Is there an "upsert" option in the mongodb insert command?

Question

I know this may be a silly question, but I read on an e-book that there is an upsert option in MongoDB insert. I couldn't find proper documentation about this. Can someone educate me about this?

Google "mongodb upsert", bang the 3rd result :) [docs.mongodb.org/manual/reference/method/db.collection.update](http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/reference/method/db.collection.update) — Rituparna Kashyap, Nov 14 '13 at 12:52

zero323 · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-27T15:04:10.923

146

Since upsert is defined as operation that "creates a new document when no document matches the query criteria" there is no place for upsertsin insert command. It is an option for the update command. If you execute command like below it works as an update, if there is a document matching query, or as an insert with document described by update as an argument.

db.collection.update(query, update, {upsert: true})

MongoDB 3.2 adds replaceOne:

db.collection.replaceOne(query, replacement, {upsert: true})

which has similar behavior, but its replacement cannot contain update operators.

edited Mar 27 '17 at 15:04

answered Nov 14 '13 at 10:13

zero323

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Apart from update, db.collection.save() also provides and upsert possibility. – glormph Nov 14 '13 at 10:17
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It is translated to `this.update( { _id : obj._id } , obj , true )` if `typeof( obj._id ) != "undefined"` but it is nothing more than a wrapper. – zero323 Nov 14 '13 at 10:25
@zero323 true instead of True :) – Abdul Hameed May 28 '16 at 06:55
@AbdulHameed True. From the looks I am pretty sure it was copied from Python session :) Corrected, thanks. – zero323 May 28 '16 at 06:58
Won't this update the document that exists(if it exists) with the new document? – basickarl Oct 30 '16 at 18:25
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What do you mean "its replacement cannot contain update operators"... a replacement is a document value, how could it *ever* contain operators? – Noldorin Sep 21 '17 at 00:41
In python it is `True` but in Mongo shell it is `true`. In Mongo there is no `bool` like `True`. – WesternGun Jan 16 '18 at 21:02
I recommend findOneAndReplace() instead, as it returns the _id – Gunar Gessner Sep 15 '20 at 16:52

glormph · Answer 2 · 2013-11-14T12:51:32.490

7

As in the links provided by PKD, db.collection.insert() provides no upsert possibility. Instead, mongo insert inserts a new document into a collection. Upsert is only possible using db.collection.update() and db.collection.save().

If you happen to pass a document to db.collection.insert() which is already in the collection and thus has an _id similar to an existing _id, it will throw a duplicate key exception.

edited Nov 14 '13 at 12:51

answered Nov 14 '13 at 10:16

glormph

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Thanks. As the doc explains upsert is only supported for update and save – astroanu Nov 14 '13 at 11:23

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 17 '22 at 10:08

For upserting a singe document using the java driver:

FindOneAndReplaceOptions replaceOptions = new FindOneAndReplaceOptions();
replaceOptions.upsert(true);
collection.findOneAndReplace(
        Filters.eq("key", "value"),
        document,
        replaceOptions
);

Although uniqueness should be ensured from Filters.eq("key", "value") otherwise there is a possibility of adding multiple documents. See this for more

Is there an "upsert" option in the mongodb insert command?

3 Answers3

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