db.collection.findAndModify()

Definition

db.collection.findAndModify(document)

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 findAndModify command.

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

For the legacy mongo shell documentation, refer to the documentation for the corresponding MongoDB Server release:

• mongo shell v4.4

• mongo shell v4.2

Modifies and returns a single document. By default, the returned document does not include the modifications made on the update. To return the document with the modifications made on the update, use the new option.

Changed in version 5.0.

The findAndModify() method has the following form:

db.collection.findAndModify({
    query: <document>,
    sort: <document>,
    remove: <boolean>,
    update: <document or aggregation pipeline>, // Changed in MongoDB 4.2
    new: <boolean>,
    fields: <document>,
    upsert: <boolean>,
    bypassDocumentValidation: <boolean>,
    writeConcern: <document>,
    maxTimeMS: <integer>,
    collation: <document>,
    arrayFilters: [ <filterdocument1>, ... ],
    let: <document> // Added in MongoDB 5.0
});

The db.collection.findAndModify() method takes a document parameter with the following embedded document fields:

Parameter	Type	Description
query	document	Optional. The selection criteria for the modification. The query field employs the same query selectors as used in the db.collection.find() method. Although the query may match multiple documents, db.collection.findAndModify() will only select one document to modify. If unspecified, defaults to an empty document. Starting in MongoDB 4.2 (and 4.0.12+, 3.6.14+, and 3.4.23+), the operation errors if the query argument is not a document.
sort	document	Optional. Determines which document the operation modifies if the query selects multiple documents. db.collection.findAndModify() modifies the first document in the sort order specified by this argument. Starting in MongoDB 4.2 (and 4.0.12+, 3.6.14+, and 3.4.23+), the operation errors if the sort argument is not a document. MongoDB does not store documents in a collection in a particular order. When sorting on a field which contains duplicate values, documents containing those values may be returned in any order. If consistent sort order is desired, include at least one field in your sort that contains unique values. The easiest way to guarantee this is to include the _id field in your sort query. See Sort Consistency for more information.
remove	boolean	Must specify either the remove or the update field. Removes the document specified in the query field. Set this to true to remove the selected document . The default is false.
update	document or array	Must specify either the remove or the update field. Performs an update of the selected document. If passed a document with update operator expressions, db.collection.findAndModify() performs the specified modification. If passed a replacement document { <field1>: <value1>, ...}, the db.collection.findAndModify() performs a replacement. Starting in MongoDB 4.2, if passed an aggregation pipeline [ <stage1>, <stage2>, ... ], db.collection.findAndModify() modifies the document per the pipeline. The pipeline can consist of the following stages: $addFields and its alias $set $project and its alias $unset $replaceRoot and its alias $replaceWith.
new	boolean	Optional. When true, returns the modified document rather than the original. The default is false.
fields	document	Optional. A subset of fields to return. The fields document specifies an inclusion of a field with 1, as in: fields: { <field1>: 1, <field2>: 1, ... }. Starting in MongoDB 4.2 (and 4.0.12+, 3.6.14+, and 3.4.23+), the operation errors if the fields argument is not a document. For more information on projection, see fields Projection.
upsert	boolean	Optional. Used in conjunction with the update field. When true, findAndModify() either: Creates a new document if no documents match the query. For more details see upsert behavior. Updates a single document that matches the query. To avoid multiple upserts, ensure that the query field(s) are uniquely indexed. See Upsert with Unique Index for an example. Defaults to false, which does not insert a new document when no match is found.
bypassDocumentValidation	boolean	Optional. Enables db.collection.findAndModify() to bypass document validation during the operation. This lets you update documents that do not meet the validation requirements.
writeConcern	document	Optional. A document expressing the write concern. Omit to use the default write concern. Do not explicitly set the write concern for the operation if run in a transaction. To use write concern with transactions, see Transactions and Write Concern.
maxTimeMS	non-negative integer	Optional. Specifies a time limit in milliseconds. 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.
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.
arrayFilters	array	Optional. An array of filter documents that determine which array elements to modify for an update operation on an array field. In the update document, use the $[<identifier>] filtered positional operator to define an identifier, which you then reference in the array filter documents. You cannot have an array filter document for an identifier if the identifier is not included in the update document. Note The <identifier> must begin with a lowercase letter and contain only alphanumeric characters. You can include the same identifier multiple times in the update document; however, for each distinct identifier ($[identifier]) in the update document, you must specify exactly one corresponding array filter document. That is, you cannot specify multiple array filter documents for the same identifier. For example, if the update statement includes the identifier x (possibly multiple times), you cannot specify the following for arrayFilters that includes 2 separate filter documents for x: // INVALID [ { "x.a": { $gt: 85 } }, { "x.b": { $gt: 80 } } ] However, you can specify compound conditions on the same identifier in a single filter document, such as in the following examples: // Example 1 [ { $or: [{"x.a": {$gt: 85}}, {"x.b": {$gt: 80}}] } ] // Example 2 [ { $and: [{"x.a": {$gt: 85}}, {"x.b": {$gt: 80}}] } ] // Example 3 [ { "x.a": { $gt: 85 }, "x.b": { $gt: 80 } } ] For examples, see Specify arrayFilters for an Array Update Operations. Note arrayFilters is not available for updates that use an aggregation pipeline.
let	document	Optional. Specifies a document with a list of variables. This allows you to improve command readability by separating the variables from the query text. The document syntax is: { <variable_name_1>: <expression_1>, ..., <variable_name_n>: <expression_n> } The variable is set to the value returned by the expression, and cannot be changed afterwards. To access the value of a variable in the command, use the double dollar sign prefix ($$) together with your variable name in the form $$<variable_name>. For example: $$targetTotal. Note To use a variable to filter results, you must access the variable within the $expr operator. For a complete example using let and variables, see Use Variables in let. New in version 5.0.

