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Interpret Explain Plan Results

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  • Evaluate the Performance of a Query

You can use explain results to determine the following information about a query:

  • The amount of time a query took to complete

  • Whether the query used an index

  • The number of documents and index keys scanned to fulfill a query

Note

Explain plan results for queries are subject to change between MongoDB versions.

Consider a collection inventory with the following documents:

{ "_id" : 1, "item" : "f1", type: "food", quantity: 500 }
{ "_id" : 2, "item" : "f2", type: "food", quantity: 100 }
{ "_id" : 3, "item" : "p1", type: "paper", quantity: 200 }
{ "_id" : 4, "item" : "p2", type: "paper", quantity: 150 }
{ "_id" : 5, "item" : "f3", type: "food", quantity: 300 }
{ "_id" : 6, "item" : "t1", type: "toys", quantity: 500 }
{ "_id" : 7, "item" : "a1", type: "apparel", quantity: 250 }
{ "_id" : 8, "item" : "a2", type: "apparel", quantity: 400 }
{ "_id" : 9, "item" : "t2", type: "toys", quantity: 50 }
{ "_id" : 10, "item" : "f4", type: "food", quantity: 75 }

The difference between the number of matching documents and the number of examined documents may suggest that, to improve efficiency, the query might benefit from the use of an index.

To support the query on the quantity field, add an index on the quantity field:

Without the index, the query would scan the whole collection of 10 documents to return 3 matching documents. The query also had to scan the entirety of each document, potentially pulling them into memory. This results in an expensive and potentially slow query operation.

When run with an index, the query scanned 3 index entries and 3 documents to return 3 matching documents, resulting in a very efficient query.

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