Modify Documents

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Overview

Update Document Pattern
The _id Field
Update Documents
Parameters
Return Value
Update Example
Update by ObjectId Example
Replace a Document
Parameters
Return Values
Replace Example
Modify Update and Replace Behavior
Additional Information
API Documentation

Overview

In this guide, you can learn how to modify documents in MongoDB by using update and replace operations.

Update operations change the fields that you specify while leaving other fields and values unchanged. Replace operations remove all existing fields of a document except for the _id field and substitute the removed fields with new fields and values.

This guide includes the following sections:

Update Documents describes how to use the driver to execute update operations
Replace a Document describes how to use the driver to execute replace operations
Modify Update and Replace Behavior describes how to modify the default behavior of the methods described in this guide
Additional Information provides links to resources and API documentation for types and methods mentioned in this guide

Update Document Pattern

In MongoDB, all methods to change documents follow the same pattern:

Note

changeX() is a placeholder and not a real method.

These methods take the following parameters:

A query filter to match one or more documents to change
An update document that specifies the field and value changes

The Rust driver provides the following methods to change documents:

update_one()
update_many()
replace_one()

You can retrieve and modify data in one action by using compound operations. To learn more, see the guide on Compound Operations.

The _id Field

Each document in a MongoDB collection has a unique and immutable _id field. If you attempt to change the _id field through an update or replace operation, the driver raises a WriteError and performs no updates.

Update Documents

You can perform update operations with the following methods:

update_one(), which updates the first document that matches the search criteria
update_many(), which updates all documents that match the search criteria

You can also chain option builder methods to these update operation methods. To learn about modifying the behavior of the update methods, see the Modify Update and Replace Behavior section of this guide.

Parameters

Each method takes a query filter and an update document that includes at least one update operator. The update operator specifies the type of update to perform and includes the fields and values that describe the change. Update documents use the following format:

doc! { "<update operator>": doc! { "<field>": <value> } }

To specify multiple updates in one update document, use the following format:

doc! {
    "<update operator>": doc!{"<field>": <value>},
    "<update operator>": doc!{"<field>": <value>},
    ...
}

See the MongoDB server manual for a complete list of update operators and descriptions.

Note

Aggregation Pipelines in Update Operations

If you are using MongoDB Server version 4.2 or later, you can use aggregation pipelines in update operations. To learn more about the aggregation stages MongoDB supports in aggregation pipelines, see our tutorial on performing updates with aggregation pipelines.

Return Value

The update_one() and update_many() methods return an UpdateResult type if the operation is successful. The UpdateResult type contains the following properties that describe the operation:

Property	Description
`matched_count`	The number of documents matched by the filter
`modified_count`	The number of documents modified by the operation
`upserted_id`	The `_id` of the upserted document, or empty if there is none

If multiple documents match the query filter you pass to UpdateOne(), the method selects and updates the first matched document. If no documents match the query filter, the update operation makes no changes.

Update Example

The following documents describe employees of a company:

{
  "_id": ObjectId('4337'),
  "name": "Shelley Olson",
  "department": "Marketing",
  "role": "Director",
  "bonus": 3000
},
{
  "_id": ObjectId('4902'),
  "name": "Remi Ibrahim",
  "department": "Marketing",
  "role": "Consultant",
  "bonus": 1800
}

This example performs an update operation with the update_many() method. The update_many() method takes the following parameters:

A query filter to match documents where the value of the department field is "Marketing"
An update document that contains the following updates:
- A $set operator to change the value of department to "Business Operations" and role to "Analytics Specialist"
- An $inc operator to increase the value of bonus by 500

let update_doc = doc! {
        "$set": doc! { "department": "Business Operations",
                      "role": "Analytics Specialist" },
        "$inc": doc! { "bonus": 500 }
};
let res = my_coll
    .update_many(doc! { "department": "Marketing" }, update_doc)
    .await?;
println!("Modified documents: {}", res.modified_count);

Modified documents: 2

The following documents reflect the changes resulting from the preceding update operation:

{
  "_id": ObjectId('4337'),
  "name": "Shelley Olson",
  "department": "Business Operations",
  "role": "Analytics Specialist",
  "bonus": 3500
},
{
  "_id": ObjectId('4902'),
  "name": "Remi Ibrahim",
  "department": "Business Operations",
  "role": "Analytics Specialist",
  "bonus": 2300
}

Update by ObjectId Example

The following document describes an employee of a company:

{
  "_id": ObjectId('4274'),
  "name": "Jill Millerton",
  "department": "Marketing",
  "role": "Consultant"
}

This example queries for the preceding document by specifying a query filter to match the document's unique _id value. Then, the code performs an update operation with the update_one() method. The update_one() method takes the following parameters:

Query filter that matches a document in which the value of the _id field is ObjectId('4274')
Update document that creates instructions to set the value of name to "Jill Gillison"

let id = ObjectId::from_str("4274").expect("Could not convert to ObjectId");
let filter_doc = doc! { "_id": id };
let update_doc = doc! {
        "$set": doc! { "name": "Jill Gillison" }
};
let res = my_coll
    .update_one(filter_doc, update_doc)
    .await?;
println!("Modified documents: {}", res.modified_count);

Modified documents: 1

The following document reflects the changes resulting from the preceding update operation:

{
  "_id": ObjectId('4274'),
  "name": "Jill Gillison",
  "department": "Marketing",
  "role": "Consultant"
}

Tip

To learn more about the _id field, see the _id Field section of this page or the ObjectId() method documentation in the Server manual.

