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$lookup (aggregation stage)

Definition

$lookup

Changed in version 8.0.

Performs a left outer join to a collection in the same database to filter in documents from the foreign collection for processing. The $lookup stage adds a new array field to each input document. The new array field contains the matching documents from the foreign collection. The $lookup stage passes these reshaped documents to the next stage.

Starting in MongoDB 5.1, you can use $lookup with sharded collections.

To combine elements from two different collections, use the $unionWith pipeline stage.

Compatibility

You can use $lookup 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

The $lookup stage syntax:

{
   $lookup:
     {
       from: <collection to join>,
       localField: <field from the input documents>,
       foreignField: <field from the documents of the "from" collection>,
       let: { <var_1>: <expression>, …, <var_n>: <expression> },
       pipeline: [ <pipeline to run> ],
       as: <output array field>
     }
}

The $lookup accepts a document with these fields:

Field	Necessity	Description
from	Required	Specifies the foreign collection in the same database to join to the local collection. It is possible in some edge cases to subsitute `from` with `pipeline` with `$documents` as the first stage. For an example, see Use a `$documents` Stage in a `$lookup` Stage. Starting in MongoDB 5.1, the `from` collection can be sharded.
localField	Optional if `pipeline` is specified	Specifies the field from the documents input to the `$lookup` stage. `$lookup` performs an equality match on the `localField` to the `foreignField` from the documents of the `from` collection. If an input document does not contain the `localField`, the `$lookup` treats the field as having a value of `null` for matching purposes.
foreignField	Optional if `pipeline` is specified	Specifies the foreign documents' `foreignField` to perform an equality match with the local documents' `localField`. If a foreign document does not contain a `foreignField` value, the `$lookup` uses a `null` value for the match.
let	Optional	Specifies variables to use in the pipeline stages. Use the variable expressions to access the fields from the local collection's documents that are input to the `pipeline`. To reference variables in pipeline stages, use the `"$$<variable>"` syntax. The let variables can be accessed by the stages in the pipeline, including additional `$lookup` stages nested in the `pipeline`. A `$match` stage requires the use of an `$expr` operator to access the variables. The `$expr` operator allows the use of aggregation expressions inside of the `$match` syntax. The `$eq`, `$lt`, `$lte`, `$gt`, and `$gte` comparison operators placed in an `$expr` operator can use an index on the `from` collection referenced in a `$lookup` stage. Limitations: Indexes can only be used for comparisons between fields and constants, so the `let` operand must resolve to a constant. For example, a comparison between `$a` and a constant value can use an index, but a comparison between `$a` and `$b` cannot. Indexes are not used for comparisons where the `let` operand resolves to an empty or missing value. Multikey indexes are not used. Other (non-`$match`) stages in the pipeline do not require an `$expr` operator to access the variables.
pipeline	Optional if `localField` and `foreignField` are specified	Specifies the `pipeline` to run on the foreign collection. The `pipeline` returns documents from the foreign collection. To return all documents, specify an empty `pipeline: []`. The `pipeline` cannot include the `$out` or `$merge` stages. Starting in v6.0, the `pipeline` can contain the MongoDB Search `$search` stage as the first stage inside the pipeline. To learn more, see MongoDB Search Support. The `pipeline` cannot access fields from input documents. Instead, define variables for the document fields using the let option and then reference the variables in the `pipeline` stages. To reference variables in pipeline stages, use the `"$$<variable>"` syntax. The let variables can be accessed by the stages in the pipeline, including additional `$lookup` stages nested in the `pipeline`. A `$match` stage requires the use of an `$expr` operator to access the variables. The `$expr` operator allows the use of aggregation expressions inside of the `$match` syntax. The `$eq`, `$lt`, `$lte`, `$gt`, and `$gte` comparison operators placed in an `$expr` operator can use an index on the `from` collection referenced in a `$lookup` stage. Limitations: Indexes can only be used for comparisons between fields and constants, so the `let` operand must resolve to a constant. For example, a comparison between `$a` and a constant value can use an index, but a comparison between `$a` and `$b` cannot. Indexes are not used for comparisons where the `let` operand resolves to an empty or missing value. Multikey indexes are not used. Other (non-`$match`) stages in the pipeline do not require an `$expr` operator to access the variables.
as	Required	Specifies the name of the new array field to add to the input documents. The new array field contains the matching documents from the `from` collection. If the specified name already exists in the input document, the existing field is overwritten.

