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findAndModify

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  • Definition
  • Compatibility
  • Syntax
  • Command Fields
  • Output
  • Behavior
  • Examples
findAndModify

The findAndModify command updates 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.

Tip

In mongosh, this command can also be run through the db.collection.findAndModify() helper method.

Helper methods are convenient for mongosh users, but they may not return the same level of information as database commands. In cases where the convenience is not needed or the additional return fields are required, use the database command.

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

  • MongoDB Atlas: The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud

Note

This command is supported in all MongoDB Atlas clusters. For information on all commands, see Unsupported Commands.

Changed in version 5.0.

The command has the following syntax:

db.runCommand(
{
findAndModify: <collection-name>,
query: <document>,
sort: <document>,
remove: <boolean>,
update: <document or aggregation pipeline>,
new: <boolean>,
fields: <document>,
upsert: <boolean>,
bypassDocumentValidation: <boolean>,
writeConcern: <document>,
maxTimeMS: <integer>,
collation: <document>,
arrayFilters: <array>,
hint: <document|string>,
comment: <any>,
let: <document> // Added in MongoDB 5.0
}
)

The command takes the following fields:

Field
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, findAndModify will only select one document to update.

If unspecified, defaults to an empty document.

If the query argument is not a document, the operation errors.

sort

document

Optional. Determines which document the operation updates if the query selects multiple documents. findAndModify updates the first document in the sort order specified by this argument.

If the sort argument is not a document, the operation errors.

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.

new
boolean
Optional. When true, returns the updated 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, ... }. See Projection.

If the fields argument is not a document, the operation errors.

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 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.

findAndModify
string
The collection against which to run the command.
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.

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 Array Update Operations with arrayFilters.

arrayFilters is not available for updates that use an aggregation pipeline.

hint
document or string

Optional. A document or string that specifies the index to use to support the query.

The option can take an index specification document or the index name string.

If you specify an index that does not exist, the operation errors.

For an example, see Specify hint for findAndModify Operations.

comment
any

Optional. A user-provided comment to attach to this command. Once set, this comment appears alongside records of this command in the following locations:

A comment can be any valid BSON type (string, integer, object, array, etc).

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.

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.

The findAndModify command returns a document with the following fields:

Field
Type
Description
value
document
Contains the command's returned value. See value for details.
lastErrorObject
document
Contains information about updated documents. See lastErrorObject for details.
ok
number
Contains the command's execution status. 1 on success, or 0 if an error occurred.

The lastErrorObject embedded document contains the following fields:

Field
Type
Description
n
integer
Contains the number of documents that matched the update predicate or the number of documents that the command inserted or deleted.
updatedExisting
boolean

Contains true if an update operation:

  • Updated an existing document.

  • Found the document, but it was already in the desired destination state so no update actually occurred.

upserted
document
Contains the ObjectId of the inserted document if an update operation with upsert: true resulted in a new document.

For remove operations, value contains the removed document if the query matches a document. If the query does not match a document to remove, value contains null.

For update operations, the value embedded document contains 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 updated document if the query returns a match;

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

    • otherwise, null.

Upserts can create duplicate documents, unless there is a unique index to prevent duplicates.

Consider an example where no document with the name Andy exists and multiple clients issue the following command at roughly the same time:

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

If all findAndModify operations finish the query phase before any client successfully inserts data, and there is no unique index on the name field, each findAndModify operation may result in an insert, creating multiple documents with name: Andy.

A unique index on the name field ensures that only one document is created. With a unique index in place, the multiple findAndModify operations now exhibit the following behavior:

  • Exactly one findAndModify operation will successfully insert a new document.

  • Other findAndModify operations either update the newly-inserted document or fail due to a unique key collision.

    In order for other findAndModify operations to update the newly-inserted document, all of the following conditions must be met:

    • The target collection has a unique index that would cause a duplicate key error.

    • The update operation is not updateMany or multi is false.

    • The update match condition is either:

      • A single equality predicate. For example { "fieldA" : "valueA" }

      • A logical AND of equality predicates. For example { "fieldA" : "valueA", "fieldB" : "valueB" }

    • The fields in the equality predicate match the fields in the unique index key pattern.

    • The update operation does not modify any fields in the unique index key pattern.

The following table shows examples of upsert operations that, when a key collision occurs, either result in an update or fail.

Unique Index Key Pattern
Update Operation
Result
{ name : 1 }
db.people.updateOne(
{ name: "Andy" },
{ $inc: { score: 1 } },
{ upsert: true }
)
The score field of the matched document is incremented by 1.
{ name : 1 }
db.people.updateOne(
{ name: { $ne: "Joe" } },
{ $set: { name: "Andy" } },
{ upsert: true }
)
The operation fails because it modifies the field in the unique index key pattern (name).
{ name : 1 }
db.people.updateOne(
{ name: "Andy", email: "andy@xyz.com" },
{ $set: { active: false } },
{ upsert: true }
)
The operation fails because the equality predicate fields (name, email) do not match the index key field (name).

