Run Commands
On this page
To run commands in mongosh, you must first
connect to a MongoDB deployment.
Format Input and Output
mongosh uses the Node.js BSON parser parser to parse BSON
data. You can use the parser's EJSON interface to transform your
data when you work with mongosh.
For examples that use EJSON, see: EJSON.
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.
Create a New Database and Collection
To create a new database, issue the use <db> command with the
database that you would like to create. For example, the following
commands create both the database myNewDatabase and the
collection myCollection using the
insertOne() operation:
use myNewDatabase db.myCollection.insertOne( { x: 1 } );
If a collection does not exist, MongoDB creates the collection when you first store data for that collection.
Terminate a Running Command
To terminate a running command or query in mongosh,
press Ctrl + C.
When you enter Ctrl + C, mongosh:
interrupts the active command,
tries to terminate the ongoing, server-side operation, and
returns a command prompt.
If mongosh cannot cleanly terminate the running process,
it issues a warning.
Note
Pressing Ctrl + C once will not exit mongosh, press
Ctrl + C twice to exit mongosh.
You can also terminate a script from within the script code by calling the
exit(<code>) command. For more information, refer to
Terminate a Script on Error.
Command Exceptions
For commands whose output includes { ok: 0 }, mongosh returns a
consistent exception and omits the server raw output. The legacy
mongo shell returns output that varies for each command.
Clear the mongosh Console
The cls command clears the console. You can also clear the console
with Ctrl + L and console.clear().