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mongofiles

macOS Sierra and Go 1.6 Incompatibility

Users running on macOS Sierra require the 3.2.10 or newer version of mongofiles.

Upcoming Tools Migration in MongoDB 4.4

Starting in MongoDB 4.4, the mongofiles documentation migrates to MongoDB Database Tools - mongofiles. Refer to that page for more information on the upcoming version of mongofiles (tool version 100.0.0).

The documentation on this page only applies to the MongoDB 4.2 version of mongofiles. The MongoDB 4.2 version of mongofiles is available for download following the instructions in the Availability section below.

Synopsis

The mongofiles utility makes it possible to manipulate files stored in your MongoDB instance in GridFS objects from the command line. It is particularly useful as it provides an interface between objects stored in your file system and GridFS.

All mongofiles commands have the following form:

copy 
mongofiles <options> <commands> <filename>

The components of the mongofiles command are:

  1. Options. You may use one or more of these options to control the behavior of mongofiles.
  2. Commands. Use one of these commands to determine the action of mongofiles.
  3. A filename which is either: the name of a file on your local’s file system, or a GridFS object.

Run mongofiles from the system command line, not the mongo shell.

Important

For replica sets, mongofiles can only read from the set’s primary.

Availability

The mongofiles tool is part of the MongoDB tools package. Consult the installation guide for your platform for instructions on how to install the tools package as part of your MongoDB installation.

The tools package is also available from the MongoDB Download Center, either as a separate tools download, or contained within the TGZ or ZIP downloads, depending on platform. On Windows, the MSI installer includes all tools as part of the default installation.

Tip

If downloading the TGZ or ZIP files from the Download Center, you may want to update your PATH environment variable to include the directory where you installed these tools. See the installation guide for your platform for more information.

Required Access

In order to connect to a mongod that enforces authorization with the --auth option, you must use the --username and --password options. The connecting user must possess, at a minimum:

  • the read role for the accessed database when using the list, search or get commands,
  • the readWrite role for the accessed database when using the put or delete commands.

Behavior

FIPS

Starting in version 4.2, MongoDB removes the --sslFIPSMode option for mongofiles. mongofiles will use FIPS compliant connections to mongod/mongos if the mongod/mongos instances are configured to use FIPS mode.

Read Preference

By default, mongofiles uses read preference primary. To override the default, you can specify the read preference in the --readPreference command line option or in the --uri connection string.

Starting in version 4.2, if you specify read preference in the URI string and the --readPreference, the --readPreference value overrides the read preference specified in the URI string.

In earlier versions, the two options are incompatible.

Write Concern

Starting in version 4.2, you can specify both the --writeConcern and the --uri connection string option. If write concern is specified using both options, the --writeConcern value overrides the write concern specified in the URI string.

In earlier versions, the two options are incompatible.

Options

--help

Returns information on the options and use of mongofiles.

--verbose, -v

Increases the amount of internal reporting returned on standard output or in log files. Increase the verbosity with the -v form by including the option multiple times, (e.g. -vvvvv.)

--quiet

Runs mongofiles in a quiet mode that attempts to limit the amount of output.

This option suppresses:

  • output from database commands
  • replication activity
  • connection accepted events
  • connection closed events
--version

Returns the mongofiles release number.

--uri=<connectionString>

New in version 3.4.6.

Specify a resolvable URI connection string (enclose in quotes) to connect to the MongoDB deployment.

copy 
--uri="mongodb://[username:password@]host1[:port1][,host2[:port2],...[,hostN[:portN]]][/[database][?options]]"

For information on the components of the connection string, see the Connection String URI Format documentation.

Note

For TLS/SSL options, use the command-line options instead of the URI options for TLS/SSL (Available starting in 4.2).

Important

The following command-line options cannot be used in conjunction with --uri option:

Instead, specify these options as part of your --uri connection string.

--host=<hostname><:port>

Specifies a resolvable hostname for the mongod that holds your GridFS system. By default mongofiles attempts to connect to a MongoDB process running on the localhost port number 27017.

Optionally, specify a port number to connect a MongoDB instance running on a port other than 27017.

Note

You cannot specify both --host and --uri.

--port=<port>

Default: 27017

Specifies the TCP port on which the MongoDB instance listens for client connections.

Note

You cannot specify both --port and --uri.

--ipv6

Removed in version 3.0.

Enables IPv6 support and allows mongofiles to connect to the MongoDB instance using an IPv6 network. Prior to MongoDB 3.0, you had to specify --ipv6 to use IPv6. In MongoDB 3.0 and later, IPv6 is always enabled.

--ssl

Enables connection to a mongod or mongos that has TLS/SSL support enabled.

For more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients .

--sslCAFile=<filename>

Specifies the .pem file that contains the root certificate chain from the Certificate Authority. Specify the file name of the .pem file using relative or absolute paths.

If --tlsCAFile/net.tls.CAFile (or their aliases --sslCAFile/net.ssl.CAFile) is not specified and you are not using x.509 authentication, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server.

