Array update operators

Array update operators allow you to modify the elements of an array field in a document.

Operator	Description
$push	Adds an element to an array
$addToSet	Adds elements to a specific array as long as the element does not already exist in the array
$pop	Removes either the first or the last element of an array
$pullAll	Removes all matching values in a specified query from an array

$push

The $push operator updates a document by adding an element to a specified array. If the array does not exist, a new array is created with the element added to it.

Insert the following document into a store collection:

db.store.insertMany([
  { _id: 1, items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper', 'erasers', 'rulers'] }
])

Example: Use the $push operator to add an element to an existing array.

db.store.updateOne({ _id: 1 }, { $push: { items: 'markers' } })

After the operation, the updated document looks like this:

[
  {
    _id: 1,
    items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper', 'erasers', 'rulers', 'markers']
  }
]

$addToSet

The $addToSet operator updates an array by adding a specified element to an array if the element does not already exist in the array. If the specified element exists in the array, the $addToSet operator will not modify the array.

Insert the following documents into a store collection:

db.store.insertMany([{ _id: 1, items: ['pens', 'pencils'] }])

Example: Use the $addToSet operator to update the array with non-existing elements.

db.store.updateOne({ _id: 1 }, { $addToSet: { items: 'paper' } })

The document is subsequently updated with the new element, as depicted below:

[{ _id: 1, items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper'] }]

Example: Use the $addToSet operator to update the array with already existing elements.

db.store.updateOne({ _id: 1 }, { $addToSet: { items: 'pens' } })

Since the array already contains the element, there won't be any changes.

[{ _id: 1, items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper'] }]

note

The $addToSet is different from the $push operator which adds the element to the array either it exists or not.

Example: Use the $addToSet operator for non-existing array fields.

If the array field does not exist in the document, the $addToSet operator will create the field and add the element to the array.

db.store.updateOne({ _id: 1 }, { $addToSet: { colors: 'red' } })

The updated document looks like this:

[{ _id: 1, items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper'], colors: ['red'] }]

$pop

With the $pop operator, you can update a document by removing the first or last element of an array. Assign a value of -1 to remove the first element of an array, or 1 to remove the last element.

Insert this document into a products collection:

db.products.insertMany([
  { _id: 1, items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper', 'erasers', 'rulers'] }
])

Example: Use the $pop operator to remove the first element of an array.

db.products.updateOne({ _id: 1 }, { $pop: { items: -1 } })

The document is subsequently updated with the first element pens removed, as depicted below:

[
  {
    _id: 1,
    items: ['pencils', 'paper', 'erasers', 'rulers']
  }
]

To remove the last element of the array, assign 1 as the value for the $pop operator.

db.products.updateOne({ _id: 1 }, { $pop: { items: 1 } })

The updated now looks like this:

[
  {
    _id: 1,
    items: ['pencils', 'paper', 'erasers']
  }
]

$pullAll

The $pullAll operator removes all the matching elements in a specified query from an array.

Insert the following document into a store collection:

db.store.insertMany([
  { _id: 1, items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper', 'erasers', 'rulers'] }
])

Example: Use the $pullAll operator to remove multiple elements from an array.

db.store.updateOne(
  { _id: 1 },
  { $pullAll: { items: ['pens', 'pencils', 'paper'] } }
)

After removing all instances of the specified array elements, the document is updated as follows:

[
  {
    _id: 1,
    items: ['erasers', 'rulers']
  }
]

Example: Use the $pullAll operator to remove array of objects from an array.

Insert the following document into a fruits collection:

db.fruits.insertMany([
  {
    _id: 1,
    fruits: [
      { type: 'apple', color: 'red' },
      { type: 'banana', color: 'yellow' },
      { type: 'orange', color: 'orange' }
    ]
  }
])

The following query uses the $pullAll to remove all matching array objects from the specified document.

db.fruits.update(
  { _id: 1 },
  {
    $pullAll: {
      fruits: [
        { type: 'apple', color: 'red' },
        { type: 'banana', color: 'yellow' }
      ]
    }
  }
)

The updated document now looks like this:

[{ _id: 1, fruits: [{ type: 'orange', color: 'orange' }] }]