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Aggregates Builders

On this page

  • Overview
  • Match
  • Project
  • Projecting Computed Fields
  • Documents
  • Sample
  • Sort
  • Skip
  • Limit
  • Lookup
  • Left Outer Join
  • Full Join and Uncorrelated Subqueries
  • Group
  • Pick-N Accumulators
  • MinN
  • MaxN
  • FirstN
  • LastN
  • Top
  • TopN
  • Bottom
  • BottomN
  • Unwind
  • Out
  • Merge
  • GraphLookup
  • SortByCount
  • ReplaceRoot
  • AddFields
  • Count
  • Bucket
  • BucketAuto
  • Facet
  • SetWindowFields
  • Densify
  • Fill
  • Atlas Full-Text Search
  • Atlas Search Metadata
  • Atlas Vector Search

In this guide, you can learn how to use the Aggregates class which provides static factory methods that build aggregation pipeline stages in the MongoDB Java driver.

To learn more about aggregation, see our Aggregation guide. To learn how to create expression operations with discoverable, typesafe Java methods to use in your aggregations, see Aggregation Expression Operations.

Tip

For brevity, you can choose to import the methods of the following classes statically to make your queries more succinct:

  • Aggregates

  • Filters

  • Projections

  • Sorts

  • Accumulators

import static com.mongodb.client.model.Aggregates.*;
import static com.mongodb.client.model.Filters.*;
import static com.mongodb.client.model.Projections.*;
import static com.mongodb.client.model.Sorts.*;
import static com.mongodb.client.model.Accumulators.*;
import static com.mongodb.client.model.search.SearchPath.fieldPath;
import static com.mongodb.client.model.search.VectorSearchOptions.vectorSearchOptions;
import static java.util.Arrays.asList;

The examples on this page assume these static imports, in addition to statically importing the asList() method.

Use these methods to construct pipeline stages and specify them in your aggregation as a list:

Bson matchStage = match(eq("some_field", "some_criteria"));
Bson sortByCountStage = sortByCount("some_field");
collection.aggregate(asList(matchStage, sortByCountStage)).forEach(doc -> System.out.println(doc));

Use the match() method to create a $match pipeline stage that matches incoming documents against the specified query filter, filtering out documents that do not match.

Tip

The filter can be an instance of any class that implements Bson, but it's convenient to combine with use of the Filters class.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that matches all documents where the title field is equal to "The Shawshank Redemption":

match(eq("title", "The Shawshank Redemption"));

Use the project() method to create a $project pipeline stage that project specified document fields. Field projection in aggregation follows the same rules as field projection in queries.

Tip

Though the projection can be an instance of any class that implements Bson, it's convenient to combine with use of Projections.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that excludes the _id field but includes the title and plot fields:

project(fields(include("title", "plot"), excludeId()));

The $project stage can project computed fields as well.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that projects the rated field into a new field called rating, effectively renaming the field.

project(fields(computed("rating", "$rated"), excludeId()));

Use the documents() method to create a $documents pipeline stage that returns literal documents from input values.

Important

If you use a $documents stage in an aggregation pipeline, it must be the first stage in the pipeline.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that creates sample documents with a title field:

documents(asList(
new Document("title", "The Shawshank Redemption"),
new Document("title", "Back to the Future"),
new Document("title", "Jurassic Park")));

Important

If you use the documents() method to provide the input to an aggregation pipeline, you must call the aggregate() method on a database instead of on a collection.

Use the sample() method to create a $sample pipeline stage to randomly select documents from input.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that randomly selects 5 documents:

sample(5);

Use the sort() method to create a $sort pipeline stage to sort by the specified criteria.

Tip

Though the sort criteria can be an instance of any class that implements Bson, it's convenient to combine with use of Sorts.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that sorts in descending order according to the value of the year field and then in ascending order according to the value of the title field:

sort(orderBy(descending("year"), ascending("title")));

Use the skip() method to create a $skip pipeline stage to skip over the specified number of documents before passing documents into the next stage.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that skips the first 5 documents:

skip(5);

Use the $limit pipeline stage to limit the number of documents passed to the next stage.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that limits the number of documents to 10:

limit(10);

Use the lookup() method to create a $lookup pipeline stage to perform joins and uncorrelated subqueries between two collections.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that performs a left outer join between the movies and comments collections:

  • It joins the _id field from movies to the movie_id field in comments

  • It outputs the results in the joined_comments field:

lookup("comments", "_id", "movie_id", "joined_comments");

