The following score modifying options are available to all operators. For details and examples, click any of the following options:
boost
The boost option multiplies a result's base score by a given number or the value of a numeric field in the documents. For example, you can use boost to increase the importance of certain matching documents in the result.
Note
You can't use the
boostandconstantoptions together.The
boostoption withpathis the same as multiplying using thefunctionoption with a path expression.
Fields
The boost option takes the following fields:
Field | Type | Necessity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| float | Conditional | Number to multiply the default base score by. Value must be a positive number. Either |
| string | Conditional | Name of the numeric field whose value to multiply the default base score by. Either |
| float | Optional | Numeric value to substitute for |
Examples
The following examples use the movies collection in the sample_mflix database. If you have the sample dataset on your cluster, you can create the MongoDB Search default index and run the example queries on your cluster.
The sample compound queries demonstrate how to increase the importance of one search criteria over another. The queries include a $project stage to exclude all fields except title and score.
In the following example, the compound operator uses text operator to search for the term Helsinki in the plot and title fields. The query for the title field uses score with the boost option to multiply the score results by 3, as specified in the value field.
1 db.movies.aggregate([ 2 { 3 "$search": { 4 "compound": { 5 "should": [{ 6 "text": { 7 "query": "Helsinki", 8 "path": "plot" 9 } 10 }, 11 { 12 "text": { 13 "query": "Helsinki", 14 "path": "title", 15 "score": { "boost": { "value": 3 } } 16 } 17 }] 18 } 19 } 20 }, 21 { 22 "$limit": 5 23 }, 24 { 25 "$project": { 26 "_id": 0, 27 "title": 1, 28 "plot": 1, 29 "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } 30 } 31 } 32 ])
This query returns the following results, in which the score for documents where the title matches the query term is multiplied by 3 from its base value:
[ { plot: 'Epic tale about two generations of men in a wealthy Finnish family, spanning from the 1960s all the way through the early 1990s. The father has achieved his position as director of the ...', title: 'Kites Over Helsinki', score: 12.2470121383667 }, { plot: 'Alex is Finlander married to an Italian who works as a taxi driver in Berlin. One night in his taxi come two men with a briefcase full of money. Unluckily for Alex, they are being chased by...', title: 'Helsinki-Naples All Night Long', score: 9.56808090209961 }, { plot: 'The recession hits a couple in Helsinki.', title: 'Drifting Clouds', score: 4.5660295486450195 }, { plot: 'Two teenagers from Helsinki are sent on a mission by their drug dealer.', title: 'Sairaan kaunis maailma', score: 4.041563034057617 }, { plot: 'A murderer tries to leave his criminal past in East Helsinki and make a new life for his family', title: 'Bad Luck Love', score: 3.6251673698425293 } ]
In the following example, the compound operator uses text operator to search for the term Helsinki in the plot and title fields. The query against the title field uses score with the boost option to multiply the score results by the numeric field imdb.rating in path. If the numeric field isn't found in the specified path, the operator multiplies the score of the documents by 3.
1 db.movies.aggregate([ 2 { 3 "$search": { 4 "compound": { 5 "should": [{ 6 "text": { 7 "query": "Helsinki", 8 "path": "plot" 9 } 10 }, 11 { 12 "text": { 13 "query": "Helsinki", 14 "path": "title", 15 "score": { 16 "boost": { 17 "path": "imdb.rating", 18 "undefined": 3 19 } 20 } 21 } 22 }] 23 } 24 } 25 }, 26 { 27 "$limit": 5 28 }, 29 { 30 "$project": { 31 "_id": 0, 32 "title": 1, 33 "plot": 1, 34 "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } 35 } 36 } 37 ])
This query returns the following results, in which the score for documents where the title field matches the query term is multiplied from its base value by the value of the numeric field imdb.rating or 3, if the field isn't found in the documents:
[ { plot: 'Epic tale about two generations of men in a wealthy Finnish family, spanning from the 1960s all the way through the early 1990s. The father has achieved his position as director of the ...', title: 'Kites Over Helsinki', score: 24.902257919311523 }, { plot: 'Alex is Finlander married to an Italian who works as a taxi driver in Berlin. One night in his taxi come two men with a briefcase full of money. Unluckily for Alex, they are being chased by...', title: 'Helsinki-Naples All Night Long', score: 20.411907196044922 }, { plot: 'The recession hits a couple in Helsinki.', title: 'Drifting Clouds', score: 4.5660295486450195 }, { plot: 'Two teenagers from Helsinki are sent on a mission by their drug dealer.', title: 'Sairaan kaunis maailma', score: 4.041563034057617 }, { plot: 'A murderer tries to leave his criminal past in East Helsinki and make a new life for his family', title: 'Bad Luck Love', score: 3.6251673698425293 } ]
constant
The constant option replaces the base score with a specified number.