To use x.509 authentication, --tlsCAFile or net.tls.CAFile must be specified unless using --tlsCertificateSelector or --net.tls.certificateSelector. Or if using the ssl aliases, --sslCAFile or net.ssl.CAFile must be specified unless using --sslCertificateSelector or net.ssl.certificateSelector.

Warning

Version 3.2 and earlier: For TLS/SSL connections (--ssl) to mongod and mongos, if the mongofiles runs without the --sslCAFile, mongofiles will not attempt to validate the server certificates. This creates a vulnerability to expired mongod and mongos certificates as well as to foreign processes posing as valid mongod or mongos instances. Ensure that you always specify the CA file to validate the server certificates in cases where intrusion is a possibility.

For more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients .

--sslPEMKeyFile=<filename>

Specifies the .pem file that contains both the TLS/SSL certificate and key. Specify the file name of the .pem file using relative or absolute paths.

This option is required when using the --ssl option to connect to a mongod or mongos that has CAFile enabled without allowConnectionsWithoutCertificates.

For more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients .

--sslPEMKeyPassword=<value>

Specifies the password to de-crypt the certificate-key file (i.e. --sslPEMKeyFile). Use the --sslPEMKeyPassword option only if the certificate-key file is encrypted. In all cases, the mongofiles will redact the password from all logging and reporting output.

If the private key in the PEM file is encrypted and you do not specify the --sslPEMKeyPassword option, the mongofiles will prompt for a passphrase. See TLS/SSL Certificate Passphrase.

For more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients .

--sslCRLFile=<filename>

Specifies the .pem file that contains the Certificate Revocation List. Specify the file name of the .pem file using relative or absolute paths.

For more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients .

--sslAllowInvalidCertificates

Bypasses the validation checks for server certificates and allows the use of invalid certificates. When using the allowInvalidCertificates setting, MongoDB logs as a warning the use of the invalid certificate.

Starting in MongoDB 4.0, if you specify --sslAllowInvalidCertificates or net.ssl.allowInvalidCertificates: true (or in MongoDB 4.2, the alias --tlsAllowInvalidateCertificates or net.tls.allowInvalidCertificates: true) when using x.509 authentication, an invalid certificate is only sufficient to establish a TLS/SSL connection but is insufficient for authentication.

Warning

Although available, avoid using the --sslAllowInvalidCertificates option if possible. If the use of --sslAllowInvalidCertificates is necessary, only use the option on systems where intrusion is not possible.

If the mongo shell (and other MongoDB Tools) runs with the --sslAllowInvalidCertificates option, the mongo shell (and other MongoDB Tools) will not attempt to validate the server certificates. This creates a vulnerability to expired mongod and mongos certificates as well as to foreign processes posing as valid mongod or mongos instances. If you only need to disable the validation of the hostname in the TLS/SSL certificates, see --sslAllowInvalidHostnames.

For more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients .

--sslAllowInvalidHostnames

Disables the validation of the hostnames in TLS/SSL certificates. Allows mongofiles to connect to MongoDB instances even if the hostname in their certificates do not match the specified hostname.

For more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients .

--username=<username>, -u=<username>

Specifies a username with which to authenticate to a MongoDB database that uses authentication. Use in conjunction with the --password and --authenticationDatabase options.

Note

You cannot specify both --username and --uri.

--password=<password>, -p=<password>

Specifies a password with which to authenticate to a MongoDB database that uses authentication. Use in conjunction with the --username and --authenticationDatabase options.

To prompt the user for the password, pass the --username option without --password or specify an empty string as the --password value, as in --password "" .

Note

You cannot specify both --password and --uri.

--authenticationDatabase=<dbname>

Specifies the authentication database where the specified --username has been created. See Authentication Database.

Note

You cannot specify both --authenticationDatabase and --uri.

--authenticationMechanism=<name>

Default: SCRAM-SHA-1

Specifies the authentication mechanism the mongofiles instance uses to authenticate to the mongod or mongos.

Changed in version 4.0: MongoDB removes support for the deprecated MongoDB Challenge-Response (MONGODB-CR) authentication mechanism.

MongoDB adds support for SCRAM mechanism using the SHA-256 hash function (SCRAM-SHA-256).

Value Description
SCRAM-SHA-1 RFC 5802 standard Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism using the SHA-1 hash function.
SCRAM-SHA-256 RFC 7677 standard Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism using the SHA-256 hash function.
MONGODB-X509 MongoDB TLS/SSL certificate authentication.
GSSAPI (Kerberos) External authentication using Kerberos. This mechanism is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.
PLAIN (LDAP SASL) External authentication using LDAP. You can also use PLAIN for authenticating in-database users. PLAIN transmits passwords in plain text. This mechanism is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.

Note

You cannot specify both --authenticationMechanism and --uri.

--gssapiServiceName=<serviceName>

Specify the name of the service using GSSAPI/Kerberos. Only required if the service does not use the default name of mongodb.

This option is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.

--gssapiHostName=<hostname>

Specify the hostname of a service using GSSAPI/Kerberos. Only required if the hostname of a machine does not match the hostname resolved by DNS.

This option is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.