The following example creates a pipeline stage that joins two collections, orders and warehouses, by the item and whether the available quantity is enough to fulfill the ordered quantity:

List<Variable<String>> variables = asList(new Variable<>("order_item", "$item"),
new Variable<>("order_qty", "$ordered"));
List<Bson> pipeline = asList(
match(expr(new Document("$and",
asList(new Document("$eq", asList("$$order_item", "$stock_item")),
new Document("$gte", asList("$instock", "$$order_qty")))))),
project(fields(exclude("stock_item"), excludeId())));
Bson innerJoinLookup = lookup("warehouses", variables, pipeline, "stockdata");

Use the group() method to create a $group pipeline stage to group documents by a specified expression and output a document for each distinct grouping.

Tip

The driver includes the Accumulators class with static factory methods for each of the supported accumulators.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that groups documents by the value of the customerId field. Each group accumulates the sum and average of the values of the quantity field into the totalQuantity and averageQuantity fields.

group("$customerId", sum("totalQuantity", "$quantity"), avg("averageQuantity", "$quantity"));

Learn more about accumulator operators from the Server manual section on Accumulators.

The pick-n accumulators are aggregation accumulation operators that return the top and bottom elements given a specific ordering. Use one of the following builders to create an aggregation accumulation operator:

Tip

You can only perform aggregation operations with these pick-n accumulators when running MongoDB v5.2 or later.

Learn which aggregation pipeline stages you can use accumulator operators with from the Server manual section on Accumulators.

The minN() builder creates the $minN accumulator which returns data from documents that contain the n lowest values of a grouping.

Tip

The $minN and $bottomN accumulators can perform similar tasks. See Comparison of $minN and $bottomN Accumulators for recommended usage of each.

The following example demonstrates how to use the minN() method to return the lowest three imdb.rating values for movies, grouped by year:

group(
"$year",
minN(
"lowest_three_ratings",
new BsonString("$imdb.rating"),
3
));

See the minN() API documentation for more information.

The maxN() accumulator returns data from documents that contain the n highest values of a grouping.

The following example demonstrates how to use the maxN() method to return the highest two imdb.rating values for movies, grouped by year:

group(
"$year",
maxN(
"highest_two_ratings",
new BsonString("$imdb.rating"),
2
));

See the maxN() API documentation for more information.

The firstN() accumulator returns data from the first n documents in each grouping for the specified sort order.

Tip

The $firstN and $topN accumulators can perform similar tasks. See Comparison of $firstN and $topN Accumulators for recommended usage of each.

The following example demonstrates how to use the firstN() method to return the first four movie title values, based on the order they came into the stage, grouped by year:

group(
"$year",
firstN(
"first_four_movies",
new BsonString("$title"),
4
));

See the firstN() API documentation for more information.

The lastN() accumulator returns data from the last n documents in each grouping for the specified sort order.

The following example demonstrates how to use the lastN() method to show the last three movie title values, based on the the order they came into the stage, grouped by year:

group(
"$year",
lastN(
"last_three_movies",
new BsonString("$title"),
3
));

See the lastN() API documentation for more information.

The top() accumulator returns data from the first document in a group based on the specified sort order.

The following example demonstrates how to use the top() method to return the title and imdb.rating values for the top rated movies based on the imdb.rating, grouped by year.

group(
"$year",
top(
"top_rated_movie",
descending("imdb.rating"),
asList(new BsonString("$title"), new BsonString("$imdb.rating"))
));

See the top() API documentation for more information.

The topN() accumulator returns data from documents that contain the highest n values for the specified field.

Tip

The $firstN and $topN accumulators can perform similar tasks. See Comparison of $firstN and $topN Accumulators for recommended usage of each.

The following example demonstrates how to use the topN() method to return the title and runtime values of the three longest movies based on the runtime values, grouped by year.

group(
"$year",
topN(
"longest_three_movies",
descending("runtime"),
asList(new BsonString("$title"), new BsonString("$runtime")),
3
));

See the topN() API documentation for more information.

The bottom() accumulator returns data from the last document in a group based on the specified sort order.

The following example demonstrates how to use the bottom() method to return the title and runtime values of the shortest movie based on the runtime value, grouped by year.

group(
"$year",
bottom(
"shortest_movies",
descending("runtime"),
asList(new BsonString("$title"), new BsonString("$runtime"))
));

See the bottom() API documentation for more information.

