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db.getUser()

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  • Definition
  • Compatibility
  • Required Access
  • Examples
db.getUser(username, args)

Returns user information for a specified user. Run this method on the user's database. If the user doesn't exist in the database, db.getUser() returns null.

The db.getUser() method has the following parameters:

db.getUser( "<username>", {
showCredentials: <Boolean>,
showCustomData: <Boolean>,
showPrivileges: <Boolean>,
showAuthenticationRestrictions: <Boolean>,
filter: <document>
} )
Parameter
Type
Description
username
string
The name of the user for which to retrieve information.
args
document
Optional. A document specifying additional arguments.

The args document supports the following fields:

Field
Type
Description
showCredentials
boolean

Optional. Set to true to display the user's password hash.

By default, this field is false.

showCustomData
boolean

Optional. Set to false to omit the user's customData from the output.

By default, this field is true.

New in version 5.2.

showPrivileges
boolean

Optional. Set to true to show the user's full set of privileges, including expanded information for the inherited roles.

By default, this field is false.

If viewing all users, you cannot specify this field.

showAuthenticationRestrictions
boolean

Optional. Set to true to show the user's authentication restrictions.

By default, this field is false.

If viewing all users, you cannot specify this field.

filter
document
Optional. A document that specifies $match stage conditions to return information for users that match the filter conditions.

db.getUser() wraps the usersInfo: <username> command.

For details on output, see usersInfo.

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

Important

This command is not supported in MongoDB Atlas clusters. For information on Atlas support for all commands, see Unsupported Commands.

  • MongoDB Enterprise: The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB

  • MongoDB Community: The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB

To view another user's information, you must have the viewUser action on the other user's database.

Users can view their own information.

The following operations return information about an example appClient user in an accounts database:

use accounts
db.getUser("appClient")

Example output:

{
_id: 'accounts.appClient',
userId: UUID("1c2fc1bf-c4dc-4a22-8b04-3971349ce0dc"),
user: 'appClient',
db: 'accounts',
roles: [],
mechanisms: [ 'SCRAM-SHA-1', 'SCRAM-SHA-256' ]
}

New in version 5.2: To omit a user's custom data from the db.getUser() output, set the showCustomData option to false.

Use the createUser command to create a user named accountAdmin01 on the products database:

db.getSiblingDB("products").runCommand( {
createUser: "accountAdmin01",
pwd: passwordPrompt(),
customData: { employeeId: 12345 },
roles: [ { role: 'readWrite', db: 'products' } ]
} )

The user contains a customData field of { employeeId: 12345 }.

To retrieve the user but omit the custom data from the output, run db.getUser() with showCustomData set to false:

db.getSiblingDB("products").getUser(
"accountAdmin01",
{ showCustomData: false }
)

Example output:

{
_id: 'products.accountAdmin01',
userId: UUID("0955afc1-303c-4683-a029-8e17dd5501f4"),
user: 'accountAdmin01',
db: 'products',
roles: [ { role: 'readWrite', db: 'products' } ],
mechanisms: [ 'SCRAM-SHA-1', 'SCRAM-SHA-256' ]
}

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