Write Operations

On this page

Overview

Sample Model
Insert Documents
Insert a Document Examples
Insert Multiple Documents Example
Modify Documents
Update a Document Examples
Update Multiple Documents Example
Update or Insert in a Single Operation
Upsert Method
Update Method
Update Arrays in a Document
Add Values to an Array Example
Remove Values From an Array Example
Update the Value of an Array Element Example
Delete Documents
Delete a Document Examples
Delete Multiple Documents Examples

Overview

In this guide, you can learn how to use Laravel MongoDB to perform write operations on your MongoDB collections. Write operations include inserting, updating, and deleting data based on specified criteria.

This guide shows you how to perform the following tasks:

Insert Documents
Modify Documents
Delete Documents

Sample Model

The write operations in this guide reference the following Eloquent model class:

Concert.php

<?php
namespace App\Models;
use MongoDB\Laravel\Eloquent\Model;
class Concert extends Model
{
    protected $connection = 'mongodb';
    protected $fillable = ['performer', 'venue', 'genres', 'ticketsSold', 'performanceDate'];
    protected $casts = ['performanceDate' => 'datetime'];
}

Tip

The $fillable attribute lets you use Laravel mass assignment for insert operations. To learn more about mass assignment, see Customize Mass Assignment in the Eloquent Model Class documentation.

The $casts attribute instructs Laravel to convert attributes to common data types. To learn more, see Attribute Casting in the Laravel documentation.

Insert Documents

In this section, you can learn how to insert documents into MongoDB collections from your Laravel application by using Laravel MongoDB.

When you insert the documents, ensure the data does not violate any unique indexes on the collection. When inserting the first document of a collection or creating a new collection, MongoDB automatically creates a unique index on the _id field.

For more information on creating indexes on MongoDB collections by using the Laravel schema builder, see the Manage Indexes section of the Schema Builder documentation.

To learn more about Eloquent models in the Laravel Integration, see the Eloquent Models section.

Insert a Document Examples

These examples show how to use the save() Eloquent method to insert an instance of a Concert model as a MongoDB document.

When the save() method succeeds, you can access the model instance on which you called the method.

If the operation fails, the model instance is assigned null.

This example code performs the following actions:

Creates a new instance of the Concert model
Assigns string values to the performer and venue fields
Assigns an array of strings to the genre field
Assigns a number to the ticketsSold field
Assigns a date to the performanceDate field by using the Carbon package
Inserts the document by calling the save() method

Insert a document by calling the save() method on an instance.

$concert = new Concert();
$concert->performer = 'Mitsuko Uchida';
$concert->venue = 'Carnegie Hall';
$concert->genres = ['classical'];
$concert->ticketsSold = 2121;
$concert->performanceDate = Carbon::create(2024, 4, 1, 20, 0, 0, 'EST');
$concert->save();

You can retrieve the inserted document's _id value by accessing the model's id member, as shown in the following code example:

$insertedId = $concert->id;

If you enable mass assignment by defining either the $fillable or $guarded attributes, you can use the Eloquent model create() method to perform the insert in a single call, as shown in the following example:

$insertResult = Concert::create([
    'performer' => 'The Rolling Stones',
    'venue' => 'Soldier Field',
    'genres' => [ 'rock', 'pop', 'blues' ],
    'ticketsSold' => 59527,
    'performanceDate' => Carbon::create(2024, 6, 30, 20, 0, 0, 'CDT'),
]);

To learn more about the Carbon PHP API extension, see the Carbon GitHub repository.

Insert Multiple Documents Example

This example shows how to use the insert() Eloquent method to insert multiple instances of a Concert model as MongoDB documents. This bulk insert method reduces the number of calls your application needs to make to save the documents.

When the insert() method succeeds, it returns the value 1.

If it fails, it throws an exception.

The example code saves multiple models in a single call by passing them as an array to the insert() method:

Note

This example wraps the dates in the MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime class to convert it to a type MongoDB can serialize because Laravel skips attribute casting on bulk insert operations.