Replace a Document

You can perform a replace operation with the replace_one() method. This method replaces all existing fields of a document except for the _id field with new fields and values that you specify.

You can also chain option builder methods to a replace operation method. To learn about modifying the behavior of the replace_one() method, see the Modify Update and Replace Behavior section of this guide.

Parameters

The replace_one() method takes a query filter and a replacement document, which contains the fields and values that will replace an existing document. Replacement documents use the following format:

doc! { "<field>": <value>, "<field>": <value>, ... }

Return Values

The replace_one method returns an UpdateResult type if the operation is successful. The UpdateResult type contains the following properties that describe the operation:

Property	Description
`matched_count`	The number of documents matched by the filter
`modified_count`	The number of documents modified by the operation
`upserted_id`	The `_id` of the upserted document, or empty if there is none

If multiple documents match the query filter you pass to replace_one(), the method selects and replaces the first matched document. If no documents match the query filter, the replace operation makes no changes.

Replace Example

The following document describes an employee of a company:

{
  "_id": ObjectId('4501'),
  "name": "Matt DeGuy",
  "role": "Consultant",
  "team_members": [ "Jill Gillison", "Susan Lee" ]
}

This example uses the replace_one() method to replace the preceding document with one that has the following fields:

A name value of "Susan Lee"
A role value of "Lead Consultant"
A team_members value of [ "Jill Gillison" ]

let replace_doc = doc! {
    "name": "Susan Lee",
    "role": "Lead Consultant",
    "team_members": vec! [ "Jill Gillison" ]
};
let res = my_coll
    .replace_one(doc! { "name": "Matt DeGuy" }, replace_doc)
    .await?;
println!(
    "Matched documents: {}\nModified documents: {}",
    res.matched_count, res.modified_count
);

Matched documents: 1
Modified documents: 1

The replaced document contains the contents of the replacement document and the immutable _id field:

{
  "_id": ObjectId('4501'),
  "name": "Susan Lee",
  "role": "Lead Consultant",
  "team_members": [ "Jill Gillison" ]
}

Modify Update and Replace Behavior

You can modify the behavior of the update_one(), update_many, and replace_one() methods by calling options methods that set UpdateOptions struct fields.

Note

Setting Options

You can set UpdateOptions fields by chaining option builder methods directly to the update or replace method call. If you're using an earlier version of the driver, you must construct an UpdateOptions instance by chaining option builder methods to the builder() method. Then, pass your options instance as a parameter to update_one(), update_many, or replace_one().

The following table describes the options available in UpdateOptions:

Option	Description
`array_filters`	The set of filters specifying the array elements to which the update applies. Type: `Vec<Document>`
`bypass_document_validation`	If `true`, allows the driver to perform a write that violates document-level validation. To learn more about validation, see the guide on Schema Validation. Type: `bool` Default: `false`
`upsert`	If true, the operation inserts a document if no documents match the query filter. Type: `bool`
`collation`	The collation to use when sorting results. To learn more about collations, see the Collations guide. Type: `Collation` Default: `None`
`hint`	The index to use for the operation. This option is available only when connecting to MongoDB Server versions 4.2 and later. Type: `Hint` Default: `None`
`write_concern`	The write concern for the operation. If you don't set this option, the operation inherits the write concern set for the collection. To learn more about write concerns, see Write Concern in the Server manual. Type: `WriteConcern`
`let_vars`	A map of parameters and values. These parameters can be accessed as variables in aggregation expressions. This option is available only when connecting to MongoDB Server versions 5.0 and later. Type: `Document`
`comment`	An arbitrary `Bson` value tied to the operation to trace it through the database profiler, `currentOp`, and logs. This option is available only when connecting to MongoDB Server versions 4.4 and later. Type: `Bson` Default: `None`

The following code shows how to set the upsert field by chaining the upsert() method to the update_one() method:

let res = my_coll
    .update_one(filter_doc, update_doc)
    .upsert(true)
    .await?;

Additional Information

For more information about the concepts in this guide, see the following documentation:

Specify a Query guide
Compound Operations guide

For runnable examples of the update and replace operations, see the following usage examples:

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

API Documentation

To learn more about the methods and types mentioned in this guide, see the following API documentation:

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