Equality Match with a Single Join Condition

To perform an equality match between a field from the input documents with a field from the documents of the foreign collection, the $lookup stage has this syntax:

{
   $lookup:
     {
       from: <collection to join>,
       localField: <field from the input documents>,
       foreignField: <field from the documents of the "from" collection>,
       pipeline: [ <pipeline to run> ],
       as: <output array field>
     }
}

Note

In this example, pipeline is optional and runs after the local and foreign equality stage.

The operation corresponds to this pseudo-SQL statement:

SELECT *, (
   SELECT ARRAY_AGG(*)
   FROM <collection to join>
   WHERE <foreignField> = <collection.localField>
) AS <output array field>
FROM collection;

Note

The SQL statements on this page are included for comparison to the MongoDB aggregation pipeline syntax. The SQL statements aren't runnable.

For MongoDB examples, see these pages:

Perform a Single Equality Join with $lookup
Use $lookup with an Array
Use $lookup with $mergeObjects

Join Conditions and Subqueries on a Foreign Collection

MongoDB supports:

Executing a pipeline on a foreign collection.
Multiple join conditions.
Correlated and uncorrelated subqueries.

In MongoDB, an uncorrelated subquery means that every input document will return the same result. A correlated subquery is a pipeline in a $lookup stage that uses the local or input collection's fields to return results correlated to each incoming document.

Note

Starting in MongoDB 5.0, for an uncorrelated subquery in a $lookup pipeline stage containing a $sample stage, the $sampleRate operator, or the $rand operator, the subquery is always run again if repeated. Previously, depending on the subquery output size, either the subquery output was cached or the subquery was run again.

MongoDB correlated subqueries are comparable to SQL correlated subqueries, where the inner query references outer query values. An SQL uncorrelated subquery does not reference outer query values.

MongoDB 5.0 also supports concise correlated subqueries.

To perform correlated and uncorrelated subqueries with two collections, and perform other join conditions besides a single equality match, use this $lookup syntax:

{
   $lookup:
      {
         from: <foreign collection>,
         let: { <var_1>: <expression>, …, <var_n>: <expression> },
         pipeline: [ <pipeline to run on foreign collection> ],
         as: <output array field>
      }
}

The operation corresponds to this pseudo-SQL statement:

SELECT *, <output array field>
FROM collection
WHERE <output array field> IN (
   SELECT <documents as determined from the pipeline>
   FROM <collection to join>
   WHERE <pipeline>
);

See the following examples:

Use Multiple Join Conditions and a Correlated Subquery
Perform an Uncorrelated Subquery with $lookup

Correlated Subqueries Using Concise Syntax

New in version 5.0.

Starting in MongoDB 5.0, you can use a concise syntax for a correlated subquery. Correlated subqueries reference document fields from a foreign collection and the "local" collection on which the aggregate() method was run.

The following new concise syntax removes the requirement for an equality match on the foreign and local fields inside of an $expr operator:

{
   $lookup:
      {
         from: <foreign collection>,
         localField: <field from local collection's documents>,
         foreignField: <field from foreign collection's documents>,
         let: { <var_1>: <expression>, …, <var_n>: <expression> },
         pipeline: [ <pipeline to run> ],
         as: <output array field>
      }
}

The operation corresponds to this pseudo-SQL statement:

SELECT *, <output array field>
FROM localCollection
WHERE <output array field> IN (
   SELECT <documents as determined from the pipeline>
   FROM <foreignCollection>
   WHERE <foreignCollection.foreignField> = <localCollection.localField>
   AND <pipeline match condition>
);

See this example:

Perform a Concise Correlated Subquery with $lookup

Behavior

Encrypted Collections

Starting in MongoDB 8.1, you can reference multiple encrypted collections in a $lookup stage. However, $lookup does not support:

Using an encrypted field as the join field in the localField or foreignField.
Note
For drivers using Client-Side Field Level Encryption, you can use an encrypted field as a join field only if you are performing a self-join operation.
Using any field in an encrypted array. An array is considered as encrypted if it contains any encrypted elements.
- For example, you can't use any field within the resulting as array of the $lookup operation, unless you're using Client-Side Field Level Encryption and $unwind the as field.