The bottomN() accumulator returns data from documents that contain the lowest n values for the specified field.

Tip

The $minN and $bottomN accumulators can perform similar tasks. See Comparison of $minN and $bottomN Accumulators for recommended usage of each.

The following example demonstrates how to use the bottomN() method to return the title and imdb.rating values of the two lowest rated movies based on the imdb.rating value, grouped by year:

group(
"$year",
bottomN(
"lowest_rated_two_movies",
descending("imdb.rating"),
asList(new BsonString("$title"), new BsonString("$imdb.rating")),
2
));

See the bottomN() API documentation for more information.

Use the unwind() method to create an $unwind pipeline stage to deconstruct an array field from input documents, creating an output document for each array element.

The following example creates a document for each element in the sizes array:

unwind("$sizes");

To preserve documents that have missing or null values for the array field, or where array is empty:

unwind("$sizes", new UnwindOptions().preserveNullAndEmptyArrays(true));

To include the array index, in this example in a field called "position":

unwind("$sizes", new UnwindOptions().includeArrayIndex("position"));

Use the out() method to create an $out pipeline stage that writes all documents to the specified collection in the same database.

Important

The $out stage must be the last stage in any aggregation pipeline.

The following example writes the results of the pipeline to the authors collection:

out("authors");

Use the merge() method to create a $merge pipeline stage that merges all documents into the specified collection.

Important

The $merge stage must be the last stage in any aggregation pipeline.

The following example merges the pipeline into the authors collection using the default options:

merge("authors");

The following example merges the pipeline into the customers collection in the reporting database using some options that specify to replace the document if both date and customerId match, otherwise insert the document:

merge(new MongoNamespace("reporting", "customers"),
new MergeOptions().uniqueIdentifier(asList("date", "customerId"))
.whenMatched(MergeOptions.WhenMatched.REPLACE)
.whenNotMatched(MergeOptions.WhenNotMatched.INSERT));

Use the graphLookup() method to create a $graphLookup pipeline stage that performs a recursive search on a specified collection to match a specified field in one document to a specified field of another document.

The following example computes the social network graph for users in the contacts collection, recursively matching the value in the friends field to the name field:

graphLookup("contacts", "$friends", "friends", "name", "socialNetwork");

Using GraphLookupOptions, you can specify the depth to recurse as well as the name of the depth field, if desired. In this example, $graphLookup will recurse up to two times, and create a field called degrees with the recursion depth information for every document.

graphLookup("contacts", "$friends", "friends", "name", "socialNetwork",
new GraphLookupOptions().maxDepth(2).depthField("degrees"));

Using GraphLookupOptions, you can specify a filter that documents must match in order for MongoDB to include them in your search. In this example, only links with "golf" in their hobbies field will be included.

graphLookup("contacts", "$friends", "friends", "name", "socialNetwork",
new GraphLookupOptions().maxDepth(1).restrictSearchWithMatch(eq("hobbies", "golf")));

Use the sortByCount() method to create a $sortByCount pipeline stage that groups documents by a given expression and then sorts these groups by count in descending order.

Tip

The $sortByCount stage is identical to a $group stage with a $sum accumulator followed by a $sort stage.

[
{ "$group": { "_id": <expression to group on>, "count": { "$sum": 1 } } },
{ "$sort": { "count": -1 } }
]

The following example groups documents by the truncated value of the field x and computes the count for each distinct value:

sortByCount(new Document("$floor", "$x"));

Use the replaceRoot() method to create a $replaceRoot pipeline stage that replaces each input document with the specified document.

The following example replaces each input document with the nested document in the spanish_translation field:

replaceRoot("$spanish_translation");

Use the addFields() method to create an $addFields pipeline stage that adds new fields to documents.

Tip

Use $addFields when you do not want to project field inclusion or exclusion.

The following example adds two new fields, a and b to the input documents:

addFields(new Field("a", 1), new Field("b", 2));

Use the count() method to create a $count pipeline stage that counts the number of documents that enter the stage, and assigns that value to a specified field name. If you do not specify a field, count() defaults the field name to "count".

