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db.collection.findOneAndDelete()

Definition

db.collection.findOneAndDelete(filter, options)

New in version 3.2.

Deletes a single document based on the filter and sort criteria, returning the deleted document.

The findOneAndDelete() method has the following form:

db.collection.findOneAndDelete(
   <filter>,
   {
     writeConcern: <document>,
     projection: <document>,
     sort: <document>,
     maxTimeMS: <number>,
     collation: <document>
   }
)

The findOneAndDelete() method takes the following parameters:

Parameter Type Description
filter document

The selection criteria for the deletion. The same query selectors as in the find() method are available.

Specify an empty document { } to delete the first document returned in the collection.

If unspecified, defaults to an empty document.

Starting in MongoDB 4.0.12+, the operation errors if the query argument is not a document.

writeConcern document

Optional. A document expressing the write concern. Omit to use the default write concern.

{ w: <value>, j: <boolean>, wtimeout: <number> }

See Delete A Document Using WriteConcern for usage.

Do not explicitly set the write concern for the operation if run in a transaction. To use write concern with transactions, see Read Concern/Write Concern/Read Preference.

projection document

Optional. A subset of fields to return.

To return all fields in the returned document, omit this parameter.

Starting in MongoDB 4.0.12+, the operation errors if the projection argument is not a document.

sort document

Optional. Specifies a sorting order for the documents matched by the filter.

See cursor.sort().

maxTimeMS number Optional. Specifies a time limit in milliseconds within which the operation must complete within. Throws an error if the limit is exceeded.
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.

New in version 3.4.

Returns:Returns the deleted document.

Behavior

Document Match

findOneAndDelete() deletes the first matching document in the collection that matches the filter. The sort parameter can be used to influence which document is updated.

Projection

The projection parameter takes a document in the following form:

{ field1 : < boolean >, field2 : < boolean> ... }

The <boolean> value can be any of the following:

  • 1 or true to include the field. The method returns the _id field even if it is not explicitly stated in the projection parameter.
  • 0 or false to exclude the field. This can be used on any field, including _id.

Transactions

db.collection.findOneAndDelete() supports 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 Read Concern/Write Concern/Read Preference.

Important

In most cases, multi-document transaction incurs a greater performance cost over single document writes, and the availability of multi-document transaction 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

Delete A Document

The scores collection contains documents similar to the following:

 db.scores.insertMany( [
   { _id: 6305, name : "A. MacDyver", "assignment" : 5, "points" : 24 },
   { _id: 6308, name : "B. Batlock", "assignment" : 3, "points" : 22 },
   { _id: 6312, name : "M. Tagnum", "assignment" : 5, "points" : 30 },
   { _id: 6319, name : "R. Stiles", "assignment" : 2, "points" : 12 },
   { _id: 6322, name : "A. MacDyver", "assignment" : 2, "points" : 14 },
   { _id: 6234, name : "R. Stiles", "assignment" : 1, "points" : 10 }
] )

The following operation finds the first document where name : M. Tagnum and deletes it:

db.scores.findOneAndDelete(
   { "name" : "M. Tagnum" }
)

The operation returns the original document that has been deleted:

{ _id: 6312, name: "M. Tagnum", "assignment" : 5, "points" : 30 }

Delete A Document Using WriteConcern

The scores collection contains documents similar to the following:

db.scores.insertMany( [
   { _id: 6305, name : "A. MacDyver", "assignment" : 5, "points" : 24 },
   { _id: 6308, name : "B. Batlock", "assignment" : 3, "points" : 22 },
   { _id: 6312, name : "M. Tagnum", "assignment" : 5, "points" : 30 },
   { _id: 6319, name : "R. Stiles", "assignment" : 2, "points" : 12 },
   { _id: 6322, name : "A. MacDyver", "assignment" : 2, "points" : 14 },
   { _id: 6234, name : "R. Stiles", "assignment" : 1, "points" : 10 }
] )

The following operation uses a write concern document inside of the db.collection.findOneAndDelete() method with options:

  • w:1 to requests acknowledgment that the write operation has propagated to the standalone mongod or the primary in a replica set.
  • j:true to tell the number of MongoDB instances specified in w:1 to have the delete written to on-disk journel.
  • wtimeout : 1000 to specify a time limit, in milliseconds, for the write concern. wtimeout is only applicable for w values greater than 1.
db.scores.findOneAndDelete(
   {name: "A. MacDyver"},
   { writeConcern: {
         w : 1,
         j : true,
         wtimeout : 1000
      }
   }
)

The operation returns the following document:

{ _id: 6305, name: 'A. MacDyver', assignment: 5, points: 24 }

The document is deleted with the writeConcern options specified.

Sort And Delete A Document

The scores collection contains documents similar to the following:

db.scores.insertMany( [
   { _id: 6305, name : "A. MacDyver", "assignment" : 5, "points" : 24 },
   { _id: 6308, name : "B. Batlock", "assignment" : 3, "points" : 22 },
   { _id: 6312, name : "M. Tagnum", "assignment" : 5, "points" : 30 },
   { _id: 6319, name : "R. Stiles", "assignment" : 2, "points" : 12 },
   { _id: 6322, name : "A. MacDyver", "assignment" : 2, "points" : 14 },
   { _id: 6234, name : "R. Stiles", "assignment" : 1, "points" : 10 }
] )

The following operation first finds all documents where name : "A. MacDyver". It then sorts by points ascending before deleting the document with the lowest points value:

db.scores.findOneAndDelete(
   { "name" : "A. MacDyver" },
   { sort : { "points" : 1 } }
)

The operation returns the original document that has been deleted:

{ _id: 6322, name: "A. MacDyver", "assignment" : 2, "points" : 14 }

Projecting the Deleted Document

The following operation uses projection to only return the _id and assignment fields in the returned document:

db.scores.findOneAndDelete(
   { "name" : "A. MacDyver" },
   { sort : { "points" : 1 }, projection: { "assignment" : 1 } }
)

The operation returns the original document with the assignment and _id fields:

{ _id: 6322, "assignment" : 2 }

Update Document with Time Limit

The following operation sets a 5ms time limit to complete the deletion:

try {
   db.scores.findOneAndDelete(
      { "name" : "A. MacDyver" },
      { sort : { "points" : 1 }, maxTimeMS : 5 }
   )
}
catch(e){
   print(e)
}

If the operation exceeds the time limit, it returns:

MongoServerError: operation exceeded time limit: { "ok": 0, "code" : 50, "codeName" : "MaxTimeMSExpired" }

Note

This error message has been shortened for brevity.

Specify Collation

New in version 3.4.

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:

db.myColl.insertMany( [
   { _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.findOneAndDelete(
   { category: "cafe", status: "a" },
   { collation: { locale: "fr", strength: 1 } }
);

The operation returns the following document:

{ "_id" : 1, "category" : "café", "status" : "A" }