Views and Collation

If performing an aggregation that involves multiple views, such as with $lookup or $graphLookup, the views must have the same collation.

Restrictions

You cannot include the $out or the $merge stage in the $lookup stage. That is, when specifying a pipeline for the foreign collection, you cannot include either stage in the pipeline field.

{
   $lookup:
   {
      from: <collection to join>,
      let: { <var_1>: <expression>, …, <var_n>: <expression> },
      pipeline: [ <pipeline to execute on the foreign collection> ],  // Cannot include $out or $merge
      as: <output array field>
   }
}

MongoDB Search Support

Starting in MongoDB 6.0, you can specify the MongoDB Search $search or $searchMeta stage in the $lookup pipeline to search collections on the Atlas cluster. The $search or the $searchMeta stage must be the first stage inside the $lookup pipeline.

For example, when you Join Conditions and Subqueries on a Foreign Collection or run Correlated Subqueries Using Concise Syntax, you can specify $search or $searchMeta inside the pipeline as shown below:

[{
  "$lookup": {
    "from": <foreign collection>,
    localField: <field from the input documents>,
    foreignField: <field from the documents of the "from" collection>,
    "as": <output array field>,
    "pipeline": [{
      "$search": {
        "<operator>": {
          <operator-specification>
        }
      },
      ...
    }]
  }
}]

[{
  "$lookup": {
    "from": <foreign collection>,
    localField: <field from the input documents>,
    foreignField: <field from the documents of the "from" collection>,
    "as": <output array field>,
    "pipeline": [{
      "$searchMeta": {
        "<collector>": {
          <collector-specification>
        }
      },
      ...
    }]
  }
}]

To see an example of $lookup with $search, see the MongoDB Search tutorial Run a MongoDB Search $search Query Using $lookup.

Sharded Collections

Starting in MongoDB 5.1, you can specify sharded collections in the from parameter of $lookup stages.

Starting in MongoDB 8.0, you can use the $lookup stage within a transaction while targeting a sharded collection.

Slot-Based Query Execution Engine

Starting in version 6.0, MongoDB can use the slot-based execution query engine to execute $lookup stages if all preceding stages in the pipeline can also be executed by the slot-based execution engine and none of the following conditions are true:

The $lookup operation executes a pipeline on a foreign collection. To see an example of this kind of operation, see Join Conditions and Subqueries on a Foreign Collection.
The $lookup's localField or foreignField specify numeric components. For example: { localField: "restaurant.0.review" }.
The from field of any $lookup in the pipeline specifies a view or sharded collection.

For more information, see $lookup Optimization.

Performance Considerations

$lookup performance depends on the type of operation performed. Refer to the following table for performance considerations for different $lookup operations.

`$lookup` Operation	Performance Considerations
Equality Match with a Single Join	`$lookup` operations that perform equality matches with a single join perform better when the foreign collection contains an index on the `foreignField`. IMPORTANT: If a supporting index on the `foreignField` does not exist, a `$lookup` operation that performs an equality match with a single join will likely have poor performance.
Uncorrelated Subqueries	`$lookup` operations that contain uncorrelated subqueries perform better when the inner pipeline can reference an index of the foreign collection. MongoDB only needs to run the `$lookup` subquery once before caching the query because there is no relationship between the source and foreign collections. The subquery is not based on any value in the source collection. This behavior improves performance for subsequent executions of the `$lookup` operation.
Correlated Subqueries	`$lookup` operations that contain correlated subqueries perform better when the following conditions apply: The foreign collection contains an index on the `foreignField`. The foreign collection contains an index that references the inner pipline. If your pipeline passes a large number of documents to the `$lookup` query, the following strategies may improve performance: Reduce the number of documents that MongoDB passes to the `$lookup` query. For example, set a stricter filter during the `$match` stage. Run the inner pipeline of the `$lookup` subquery as a separate query and use `$out` to create a temporary collection. Then, run an equality match with a single join. Reconsider the data's schema to ensure it is optimal for the use case.