$data = [
    [
        'performer' => 'Brad Mehldau',
        'venue' => 'Philharmonie de Paris',
        'genres' => [ 'jazz', 'post-bop' ],
        'ticketsSold' => 5745,
        'performanceDate' => new UTCDateTime(Carbon::create(2025, 2, 12, 20, 0, 0, 'CET')),
    ],
    [
        'performer' => 'Billy Joel',
        'venue' => 'Madison Square Garden',
        'genres' => [ 'rock', 'soft rock', 'pop rock' ],
        'ticketsSold' => 12852,
        'performanceDate' => new UTCDateTime(Carbon::create(2025, 2, 12, 20, 0, 0, 'CET')),
    ],
];
Concert::insert($data);

Modify Documents

In this section, you can learn how to modify documents in your MongoDB collection from your Laravel application. Use update operations to modify existing documents or to insert a document if none match the search criteria.

You can persist changes on an instance of an Eloquent model or use Eloquent's fluent syntax to chain an update operation on methods that return a Laravel collection object.

This section provides examples of the following update operations:

Update a document
Update multiple documents
Update or insert in a single operation
Update arrays in a document

Update a Document Examples

You can update a document in the following ways:

Modify an instance of the model and save the changes by calling the save() method.
Chain methods to retrieve an instance of a model and perform updates on it by calling the update() method.

The following example shows how to update a document by modifying an instance of the model and calling its save() method:

Update a document by calling the save() method on an instance.

$concert = Concert::first();
$concert->venue = 'Manchester Arena';
$concert->ticketsSold = 9543;
$concert->save();

When the save() method succeeds, the model instance on which you called the method contains the updated values.

If the operation fails, the Laravel Integration assigns the model instance a null value.

The following example shows how to update a document by chaining methods to retrieve and update the first matching document:

Update the matching document by chaining the update() method.

$concert = Concert::where(['performer' => 'Brad Mehldau'])
    ->orderBy('id')
    ->first()
    ->update(['venue' => 'Manchester Arena', 'ticketsSold' => 9543]);

Note

The orderBy() call sorts the results by the _id field to guarantee a consistent sort order. To learn more about sorting in MongoDB, see the Natural order glossary entry in the Server manual.

When the update() method succeeds, the operation returns the number of documents updated.

If the retrieve part of the call does not match any documents, the Laravel Integration returns the following error:

Error: Call to a member function update() on null

Update Multiple Documents Example

To perform an update on one or more documents, chain the update() method to the results of a method that retrieves the documents as a Laravel collection object, such as where().

The following example shows how to chain calls to retrieve matching documents and update them:

Concert::whereIn('venue', ['Philharmonie de Paris', 'Soldier Field'])
    ->update(['venue' => 'Concertgebouw', 'ticketsSold' => 0]);

When the update() method succeeds, the operation returns the number of documents updated.

If the retrieve part of the call does not match any documents in the collection, the Laravel Integration returns the following error:

Error: Call to a member function update() on null

Update or Insert in a Single Operation

An upsert operation lets you perform an update or insert in a single operation. This operation streamlines the task of updating a document or inserting one if it does not exist.

Starting in v4.7, you can perform an upsert operation by using either of the following methods:

upsert(): When you use this method, you can perform a batch upsert to change or insert multiple documents in one operation.
update(): When you use this method, you must specify the upsert option to update all documents that match the query filter or insert one document if no documents are matched. Only this upsert method is supported in versions v4.6 and earlier.

Upsert Method

The upsert(array $values, array|string $uniqueBy, array|null $update) method accepts the following parameters:

$values: Array of fields and values that specify documents to update or insert.
$uniqueBy: List of fields that uniquely identify documents in your first array parameter.
$update: Optional list of fields to update if a matching document exists. If you omit this parameter, the Laravel Integration updates all fields.

To specify an upsert in the upsert() method, set parameters as shown in the following code example:

YourModel::upsert(
   [/* documents to update or insert */],
   '/* unique field */',
   [/* fields to update */],
);

Example

This example shows how to use the upsert() method to perform an update or insert in a single operation. Click the VIEW OUTPUT button to see the resulting data changes when there is a document in which the value of performer is 'Angel Olsen' in the collection already:

Concert::upsert([
    ['performer' => 'Angel Olsen', 'venue' => 'Academy of Music', 'ticketsSold' => 275],
    ['performer' => 'Darondo', 'venue' => 'Cafe du Nord', 'ticketsSold' => 300],
], 'performer', ['ticketsSold']);

{
  "_id": "...",
  "performer": "Angel Olsen",
  "venue": "State Theatre",
  "genres": [
    "indie",
    "rock"
  ],
  "ticketsSold": 275,
  "updated_at": ...
},
{
  "_id": "...",
  "performer": "Darondo",
  "venue": "Cafe du Nord",
  "ticketsSold": 300,
  "updated_at": ...
}

In the document in which the value of performer is 'Angel Olsen', the venue field value is not updated, as the upsert specifies that the update applies only to the ticketsSold field.

