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db.collection.deleteMany()

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Definition

Behavior
Examples

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Definition

db.collection.deleteMany()

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:

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

Removes all documents that match the filter from a collection.

db.collection.deleteMany(
   <filter>,
   {
      writeConcern: <document>,
      collation: <document>
   }
)

Parameter

Type

Description

filter

document

Specifies deletion criteria using query operators.

To delete all documents in a collection, pass in an empty document ({ }).

writeConcern

document

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

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

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.

hint

document

Optional. A document or string that specifies the index to use to support the query predicate.

The option can take an index specification document or the index name string.

If you specify an index that does not exist, the operation errors.

For an example, see Specify hint for Delete Operations.

New in version 4.4.

Returns:	A document containing: A boolean `acknowledged` as `true` if the operation ran with write concern or `false` if write concern was disabled `deletedCount` containing the number of deleted documents

Behavior

Capped Collections

db.collection.deleteMany() throws a WriteError exception if used on a capped collection. To remove all documents from a capped collection, use db.collection.drop().

Time Series Collections

db.collection.deleteMany() throws a WriteError exception if used on a time series collection. To remove all documents from a time series collection, use db.collection.drop().

Delete a Single Document

To delete a single document, use db.collection.deleteOne() instead.

Alternatively, use a field that is a part of a unique index such as _id.

Transactions

db.collection.deleteMany() can be used inside 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 Transactions and Write Concern.

Important

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

The orders collection has documents with the following structure:

{
   _id: ObjectId("563237a41a4d68582c2509da"),
   stock: "Brent Crude Futures",
   qty: 250,
   type: "buy-limit",
   limit: 48.90,
   creationts: ISODate("2015-11-01T12:30:15Z"),
   expiryts: ISODate("2015-11-01T12:35:15Z"),
   client: "Crude Traders Inc."
}

The following operation deletes all documents where client : "Crude Traders Inc.":

try {
   db.orders.deleteMany( { "client" : "Crude Traders Inc." } );
} catch (e) {
   print (e);
}

The operation returns:

{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 10 }

The following operation deletes all documents where stock : "Brent Crude Futures" and limit is greater than 48.88:

try {
   db.orders.deleteMany( { "stock" : "Brent Crude Futures", "limit" : { $gt : 48.88 } } );
} catch (e) {
   print (e);
}

The operation returns:

{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 8 }

deleteMany() with Write Concern

Given a three member replica set, the following operation specifies a w of majority and wtimeout of 100:

try {
   db.orders.deleteMany(
       { "client" : "Crude Traders Inc." },
       { w : "majority", wtimeout : 100 }
   );
} catch (e) {
   print (e);
}

If the acknowledgement takes longer than the wtimeout limit, the following exception is thrown:

WriteConcernError({
   "code" : 64,
   "errmsg" : "waiting for replication timed out",
   "errInfo" : {
     "wtimeout" : true,
     "writeConcern" : {    // Added in MongoDB 4.4
       "w" : "majority",
       "wtimeout" : 100,
       "provenance" : "getLastErrorDefaults"
     }
   }
})

Tip

Specify Collation

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:

{ _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.deleteMany(
   { category: "cafe", status: "A" },
   { collation: { locale: "fr", strength: 1 } }
)

Specify `hint` for Delete Operations

New in version 4.4.

In mongosh, create a members collection with the following documents:

db.members.insertMany([
   { "_id" : 1, "member" : "abc123", "status" : "P", "points" :  0,  "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 2, "member" : "xyz123", "status" : "A", "points" : 60,  "misc1" : "reminder: ping me at 100pts", "misc2" : "Some random comment" },
   { "_id" : 3, "member" : "lmn123", "status" : "P", "points" :  0,  "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 4, "member" : "pqr123", "status" : "D", "points" : 20,  "misc1" : "Deactivated", "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 5, "member" : "ijk123", "status" : "P", "points" :  0,  "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 6, "member" : "cde123", "status" : "A", "points" : 86,  "misc1" : "reminder: ping me at 100pts", "misc2" : "Some random comment" }
])

Create the following indexes on the collection:

db.members.createIndex( { status: 1 } )
db.members.createIndex( { points: 1 } )

The following delete operation explicitly hints to use the index { status: 1 }:

db.members.deleteMany(
   { "points": { $lte: 20 }, "status": "P" },
   { hint: { status: 1 } }
)

Note

If you specify an index that does not exist, the operation errors.

The delete command returns the following:

{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 3 }

To view the indexes used, you can use the $indexStats pipeline:

db.members.aggregate( [ { $indexStats: { } }, { $sort: { name: 1 } } ] )

The accesses.ops field in the $indexStats output indicates the number of operations that used the index.

← db.collection.deleteOne()db.collection.distinct() →

Definition

Important

mongosh Method

Behavior

Capped Collections

Time Series Collections

Delete a Single Document

Transactions

Important

Examples

Delete Multiple Documents

deleteMany() with Write Concern

Tip

See also:

Specify Collation

Specify hint for Delete Operations

Note

Specify `hint` for Delete Operations