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$filter (expression operator)

Definition

$filter: Selects a subset of an array to return based on the specified condition. Returns an array with only those elements that match the condition. The returned elements are in the original order.

Compatibility

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

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

MongoDB Enterprise: The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB
MongoDB Community: The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB

Syntax

$filter has the following syntax:

{
    $filter:
      {
         input: <array>,
         as: <string>,
         cond: <expression>,
         limit: <number expression>
      }
}

Field	Specification
`input`	An expression that resolves to an array. If `input` resolves to `null` or refers to a missing field, `$filter` returns `null`. If `input` resolves to a non-array, non-null value, the pipeline errors.
`as`	Optional. A name for the variable that represents each individual element of the `input` array. If no name is specified, the variable name defaults to `this`.
`cond`	An expression that resolves to a boolean value used to determine if an element should be included in the output array. The expression references each element of the `input` array individually with the variable name specified in `as`.
`limit`	Optional. A number expression that restricts the number of matching array elements that `$filter` returns. You cannot specify a limit less than `1`. The matching array elements are returned in the order they appear in the input array. If the specified `limit` is greater than the number of matching array elements, `$filter` returns all matching array elements. If the limit is `null`, `$filter` returns all matching array elements.

For more information on expressions, see Expressions.

Behavior

Example

Results

{
  $filter: {
     input: [ 1, "a", 2, null, 3.1, Long(4), "5" ],
     as: "num",
     cond: { $isNumber: "$$num" }
  }
}

[ 1, 2, 3.1, Long(4) ]

{
  $filter: {
     input: [ 1, "a", 2, null, 3.1, Long(4), "5" ],
     as: "num",
     cond: { $isNumber: "$$num" },
     limit: 2
  }
}

[ 1, 2 ]

{
  $filter: {
     input: [ 1, "a", 2, null, 3.1, Long(4), "5" ],
     as: "num",
     cond: { $isNumber: "$$num" },
     limit: { $add: [ 0, 1 ] }
  }
}

[ 1 ]

Examples

The following examples use a sales collection with these documents:

db.sales.insertMany( [
   {
      _id: 0,
      items: [
         { item_id: 43, quantity: 2, price: 10, name: "pen" },
         { item_id: 2, quantity: 1, price: 240, name: "briefcase" }
      ]
   },
   {
      _id: 1,
      items: [
         { item_id: 23, quantity: 3, price: 110, name: "notebook" },
         { item_id: 103, quantity: 4, price: 5, name: "pen" },
         { item_id: 38, quantity: 1, price: 300, name: "printer" }
      ]
   },
   {
      _id: 2,
      items: [
         { item_id: 4, quantity: 1, price: 23, name: "paper" }
      ]
   }
] )

Filter Based on Number Comparison

The following example filters the items array to only include documents that have a price greater than or equal to 100:

db.sales.aggregate( [
   {
      $project: {
         items: {
            $filter: {
               input: "$items",
               as: "item",
               cond: { $gte: [ "$$item.price", 100 ] }
            }
         }
      }
   }
] )

[
   {
      _id: 0,
      items: [ { item_id: 2, quantity: 1, price: 240, name: 'briefcase' } ]
   },
   {
      _id: 1,
      items: [
         { item_id: 23, quantity: 3, price: 110, name: 'notebook' },
         { item_id: 38, quantity: 1, price: 300, name: 'printer' }
      ]
   },
   { _id: 2, items: [] }
]

Use the limit Field

The example uses the limit field to specify the number of matching elements returned in each items array.

db.sales.aggregate( [
   {
      $project: {
         items: {
            $filter: {
               input: "$items",
               as: "item",
               cond: { $gte: [ "$$item.price", 100 ] },
               limit: 1
            }
         }
      }
   }
] )

[
   {
      _id: 0,
      items: [ { item_id: 2, quantity: 1, price: 240, name: 'briefcase' } ]
   },
   {
      _id: 1,
      items: [ { item_id: 23, quantity: 3, price: 110, name: 'notebook' } ]
   },
   { _id: 2, items: [] }
]

limit Greater than Possible Matches

The example uses a limit field value that is larger than the possible number of matching elements that can be returned. In this case, limit does not affect the query results and returns all documents matching the $gte filter criteria.

db.sales.aggregate( [
   {
      $project: {
         items: {
            $filter: {
               input: "$items",
               as: "item",
               cond: { $gte: [ "$$item.price", 100] },
               limit: 5
            }
         }
      }
   }
] )

[
   {
      _id: 0,
      items: [ { item_id: 2, quantity: 1, price: 240, name: 'briefcase' } ]
   },
   {
      _id: 1,
      items: [
         { item_id: 23, quantity: 3, price: 110, name: 'notebook' },
         { item_id: 38, quantity: 1, price: 300, name: 'printer' }
      ]
   },
   { _id: 2, items: [] }
]

Filter Based on String Equality Match

The following aggregation filters for items that have a name value of pen.

db.sales.aggregate( [
   {
      $project: {
         items: {
            $filter: {
               input: "$items",
               as: "item",
               cond: { $eq: [ "$$item.name", "pen"] }
            }
         }
      }
   }
] )

[
   {
      _id: 0,
      items: [ { item_id: 43, quantity: 2, price: 10, name: 'pen' } ]
   },
   {
      _id: 1,
      items: [ { item_id: 103, quantity: 4, price: 5, name: 'pen' } ]
   },
   { _id: 2, items: [] }
]

Filter Based on Regular Expression Match

The following aggregation uses $regexMatch to filter for items that have a name value that starts with p:

db.sales.aggregate( [
   {
      $project: {
         items: {
            $filter: {
               input: "$items",
               as: "item",
               cond: {
                  $regexMatch: { input: "$$item.name", regex: /^p/ }
               }
            }
         }
      }
   }
] )

[
   {
      _id: 0,
      items: [ { item_id: 43, quantity: 2, price: 10, name: 'pen' } ]
   },
   {
      _id: 1,
      items: [
         { item_id: 103, quantity: 4, price: 5, name: 'pen' },
         { item_id: 38, quantity: 1, price: 300, name: 'printer' }
      ]
   },
   {
      _id: 2,
      items: [ { item_id: 4, quantity: 1, price: 23, name: 'paper' } ]
   }
]

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