Update Method

To specify an upsert in an update() method, set the upsert option to true as shown in the following code example:

YourModel::where(/* match criteria */)
   ->update(
       [/* update data */],
       ['upsert' => true]);

When the update() method is chained to a query, it performs one of the following actions:

If the query matches documents, the update() method modifies the matching documents.
If the query matches zero documents, the update() method inserts a document that contains the update data and the equality match criteria data.

Example

This example shows how to pass the upsert option to the update() method to perform an update or insert in a single operation. Click the VIEW OUTPUT button to see the example document inserted when no matching documents exist:

Concert::where(['performer' => 'Jon Batiste', 'venue' => 'Radio City Music Hall'])
    ->update(
        ['genres' => ['R&B', 'soul'], 'ticketsSold' => 4000],
        ['upsert' => true],
    );

{
  "_id": "660c...",
  "performer": "Jon Batiste",
  "venue": "Radio City Music Hall",
  "genres": [
    "R&B",
    "soul"
  ],
  "ticketsSold": 4000,
  "updated_at": ...
}

Update Arrays in a Document

In this section, you can see examples of the following operations that update array values in a MongoDB document:

Add values to an array
Remove values from an array
Update the value of an array element

These examples modify the sample document created by the following insert operation:

Concert::create([
    'performer' => 'Mitsuko Uchida',
    'genres' => ['classical', 'dance-pop'],
]);

Add Values to an Array Example

This section shows how to use the push() method to add values to an array in a MongoDB document. You can pass one or more values to add and set the optional parameter unique to true to skip adding any duplicate values in the array. The following code example shows the structure of a push() method call:

YourModel::where(<match criteria>)
   ->push(
       <field name>,
       [<values>], // array or single value to add
       unique: true); // whether to skip existing values

The following example shows how to add the value "baroque" to the genres array field of a matching document. Click the VIEW OUTPUT button to see the updated document:

Concert::where('performer', 'Mitsuko Uchida')
    ->push(
        'genres',
        ['baroque'],
    );

{
  "_id": "660eb...",
  "performer": "Mitsuko Uchida",
  "genres": [
      "classical",
      "dance-pop",
  ],
  "updated_at": ...,
  "created_at": ...
}

Remove Values From an Array Example

This section shows how to use the pull() method to remove values from an array in a MongoDB document. You can pass one or more values to remove from the array. The following code example shows the structure of a pull() method call:

YourModel::where(<match criteria>)
   ->pull(
       <field name>,
       [<values>]); // array or single value to remove

The following example shows how to remove array values "classical" and "dance-pop" from the genres array field. Click the VIEW OUTPUT button to see the updated document:

Concert::where('performer', 'Mitsuko Uchida')
    ->pull(
        'genres',
        ['dance-pop', 'classical'],
    );

{
  "_id": "660e...",
  "performer": "Mitsuko Uchida",
  "genres": [],
  "updated_at": ...,
  "created_at": ...
}

Update the Value of an Array Element Example

This section shows how to use the $ positional operator to update specific array elements in a MongoDB document. The $ operator represents the first array element that matches the query. The following code example shows the structure of a positional operator update call on a single matching document:

Note

Currently, the Laravel Integration offers this operation only on the DB facade and not on the Eloquent ORM.