Tip

The $count stage is syntactic sugar for:

{ "$group":{ "_id": 0, "count": { "$sum" : 1 } } }

The following example creates a pipeline stage that outputs the count of incoming documents in a field called "total":

count("total");

Use the bucket() method to create a $bucket pipeline stage that automates the bucketing of data around predefined boundary values.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that groups incoming documents based on the value of their screenSize field, inclusive of the lower boundary and exclusive of the upper boundary.

bucket("$screenSize", asList(0, 24, 32, 50, 70, 200));

Use the BucketOptions class to specify a default bucket for values outside of the specified boundaries, and to specify additional accumulators.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that groups incoming documents based on the value of their screenSize field, counting the number of documents that fall within each bucket, pushing the value of screenSize into a field called matches, and capturing any screen sizes greater than "70" into a bucket called "monster" for monstrously large screen sizes:

Tip

The driver includes the Accumulators class with static factory methods for each of the supported accumulators.

bucket("$screenSize", asList(0, 24, 32, 50, 70),
new BucketOptions().defaultBucket("monster").output(sum("count", 1), push("matches", "$screenSize")));

Use the bucketAuto() method to create a $bucketAuto pipeline stage that automatically determines the boundaries of each bucket in its attempt to distribute the documents evenly into a specified number of buckets.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that will attempt to create and evenly distribute documents into 10 buckets using the value of their price field:

bucketAuto("$price", 10);

Use the BucketAutoOptions class to specify a preferred number based scheme to set boundary values, and specify additional accumulators.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that will attempt to create and evenly distribute documents into 10 buckets using the value of their price field, setting the bucket boundaries at powers of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, ...). It also counts the number of documents in each bucket, and calculates their average price in a new field called avgPrice:

Tip

The driver includes the Accumulators class with static factory methods for each of the supported accumulators.

bucketAuto("$price", 10, new BucketAutoOptions().granularity(BucketGranularity.POWERSOF2)
.output(sum("count", 1), avg("avgPrice", "$price")));

Use the facet() method to create a $facet pipeline stage that allows for the definition of parallel pipelines.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that executes two parallel aggregations:

  • The first aggregation distributes incoming documents into 5 groups according to their attributes.screen_size field.

  • The second aggregation counts all manufacturers and returns their count, limited to the top 5.

facet(new Facet("Screen Sizes",
bucketAuto("$attributes.screen_size", 5, new BucketAutoOptions().output(sum("count", 1)))),
new Facet("Manufacturer", sortByCount("$attributes.manufacturer"), limit(5)));

Use the setWindowFields() method to create a $setWindowFields pipeline stage that allows using window operators to perform operations on a specified span of documents in a collection.

Tip

Window Functions

The driver includes the Windows class with static factory methods for building windowed computations.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that computes the accumulated rainfall and the average temperature over the past month for each locality from more fine-grained measurements presented in the rainfall and temperature fields:

Window pastMonth = Windows.timeRange(-1, MongoTimeUnit.MONTH, Windows.Bound.CURRENT);
setWindowFields("$localityId", Sorts.ascending("measurementDateTime"),
WindowOutputFields.sum("monthlyRainfall", "$rainfall", pastMonth),
WindowOutputFields.avg("monthlyAvgTemp", "$temperature", pastMonth));

Use the densify() method to create a $densify pipeline stage that generates a sequence of documents to span a specified interval.

Tip

You can use the $densify() aggregation stage only when running MongoDB v5.1 or later.

Consider the following documents retrieved from the Atlas sample weather dataset that contain measurements for a similar position field, spaced one hour apart:

Document{{ _id=5553a..., position=Document{{type=Point, coordinates=[-47.9, 47.6]}}, ts=Mon Mar 05 08:00:00 EST 1984, ... }}
Document{{ _id=5553b..., position=Document{{type=Point, coordinates=[-47.9, 47.6]}}, ts=Mon Mar 05 09:00:00 EST 1984, ... }}

Suppose you needed to create a pipeline stage that performs the following actions on these documents:

  • Add a document at every 15-minute interval for which a ts value does not already exist.

  • Group the documents by the position field.

The call to the densify() aggregation stage builder that accomplishes these actions resembles the following:

densify(
"ts",
DensifyRange.partitionRangeWithStep(15, MongoTimeUnit.MINUTE),
DensifyOptions.densifyOptions().partitionByFields("position.coordinates"));

The following output highlights the documents generated by the aggregate stage which contain ts values every 15 minutes between the existing documents:

Document{{ _id=5553a..., position=Document{{type=Point, coordinates=[-47.9, 47.6]}}, ts=Mon Mar 05 08:00:00 EST 1984, ... }}
Document{{ position=Document{{coordinates=[-47.9, 47.6]}}, ts=Mon Mar 05 08:15:00 EST 1984 }}
Document{{ position=Document{{coordinates=[-47.9, 47.6]}}, ts=Mon Mar 05 08:30:00 EST 1984 }}
Document{{ position=Document{{coordinates=[-47.9, 47.6]}}, ts=Mon Mar 05 08:45:00 EST 1984 }}
Document{{ _id=5553b..., position=Document{{type=Point, coordinates=[-47.9, 47.6]}}, ts=Mon Mar 05 09:00:00 EST 1984, ... }}

See the densify package API documentation for more information.