Note
You must not use the constant and boost options together.
Examples
The following example uses the default index on the sample_mflix.movies collection to query the plot and title fields using the compound operator. In the query, the text operator uses score with the constant option to replace all score results with 5 for results that match the query against the title field only.
1 db.movies.aggregate([ 2 { 3 "$search": { 4 "compound": { 5 "should": [{ 6 "text": { 7 "query": "tower", 8 "path": "plot" 9 } 10 }, 11 { 12 "text": { 13 "query": "tower", 14 "path": "title", 15 "score": { "constant": { "value": 5 } } 16 } 17 }] 18 } 19 } 20 }, 21 { 22 "$limit": 5 23 }, 24 { 25 "$project": { 26 "_id": 0, 27 "title": 1, 28 "plot": 1, 29 "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } 30 } 31 } 32 ])
The above query returns the following results, in which the score for documents that match the query against the title field only is replaced with the specified constant value:
1 [ 2 { 3 plot: 'Several months after witnessing a murder, residents of Tower Block 31 find themselves being picked off by a sniper, pitting those lucky enough to be alive into a battle for survival.', 4 title: 'Tower Block', 5 score: 8.15460205078125 6 }, 7 { 8 plot: "When a group of hard-working guys find out they've fallen victim to their wealthy employer's Ponzi scheme, they conspire to rob his high-rise residence.", 9 title: 'Tower Heist', 10 score: 5 11 }, 12 { 13 plot: 'Toru Kojima and his friend Koji are young student boys with one thing in common - they both love to date older women. Koji is a playboy with several women, young and older, whereas Toru is a romantic with his heart set on on certain lady.', 14 title: 'Tokyo Tower', 15 score: 5 16 }, 17 { 18 plot: 'A middle-aged mental patient suffering from a split personality travels to Italy where his two personalities set off all kinds of confusing developments.', 19 title: 'The Leaning Tower', 20 score: 5 21 }, 22 { 23 plot: 'A documentary that questions the cost -- and value -- of higher education in the United States.', 24 title: 'Ivory Tower', 25 score: 5 26 } 27 ]
embedded
Note
You can use this option with the embeddedDocument operator only.
The embedded option allows you to configure how to:
Aggregate the scores of multiple matching embedded documents.
Modify the score of an embeddedDocument operator after aggregating the scores from matching embedded documents.
Note
The MongoDB Search embeddedDocuments type, embeddedDocument operator, and embedded scoring option are in preview.
Fields
The embedded option takes the following fields:
Field | Type | Necessity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| string | Optional | Configures how to combine scores of matching embedded documents. Value must be one of the following aggregation strategies:
If omitted, this field defaults to |
| Optional | Specifies the score modification to apply after applying the aggregation strategy. |
Examples
The following sample query uses an index named default on the sample_analytics.transactions collection. The index configures an embeddedDocuments type on documents in the transactions array and string type for transactions.symbol and transactions.transaction_code fields.
Example
{ "mappings": { "dynamic": true, "fields": { "transactions": { "dynamic": true, "fields": { "symbol": { "type": "string" }, "transaction_code": { "type": "string" } }, "type": "embeddedDocuments" } } } }
The sample query on the transactions field, which contains an array of documents, includes a $limit stage to limit the output to 10 results and a $project stage to:
Exclude all fields except
account_idandtransaction_count.Add a field named
scorethat applies an aggregation strategy and further score modification.Note
You can use
functioninside thescoreoption of the embeddedDocument operator'soperator. However, for function score expressions that require thepathoption, the numeric field that you specify as thepathfor the expression must be inside the embeddedDocument operator'spath. For example, in the following example query, the fieldtransactions.amountthat is specified inside thescoreoption of the compound operator on line 24 is inside in theembeddedDocumentoperator's pathtransactionson line 4.
