Les fondamentaux du shell mongosh

What Is mongosh?

# Install mongosh on macOS
brew install mongosh

# Connect to a local MongoDB instance
mongosh

# Connect to an Atlas cluster
mongosh 'mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster0.abc.mongodb.net/myapp'

# Connect with explicit host and port
mongosh --host localhost --port 27017

Navigating Databases and Collections

// Navigate in mongosh
show dbs
// admin   0.000GB
// myapp   0.008GB

use myapp
// switched to db myapp

db
// myapp

show collections
// users
// orders

Your First Insert

// Insert one document
db.users.insertOne({
  name: 'Alice',
  email: 'alice@example.com',
  age: 28,
  createdAt: new Date()
});
// { acknowledged: true, insertedId: ObjectId('64a2f3b1...') }

// Verify it was stored
db.users.findOne();
// { _id: ObjectId('64a2f3b1...'), name: 'Alice', ... }

Basic find() Queries

// Find all documents
db.users.find({});

// Find with an equality filter
db.users.find({ name: 'Alice' });

// findOne by _id
db.users.findOne({ _id: ObjectId('64a2f3b1...') });

// Find with multiple conditions (implicit AND)
db.users.find({ age: 28, active: true });

// Type 'it' in shell to get next 20 results

Counting and Limiting Results

// Count active users
db.users.countDocuments({ active: true });
// 842

// Get first 5 users
db.users.find({}).limit(5);

// Skip first 10, get next 5 (page 3 of 5-per-page)
db.users.find({}).skip(10).limit(5);

// Fast approximate total
db.users.estimatedDocumentCount();
// 4823

Sorting Query Results

// Sort by age descending (oldest first)
db.users.find({}).sort({ age: -1 });

// Sort by last name then first name
db.users.find({}).sort({ lastName: 1, firstName: 1 });

// Most recently created first
db.users.find({}).sort({ createdAt: -1 }).limit(10);

// Combined: find active users, sort by age, limit to 5
db.users.find({ active: true }).sort({ age: 1 }).limit(5);

Projections: Selecting Fields

// Include only name and email (exclude everything else)
db.users.find({}, { name: 1, email: 1 });
// { _id: ObjectId('...'), name: 'Alice', email: 'alice@...' }

// Exclude _id too
db.users.find({}, { name: 1, email: 1, _id: 0 });
// { name: 'Alice', email: 'alice@...' }

// Exclude sensitive fields
db.users.find({}, { passwordHash: 0, ssn: 0 });

Pretty Printing and Shell Helpers

// Get all distinct cities from user addresses
db.users.distinct('address.city');
// ['Chicago', 'London', 'Tokyo', ...]

// Iterate with forEach
db.users.find({ active: true }).forEach(user => {
  print(user.name + ' - ' + user.email);
});

// Check if query uses an index
db.users.find({ email: 'alice@test.com' }).explain('executionStats');

Quick Update and Delete Commands

// Update a specific field (CORRECT: use $set)
db.users.updateOne(
  { email: 'alice@example.com' },
  { $set: { age: 29, updatedAt: new Date() } }
);

// Delete one document
db.users.deleteOne({ email: 'alice@example.com' });

// WARNING: This REPLACES the entire document (no $set):
// db.users.updateOne({ email: '...' }, { age: 29 });
// Now the document has ONLY { _id, age: 29 } !!!

Shell Variables and Scripting

// Variable-driven query
const targetCity = 'Chicago';
const users = db.users.find({ 'address.city': targetCity }).toArray();
print('Users in ' + targetCity + ': ' + users.length);

// For loop to seed test data
for (let i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
  db.products.insertOne({ name: 'Product ' + i, price: i * 10 });
}

// Run from CLI without entering the shell:
// mongosh mydb --eval "db.users.countDocuments({})"

Connecting to Atlas From the Shell

# Store URI in environment variable (never hard-code credentials)
export MONGODB_URI='mongodb+srv://alice:s3cr3t@cluster0.abc.mongodb.net'

# Connect from shell
mongosh $MONGODB_URI

# Switch to your app database
use myapp

# Verify connection
db.runCommand({ ping: 1 })
# { ok: 1 }

Quick Check

Lesson Recap