Use the fill() method to create a $fill pipeline stage that populates null and missing field values.

Tip

You can use the $fill() aggregation stage only when running MongoDB v5.3 or later.

Consider the following documents that contain temperature and air pressure measurements at an hourly interval:

Document{{_id=6308a..., hour=1, temperature=23C, air_pressure=29.74}}
Document{{_id=6308b..., hour=2, temperature=23.5C}}
Document{{_id=6308c..., hour=3, temperature=null, air_pressure=29.76}}

Suppose you needed to populate missing temperature and air pressure data points in the documents as follows:

  • Populate the air_pressure field for hour "2" using linear interpolation to calculate the value.

  • Set the missing temperature value to "23.6C" for hour "3".

The call to the fill() aggregation stage builder that accomplishes these actions resembles the following:

fill(
FillOptions.fillOptions().sortBy(ascending("hour")),
FillOutputField.value("temperature", "23.6C"),
FillOutputField.linear("air_pressure")
);

The following output highlights the documents that contain fields populated by the aggregate stage:

Document{{_id=6308a..., hour=1, temperature=23C, air_pressure=29.74}}
Document{{_id=6308b..., hour=2, temperature=23.5C, air_pressure=29.75}}
Document{{_id=6308c..., hour=3, temperature=23.6C, air_pressure=29.76}}

See the fill package API documentation for more information.

Use the search() method to create a $search pipeline stage that specifies a full-text search of one or more fields.

Tip

Only Available on Atlas for MongoDB v4.2 and later

This aggregation pipeline operator is only available for collections hosted on MongoDB Atlas clusters running v4.2 or later that are covered by an Atlas search index. Learn more about the required setup and the functionality of this operator from the Atlas Search documentation.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that searches the title field for text that contains the word "Future":

Bson textSearch = Aggregates.search(
SearchOperator.text(
SearchPath.fieldPath("title"), "Future"));

Learn more about the builders from the search package API documentation.

Use the searchMeta() method to create a $searchMeta pipeline stage which returns only the metadata part of the results from Atlas full-text search queries.

Tip

Only Available on Atlas for MongoDB v4.4.11 and later

This aggregation pipeline operator is only available on MongoDB Atlas clusters running v4.4.11 and later. For a detailed list of version availability, see the MongoDB Atlas documentation on $searchMeta.

The following example shows the count metadata for an Atlas search aggregation stage:

Aggregates.searchMeta(
SearchOperator.near(2010, 1, SearchPath.fieldPath("year")));

Learn more about this helper from the searchMeta() API documentation.

Important

To learn what versions of MongoDB Atlas support this feature, see Limitations in the MongoDB Atlas documentation.

Use the vectorSearch() method to create a $vectorSearch pipeline stage that specifies a semantic search. A semantic search is a type of search which locates information that is similar in meaning.

To use this feature, you must set up a vector search index and index your vector embeddings. To learn how set these up in MongoDB Atlas, see How to Index Vector Embeddings for Vector Search.

The following example shows how to build an aggregation pipeline that uses the vectorSearch() and project() methods to compute a vector search score:

List<Double> queryVector = (asList(-0.0072121937, -0.030757688, -0.012945653));
String indexName = "mflix_movies_embedding_index";
FieldSearchPath fieldSearchPath = fieldPath("plot_embedding");
int numCandidates = 2;
int limit = 1;
VectorSearchOptions options = vectorSearchOptions().filter(gte("year", 2016));
List<Bson> pipeline = asList(
vectorSearch(
fieldSearchPath,
queryVector,
indexName,
numCandidates,
limit,
options),
project(
metaVectorSearchScore("vectorSearchScore")));

The following example shows how you can print the score from the result of the preceding aggregation pipeline:

Document found = collection.aggregate(pipeline).first();
double score = found.getDouble("vectorSearchScore").doubleValue();
System.out.println("vectorSearch score: " + score);

Learn more about this helper from the vectorSearch() API documentation.

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