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db.aggregate()

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  • Definition
  • Compatibility
  • Example
db.aggregate()

Runs a specified admin/diagnostic pipeline which does not require an underlying collection. For aggregations on collection data, see db.collection.aggregate().

Important

mongosh Method

This page documents a mongosh method. This is not the documentation for database commands or language-specific drivers, such as Node.js.

For the database command, see the aggregate command.

For MongoDB API drivers, refer to the language-specific MongoDB driver documentation.

The db.aggregate() method has the following syntax:

db.aggregate( [ <pipeline> ], { <options> } )

The pipeline parameter is an array of stages to execute. It must start with a compatible stage that does not require an underlying collection, such as $currentOp or $listLocalSessions.

The options document can contain the following fields and values:

Field
Type
Description

explain

boolean

Optional. Specifies that the method should return information on the processing of the pipeline.

See Return Information on Aggregation Pipeline Operation for an example.

Not available in multi-document transactions.

allowDiskUse

boolean

Optional. Enables writing to temporary files. When set to true, aggregation operations can write data to the _tmp subdirectory in the dbPath directory. See Interaction with allowDiskUseByDefault for an example.

The profiler log messages and diagnostic log messages includes a usedDisk indicator if any aggregation stage wrote data to temporary files due to memory restrictions.

cursor

document

Optional. Specifies the initial batch size for the cursor. The value of the cursor field is a document with the field batchSize. See Specify an Initial Batch Size for syntax and example.

maxTimeMS

non-negative integer

Optional. Specifies a time limit in milliseconds for processing operations on a cursor. If you do not specify a value for maxTimeMS, operations will not time out. A value of 0 explicitly specifies the default unbounded behavior.

MongoDB terminates operations that exceed their allotted time limit using the same mechanism as db.killOp(). MongoDB only terminates an operation at one of its designated interrupt points.

bypassDocumentValidation

boolean

Optional. Applicable only if you specify the $out or $merge aggregation stages.

Enables db.collection.aggregate() to bypass document validation during the operation. This lets you insert documents that do not meet the validation requirements.

readConcern

document

Optional. Specifies the read concern.

The readConcern option has the following syntax: readConcern: { level: <value> }

Possible read concern levels are:

  • "local". This is the default read concern level for read operations against the primary and secondaries.

  • "available". Available for read operations against the primary and secondaries. "available" behaves the same as "local" against the primary and non-sharded secondaries. The query returns the instance's most recent data.

  • "majority". Available for replica sets that use WiredTiger storage engine.

  • "linearizable". Available for read operations on the primary only.

For more formation on the read concern levels, see Read Concern Levels.

The $out stage cannot be used in conjunction with read concern "linearizable". If you specify "linearizable" read concern for db.collection.aggregate(), you cannot include the $out stage in the pipeline.

The $merge stage cannot be used in conjunction with read concern "linearizable". That is, if you specify "linearizable" read concern for db.collection.aggregate(), you cannot include the $merge stage in the pipeline.

collation

document

Optional.

Specifies the collation to use for the operation.

Collation allows users to specify language-specific rules for string comparison, such as rules for lettercase and accent marks.

The collation option has the following syntax:

collation: {
locale: <string>,
caseLevel: <boolean>,
caseFirst: <string>,
strength: <int>,
numericOrdering: <boolean>,
alternate: <string>,
maxVariable: <string>,
backwards: <boolean>
}

When specifying collation, the locale field is mandatory; all other collation fields are optional. For descriptions of the fields, see Collation Document.

If the collation is unspecified but the collection has a default collation (see db.createCollection()), the operation uses the collation specified for the collection.

If no collation is specified for the collection or for the operations, MongoDB uses the simple binary comparison used in prior versions for string comparisons.

You cannot specify multiple collations for an operation. For example, you cannot specify different collations per field, or if performing a find with a sort, you cannot use one collation for the find and another for the sort.

hint

string or document

Optional. The index to use for the aggregation. The index is on the initial collection/view against which the aggregation is run.

Specify the index either by the index name or by the index specification document.

Note

The hint does not apply to $lookup and $graphLookup stages.

comment

string

Optional. Users can specify an arbitrary string to help trace the operation through the database profiler, currentOp, and logs.

writeConcern

document

Optional. A document that expresses the write concern to use with the $out or $merge stage.

Omit to use the default write concern with the $out or $merge stage.

This method is available in deployments hosted in the following environments:

  • MongoDB Atlas: The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud

Note

This command is supported in all MongoDB Atlas clusters. For information on Atlas support for all commands, see Unsupported Commands.

The following example runs a pipeline with two stages. The first stage runs the $currentOp operation and the second stage filters the results of that operation.

use admin
db.aggregate( [ {
$currentOp : { allUsers: true, idleConnections: true } }, {
$match : { shard: "shard01" }
}
] )

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