For general performance strategies, see Indexing Strategies and Query Optimization.

Important

Excessive use of $lookup within a query may slow down performance. To avoid multiple $lookup stages, consider an embedded data model to optimize query performance.

Examples

Perform a Single Equality Join with `$lookup`

Create a collection orders with these documents:

db.orders.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, item: "almonds", price: 12, quantity: 2 },
   { _id: 2, item: "pecans", price: 20, quantity: 1 },
   { _id: 3  }
] )

Create another collection inventory with these documents:

db.inventory.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, sku: "almonds", description: "product 1", instock: 120 },
   { _id: 2, sku: "bread", description: "product 2", instock: 80 },
   { _id: 3, sku: "cashews", description: "product 3", instock: 60 },
   { _id: 4, sku: "pecans", description: "product 4", instock: 70 },
   { _id: 5, sku: null, description: "Incomplete" },
   { _id: 6 }
] )

The following aggregation operation on the orders collection joins the documents from orders with the documents from the inventory collection using the fields item from the orders collection and the sku field from the inventory collection:

db.orders.aggregate( [
   {
     $lookup:
       {
         from: "inventory",
         localField: "item",
         foreignField: "sku",
         as: "inventory_docs"
       }
  }
] )

The operation returns these documents:

{
   _id: 1,
   item: "almonds",
   price: 12,
   quantity: 2,
   inventory_docs: [
      { _id: 1, sku: "almonds", description: "product 1", instock: 120 }
   ]
}
{
   _id: 2,
   item: "pecans",
   price: 20,
   quantity: 1,
   inventory_docs: [
      { _id: 4, sku: "pecans", description: "product 4", instock: 70 }
   ]
}
{
   _id: 3,
   inventory_docs: [
      { _id: 5, sku: null, description: "Incomplete" },
      { _id: 6 }
   ]
}

The operation corresponds to this pseudo-SQL statement:

SELECT *, inventory_docs
FROM orders
WHERE inventory_docs IN (
   SELECT *
   FROM inventory
   WHERE sku = orders.item
);

For more information, see Equality Match Performance Considerations.

Use `$lookup` with an Array

If the localField is an array, you can match the array elements against a scalar foreignField without an $unwind stage.

For example, create an example collection classes with these documents:

db.classes.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, title: "Reading is ...", enrollmentlist: [ "giraffe2", "pandabear", "artie" ], days: ["M", "W", "F"] },
   { _id: 2, title: "But Writing ...", enrollmentlist: [ "giraffe1", "artie" ], days: ["T", "F"] }
] )

Create another collection members with these documents:

db.members.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, name: "artie", foreign: new Date("2016-05-01"), status: "A" },
   { _id: 2, name: "giraffe", foreign: new Date("2017-05-01"), status: "D" },
   { _id: 3, name: "giraffe1", foreign: new Date("2017-10-01"), status: "A" },
   { _id: 4, name: "panda", foreign: new Date("2018-10-11"), status: "A" },
   { _id: 5, name: "pandabear", foreign: new Date("2018-12-01"), status: "A" },
   { _id: 6, name: "giraffe2", foreign: new Date("2018-12-01"), status: "D" }
] )

The following aggregation operation joins documents in the classes collection with the members collection, matching on the enrollmentlist field to the name field:

db.classes.aggregate( [
   {
      $lookup:
         {
            from: "members",
            localField: "enrollmentlist",
            foreignField: "name",
            as: "enrollee_info"
        }
   }
] )

The operation returns the following:

{
   _id: 1,
   title: "Reading is ...",
   enrollmentlist: [ "giraffe2", "pandabear", "artie" ],
   days: [ "M", "W", "F" ],
   enrollee_info: [
      { _id: 1, name: "artie", foreign: ISODate("2016-05-01T00:00:00Z"), status: "A" },
      { _id: 5, name: "pandabear", foreign: ISODate("2018-12-01T00:00:00Z"), status: "A" },
      { _id: 6, name: "giraffe2", foreign: ISODate("2018-12-01T00:00:00Z"), status: "D" }
   ]
}
{
   _id: 2,
   title: "But Writing ...",
   enrollmentlist: [ "giraffe1", "artie" ],
   days: [ "T", "F" ],
   enrollee_info: [
      { _id: 1, name: "artie", foreign: ISODate("2016-05-01T00:00:00Z"), status: "A" },
      { _id: 3, name: "giraffe1", foreign: ISODate("2017-10-01T00:00:00Z"), status: "A" }
   ]
}

Use `$lookup` with `$mergeObjects`

The $mergeObjects operator combines multiple documents into a single document.