To use findAndModify on a sharded collection:

  • If you only target one shard, you can use a partial shard key in the query field or,

  • You can provide an equality condition on a full shard key in the query field.

  • Starting in version 7.1, you do not need to provide the shard key or _id field in the query specification.

Documents in a sharded collection can be missing the shard key fields. To target a document that is missing the shard key, you can use the null equality match in conjunction with another filter condition (such as on the _id field). For example:

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

You can update a document's shard key value unless the shard key field is the immutable _id field.

Warning

Documents in sharded collections can be missing the shard key fields. Take precaution to avoid accidentally removing the shard key when changing a document's shard key value.

To update the existing shard key value with findAndModify:

  • You must run on a mongos. Do not issue the operation directly on the shard.

  • You must run either in a transaction or as a retryable write.

  • You must include an equality filter on the full shard key.

Documents in a sharded collection can be missing the shard key fields. To use findAndModify to set the document's missing shard key:

  • You must run on a mongos. Do not issue the operation directly on the shard.

  • You must run either in a transaction or as a retryable write if the new shard key value is not null.

  • You must include an equality filter on the full shard key.

Tip

Since a missing key value is returned as part of a null equality match, to avoid updating a null-valued key, include additional query conditions (such as on the _id field) as appropriate.

See also:

The findAndModify command adds support for the bypassDocumentValidation option, which lets you bypass document validation when inserting or updating documents in a collection with validation rules.

When updating a document, findAndModify and the updateOne() method operate differently:

  • If multiple documents match the update criteria, for findAndModify, you can specify a sort to provide some measure of control on which document to update.

    updateOne() updates the first document that matches.

  • By default, findAndModify returns an object that contains the pre-modified version of the document, as well as the status of the operation. To obtain the updated document, use the new option.

    The updateOne() method returns a WriteResult() object that contains the status of the operation.

    To return the updated document, use the find() method. However, other updates may have modified the document between your update and the document retrieval. Also, if the update modified only a single document but multiple documents matched, you will need to use additional logic to identify the updated document.

When modifying a single document, both findAndModify and the updateOne() method atomically update the document. See Atomicity and Transactions for more details about interactions and order of operations of these methods.

Tip

See also:

findAndModify can be used inside distributed transactions.

Important

In most cases, a distributed transaction incurs a greater performance cost over single document writes, and the availability of distributed 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 distributed transactions.

For additional transactions usage considerations (such as runtime limit and oplog size limit), see also Production Considerations.

You can create collections and indexes inside a distributed transaction if the transaction is not a cross-shard write transaction.

findAndModify with upsert: true can be run on an existing collection or a non-existing collection. If run on a non-existing collection, the operation creates the collection.

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.

The following command updates an existing document in the people collection where the document matches the query criteria:

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

This command performs the following actions:

  1. The query finds a document in the people collection where the name field has the value Tom, the state field has the value active and the rating field has a value greater than 10.

  2. The sort orders the results of the query in ascending order. If multiple documents meet the query condition, the command will select for modification the first document as ordered by this sort.

  3. The update increments the value of the score field by 1.

  4. The command returns a document with the following fields:

    • The lastErrorObject field that contains the details of the command, including the field updatedExisting which is true, and

    • The value field that contains the original (i.e. pre-modification) document selected for this update:

      {
      "lastErrorObject" : {
      "connectionId" : 1,
      "updatedExisting" : true,
      "n" : 1,
      "syncMillis" : 0,
      "writtenTo" : null,
      "err" : null,
      "ok" : 1
      },
      value" : {
      "_id" : ObjectId("54f62d2885e4be1f982b9c9c"),
      "name" : "Tom",
      "state" : "active",
      "rating" : 100,
      "score" : 5
      },
      "ok" : 1
      }

To return the updated document in the value field, add the new:true option to the command.

If no document match the query condition, the command returns a document that contains null in the value field:

{ "value" : null, "ok" : 1 }

mongosh and many drivers provide a findAndModify() helper method. Using the shell helper, this previous operation can take the following form:

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

However, the findAndModify() shell helper method returns only the unmodified document, or if new is true, the updated document.

{
"_id" : ObjectId("54f62d2885e4be1f982b9c9c"),
"name" : "Tom",
"state" : "active",
"rating" : 100,
"score" : 5
}

The following findAndModify command includes the upsert: true option for the update operation to either update a matching document or, if no matching document exists, create a new document:

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

If the command finds a matching document, the command performs an update.

If the command does not find a matching document, the update with upsert: true operation results in an insertion and returns a document with the following fields:

  • The lastErrorObject field that contains the details of the command, including the field upserted that contains the _id value of the newly inserted document, and

  • The value field containing null.

{
"value" : null,
"lastErrorObject" : {
"updatedExisting" : false,
"n" : 1,
"upserted" : ObjectId("54f62c8bc85d4472eadea26f")
},
"ok" : 1
}

The following findAndModify command includes both upsert: true option and the new:true option. The command either updates a matching document and returns the updated document or, if no matching document exists, inserts a document and returns the newly inserted document in the value field.

