db.collection.remove.txt

======================
db.collection.remove()
======================

.. default-domain:: mongodb

.. contents:: On this page
   :local:
   :backlinks: none
   :depth: 1
   :class: singlecol

Definition
----------

.. method:: db.collection.remove()

   Removes documents from a collection.

   The :method:`db.collection.remove()` method can have one of two
   syntaxes. The :method:`~db.collection.remove()` method can take a
   query document and an optional ``justOne`` boolean:

   .. code-block:: javascript

      db.collection.remove(
         <query>,
         <justOne>
      )

   Or the method can take a query document and an optional remove
   options document:

   .. versionadded:: 2.6

   .. code-block:: javascript

      db.collection.remove(
         <query>,
         {
           justOne: <boolean>,
           writeConcern: <document>
         }
      )


   .. list-table::
      :header-rows: 1
      :widths: 20 20 80
   
      * - Parameter
   
        - Type
   
        - Description
   
      * - ``query``
   
        - document
   
        - Specifies deletion criteria using :doc:`query operators
          </reference/operator>`. To delete all documents in a collection,
          pass an empty document (``{}``).
          
          .. versionchanged:: 2.6
             In previous versions, the method invoked with no query parameter
             deleted all documents in a collection.
          
          
   
      * - ``justOne``
   
        - boolean
   
        - Optional. To limit the deletion to just one document, set to ``true``. Omit to
          use the default value of ``false`` and delete all documents matching
          the deletion criteria.
          
          
   
      * - ``writeConcern``
   
        - document
   
        - Optional. A document expressing the :doc:`write concern
          </core/write-concern>`. Omit to use the default write concern.
          See :ref:`remove-safe-writes`.
          
          .. versionadded:: 2.6
          
          
   


   .. versionchanged:: 2.6
      The :method:`~db.collection.remove()` returns an object that
      contains the status of the operation.

   :returns: A :ref:`writeresults-remove` object that contains the
      status of the operation.

Behavior
--------

.. _remove-safe-writes:

Safe Writes
~~~~~~~~~~~

.. versionchanged:: 2.6

The :method:`~db.collection.remove()` method uses the
:dbcommand:`delete` command, which uses the default write concern. To
specify a different write concern, include the write concern in the
options parameter.

Query Considerations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By default, :method:`~db.collection.remove()` removes all documents
that match the ``query`` expression. Specify the ``justOne`` option to
limit the operation to removing a single document. To delete a single
document sorted by a specified order, use the :ref:`findAndModify()
<findAndModify-wrapper-sorted-remove>` method.

When removing multiple documents, the remove operation may interleave
with other read and/or write operations to the collection. For
*unsharded* collections, you can override this behavior with the
:update:`$isolated` operator, which "isolates" the remove operation and
disallows yielding during the operation. This ensures that no client
can see the affected documents until they are all processed or an error
stops the remove operation.

See :ref:`isolate-remove-operations` for an example.

Capped Collections
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. include:: /includes/fact-remove-capped-collection-restriction.rst

Sharded Collections
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. |single-modification-operation-names| replace:: :method:`~db.collection.remove()`

.. |single-modification-operation-option| replace:: ``justOne``

.. include:: /includes/fact-single-modification-in-sharded-collections.rst

Examples
--------

The following are examples of the :method:`~db.collection.remove()` method.

Remove All Documents from a Collection
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To remove all documents in a collection, call the :method:`remove
<db.collection.remove()>` method with an empty query document ``{}``.
The following operation deletes all documents from the :doc:`bios
collection </reference/bios-example-collection>`:

.. code-block:: javascript

   db.bios.remove( { } )

This operation is not equivalent to the
:method:`~db.collection.drop()` method.

To remove all documents from a collection, it may be more efficient
to use the :method:`~db.collection.drop()` method to drop the entire
collection, including the indexes, and then recreate the collection
and rebuild the indexes.

Remove All Documents that Match a Condition
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To remove the documents that match a deletion criteria, call the
:method:`~db.collection.remove()` method with the ``<query>``
parameter:

The following operation removes all the documents from the collection
``products`` where ``qty`` is greater than ``20``:

.. code-block:: javascript

   db.products.remove( { qty: { $gt: 20 } } )

Override Default Write Concern
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following operation to a replica set removes all the documents from
the collection ``products`` where ``qty`` is greater than ``20`` and
specifies a :doc:`write concern </reference/write-concern>` of ``"w:
majority"`` with a ``wtimeout`` of 5000 milliseconds such that the
method returns after the write propagates to a majority of the replica
set members or the method times out after 5 seconds.

.. code-block:: javascript

   db.products.remove(
       { qty: { $gt: 20 } },
       { writeConcern: { w: "majority", wtimeout: 5000 } }
   )

Remove a Single Document that Matches a Condition
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To remove the first document that match a deletion criteria, call the
:method:`remove <db.collection.remove()>` method with the ``query``
criteria and the ``justOne`` parameter set to ``true`` or ``1``.

The following operation removes the first document from the collection
``products`` where ``qty`` is greater than ``20``:

.. code-block:: javascript

   db.products.remove( { qty: { $gt: 20 } }, true )

.. _isolate-remove-operations:

Isolate Remove Operations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To isolate the query, include ``$isolated: 1`` in the
``<query>`` parameter as in the following examples:

.. code-block:: javascript

   db.products.remove( { qty: { $gt: 20 }, $isolated: 1 } )

.. _writeresults-remove:

WriteResult
-----------

.. versionchanged:: 2.6

Successful Results
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The :method:`~db.collection.remove()` returns a :method:`WriteResult`
object that contains the status of the operation. Upon success, the
:method:`WriteResult` object contains information on the number of
documents removed:

.. code-block:: javascript

   WriteResult({ "nRemoved" : 4 })

.. seealso:: :data:`WriteResult.nRemoved`

Write Concern Errors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the :method:`~db.collection.remove()` method encounters write
concern errors, the results include the
:data:`WriteResult.writeConcernError` field:

.. code-block:: javascript

   WriteResult({
      "nRemoved" : 21,
      "writeConcernError" : {
         "code" : 64,
         "errInfo" : {
            "wtimeout" : true
         },
         "errmsg" : "waiting for replication timed out"
      }
   })

.. seealso:: :method:`WriteResult.hasWriteConcernError()`

Errors Unrelated to Write Concern
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the :method:`~db.collection.remove()` method encounters a non-write
concern error, the results include :data:`WriteResult.writeError` field:

.. code-block:: javascript

   WriteResult({
      "nRemoved" : 0,
      "writeError" : {
         "code" : 2,
         "errmsg" : "unknown top level operator: $invalidFieldName"
      }
   })

.. seealso:: :method:`WriteResult.hasWriteError()`