Create a collection orders with these documents:

db.orders.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, item: "almonds", price: 12, quantity: 2 },
   { _id: 2, item: "pecans", price: 20, quantity: 1 }
] )

Create another collection items with these documents:

db.items.insertMany( [
  { _id: 1, item: "almonds", description: "almond clusters", instock: 120 },
  { _id: 2, item: "bread", description: "raisin and nut bread", instock: 80 },
  { _id: 3, item: "pecans", description: "candied pecans", instock: 60 }
] )

The following operation first uses the $lookup stage to join the two collections by the item fields and then uses $mergeObjects in the $replaceRoot to merge the foreign documents from items and orders:

db.orders.aggregate( [
   {
      $lookup: {
         from: "items",
         localField: "item",    // field in the orders collection
         foreignField: "item",  // field in the items collection
         as: "fromItems"
      }
   },
   {
      $replaceRoot: { newRoot: { $mergeObjects: [ { $arrayElemAt: [ "$fromItems", 0 ] }, "$$ROOT" ] } }
   },
   { $project: { fromItems: 0 } }
] )

The operation returns these documents:

{
  _id: 1,
  item: 'almonds',
  description: 'almond clusters',
  instock: 120,
  price: 12,
  quantity: 2
},
{
  _id: 2,
  item: 'pecans',
  description: 'candied pecans',
  instock: 60,
  price: 20,
  quantity: 1
}

Use Multiple Join Conditions and a Correlated Subquery

Pipelines can execute on a foreign collection and include multiple join conditions. The $expr operator enables more complex join conditions including conjunctions and non-equality matches.

A join condition can reference a field in the local collection on which the aggregate() method was run and reference a field in the foreign collection. This allows a correlated subquery between the two collections.

MongoDB 5.0 supports concise correlated subqueries.

Create a collection orders with these documents:

db.orders.insertMany( [
  { _id: 1, item: "almonds", price: 12, ordered: 2 },
  { _id: 2, item: "pecans", price: 20, ordered: 1 },
  { _id: 3, item: "cookies", price: 10, ordered: 60 }
] )

Create another collection warehouses with these documents:

db.warehouses.insertMany( [
  { _id: 1, stock_item: "almonds", warehouse: "A", instock: 120 },
  { _id: 2, stock_item: "pecans", warehouse: "A", instock: 80 },
  { _id: 3, stock_item: "almonds", warehouse: "B", instock: 60 },
  { _id: 4, stock_item: "cookies", warehouse: "B", instock: 40 },
  { _id: 5, stock_item: "cookies", warehouse: "A", instock: 80 }
] )

The following example:

Uses a correlated subquery with a join on the orders.item and warehouse.stock_item fields.
Ensures the quantity of the item in stock can fulfill the ordered quantity.

db.orders.aggregate( [
   {
      $lookup:
         {
           from : "warehouses",
           localField : "item",
           foreignField : "stock_item",
           let : { order_qty: "$ordered" },
           pipeline : [
              { $match :
                 { $expr :
                      { $gte: [ "$instock", "$$order_qty" ] }
                 }
              },
              { $project : { stock_item: 0, _id: 0 } }
           ],
           as : "stockdata"
         }
    }
] )

The operation returns these documents:

{
  _id: 1,
  item: 'almonds',
  price: 12,
  ordered: 2,
  stockdata: [
    { warehouse: 'A', instock: 120 },
    { warehouse: 'B', instock: 60 }
  ]
},
{
  _id: 2,
  item: 'pecans',
  price: 20,
  ordered: 1,
  stockdata: [ { warehouse: 'A', instock: 80 } ]
},
{
  _id: 3,
  item: 'cookies',
  price: 10,
  ordered: 60,
  stockdata: [ { warehouse: 'A', instock: 80 } ]
}