In the following example, no document in the people collection matches the query condition:

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

The command returns the newly inserted document in the value field:

{
"lastErrorObject" : {
"connectionId" : 1,
"updatedExisting" : false,
"upserted" : ObjectId("54f62bbfc85d4472eadea26d"),
"n" : 1,
"syncMillis" : 0,
"writtenTo" : null,
"err" : null,
"ok" : 1
},
"value" : {
"_id" : ObjectId("54f62bbfc85d4472eadea26d"),
"name" : "Pascal",
"rating" : 25,
"state" : "active",
"score" : 1
},
"ok" : 1
}

By including a sort specification on the rating field, the following example removes from the people collection a single document with the state value of active and the lowest rating among the matching documents:

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

The command returns the deleted document:

{
"lastErrorObject" : {
"connectionId" : 1,
"n" : 1,
"syncMillis" : 0,
"writtenTo" : null,
"err" : null,
"ok" : 1
},
"value" : {
"_id" : ObjectId("54f62a6785e4be1f982b9c9b"),
"name" : "XYZ123",
"score" : 1,
"state" : "active",
"rating" : 3
},
"ok" : 1
}

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

The operation returns the following document:

{
"lastErrorObject" : {
"updatedExisting" : true,
"n" : 1
},
"value" : {
"_id" : 1,
"category" : "café",
"status" : "A"
},
"ok" : 1
}

Note

arrayFilters is not available for updates that use an aggregation pipeline.

When updating an array field, you can specify arrayFilters that determine which array elements to update.

Note

arrayFilters is not available for updates that use an aggregation pipeline.

Create a collection students with the following documents:

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

To update all elements that are greater than or equal to 100 in the grades array, use the positional $[<identifier>] operator with the arrayFilters option:

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

The operation updates the grades field for a single document, and after the operation, the collection has the following documents:

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

Note

arrayFilters is not available for updates that use an aggregation pipeline.

Create a collection students2 with the following documents:

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 }
]
}
] )

The following operation finds a document where the _id field equals 1 and uses the filtered positional operator $[<identifier>] with the arrayFilters to update the mean for all elements in the grades array where the grade is greater than or equal to 85.

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

The operation updates the grades field for a single document, and after the operation, the collection has the following documents:

{
"_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 }
]
}

findAndModify can accept an aggregation pipeline for the update. The pipeline can consist of the following stages:

Using the aggregation pipeline allows for a more expressive update statement, such as expressing conditional updates based on current field values or updating one field using the value of another field(s).

For example, create a collection students2 with the following documents:

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 }
]
}
] )

The following operation finds a document where the _id field equals 1 and uses an aggregation pipeline to calculate a new field total from the grades field:

db.runCommand(
{
findAndModify: "students2",
query: { "_id" : 1 },
update: [ { $set: { "total" : { $sum: "$grades.grade" } } } ],
new: true
}
)

Note

The $set used in the pipeline refers to the aggregation stage $set and not the update operator $set.

After the operation, the collection has the following documents:

{
"_id" : 1,
"grades" : [ { "grade" : 80, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 }, { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 90, "std" : 4 }, { "grade" : 85, "mean" :85, "std" : 6 } ],
"total" : 250
}
{
"_id" : 2,
"grades" : [ { "grade" : 90, "mean" : 75, "std" : 6 }, { "grade" : 87, "mean" : 90, "std" : 3 }, { "grade" : 85, "mean" : 85,"std" : 4 } ]
}

In mongosh, create a members collection with the following documents:

db.members.insertMany( [
{ "_id" : 1, "member" : "abc123", "status" : "P", "points" : 0, "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
{ "_id" : 2, "member" : "xyz123", "status" : "A", "points" : 60, "misc1" : "reminder: ping me at 100pts", "misc2" : "Some random comment" },
{ "_id" : 3, "member" : "lmn123", "status" : "P", "points" : 0, "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
{ "_id" : 4, "member" : "pqr123", "status" : "D", "points" : 20, "misc1" : "Deactivated", "misc2" : null },
{ "_id" : 5, "member" : "ijk123", "status" : "P", "points" : 0, "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
{ "_id" : 6, "member" : "cde123", "status" : "A", "points" : 86, "misc1" : "reminder: ping me at 100pts", "misc2" : "Some random comment" }
] )

Create the following indexes on the collection:

db.members.createIndex( { status: 1 } )
db.members.createIndex( { points: 1 } )

The following operation explicitly hints to use the index { status: 1 }:

db.runCommand({
findAndModify: "members",
query: { "points": { $lte: 20 }, "status": "P" },
remove: true,
hint: { status: 1 }
})

Note

If you specify an index that does not exist, the operation errors.

To see the index used, run explain on the operation:

db.runCommand(
{
explain: {
findAndModify: "members",
query: { "points": { $lte: 20 }, "status": "P" },
remove: true,
hint: { status: 1 }
},
verbosity: "queryPlanner"
}
)

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 change the cake flavor from cherry to orange:

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

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