--db=<database>, -d=<database>

Specifies the name of the database on which to run the mongofiles.

Note

You cannot specify both --db and --uri.

--local=<filename>, -l=<filename>

Specifies the local filesystem name of a file for get and put operations.

In the mongofiles put and mongofiles get commands, the required <filename> modifier refers to the name the object will have in GridFS. mongofiles assumes that this reflects the file’s name on the local file system. This setting overrides this default.

--type=<MIME>

Provides the ability to specify a MIME type to describe the file inserted into GridFS storage. mongofiles omits this option in the default operation.

Use only with mongofiles put operations.

--replace, -r

Alters the behavior of mongofiles put to replace existing GridFS objects with the specified local file, rather than adding an additional object with the same name.

In the default operation, files will not be overwritten by a mongofiles put option.

--prefix=<string>

Default: fs

GridFS prefix to use.

--writeConcern=<document>

Default: majority

Specifies the write concern for each write operation that mongofiles performs.

Specify the write concern as a document with w options:

copy 
--writeConcern="{w:'majority'}"

If the write concern is also included in the --uri connection string, the command-line --writeConcern overrides the write concern specified in the URI string.

--readPreference=<string|document>

Default: primary

Specifies the read preference for mongofiles. The --readPreference option can take:

  • A string if specifying only the read preference mode:

    copy 
    --readPreference=secondary

  • A quote-enclosed document to specify the mode, the optional read preference tag sets, and the optional maxStalenessSeconds:

    copy 
    --readPreference='{mode: "secondary", tagSets: [ { "region": "east" } ], maxStalenessSeconds: 120}'

    If specifying the maxStalenessSeconds, the value must be greater than or equal to 90.

    New in version 4.2.

mongofiles defaults to primary read preference.

Starting in version 4.2, if the read preference is also included in the --uri connection string, the command-line --readPreference overrides the read preference specified in the URI string.

Warning

Using a read preference other than primary with a connection to a mongos may produce inconsistencies, duplicates, or result in missed documents.

Commands

list <prefix>

Lists the files in the GridFS store. The characters specified after list (e.g. <prefix>) optionally limit the list of returned items to files that begin with that string of characters.

search <string>

Lists the files in the GridFS store with names that match any portion of <string>.

put <filename>

Copy the specified file from the local file system into GridFS storage.

Here, <filename> refers to the name the object will have in GridFS, and mongofiles assumes that this reflects the name the file has on the local file system. If the local filename is different use the mongofiles --local option.

get <filename>

Copy the specified file from GridFS storage to the local file system.

Here, <filename> refers to the name the object will have in GridFS. mongofiles writes the file to the local file system using the file’s filename in GridFS. To choose a different location for the file on the local file system, use the --local option.

get_id "<_id>"

New in version 3.2.0.

Copy the file, specified by its <_id>, from GridFS storage to the local file system.

Here <_id> refers to the extended JSON _id of the object in GridFS:

  • Starting in MongoDB 4.2, get_id can accept either ObjectId values or non-ObjectId values for <_id>.
  • In MongoDB 4.0 and earlier, get_id only accepts <ObjectId> values.

mongofiles writes the file to the local file system using the file’s filename in GridFS. To choose a different location for the file on the local file system, use the --local option.

delete <filename>

Delete the specified file from GridFS storage.

delete_id "<_id>"

New in version 3.2.0.

Delete the file, specified by its <_id>, from GridFS storage:

  • Starting in MongoDB 4.2, delete_id can accept either ObjectId values or non-ObjectId values for <_id>.
  • In MongoDB 4.0 and earlier, delete_id only accepts <ObjectId> values.

Examples

To return a list of all files in a GridFS collection in the records database, use the following invocation at the system shell:

copy 
mongofiles -d=records list

This mongofiles instance will connect to the mongod instance running on the 27017 localhost interface to specify the same operation on a different port or hostname, and issue a command that resembles one of the following:

copy 
mongofiles --port=37017 -d=records list
mongofiles --host=db1.example.net -d=records list
mongofiles --host=db1.example.net --port=37017 -d=records list

Modify any of the following commands as needed if you’re connecting the mongod instances on different ports or hosts.

To upload a file named 32-corinth.lp to the GridFS collection in the records database, you can use the following command:

copy 
mongofiles -d=records put 32-corinth.lp

To delete the 32-corinth.lp file from this GridFS collection in the records database, you can use the following command:

copy 
mongofiles -d=records delete 32-corinth.lp

To search for files in the GridFS collection in the records database that have the string corinth in their names, you can use following command:

copy 
mongofiles -d=records search corinth

To list all files in the GridFS collection in the records database that begin with the string 32, you can use the following command:

copy 
mongofiles -d=records list 32

To fetch the file from the GridFS collection in the records database named 32-corinth.lp, you can use the following command:

copy 
mongofiles -d=records get 32-corinth.lp

To fetch the file from the GridFS collection in the records database with _id: ObjectId("56feac751f417d0357e7140f"), you can use the following command:

copy 
mongofiles -d=records get_id '{"$oid": "56feac751f417d0357e7140f"}'

You must include quotation marks around the _id.

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