The operation corresponds to this pseudo-SQL statement:

SELECT *, stockdata
FROM orders
WHERE stockdata IN (
   SELECT warehouse, instock
   FROM warehouses
   WHERE stock_item = orders.item
   AND instock >= orders.ordered
);

The $eq, $lt, $lte, $gt, and $gte comparison operators placed in an $expr operator can use an index on the from collection referenced in a $lookup stage. Limitations:

Indexes can only be used for comparisons between fields and constants, so the let operand must resolve to a constant.
For example, a comparison between $a and a constant value can use an index, but a comparison between $a and $b cannot.
Indexes are not used for comparisons where the let operand resolves to an empty or missing value.
Multikey indexes are not used.

For example, if the index { stock_item: 1, instock: 1 } exists on the warehouses collection:

The equality match on the warehouses.stock_item field uses the index.
The range part of the query on the warehouses.instock field also uses the indexed field in the compound index.

Tip

Perform an Uncorrelated Subquery with `$lookup`

An aggregation pipeline $lookup stage can execute a pipeline on the foreign collection, which allows uncorrelated subqueries. An uncorrelated subquery does not reference the local document fields.

Note

Create a collection absences with these documents:

db.absences.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, student: "Ann Aardvark", sickdays: [ new Date ("2018-05-01"),new Date ("2018-08-23") ] },
   { _id: 2, student: "Zoe Zebra", sickdays: [ new Date ("2018-02-01"),new Date ("2018-05-23") ] },
] )

Create another collection holidays with these documents:

db.holidays.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, year: 2018, name: "New Years", date: new Date("2018-01-01") },
   { _id: 2, year: 2018, name: "Pi Day", date: new Date("2018-03-14") },
   { _id: 3, year: 2018, name: "Ice Cream Day", date: new Date("2018-07-15") },
   { _id: 4, year: 2017, name: "New Years", date: new Date("2017-01-01") },
   { _id: 5, year: 2017, name: "Ice Cream Day", date: new Date("2017-07-16") }
] )

The following operation joins the absences collection with 2018 holiday information from the holidays collection:

db.absences.aggregate( [
   {
      $lookup:
         {
           from: "holidays",
           pipeline: [
              { $match: { year: 2018 } },
              { $project: { _id: 0, date: { name: "$name", date: "$date" } } },
              { $replaceRoot: { newRoot: "$date" } }
           ],
           as: "holidays"
         }
    }
] )

The operation returns the following:

{
  _id: 1,
  student: 'Ann Aardvark',
  sickdays: [
    ISODate("2018-05-01T00:00:00.000Z"),
    ISODate("2018-08-23T00:00:00.000Z")
  ],
  holidays: [
    { name: 'New Years', date: ISODate("2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z") },
    { name: 'Pi Day', date: ISODate("2018-03-14T00:00:00.000Z") },
    { name: 'Ice Cream Day', date: ISODate("2018-07-15T00:00:00.000Z")
    }
  ]
},
{
  _id: 2,
  student: 'Zoe Zebra',
  sickdays: [
    ISODate("2018-02-01T00:00:00.000Z"),
    ISODate("2018-05-23T00:00:00.000Z")
  ],
  holidays: [
    { name: 'New Years', date: ISODate("2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z") },
    { name: 'Pi Day', date: ISODate("2018-03-14T00:00:00.000Z") },
    { name: 'Ice Cream Day', date: ISODate("2018-07-15T00:00:00.000Z")
    }
  ]
}

The operation corresponds to this pseudo-SQL statement:

SELECT *, holidays
FROM absences
WHERE holidays IN (
   SELECT name, date
   FROM holidays
   WHERE year = 2018
);

For more information, see Uncorrelated Subquery Performance Considerations.

Perform a Concise Correlated Subquery with `$lookup`

New in version 5.0.

Starting in MongoDB 5.0, an aggregation pipeline $lookup stage supports a concise correlated subquery syntax that improves joins between collections. The new concise syntax removes the requirement for an equality match on the foreign and local fields inside of an $expr operator in a $match stage.

