> For the complete MongoDB documentation index, see www.mongodb.com/docs/llms.txt

# cursor.count() (mongosh method)

## Definition

**Important: mongosh Method**

This page documents a [`mongosh`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/mongodb-shell.md#mongodb-binary-bin.mongosh) method. This is *not* the documentation for a language-specific driver, such as Node.js.

For MongoDB API drivers, refer to the language-specific [MongoDB driver documentation.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/drivers/)

**Note:**

MongoDB drivers deprecate their respective cursor and collection `count()` APIs in favor of new APIs that corresponds to `countDocuments()` and `estimatedDocumentCount()`. For the specific API names for a given driver, see the driver API documentation.

Counts the number of documents referenced by a cursor. Append the [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) method to a [`find()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/db.collection.find.md#mongodb-method-db.collection.find) query to return the number of matching documents. The operation does not perform the query but instead counts the results that would be returned by the query.

The [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) method has the following prototype form:

```javascript
db.collection.find(<query>).count()
```

The [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) method has the following parameter:

| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `applySkipLimit` | boolean | Optional. [`mongosh`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/mongodb-shell.md#mongodb-binary-bin.mongosh) ignores any value you set for this option. The value defaults to `true`. The option specifies whether to consider the effects of the [`cursor.skip()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.skip.md#mongodb-method-cursor.skip) and [`cursor.limit()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.limit.md#mongodb-method-cursor.limit) methods in the count. By default, the [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) method ignores the effects of the [`cursor.skip()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.skip.md#mongodb-method-cursor.skip) and [`cursor.limit()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.limit.md#mongodb-method-cursor.limit). You must set `applySkipLimit` to `true` to consider the effect of these methods. The legacy [`mongo`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/mongo.md#mongodb-binary-bin.mongo) shell, which is now deprecated, used your setting for this option. |

MongoDB also provides an equivalent [`db.collection.count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/db.collection.count.md#mongodb-method-db.collection.count) as an alternative to the `db.collection.find(<query>).count()` construct.

MongoDB supports the use of [`hint()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.hint.md#mongodb-method-cursor.hint) with [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count). See [Specify the Index to Use](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#std-label-count-method-hint) for an example.

**See also:**

[`cursor.size()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.size.md#mongodb-method-cursor.size)

## Compatibility

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

- [MongoDB Atlas](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas): The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud

**Note:**

This command is supported in all MongoDB Atlas clusters. For information on Atlas support for all commands, see [Unsupported Commands.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/unsupported-commands/)

- [MongoDB Enterprise](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/administration/install-enterprise.md#std-label-install-mdb-enterprise): The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB

- [MongoDB Community](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/administration/install-community.md#std-label-install-mdb-community-edition): The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB

## Behavior

### Inaccurate Counts Without Query Predicate

When you call [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) on a [`find()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/db.collection.find.md#mongodb-method-db.collection.find) operation which does not specify a query predicate, the [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) method can return inaccurate document counts. These [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) methods return results based on the collection's metadata, which may result in an approximate count. In particular,

- On a sharded cluster, the resulting count will not correctly filter out [orphaned documents.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/glossary.md#std-term-orphaned-document)

- After an unclean shutdown or [file copy based initial sync](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/core/replica-set-sync.md#std-label-replica-set-initial-sync-file-copy-based), the count may be incorrect.

For counts based on collection metadata, see also [collStats pipeline stage with the count](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/operator/aggregation/collstats.md#std-label-collstat-count) option.

### Count and Transactions

You cannot use [`count`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/command/count.md#mongodb-dbcommand-dbcmd.count) and shell helpers [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) and [`db.collection.count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/db.collection.count.md#mongodb-method-db.collection.count) in [transactions.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/core/transactions.md#std-label-transactions-ops-count)

For details, see [Transactions and Count Operations.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/core/transactions.md#std-label-transactions-ops-count)

### Sharded Clusters

On a sharded cluster, [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) without a query predicate in the `find` can result in an *inaccurate* count if [orphaned documents](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/glossary.md#std-term-orphaned-document) exist or if a [chunk migration](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/core/sharding-balancer-administration.md#std-label-sharding-balancing) is in progress.

To avoid these situations, on a sharded cluster, use the [`db.collection.aggregate()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/db.collection.aggregate.md#mongodb-method-db.collection.aggregate) method:

You can use the [`$count`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/operator/aggregation/count.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-count) stage to count the documents. For example, the following operation counts the documents in a collection:

```javascript
db.collection.aggregate( [
   { $count: "myCount" }
])
```

The [`$count`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/operator/aggregation/count.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-count) stage is equivalent to the following [`$group`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/operator/aggregation/group.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-group) + [`$project`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/operator/aggregation/project.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-project) sequence:

```javascript
db.collection.aggregate( [
   { $group: { _id: null, count: { $sum: 1 } } },
   { $project: { _id: 0 } }
] )
```

**See also:**

[`$collStats`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/operator/aggregation/collstats.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-collStats) to return an approximate count based on the collection's metadata.

### Index Use

Consider a collection with the following index:

```javascript
{ a: 1, b: 1 }
```

When performing a count, MongoDB can return the count using only the index if:

- the query can use an index,

- the query only contains conditions on the keys of the index, *and*

- the query predicates access a single contiguous range of index keys.

For example, the following operations can return the count using only the index:

```javascript
db.collection.find( { a: 5, b: 5 } ).count()
db.collection.find( { a: { $gt: 5 } } ).count()
db.collection.find( { a: 5, b: { $gt: 10 } } ).count()
```

If, however, the query can use an index but the query predicates do not access a single contiguous range of index keys or the query also contains conditions on fields outside the index, then in addition to using the index, MongoDB must also read the documents to return the count.

```javascript
db.collection.find( { a: 5, b: { $in: [ 1, 2, 3 ] } } ).count()
db.collection.find( { a: { $gt: 5 }, b: 5 } ).count()
db.collection.find( { a: 5, b: 5, c: 5 } ).count()
```

In such cases, during the initial read of the documents, MongoDB pages the documents into memory such that subsequent calls of the same count operation will have better performance.

## Examples

The following are examples of the [`count()`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/method/cursor.count.md#mongodb-method-cursor.count) method.

### Count All Documents

The following operation counts the number of all documents in the `orders` collection:

```javascript
db.orders.find().count()
```

### Count Documents That Match a Query

The following operation counts the number of the documents in the `orders` collection with the field `ord_dt` greater than `new
Date('01/01/2012')`:

```javascript
db.orders.find( { ord_dt: { $gt: new Date('01/01/2012') } } ).count()
```

### Limit Documents in Count

The following operation counts the number of the documents in the `orders` collection with the field `ord_dt` greater than `new
Date('01/01/2012')` *taking into account* the effect of the `limit(5)`:

```javascript
db.orders.find( { ord_dt: { $gt: new Date('01/01/2012') } } ).limit(5).count(true)
```

### Specify the Index to Use

The following operation uses the index named `"status_1"`, which has the index key specification of `{ status: 1 }`, to return a count of the documents in the `orders` collection with the field `ord_dt` greater than `new Date('01/01/2012')` and the `status` field is equal to `"D"`:

```javascript
db.orders.find(
   { ord_dt: { $gt: new Date('01/01/2012') }, status: "D" }
).hint( "status_1" ).count()
```