The query searches for accounts that have bought AMD and multiplies the largest single AMD purchase (by number of shares) by the log1p value of the number of transactions that the account has made in this period. It ranks the accounts based on the following:
Number of
AMDbought in a single transactionNumber of transactions in the last period
1 db.transactions.aggregate({ 2 "$search": { 3 "embeddedDocument": { 4 "path": "transactions", 5 "operator": { 6 "compound": { 7 "must": [ 8 { 9 "text": { 10 "path": "transactions.symbol", 11 "query": "amd" 12 } 13 }, 14 { 15 "text": { 16 "path": "transactions.transaction_code", 17 "query": "buy" 18 } 19 } 20 ], 21 "score": { 22 "function": { 23 "path": { 24 "value": "transactions.amount", 25 "undefined": 1.0 26 } 27 } 28 } 29 } 30 }, 31 "score": { 32 "embedded": { 33 "aggregate": "maximum", 34 "outerScore": { 35 "function": { 36 "multiply": [ 37 { 38 "log1p": { 39 "path": { 40 "value": "transaction_count" 41 } 42 } 43 }, 44 { 45 "score": "relevance" 46 } 47 ] 48 } 49 } 50 } 51 } 52 } 53 } 54 }, 55 { "$limit": 10 }, 56 { 57 "$project": { 58 "_id": 0, 59 "account_id": 1, 60 "transaction_count": 1, 61 "score": { $meta: "searchScore" } 62 } 63 })
MongoDB Search ranks accounts that have made many transactions in the last period and bought many AMD in a single transaction highly.
1 [ 2 { account_id: 467651, transaction_count: 99, score: 19982 }, 3 { account_id: 271554, transaction_count: 96, score: 19851.822265625 }, 4 { account_id: 71148, transaction_count: 99, score: 19840 }, 5 { account_id: 408143, transaction_count: 100, score: 19836.76953125 }, 6 { account_id: 977774, transaction_count: 98, score: 19822.64453125 }, 7 { account_id: 187107, transaction_count: 96, score: 19754.470703125 }, 8 { account_id: 492843, transaction_count: 97, score: 19744.998046875 }, 9 { account_id: 373169, transaction_count: 93, score: 19553.697265625 }, 10 { account_id: 249078, transaction_count: 89, score: 19436.896484375 }, 11 { account_id: 77690, transaction_count: 90, score: 19418.017578125 } 12 ]
function
The function option allows you to alter the final score of the document using a numeric field . You can specify the numeric field for computing the final score through an expression. If the final result of the function score is less than 0, MongoDB Search replaces the score with 0.
Note
You can use function inside the score option of the embeddedDocument operator's operator. However, for function score expressions that require the path option, the numeric field that you specify as the path for the expression must be inside the embeddedDocument operator's path.
Expressions
Use the following expressions with the function option to alter the final score of the document:
Arithmetic expressions, which add or multiply a series of numbers.
Constant expressions, which allow a constant number in the function score.
Gaussian decay expressions, which decay, or reduces, the scores by multiplying at a specified rate.
Path expressions, which incorporate an indexed numeric field value into a function score.
Score expressions, which return the relevance score assigned by MongoDB Search.
Unary expressions, which are expressions that take a single argument. In MongoDB Search, you can calculate the log10(x) or log10(x+1) of a specified number.
Note
MongoDB Search function scores are always float values and precision might be lost for very large or small numbers.
An arithmetic expression adds or multiplies a series of numbers. For example, you can use arithmetic expression to modify relevance ranking through a numeric field from a data enrichment pipeline. It must include one of the following options:
Option | Type | Description | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| array of expressions | Adds a series of numbers. Takes an array of expressions, which can have negative values. Array length must be greater than or equal to Arithmetic Expression Syntax In the previous example, MongoDB Search uses the
| ||||||||||||||||
| array of expressions | Multiplies a series of numbers. Takes an array of expressions, which can have negative values. Array length must be greater than or equal to Arithmetic Expression Syntax In the previous example, MongoDB Search uses the
|
Note
You can't replace an arithmetic expression that evaluates to undefined with a constant value.
A constant expression allows a constant number in the function score. For example, you can use constant to modify relevance ranking through a numeric value from a data enrichment pipeline. It must include the following option:
Option | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| float | Number that indicates a fixed value. MongoDB Search supports negative values. |
Example
{ "function": { "constant": -23.78 } }
A gaussian decay expression allows you to decay, or reduce by multiplying, the final scores of the documents based on the distance of a numeric field value from a specified origin point. decay is computed as:

where sigma is computed to assure that the score takes the value decay at distance scale from origin±offset:

For example, you can use gauss to adjust the relevant score of documents based on document freshness, or date influencing higher ranking. gauss takes the following options:
Field | Type | Necessity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| double | Optional | Rate at which you want to multiply the scores. Value must be a positive number between For documents whose numeric field value (specified using |
| double | Optional | Number to use to determine the distance from origin. The decay operation is performed only for documents whose distances are greater than |
| double | Required | Point of origin from which to calculate the distance. |
| Required | Name of the numeric field whose value you want to use to multiply the base score. | |
| double | Required | Distance from |
Example
{ "function": { "gauss": { "path": { "value": "rating", "undefined": 50 }, "origin": 95, "scale": 5, "offset": 5, "decay": 0.5 } } }
Suppose the max rating is 100. MongoDB Search uses the rating field in the documents to decay the score:
Retains the current score for documents with rating between
90to100.Multiplies the current score by
0.5for documents with a rating lower than90.Multiplies the current score by
0.25for documents with a rating lower than85, and so on.