Create a collection restaurants:

db.restaurants.insertMany( [
   {
      _id: 1,
      name: "American Steak House",
      food: [ "filet", "sirloin" ],
      beverages: [ "beer", "wine" ]
   },
   {
      _id: 2,
      name: "Honest John Pizza",
      food: [ "cheese pizza", "pepperoni pizza" ],
      beverages: [ "soda" ]
   }
] )

Create another collection orders with food and optional drink orders:

db.orders.insertMany( [
   {
      _id: 1,
      item: "filet",
      restaurant_name: "American Steak House"
   },
   {
      _id: 2,
      item: "cheese pizza",
      restaurant_name: "Honest John Pizza",
      drink: "lemonade"
   },
   {
      _id: 3,
      item: "cheese pizza",
      restaurant_name: "Honest John Pizza",
      drink: "soda"
   }
] )

The following example:

Joins the orders and restaurants collections by matching the orders.restaurant_name localField with the restaurants.name foreignField. The match is performed before the pipeline is run.
Performs an $in array match between the orders.drink and restaurants.beverages fields that are accessed using $$orders_drink and $beverages respectively.

db.orders.aggregate( [
   {
      $lookup: {
         from: "restaurants",
         localField: "restaurant_name",
         foreignField: "name",
         let: { orders_drink: "$drink" },
         pipeline: [ {
            $match: {
               $expr: { $in: [ "$$orders_drink", "$beverages" ] }
            }
         } ],
         as: "matches"
      }
   }
] )

There is a match for the soda value in the orders.drink and restaurants.beverages fields. This output shows the matches array and contains all foreign fields from the restaurants collection for the match:

{
   _id: 1, item: "filet",
   restaurant_name: "American Steak House",
   matches: [ ]
}
{
   _id: 2, item: "cheese pizza",
   restaurant_name: "Honest John Pizza",
   drink: "lemonade",
   matches: [ ]
}
{
   _id: 3, item: "cheese pizza",
   restaurant_name: "Honest John Pizza",
   drink: "soda",
   matches: [ {
      _id: 2, name": "Honest John Pizza",
      food: [ "cheese pizza", "pepperoni pizza" ],
      beverages: [ "soda" ]
   } ]
}

This example uses the older verbose syntax from MongoDB versions before 5.0 and returns the same results as the previous concise example:

db.orders.aggregate( [
   {
      $lookup: {
         from: "restaurants",
         let: { orders_restaurant_name: "$restaurant_name",
                orders_drink: "$drink" },
         pipeline: [ {
            $match: {
               $expr: {
                  $and: [
                     { $eq: [ "$$orders_restaurant_name", "$name" ] },
                     { $in: [ "$$orders_drink", "$beverages" ] }
                  ]
               }
            }
         } ],
         as: "matches"
      }
   }
] )

The previous examples correspond to this pseudo-SQL statement:

SELECT *, matches
FROM orders
WHERE matches IN (
   SELECT *
   FROM restaurants
   WHERE restaurants.name = orders.restaurant_name
   AND restaurants.beverages = orders.drink
);

For more information, see Correlated Subquery Performance Considerations.

Namespaces in Subpipelines

Starting in MongoDB 8.0, namespaces in subpipelines within $lookup and $unionWith are validated to ensure the correct use of from and coll fields:

For $lookup, omit the from field if you use a subpipeline with a stage which doesn't require a specified collection. For example, a $documents stage.
Similarly, for $unionWith, omit the coll field.

Unchanged behavior:

For a $lookup that starts with a stage for a collection, for example a $match or $collStats subpipeline, you must include the from field and specify the collection.
Similarly, for $unionWith, include the coll field and specify the collection.

The following scenario shows an example.

Create a collection cakeFlavors:

db.cakeFlavors.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, flavor: "chocolate" },
   { _id: 2, flavor: "strawberry" },
   { _id: 3, flavor: "cherry" }
] )

Starting in MongoDB 8.0, the following example returns an error because it contains an invalid from field:

db.cakeFlavors.aggregate( [ {
   $lookup: {
      from: "cakeFlavors",
      pipeline: [ { $documents: [ {} ] } ],
      as: "test"
   }
} ] )

In MongoDB versions before 8.0, the previous example runs.