Return Data

For remove operations, if the query matches a document, findAndModify() returns the removed document. If the query does not match a document to remove, findAndModify() returns null.

For update operations, findAndModify() returns one of the following:

• If the new parameter is not set or is false:

  • the pre-modification document if the query matches a document;

  • otherwise, null.

• If new is true:

  • the modified document if the query returns a match;

  • the inserted document if upsert: true and no document matches the query;

  • otherwise, null.

Behavior

{ field1: <value>, field2: <value> ... }

db.people.findAndModify(
   {
     query: { name: "Andy" },
     update: { $inc: { score: 1 } },
     upsert: true
   }
)

{ _id: <value>, <shardkeyfield>: null } // _id of the document missing shard key

Examples

db.people.findAndModify({
    query: { name: "Tom", state: "active", rating: { $gt: 10 } },
    sort: { rating: 1 },
    update: { $inc: { score: 1 } }
})

db.people.findAndModify({
    query: { name: "Gus", state: "active", rating: 100 },
    sort: { rating: 1 },
    update: { $inc: { score: 1 } },
    upsert: true
})

{ }

null

db.people.findAndModify({
    query: { name: "Pascal", state: "active", rating: 25 },
    sort: { rating: 1 },
    update: { $inc: { score: 1 } },
    upsert: true,
    new: true
})

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("50f49ad6444c11ac2448a5d6"),
   "name" : "Pascal",
   "rating" : 25,
   "score" : 1,
   "state" : "active"
}

db.people.findAndModify(
   {
     query: { state: "active" },
     sort: { rating: 1 },
     remove: true
   }
)

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("52fba867ab5fdca1299674ad"),
   "name" : "XYZ123",
   "score" : 1,
   "state" : "active",
   "rating" : 3
}

{ _id: 1, category: "café", status: "A" }
{ _id: 2, category: "cafe", status: "a" }
{ _id: 3, category: "cafE", status: "a" }

db.myColl.findAndModify({
    query: { category: "cafe", status: "a" },
    sort: { category: 1 },
    update: { $set: { status: "Updated" } },
    collation: { locale: "fr", strength: 1 }
});

{ "_id" : 1, "category" : "café", "status" : "A" }

db.students.insertMany( [
   { "_id" : 1, "grades" : [ 95, 92, 90 ] },
   { "_id" : 2, "grades" : [ 98, 100, 102 ] },
   { "_id" : 3, "grades" : [ 95, 110, 100 ] }
] )

db.students.findAndModify({
   query: { grades: { $gte: 100 } },
   update: { $set: { "grades.$[element]" : 100 } },
   arrayFilters: [ { "element": { $gte: 100 } } ]
})

{ "_id" : 1, "grades" : [ 95, 92, 90 ] }
{ "_id" : 2, "grades" : [ 98, 100, 100 ] }
{ "_id" : 3, "grades" : [ 95, 110, 100 ] }

db.students2.insertMany( [
   {
      "_id" : 1,
      "grades" : [
         { "grade" : 80, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 },
         { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 90, "std" : 4 },
         { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 85, "std" : 6 }
      ]
   },
   {
      "_id" : 2,
      "grades" : [
         { "grade" : 90, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 },
         { "grade" : 87, "mean" : 90, "std" : 3 },
         { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 85, "std" : 4 }
      ]
   }
] )

db.students2.findAndModify({
   query: { _id : 1 },
   update: { $set: { "grades.$[elem].mean" : 100 } },
   arrayFilters: [ { "elem.grade": { $gte: 85 } } ]
})

{
   "_id" : 1,
   "grades" : [
      { "grade" : 80, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 },
      { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 100, "std" : 4 },
      { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 100, "std" : 6 }
   ]
}
{
   "_id" : 2,
   "grades" : [
      { "grade" : 90, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 },
      { "grade" : 87, "mean" : 90, "std" : 3 },
      { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 85, "std" : 4 }
   ]
}

db.students2.insertMany( [
   {
      "_id" : 1,
      "grades" : [
         { "grade" : 80, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 },
         { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 90, "std" : 4 },
         { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 85, "std" : 6 }
      ]
   },
   {
      "_id" : 2,
      "grades" : [
         { "grade" : 90, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 },
         { "grade" : 87, "mean" : 90, "std" : 3 },
         { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 85, "std" : 4 }
      ]
   }
] )

db.students2.findAndModify( {
   query: {  "_id" : 1 },
   update: [ { $set: { "total" : { $sum: "$grades.grade" } } } ],  // The $set stage is an alias for ``$addFields`` stage
   new: true
} )

{
   "_id" : 1,
   "grades" : [ { "grade" : 80, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 }, { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 90, "std" : 4 }, { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 85, "std" : 6 } ],
   "total" : 250
}

db.cakeFlavors.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, flavor: "chocolate" },
   { _id: 2, flavor: "strawberry" },
   { _id: 3, flavor: "cherry" }
] )

db.cakeFlavors.findAndModify( {
   query: {
      $expr: { $eq: [ "$flavor", "$$targetFlavor" ] }
   },
   update: { flavor: "orange" },
   let: { targetFlavor: "cherry" }
} )