport --host=mongodb1.example.net --port=27017 --username=someUser --authenticationDatabase=admin --collection=contacts --db=marketing --out=mdb1-examplenet.json

Alternatively, you use the --uri option to specify the host, port, username, authentication database, and db.

Tip

Omit the password in the URI string to have mongoexport prompt for the password:

mongoexport --uri='mongodb://someUser@mongodb0.example.com:27017/marketing?authsource=admin' --collection=contacts --out=mdb1-examplenet.json

Export Query Results

You can export only the results of a query by supplying a query filter with the --query option, and limit the results to a single database using the "--db" option.

For instance, this command returns all documents in the sales database's contacts collection that contain a field named dept equal to "ABC" and the field date greater than or equal to ISODate("2018-01-01") (using the canonical format for dates { "$date": "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.mmm<offset>"} )

mongoexport --db=sales --collection=contacts --query='{"dept": "ABC", date: { $gte: { "$date": "2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" } }}'

You must enclose the query document in single quotes ('{ ... }') to ensure that it does not interact with your shell environment.

Connect to a MongoDB Atlas Cluster using AWS IAM Credentials

New in version 100.1.0.

To connect to a MongoDB Atlas cluster which has been configured to support authentication via AWS IAM credentials, provide a connection string to mongoexport similar to the following:

mongoexport 'mongodb+srv://<aws access key id>:<aws secret access key>@cluster0.example.com/testdb?authSource=$external&authMechanism=MONGODB-AWS' <other options>

Connecting to Atlas using AWS IAM credentials in this manner uses the MONGODB-AWS authentication mechanism and the $external authSource, as shown in this example.

If using an AWS session token, as well, provide it with the AWS_SESSION_TOKEN authMechanismProperties value, as follows:

mongoexport 'mongodb+srv://<aws access key id>:<aws secret access key>@cluster0.example.com/testdb?authSource=$external&authMechanism=MONGODB-AWS&authMechanismProperties=AWS_SESSION_TOKEN:<aws session token>' <other options>

Note

If the AWS access key ID, secret access key, or session token include the following characters:

: / ? # [ ] @

those characters must be converted using percent encoding.

Alternatively, the AWS access key ID, secret access key, and optionally session token can each be provided outside of the connection string using the --username, --password, and --awsSessionToken options instead, like so:

mongoexport 'mongodb+srv://cluster0.example.com/testdb?authSource=$external&authMechanism=MONGODB-AWS' --username <aws access key id> --password <aws secret access key> --awsSessionToken <aws session token> <other options>

When provided as command line parameters, these three options do not require percent encoding.

You may also set these credentials on your platform using standard AWS IAM environment variables. mongoexport checks for the following environment variables when you use the MONGODB-AWS authentication mechanism:

  • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

  • AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

  • AWS_SESSION_TOKEN

If set, these credentials do not need to be specified in the connection string or via their explicit options.

Note

If you chose to use the AWS environment variables to specify these values, you cannot mix and match with the corresponding explicit or connection string options for these credentials. Either use the environment variables for access key ID and secret access key (and session token if used), or specify each of these using the explicit or connection string options instead.

The following example sets these environment variables in the bash shell:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID='<aws access key id>'
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY='<aws secret access key>'
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN='<aws session token>'

Syntax for setting environment variables in other shells will be different. Consult the documentation for your platform for more information.

You can verify that these environment variables have been set with the following command:

env | grep AWS

Once set, the following example connects to a MongoDB Atlas cluster using these environment variables:

mongoexport 'mongodb+srv://cluster0.example.com/testdb?authSource=$external&authMechanism=MONGODB-AWS'  <other options>

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