A path expression incorporates an indexed numeric field value into a function score. It can either be a string or an object.
If string, the value is the name of the numeric field to search over for the path expression.
Example
{ "function": { "path": "rating" } }
MongoDB Search incorporates the numeric value of the rating field in the final score of the document.
If object, the path expression takes the following options:
Option | Type | Necessity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| string | Required | Name of numeric field. Field can contain negative numeric values. |
| float | Optional | Value to use if the numeric field specified using |
Example
{ "function": { "path": {"value": "quantity", "undefined": 2} } }
MongoDB Search incorporates numeric value of the quantity field or 2, if the quantity field is not present in the document, in the final score of the document.
A path expression can't be an array and can't contain regex or wildcard in the path.
A score expression represents the relevance score, which is the score MongoDB Search assigns documents based on relevance, of the query. It is the same as the current score of the document. It must include the following option:
Option | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| string | Value of relevance score of the query. Value must be |
Example
{ "function": { "score": "relevance" } }
A unary expression is an expression that takes a single argument. In MongoDB Search, you can use unary expressions to calculate the log10(x) or log10(x+1) of a specified number. For example, you can use log1p to influence the relevance score by document popularity score. It must include one of the following options:
Option | Type | Description | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calculates the log10 of a number. For example: Unary Expression Syntax In the previous example, MongoDB Search calculates the log10 of the arithmetic expression that uses the If the expression specified for the Unary Expression syntax In the previous example, MongoDB Search evaluates the the log10 of the constant expression | |||||||||||||||||||
| Adds Unary Expression Syntax In the previous example, MongoDB Search adds |
Examples
The following examples use the default index on the sample_mflix.movies collection to query the title field. The sample queries include a $limit stage to limit the output to 5 results and a $project stage to exclude all fields except title and score.
Example
In this example, the text operator uses score with the function option to multiply the following:
Numeric value of the path expression, which is the value of the
imdb.ratingfield in the documents or2, if theimdb.ratingfield is not in the documentRelevance score, or the current score of the document
db.movies.aggregate([{ "$search": { "text": { "path": "title", "query": "men", "score": { "function":{ "multiply":[ { "path": { "value": "imdb.rating", "undefined": 2 } }, { "score": "relevance" } ] } } } } }, { $limit: 5 }, { $project: { "_id": 0, "title": 1, "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } } }])
This query returns the following results, in which the score is replaced with the specified function value:
{ "title" : "Men...", "score" : 23.431293487548828 } { "title" : "12 Angry Men", "score" : 22.080968856811523 } { "title" : "X-Men", "score" : 21.34803581237793 } { "title" : "X-Men", "score" : 21.34803581237793 } { "title" : "Matchstick Men", "score" : 21.05954933166504 }
Example
In the following example, the text operator uses score with the function option to replace the current score of the document with the constant numeric value of 3.
db.movies.aggregate([ { "$search": { "text": { "path": "title", "query": "men", "score": { "function":{ "constant": 3 } } } } }, { $limit: 5 }, { $project: { "_id": 0, "title": 1, "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } } } ])
This query returns the following results, in which the score is replaced with the specified function value:
{ "title" : "Men Without Women", "score" : 3 } { "title" : "One Hundred Men and a Girl", "score" : 3 } { "title" : "Of Mice and Men", "score" : 3 } { "title" : "All the King's Men", "score" : 3 } { "title" : "The Men", "score" : 3 }
Example
In the following example, the text operator uses score with the function option to decay the relevance score of the documents in the result.
The query specifies that for documents whose imdb.rating field value or 4.6, if the imdb.rating field is not present in the documents, is scale distance, which is 5, away from origin, which is 9.5, plus or minus offset, which is 0, MongoDB Search must multiply the score using decay, which starts at 0.5. This query includes a $limit stage to limit the output to up to 10 results and a $project stage to add the imdb.rating field in the results.
