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db.collection.deleteOne()

Definition

db.collection.deleteOne()

mongo Shell Method

This page documents the mongo shell method, and does not refer to the MongoDB Node.js driver (or any other driver) method. For corresponding MongoDB driver API, refer to your specific MongoDB driver documentation instead.

Removes a single document from a collection.

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db.collection.deleteOne(
   <filter>,
   {
      writeConcern: <document>,
      collation: <document>,
      hint: <document|string>        // Available starting in MongoDB 4.4
   }
)

Parameter	Type	Description
filter	document	Specifies deletion criteria using query operators. Specify an empty document { } to delete the first document returned in the collection.
writeConcern	document	Optional. A document expressing the write concern. Omit to use the default write concern. Do not explicitly set the write concern for the operation if run in a transaction. To use write concern with transactions, see Transactions and 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: copy 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.
hint	document	Optional. A document or string that specifies the index to use to support the query predicate. The option can take an index specification document or the index name string. If you specify an index that does not exist, the operation errors. For an example, see Specify hint for Delete Operations. New in version 4.4.

Returns:A document containing:

• A boolean acknowledged as true if the operation ran with write concern or false if write concern was disabled
• deletedCount containing the number of deleted documents

Behavior

Deletion Order

db.collection.deleteOne deletes the first document that matches the filter. Use a field that is part of a unique index such as _id for precise deletions.

Capped Collections

db.collection.deleteOne() throws a WriteError exception if used on a capped collection. To remove documents from a capped collection, use db.collection.drop() instead.

Sharded Collections

db.collection.deleteOne() operations on a sharded collection must include the shard key or the _id field in the query specification. db.collection.deleteOne() operations in a sharded collection which do not contain either the shard key or the _id field return an error.

Transactions

db.collection.deleteOne() can be used inside multi-document transactions.

Do not explicitly set the write concern for the operation if run in a transaction. To use write concern with transactions, see Transactions and Write Concern.

Important

In most cases, multi-document transaction incurs a greater performance cost over single document writes, and the availability of multi-document transactions should not be a replacement for effective schema design. For many scenarios, the denormalized data model (embedded documents and arrays) will continue to be optimal for your data and use cases. That is, for many scenarios, modeling your data appropriately will minimize the need for multi-document transactions.

For additional transactions usage considerations (such as runtime limit and oplog size limit), see also Production Considerations.

Examples

Delete a Single Document

The orders collection has documents with the following structure:

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{
   _id: ObjectId("563237a41a4d68582c2509da"),
   stock: "Brent Crude Futures",
   qty: 250,
   type: "buy-limit",
   limit: 48.90,
   creationts: ISODate("2015-11-01T12:30:15Z"),
   expiryts: ISODate("2015-11-01T12:35:15Z"),
   client: "Crude Traders Inc."
}

The following operation deletes the order with _id: ObjectId("563237a41a4d68582c2509da") :

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try {
   db.orders.deleteOne( { "_id" : ObjectId("563237a41a4d68582c2509da") } );
} catch (e) {
   print(e);
}

The operation returns:

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{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 1 }

The following operation deletes the first document with expiryts greater than ISODate("2015-11-01T12:40:15Z")

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try {
   db.orders.deleteOne( { "expiryts" : { $lt: ISODate("2015-11-01T12:40:15Z") } } );
} catch (e) {
   print(e);
}

The operation returns:

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{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 1 }

deleteOne() with Write Concern

Given a three member replica set, the following operation specifies a w of majority, wtimeout of 100:

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try {
   db.orders.deleteOne(
       { "_id" : ObjectId("563237a41a4d68582c2509da") },
       { w : "majority", wtimeout : 100 }
   );
} catch (e) {
   print (e);
}

If the acknowledgement takes longer than the wtimeout limit, the following exception is thrown:

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WriteConcernError({
   "code" : 64,
   "errmsg" : "waiting for replication timed out",
   "errInfo" : {
     "wtimeout" : true,
     "writeConcern" : {    // Added in MongoDB 4.4
       "w" : "majority",
       "wtimeout" : 100,
       "provenance" : "getLastErrorDefaults"
     }
   }
})

See also

WriteResult.writeConcernError

Specify Collation

New in version 3.4.

Collation allows users to specify language-specific rules for string comparison, such as rules for lettercase and accent marks.

A collection myColl has the following documents:

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{ _id: 1, category: "café", status: "A" }
{ _id: 2, category: "cafe", status: "a" }
{ _id: 3, category: "cafE", status: "a" }

The following operation includes the collation option:

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db.myColl.deleteOne(
   { category: "cafe", status: "A" },
   { collation: { locale: "fr", strength: 1 } }
)

Specify hint for Delete Operations

New in version 4.4.

From the mongo shell, create a members collection with the following documents:

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db.members.insertMany([
   { "_id" : 1, "member" : "abc123", "status" : "P", "points" :  0,  "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 2, "member" : "xyz123", "status" : "A", "points" : 60,  "misc1" : "reminder: ping me at 100pts", "misc2" : "Some random comment" },
   { "_id" : 3, "member" : "lmn123", "status" : "P", "points" :  0,  "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 4, "member" : "pqr123", "status" : "D", "points" : 20,  "misc1" : "Deactivated", "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 5, "member" : "ijk123", "status" : "P", "points" :  0,  "misc1" : null, "misc2" : null },
   { "_id" : 6, "member" : "cde123", "status" : "A", "points" : 86,  "misc1" : "reminder: ping me at 100pts", "misc2" : "Some random comment" }
])

Create the following indexes on the collection:

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db.members.createIndex( { status: 1 } )
db.members.createIndex( { points: 1 } )

The following delete operation explicitly hints to use the index { status: 1 }:

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db.members.deleteOne(
   { "points": { $lte: 20 }, "status": "P" },
   { hint: { status: 1 } }
)

Note

If you specify an index that does not exist, the operation errors.

The delete command returns the following:

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{ "acknowledged" : true, "deletedCount" : 1 }

To view the indexes used, you can use the $indexStats pipeline:

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db.members.aggregate( [ { $indexStats: { } }, { $sort: { name: 1 } } ] )

The accesses.ops field in the $indexStats output indicates the number of operations that used the index.

See also

To delete multiple documents, see db.collection.deleteMany()

←   db.collection.dataSize() db.collection.deleteMany()  →

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