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$in

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  • Compatibility
  • Syntax
  • Query Data on Atlas by Using Atlas Search
  • Examples
  • Use the $in Operator to Match Values
  • Use the $in Operator to Match Values in an Array
  • Use the $in Operator with a Regular Expression
$in

The $in operator selects the documents where the value of a field equals any value in the specified array.

Compatibility

You can use $in for deployments hosted in the following environments:

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

Syntax

To specify an $in expression, use the following prototype:

{ field: { $in: [<value1>, <value2>, ... <valueN> ] } }

For comparison of different BSON type values, see the specified BSON comparison order.

If the field holds an array, then the $in operator selects the documents whose field holds an array that contains at least one element that matches a value in the specified array (for example, <value1>, <value2>, and so on).

The $in operator compares each parameter to each document in the collection, which can lead to performance issues. To improve performance:

  • It is recommended that you limit the number of parameters passed to the
    $in operator to tens of values. Using hundreds of parameters or more can negatively impact query performance.

  • Create an index on the field you want to query.

Note

This document describes the $in query operator. For the $in aggregation operator, see $in (aggregation).

Query Data on Atlas by Using Atlas Search

For data stored in MongoDB Atlas, you can use the Atlas Search in operator when running $search queries. Running $in after $search is less performant than running $search with the in operator.

To learn more about the Atlas Search version of this operator, see the in operator in the Atlas documentation.

Examples

Use the $in Operator to Match Values

Consider the following example:

db.inventory.find( { qty: { $in: [ 5, 15 ] } } )

This query selects all documents in the inventory collection where the qty field value is either 5 or 15. Although you can express this query using the $or operator, choose the $in operator rather than the $or operator when performing equality checks on the same field.

Use the $in Operator to Match Values in an Array

The collection inventory contains documents that include the field tags, as in the following:

{ _id: 1, item: "abc", qty: 10, tags: [ "school", "clothing" ], sale: false }

Then, the following update() operation will set the sale field value to true where the tags field holds an array with at least one element matching either "appliances" or "school".

db.inventory.update(
                     { tags: { $in: ["appliances", "school"] } },
                     { $set: { sale:true } }
                   )

For additional examples in querying arrays, see:

For additional examples in querying, see:

Use the $in Operator with a Regular Expression

The $in operator can specify matching values using regular expressions of the form /pattern/. You cannot use $regex operator expressions inside an $in.

Consider the following example:

db.inventory.find( { tags: { $in: [ /^be/, /^st/ ] } } )

This query selects all documents in the inventory collection where the tags field holds either a string that starts with be or st or an array with at least one element that starts with be or st.

Tip

See also:

← $gte
$lt →

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