cursor.pretty()

Definition

cursor.pretty()

Important

mongosh Method

This is a mongosh method. This is not the documentation for Node.js or other programming language specific driver methods.

In most cases, mongosh methods work the same way as the legacy mongo shell methods. However, some legacy methods are unavailable in mongosh.

For the legacy mongo shell documentation, refer to the documentation for the corresponding MongoDB Server release:

• mongo shell v4.4

• mongo shell v4.2

• mongo shell v4.0

For MongoDB API drivers, refer to the language specific MongoDB driver documentation.

Configures the cursor to display results in a format that is easy to read.

The pretty() method has the following prototype form:

db.collection.find(<query>).pretty()

Behavior

The pretty() method:

• Does not change the output format in mongosh.

• Changes the output format in the legacy mongo shell.

Examples

Consider the following document:

db.books.save({
    "_id" : ObjectId("54f612b6029b47909a90ce8d"),
    "title" : "A Tale of Two Cities",
    "text" : "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...",
    "authorship" : "Charles Dickens"})

By default, db.collection.find() returns data in a dense format:

db.books.find()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54f612b6029b47909a90ce8d"), "title" : "A Tale of Two Cities", "text" : "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...", "authorship" : "Charles Dickens" }

By using cursor.pretty() you can set the cursor to return data in a format that is easier to read:

db.books.find().pretty()
{
    "_id" : ObjectId("54f612b6029b47909a90ce8d"),
    "title" : "A Tale of Two Cities",
    "text" : "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...",
    "authorship" : "Charles Dickens"
}