For an example with a valid from field, see Perform a Single Equality Join with $lookup.

The C# examples on this page use the sample_mflix database from the Atlas sample datasets. To learn how to create a free MongoDB Atlas cluster and load the sample datasets, see Get Started in the MongoDB .NET/C# Driver documentation.

The following Movie class models the documents in the sample_mflix.movies collection:

public class Movie
{
    public ObjectId Id { get; set; }
    public int Runtime { get; set; }
    
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public string Rated { get; set; }
    public List<string> Genres { get; set; }
    public string Plot { get; set; }
    
    public ImdbData Imdb { get; set; }
    public int Year { get; set; }
    public int Index { get; set; }
    
    public string[] Comments { get; set; }
   
    [BsonElement("lastupdated")]
    public DateTime LastUpdated { get; set; }
}

Note

ConventionPack for Pascal Case

The C# classes on this page use Pascal case for their property names, but the field names in the MongoDB collection use camel case. To account for this difference, you can use the following code to register a ConventionPack when your application starts:

var camelCaseConvention = new ConventionPack { new CamelCaseElementNameConvention() };
ConventionRegistry.Register("CamelCase", camelCaseConvention, type => true);

The following Comment class models the documents in the sample_mflix.comments collection:

public class Comment
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
   
    [BsonElement("movie_id")]
    public Guid MovieId { get; set; }
    
    public string Text { get; set; }
}

To use the MongoDB .NET/C# driver to add a $lookup stage to an aggregation pipeline, call the Lookup() method on a PipelineDefinition object.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that performs a left outer join between the movies and comments collections. The code joins the Id field from each Movie document to the MovieId field in the Comment documents. The comments for each movie are stored in a field named Comments in each Movie document.

var commentCollection = client
    .GetDatabase("aggregation_examples")
    .GetCollection<Comment>("comments");
var pipeline = new EmptyPipelineDefinition<Movie>()
    .Lookup<Movie, Movie, Comment, Movie>(
        foreignCollection: commentCollection,
        localField: m => m.Id,
        foreignField: c => c.MovieId,
        @as: m => m.Comments);

The Node.js examples on this page use the sample_mflix database from the Atlas sample datasets. To learn how to create a free MongoDB Atlas cluster and load the sample datasets, see Get Started in the MongoDB Node.js driver documentation.

To use the MongoDB Node.js driver to add a $lookup stage to an aggregation pipeline, use the $lookup operator in a pipeline object.

The following example creates a pipeline stage that performs a left outer join between the movies and comments collections. The code joins the _id field from each movie document to the movie_id field in the comment documents. The comments field stores the comments for each movie in each movie document. The example then runs the aggregation pipeline:

const pipeline = [
  {
    $lookup: {
      from: "comments",
      localField: "_id",
      foreignField: "movie_id",
      as: "comments"
    }
  }
];
const cursor = collection.aggregate(pipeline);
return cursor;

Back

$listSessions

$match

Definition

Compatibility

Syntax

Equality Match with a Single Join Condition

Note

Note

Join Conditions and Subqueries on a Foreign Collection

Note

Correlated Subqueries Using Concise Syntax

Behavior

Encrypted Collections

Note

Views and Collation

Restrictions

MongoDB Search Support

Sharded Collections

Slot-Based Query Execution Engine

Performance Considerations

Important

Examples

Perform a Single Equality Join with $lookup

Use $lookup with an Array

Use $lookup with $mergeObjects

Use Multiple Join Conditions and a Correlated Subquery

Tip

Perform an Uncorrelated Subquery with $lookup

Note

Perform a Concise Correlated Subquery with $lookup

Namespaces in Subpipelines

Note

ConventionPack for Pascal Case

Earn a Skill Badge

Perform a Single Equality Join with `$lookup`

Use `$lookup` with an Array

Use `$lookup` with `$mergeObjects`

Perform an Uncorrelated Subquery with `$lookup`

Perform a Concise Correlated Subquery with `$lookup`