mongosh Usage¶

Switch Databases¶

To display the database you are using, type db:

db

The operation should return test, which is the default database.

To switch databases, issue the use <db> helper, as in the following example:

use <database>

To access a different database from the current database without switching your current database context, see the db.getSiblingDB() method.

To list the databases available to the user, use the helper show dbs.

use myNewDatabase
db.myCollection.insertOne( { x: 1 } );

Insert Data into a Collection¶

The db.myCollection.insertOne() is one of the methods available in mongosh.

• db refers to the current database.
• myCollection is the name of the collection.

If mongosh does not accept the name of a collection, you can use the alternative db.getCollection() syntax. For instance, if a collection name contains a space or hyphen, starts with a number, or conflicts with a built-in function:

db.getCollection("3 test").find()
db.getCollection("3-test").find()
db.getCollection("stats").find()

For more documentation of basic MongoDB operations in mongosh, see:

• Insert Documents
• Query Documents
• Update Documents
• Delete Documents
• mongosh Methods

.mongoshrc.js File¶

On startup, mongosh checks the user's HOME directory for a JavaScript file named .mongoshrc.js. If this file is found, mongosh interprets the content of .mongoshrc.js before displaying the prompt for the first time.

If you use the shell to evaluate a JavaScript file or expression, either by using the --eval option on the command line or by specifying a .js file to mongosh, mongosh reads the .mongoshrc.js file after the JavaScript has finished processing. You can prevent .mongoshrc.js from being loaded by using the --norc option.

Terminate a Running Command¶

To terminate a running command or query in mongosh, press Ctrl + C.

Ctrl + C terminates the process in the shell, but does not terminate the process on the MongoDB server. This behavior differs from the db.killOp() method, which terminates commands on the server.

Command Exceptions¶

In scenarios where the output of a command includes { ok: 0 }, mongosh throws an exception and does not return the raw output from the server.

Clear the mongosh Console¶

The cls command clears the console. You can also clear the console with Ctrl + L and console.clear().