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db.collection.remove()![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
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Important
Deprecated mongosh Method
This method is deprecated in mongosh
. For alternative
methods, see Compatibility Changes with Legacy mongo Shell.
Definition![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
db.collection.remove()
Removes documents from a collection.
The
db.collection.remove()
method can have one of two syntaxes. Theremove()
method can take a query document and an optionaljustOne
boolean:db.collection.remove( <query>, <justOne> ) Or the method can take a query document and an optional remove options document:
Changed in version 5.0.
db.collection.remove( <query>, { justOne: <boolean>, writeConcern: <document>, collation: <document>, let: <document> // Added in MongoDB 5.0 } ) ParameterTypeDescriptionquery
documentSpecifies deletion criteria using query operators. To delete all documents in a collection, pass an empty document ({}
).justOne
booleanOptional. To limit the deletion to just one document, set totrue
. Omit to use the default value offalse
and delete all documents matching the deletion criteria.writeConcern
documentOptional. A document expressing the write concern. Omit to use the default write concern. See 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.
collation
documentOptional.
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.
documentOptional.
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 inlet
.New in version 5.0.
The
remove()
returns an object that contains the status of the operation.Returns: A WriteResult object that contains the status of the operation.
Behavior![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
Write Concern![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
The remove()
method uses the
delete
command, which uses the default write concern. To specify a different write concern,
include the write concern in the options parameter.
Query Considerations![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
By default, remove()
removes all documents
that match the query
expression. Specify the justOne
option to
limit the operation to removing a single document. To delete a single
document sorted by a specified order, use the findAndModify() method.
When removing multiple documents, the remove operation may interleave with other read and/or write operations to the collection.
Capped Collections![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
You cannot use the remove()
method
with a capped collection.
Time Series Collections![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
You cannot use the remove()
method on a
time series collection.
Sharded Collections![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
All remove()
operations for a sharded
collection that specify the justOne: true
option must include the shard key or the _id
field in
the query specification.
remove()
operations specifying
justOne: true
in a sharded collection which do
not contain either the shard key or the _id
field return an
error.
Transactions![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
db.collection.remove()
can be used inside multi-document transactions.
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.
Important
In most cases, multi-document transaction incurs a greater performance cost over single document writes, and the availability of multi-document transactions should not be a replacement for effective schema design. For many scenarios, the denormalized data model (embedded documents and arrays) will continue to be optimal for your data and use cases. That is, for many scenarios, modeling your data appropriately will minimize the need for multi-document transactions.
For additional transactions usage considerations (such as runtime limit and oplog size limit), see also Production Considerations.
Examples![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
The following are examples of the remove()
method.
Remove All Documents from a Collection![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
To remove all documents in a collection, call the remove
method with an empty query document {}
.
The following operation deletes all documents from the bios
collection:
db.bios.remove( { } )
This operation is not equivalent to the
drop()
method.
To remove all documents from a collection, it may be more efficient
to use the drop()
method to drop the entire
collection, including the indexes, and then recreate the collection
and rebuild the indexes.
Remove All Documents that Match a Condition![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
To remove the documents that match a deletion criteria, call the
remove()
method with the <query>
parameter:
The following operation removes all the documents from the collection
products
where qty
is greater than 20
:
db.products.remove( { qty: { $gt: 20 } } )
Override Default Write Concern![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
The following operation to a replica set removes all the documents from
the collection products
where qty
is greater than 20
and
specifies a write concern of w: 2
with a wtimeout
of 5000 milliseconds. This operation either returns
after the write propagates to both the primary and one secondary, or
times out after 5 seconds.
db.products.remove( { qty: { $gt: 20 } }, { writeConcern: { w: "majority", wtimeout: 5000 } } )
Remove a Single Document that Matches a Condition![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
To remove the first document that match a deletion criteria, call the
remove
method with the query
criteria and the justOne
parameter set to true
or 1
.
The following operation removes the first document from the collection
products
where qty
is greater than 20
:
db.products.remove( { qty: { $gt: 20 } }, true )
Specify Collation![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
Collation allows users to specify language-specific rules for string comparison, such as rules for lettercase and accent marks.
A collection myColl
has the following documents:
{ _id: 1, category: "café", status: "A" } { _id: 2, category: "cafe", status: "a" } { _id: 3, category: "cafE", status: "a" }
The following operation includes the collation option:
db.myColl.remove( { category: "cafe", status: "A" }, { collation: { locale: "fr", strength: 1 } } )
Use Variables in let
![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
New in version 5.0.
To define variables that you can access elsewhere in the command, use the let option.
Note
To filter results using a variable, you must access the variable
within the $expr
operator.
Create a collection cakeFlavors
:
db.cakeFlavors.insertMany( [ { _id: 1, flavor: "chocolate" }, { _id: 2, flavor: "strawberry" }, { _id: 3, flavor: "cherry" } ] )
The following example defines a targetFlavor
variable in let
and
uses the variable to delete the strawberry cake flavor:
db.cakeFlavors.remove( { $expr: { $eq: [ "$flavor", "$$targetFlavor" ] } }, { let : { targetFlavor: "strawberry" } } )
WriteResult![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
Successful Results![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
The remove()
returns a WriteResult()
object that contains the status of the operation. Upon success, the
WriteResult()
object contains information on the number of
documents removed:
WriteResult({ "nRemoved" : 4 })
Tip
See also:
Write Concern Errors![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
If the remove()
method encounters write
concern errors, the results include the
WriteResult.writeConcernError
field:
WriteResult({ "nRemoved" : 7, "writeConcernError" : { "code" : 64, "codeName" : "WriteConcernFailed", "errmsg" : "waiting for replication timed out", "errInfo" : { "wtimeout" : true, "writeConcern" : { // Added in MongoDB 4.4 "w" : "majority", "wtimeout" : 1, "provenance" : "getLastErrorDefaults" } } } })
Errors Unrelated to Write Concern![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
If the remove()
method encounters a non-write
concern error, the results include WriteResult.writeError
field:
WriteResult({ "nRemoved" : 0, "writeError" : { "code" : 2, "errmsg" : "unknown top level operator: $invalidFieldName" } })