Query for Null or Missing Fields

Different query operators in MongoDB treat null values differently.

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the db.collection.find() method in the mongo shell. The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using MongoDB Compass . The examples on this page use the inventory collection. Populate the inventory collection with the following documents:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the pymongo.collection.Collection.find() method in the PyMongo Python driver. The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the com.mongodb.client.MongoCollection.find method in the MongoDB Java Synchronous Driver .

Tip

The driver provides com.mongodb.client.model.Filters helper methods to facilitate the creation of filter documents. The examples on this page use these methods to create the filter documents.

The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the Collection.find() method in the MongoDB Node.js Driver . The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the MongoDB\Collection::find() method in the MongoDB PHP Library . The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the motor.motor_asyncio.AsyncIOMotorCollection.find() method in the Motor driver. The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the com.mongodb.reactivestreams.client.MongoCollection.find method in the MongoDB Java Reactive Streams Driver .

The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the MongoCollection.Find() method in the MongoDB C# Driver . The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the MongoDB::Collection::find() method in the MongoDB Perl Driver . The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the Mongo::Collection#find() method in the MongoDB Ruby Driver . The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

This page provides examples of operations that query for null values using the collection.find() method in the MongoDB Scala Driver . The examples on this page use the inventory collection. To populate the inventory collection, run the following:

Important

You must use None with the PyMongo Python driver to query for null or missing fields in MongoDB.

Important

You must use None with the Motor driver to query for null or missing fields in MongoDB.

Important

You must use BsonNull.Value with the MongoDB C# driver to query for null or missing fields in MongoDB.

Important

You must use undef with the MongoDB Perl driver to query for null or missing fields in MongoDB.

Important

You must use nil with the MongoDB Ruby driver to query for null or missing fields in MongoDB.

Important

You must use BsonNull() with the MongoDB Scala driver to query for null or missing fields in MongoDB.

db.inventory.insertMany([
   { _id: 1, item: null },
   { _id: 2 }
])

You can run the operation in the web shell below:

https://mws.mongodb.com/?version=3.6
[
   { _id: 1, item: null },
   { _id: 2 }
]

For instructions on inserting documents in MongoDB Compass, see Insert Documents.

db.inventory.insert_many([{"_id": 1, "item": None}, {"_id": 2}])
collection.insertMany(asList(
        Document.parse("{'_id': 1, 'item': null}"),
        Document.parse("{'_id': 2}")
));
await db.collection('inventory').insertMany([{ _id: 1, item: null }, { _id: 2 }]);
$insertManyResult = $db->inventory->insertMany([
    ['_id' => 1, 'item' => null],
    ['_id' => 2],
]);
await db.inventory.insert_many([{"_id": 1, "item": None}, {"_id": 2}])
Publisher<Success> insertManyPublisher = collection.insertMany(asList(
        Document.parse("{'_id': 1, 'item': null}"),
        Document.parse("{'_id': 2}")
));
var documents = new[]
{
    new BsonDocument { { "_id", 1 }, { "item", BsonNull.Value } },
    new BsonDocument { { "_id", 2 } }
};
collection.InsertMany(documents);