db.collection.updateMany()

Definition

db.collection. updateMany ( filter, update, options )

New in version 3.2.

Updates multiple documents within the collection based on the filter.

The updateMany() method has the following form:

Changed in version 3.6.

db.collection.updateMany(
   <filter>,
   <update>,
   {
     upsert: <boolean>,
     writeConcern: <document>,
     collation: <document>,
     arrayFilters: [ <filterdocument1>, ... ]
   }
)

The updateMany() method takes the following parameters:

Parameter Type Description
filter document

The selection criteria for the update. The same query selectors as in the find() method are available.

Specify an empty document { } to update all documents in the collection.

update document

The modifications to apply.

Use Update Operators such as $set, $unset, or $rename.

Using the update() pattern of field: value for the update parameter throws an error.

upsert boolean

Optional. When true, updateMany() either:

  • Creates a new document if no documents match the filter. For more details see upsert behavior.
  • Updates documents that match the filter.

To avoid multiple upserts, ensure that the filter fields are uniquely indexed.

Defaults to false.

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

New in version 3.4.

arrayFilters array

Optional. An array of filter documents that determines which array elements to modify for an update operation on an array field.

In the update document, use the $[<identifier>] filtered positional operator to define an identifier, which you then reference in the array filter documents. You cannot have an array filter document for an identifier if the identifier is not included in the update document.

Note

The <identifier> must begin with a lowercase letter and contain only alphanumeric characters.

You can include the same identifier multiple times in the update document; however, for each distinct identifier ($[identifier]) in the update document, you must specify exactly one corresponding array filter document. That is, you cannot specify multiple array filter documents for the same identifier. For example, if the update statement includes the identifier x (possibly multiple times), you cannot specify the following for arrayFilters that includes 2 separate filter documents for x:

[
  { "x.a": { $gt: 85 } },
  { "x.b": { $gt: 80 } }
]

However, you can specify compound conditions on the same identifier in a single filter document, such as in the following examples:

[
  { $or: [{"x.a": {$gt: 85}}, {"x.b": {$gt: 80}}] }
]

[
  { $and: [{"x.a": {$gt: 85}}, {"x.b": {$gt: 80}}] }
]

[
  { "x.a": { $gt: 85 }, "x.b": { $gt: 80 } }
]

For examples, see Specify arrayFilters for an Array Update Operations.

New in version 3.6.

Returns: A document containing:
  • A boolean acknowledged as true if the operation ran with write concern or false if write concern was disabled
  • matchedCount containing the number of matched documents
  • modifiedCount containing the number of modified documents
  • upsertedId containing the _id for the upserted document

Behavior

updateMany() updates all matching documents in the collection that match the filter, using the update criteria to apply modifications.

If upsert: true and no documents match the filter, updateMany() creates a new document based on the filter and update parameters. See Update Multiple Documents with Upsert.

Capped Collections

If an update operation changes the document size, the operation will fail.

Explainability

updateMany() is not compatible with db.collection.explain().

Use update() instead.

Examples

Update Multiple Documents

The restaurant collection contains the following documents:

{ "_id" : 1, "name" : "Central Perk Cafe", "violations" : 3 }
{ "_id" : 2, "name" : "Rock A Feller Bar and Grill", "violations" : 2 }
{ "_id" : 3, "name" : "Empire State Sub", "violations" : 5 }
{ "_id" : 4, "name" : "Pizza Rat's Pizzaria", "violations" : 8 }

The following operation updates all documents where violations are greater than 4 and $set a flag for review:

try {
   db.restaurant.updateMany(
      { violations: { $gt: 4 } },
      { $set: { "Review" : true } }
   );
} catch (e) {
   print(e);
}

The operation returns:

{ "acknowledged" : true, "matchedCount" : 2, "modifiedCount" : 2 }

The collection now contains the following documents:

{ "_id" : 1, "name" : "Central Perk Cafe", "violations" : 3 }
{ "_id" : 2, "name" : "Rock A Feller Bar and Grill", "violations" : 2 }
{ "_id" : 3, "name" : "Empire State Sub", "violations" : 5, "Review" : true }
{ "_id" : 4, "name" : "Pizza Rat's Pizzaria", "violations" : 8, "Review" : true }

If no matches were found, the operation instead returns:

{ "acknowledged" : true, "matchedCount" : 0, "modifiedCount" : 0 }

Setting upsert: true would insert a document if no match was found.

Update Multiple Documents with Upsert

The inspectors collection contains the following documents:

{ "_id" : 92412, "inspector" : "F. Drebin", "Sector" : 1, "Patrolling" : true },
{ "_id" : 92413, "inspector" : "J. Clouseau", "Sector" : 2, "Patrolling" : false },
{ "_id" : 92414, "inspector" : "J. Clouseau", "Sector" : 3, "Patrolling" : true },
{ "_id" : 92415, "inspector" : "R. Coltrane", "Sector" : 3, "Patrolling" : false }

The following operation updates all documents with Sector greater than 4 and inspector equal to "R. Coltrane":

try {
   db