db.movies.aggregate([ { "$search": { "text": { "path": "title", "query": "shop", "score": { "function":{ "gauss": { "path": { "value": "imdb.rating", "undefined": 4.6 }, "origin": 9.5, "scale": 5, "offset": 0, "decay": 0.5 } } } } } }, { "$limit": 10 }, { "$project": { "_id": 0, "title": 1, "imdb.rating": 1, "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } } } ])
This query returns the following results:
[ { title: 'The Shop Around the Corner', imdb: { rating: 8.1 }, score: 0.9471074342727661 }, { title: 'Exit Through the Gift Shop', imdb: { rating: 8.1 }, score: 0.9471074342727661 }, { title: 'The Shop on Main Street', imdb: { rating: 8 }, score: 0.9395227432250977 }, { imdb: { rating: 7.4 }, title: 'Chop Shop', score: 0.8849083781242371 }, { title: 'Little Shop of Horrors', imdb: { rating: 6.9 }, score: 0.8290896415710449 }, { title: 'The Suicide Shop', imdb: { rating: 6.1 }, score: 0.7257778644561768 }, { imdb: { rating: 5.6 }, title: 'A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop', score: 0.6559237241744995 }, { title: 'Beauty Shop', imdb: { rating: 5.4 }, score: 0.6274620294570923 } ]
To compare the results of the Gaussian expressions used in the previous query with the relevance score that is returned in the results by MongoDB Search, run the following query:
db.movies.aggregate([ { "$search": { "text": { "path": "title", "query": "shop" } } }, { "$limit": 10 }, { "$project": { "_id": 0, "title": 1, "imdb.rating": 1, "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } } } ])
This query returns the following results:
[ { title: 'Beauty Shop', imdb: { rating: 5.4 }, score: 4.111973762512207 }, { imdb: { rating: 7.4 }, title: 'Chop Shop', score: 4.111973762512207 }, { title: 'The Suicide Shop', imdb: { rating: 6.1 }, score: 3.5363259315490723 }, { title: 'Little Shop of Horrors', imdb: { rating: 6.9 }, score: 3.1020588874816895 }, { title: 'The Shop Around the Corner', imdb: { rating: 8.1 }, score: 2.762784481048584 }, { title: 'The Shop on Main Street', imdb: { rating: 8 }, score: 2.762784481048584 }, { title: 'Exit Through the Gift Shop', imdb: { rating: 8.1 }, score: 2.762784481048584 }, { imdb: { rating: 5.6 }, title: 'A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop', score: 2.0802340507507324 } ]
Example
In the following example, the text operator uses score with the function option to replace the relevance score of the query with the value of the numeric field imdb.rating or 4.6, if the imdb.rating field isn't present in the documents.
db.movies.aggregate([{ "$search": { "text": { "path": "title", "query": "men", "score": { "function":{ "path": { "value": "imdb.rating", "undefined": 4.6 } } } } } }, { $limit: 5 }, { $project: { "_id": 0, "title": 1, "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } } }])
This query returns the following results, in which the score is replaced with the specified function value:
{ "title" : "12 Angry Men", "score" : 8.899999618530273 } { "title" : "The Men Who Built America", "score" : 8.600000381469727 } { "title" : "No Country for Old Men", "score" : 8.100000381469727 } { "title" : "X-Men: Days of Future Past", "score" : 8.100000381469727 } { "title" : "The Best of Men", "score" : 8.100000381469727 }
Example
In the following example, the text operator uses score with the function option to return the relevance score, which is the same as the current score, of the documents.
db.movies.aggregate([{ "$search": { "text": { "path": "title", "query": "men", "score": { "function":{ "score": "relevance" } } } } }, { "$limit": 5 }, { "$project": { "_id": 0, "title": 1, "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } } }])
This query returns the following results, in which the score is replaced with the specified function value:
{ "title" : "Men...", "score" : 3.4457783699035645 } { "title" : "The Men", "score" : 2.8848698139190674 } { "title" : "Simple Men", "score" : 2.8848698139190674 } { "title" : "X-Men", "score" : 2.8848698139190674 } { "title" : "Mystery Men", "score" : 2.8848698139190674 }
Example
In the following example, the text operator uses score with the function option to calculate the log10 of the imdb.rating field or 10, if the imdb.rating field is not present in the document.
db.movies.aggregate([{ "$search": { "text": { "path": "title", "query": "men", "score": { "function": { "log": { "path": { "value": "imdb.rating", "undefined": 10 } } } } } } }, { "$limit": 5 }, { "$project": { "_id": 0, "title": 1, "score": { "$meta": "searchScore" } } }])
This query returns the following results, in which the score is replaced with the specified function value:
{ "title" : "12 Angry Men", "score" : 0.9493899941444397 } { "title" : "The Men Who Built America", "score" : 0.9344984292984009 } { "title" : "No Country for Old Men", "score" : 0.9084849953651428 } { "title" : "X-Men: Days of Future Past", "score" : 0.9084849953651428 } { "title" : "The Best of Men", "score" : 0.9084849953651428 }