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Create an Index on an Embedded Field in an Array

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  • About this Task
  • Procedure
  • Results
  • Sort Results
  • Learn More

You can create indexes on embedded document fields within arrays. These indexes improve performance for queries on specific embedded fields that appear in arrays. When you create an index on a field inside an array, MongoDB stores that index as a multikey index.

To create an index, use the db.collection.createIndex() method. Your operation should resemble this prototype:

db.<collection>.createIndex( { <field>: <sortOrder> } )

About this Task

The example on this page uses an inventory collection that contains these documents:

db.inventory.insertMany( [
   {
      "item": "t-shirt",
      "stock": [
         {
            "size": "small",
            "quantity": 8
         },
         {
            "size": "large",
            "quantity": 10
         },
       ]
   },
   {
      "item": "sweater",
      "stock": [
         {
            "size": "small",
            "quantity": 4
         },
         {
            "size": "large",
            "quantity": 7
         },
       ]
   },
   {
      "item": "vest",
      "stock": [
         {
            "size": "small",
            "quantity": 6
         },
         {
            "size": "large",
            "quantity": 1
         }
       ]
   }
] )

You need to order more inventory any time you have less than five of an item in stock. To find which items to reorder, you query for documents where an element in the stock array has a quantity less than 5. To improve performance for this query, you can create an index on the stock.quantity field.

Procedure

The following operation creates an ascending multikey index on the stock.quantity field of the inventory collection:

db.inventory.createIndex( { "stock.quantity": 1 } )

Because stock contains an array value, MongoDB stores this index as a multikey index.

Results

The index contains a key for each individual value that appears in the stock.quantity field. The index is ascending, meaning the keys are stored in this order: [ 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 ].

The index supports queries that select on the stock.quantity field. For example, the following query returns documents where at least one element in the stock array has a quantity less than 5:

db.inventory.find(
   {
      "stock.quantity": { $lt: 5 }
   }
)

Output:

[
  {
    _id: ObjectId("63449793b1fac2ee2e957ef3"),
    item: 'vest',
    stock: [ { size: 'small', quantity: 6 }, { size: 'large', quantity: 1 } ]
  },
  {
    _id: ObjectId("63449793b1fac2ee2e957ef2"),
    item: 'sweater',
    stock: [ { size: 'small', quantity: 4 }, { size: 'large', quantity: 7 } ]
  }
]

Sort Results

The index also supports sort operations on the stock.quantity field, such as this query:

db.inventory.find().sort( { "stock.quantity": -1 } )

Output:

[
  {
    _id: ObjectId("63449793b1fac2ee2e957ef1"),
    item: 't-shirt',
    stock: [ { size: 'small', quantity: 8 }, { size: 'large', quantity: 10 } ]
  },
  {
    _id: ObjectId("63449793b1fac2ee2e957ef2"),
    item: 'sweater',
    stock: [ { size: 'small', quantity: 4 }, { size: 'large', quantity: 7 } ]
  },
  {
    _id: ObjectId("63449793b1fac2ee2e957ef3"),
    item: 'vest',
    stock: [ { size: 'small', quantity: 6 }, { size: 'large', quantity: 1 } ]
  }
]

When sorting an array of objects, in a descending sort, MongoDB sorts based on the field with the highest-valued element first.

Note

Index Sort Order

For a single-field index, the sort order (ascending or descending) of the index key does not matter because MongoDB can traverse the index in either direction.

Learn More

← Create an Index on an Array Field
Multikey Index Bounds →

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