DB::connection('mongodb')
   ->getCollection(<collection name>)
   ->updateOne(
       <match criteria>,
       ['$set' => ['<array field>.$' => <replacement value>]]);

The following example shows how to replace the array value "dance-pop" with "contemporary" in the genres array field. Click the VIEW OUTPUT button to see the updated document:

$match = ['performer' => 'Mitsuko Uchida', 'genres' => 'dance-pop'];
$update = ['$set' => ['genres.$' => 'contemporary']];
DB::connection('mongodb')
    ->getCollection('concerts')
    ->updateOne($match, $update);

{
  "_id": "660e...",
  "performer": "Mitsuko Uchida",
  "genres": [
    "classical",
    "contemporary"
  ],
  "updated_at": ...,
  "created_at": ...
}

To learn more about array update operators, see Array Update Operators in the Server manual.

Delete Documents

In this section, you can learn how to delete documents from a MongoDB collection by using the Laravel Integration. Use delete operations to remove data from your MongoDB database.

This section provides examples of the following delete operations:

Delete one document
Delete multiple documents

To learn about the Laravel features available in the Laravel Integration that modify delete behavior, see the following sections:

Soft delete, which lets you mark documents as deleted instead of removing them from the database
Pruning, which lets you define conditions that qualify a document for automatic deletion

Delete a Document Examples

You can delete one document in the following ways:

Call the $model->delete() method on an instance of the model.
Call the Model::destroy($id) method on the model, passing it the id of the document to be deleted.
Chain methods to retrieve and delete an instance of a model by calling the delete() method.

The following example shows how to delete a document by calling $model->delete() on an instance of the model:

Delete the document by calling the delete() method on an instance.

$concert = Concert::first();
$concert->delete();

When the delete() method succeeds, the operation returns the number of documents deleted.

If the retrieve part of the call does not match any documents in the collection, the operation returns 0.

The following example shows how to delete a document by passing the value of its id to the Model::destroy($id) method:

Delete the document by its id value.

$id = 'MSG-0212252000';
Concert::destroy($id);

When the destroy() method succeeds, it returns the number of documents deleted.

If the id value does not match any documents, the destroy() method returns returns 0.

The following example shows how to chain calls to retrieve the first matching document and delete it:

Delete the matching document by chaining the delete() method.

Concert::where('venue', 'Carnegie Hall')
    ->limit(1)
    ->delete();

Note

The orderBy() call sorts the results by the _id field to guarantee a consistent sort order. To learn more about sorting in MongoDB, see the Natural order glossary entry in the Server manual.

When the delete() method succeeds, it returns the number of documents deleted.

If the where() method does not match any documents, the delete() method returns returns 0.

Delete Multiple Documents Examples

You can delete multiple documents in the following ways:

Call the Model::destroy($ids) method, passing a list of the ids of the documents or model instances to be deleted.
Chain methods to retrieve a Laravel collection object that references multiple objects and delete them by calling the delete() method.

The following example shows how to delete a document by passing an array of id values, represented by $ids, to the destroy() method:

Delete documents by their ids.

$ids = [3, 5, 7, 9];
Concert::destroy($ids);

Tip

The destroy() method performance suffers when passed large lists. For better performance, use Model::whereIn('id', $ids)->delete() instead.

When the destroy() method succeeds, it returns the number of documents deleted.

If the id values do not match any documents, the destroy() method returns returns 0.

The following example shows how to chain calls to retrieve matching documents and delete them:

Chain calls to retrieve matching documents and delete them.

Concert::where('ticketsSold', '>', 7500)
    ->delete();

When the delete() method succeeds, it returns the number of documents deleted.

If the where() method does not match any documents, the delete() method returns 0.

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Read Operations

Aggregation Builder

Write Operations.leafygreen-ui-m0pgrr{-webkit-align-self:center;-ms-flex-item-align:center;align-self:center;padding:0 10px;visibility:hidden;}.leafygreen-ui-a30zj9{color:#889397;vertical-align:middle;margin-top:-2px;}.css-fmznk8{margin-top:-85px;position:absolute;padding-bottom:2px;}

Overview

Sample Model

Tip

Insert Documents

Insert a Document Examples

Insert Multiple Documents Example

Note

Modify Documents

Update a Document Examples

Note

Update Multiple Documents Example

Update or Insert in a Single Operation

Upsert Method

Example

Update Method

Example

Update Arrays in a Document

Add Values to an Array Example

Remove Values From an Array Example

Update the Value of an Array Element Example

Note

Delete Documents

Delete a Document Examples

Note

Delete Multiple Documents Examples

Tip

Write Operations