db.collection.distinct()

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Definition

Compatibility
Syntax
Options
Behavior
Examples

Definition

db.collection.distinct(field, query, options): MongoDB with drivers
This page documents a mongosh method. To see the equivalent method in a MongoDB driver, see the corresponding page for your programming language:
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Finds the distinct values for a specified field across a single collection or view and returns the results in an array.

Compatibility

You can use db.collection.distinct() for deployments hosted in the following environments:

MongoDB Atlas: The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud

MongoDB Enterprise: The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB
MongoDB Community: The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB

Syntax

This method takes the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`field`	string	The field for which to return distinct values.
`query`	document	A query that specifies the documents from which to retrieve the distinct values.
`options`	document	Optional. A document that specifies the options. See Options.

Note

Results must not be larger than the maximum BSON size. If your results exceed the maximum BSON size, use the aggregation pipeline to retrieve distinct values using the $group operator, as described in Retrieve Distinct Values with the Aggregation Pipeline.

The following diagram shows an example db.collection.distinct() call.

Diagram of the annotated distinct operation.

Options

{ collation: <document> }

Field

Type

Description

collation

document

Optional.

Specifies the collation to use for the operation.

Collation allows users to specify language-specific rules for string comparison, such as rules for lettercase and accent marks.

The collation option has the following syntax:

collation: {
   locale: <string>,
   caseLevel: <boolean>,
   caseFirst: <string>,
   strength: <int>,
   numericOrdering: <boolean>,
   alternate: <string>,
   maxVariable: <string>,
   backwards: <boolean>
}

When specifying collation, the locale field is mandatory; all other collation fields are optional. For descriptions of the fields, see Collation Document.

If the collation is unspecified but the collection has a default collation (see db.createCollection()), the operation uses the collation specified for the collection.

If no collation is specified for the collection or for the operations, MongoDB uses the simple binary comparison used in prior versions for string comparisons.

You cannot specify multiple collations for an operation. For example, you cannot specify different collations per field, or if performing a find with a sort, you cannot use one collation for the find and another for the sort.

Behavior

In a sharded cluster, the distinct command may return orphaned documents.

For time series collections, the distinct command can't make efficient use of indexes. Instead, use a $group aggregation to group documents by distinct values. For details, see Time Series Limitations.

Array Fields

If the value of the specified field is an array, db.collection.distinct() considers each element of the array as a separate value.

For instance, if a field has as its value [ 1, [1], 1 ], then db.collection.distinct() considers 1, [1], and 1 as separate values.

For an example, see Return Distinct Values for an Array Field.

Index Use

When possible, db.collection.distinct() operations can use indexes.

Indexes can also cover db.collection.distinct() operations. See Covered Query for more information on queries covered by indexes.

Transactions

To perform a distinct operation within a transaction:

For unsharded collections, you can use the db.collection.distinct() method/the distinct command as well as the aggregation pipeline with the $group stage.
For sharded collections, you cannot use the db.collection.distinct() method or the distinct command.
To find the distinct values for a sharded collection, use the aggregation pipeline with the $group stage instead. See Distinct Operation for details.

Important

In most cases, a distributed transaction incurs a greater performance cost over single document writes, and the availability of distributed transactions should not be a replacement for effective schema design. For many scenarios, the denormalized data model (embedded documents and arrays) will continue to be optimal for your data and use cases. That is, for many scenarios, modeling your data appropriately will minimize the need for distributed transactions.

For additional transactions usage considerations (such as runtime limit and oplog size limit), see also Production Considerations.

Client Disconnection

Starting in MongoDB 4.2, if the client that issued db.collection.distinct() disconnects before the operation completes, MongoDB marks db.collection.distinct() for termination using killOp.

Replica Set Member State Restriction

To run on a replica set member, distinct operations require the member to be in PRIMARY or SECONDARY state. If the member is in another state, such as STARTUP2, the operation errors.

Examples

The examples use the inventory collection that contains the following documents:

{ "_id": 1, "dept": "A", "item": { "sku": "111", "color": "red" }, "sizes": [ "S", "M" ] }
{ "_id": 2, "dept": "A", "item": { "sku": "111", "color": "blue" }, "sizes": [ "M", "L" ] }
{ "_id": 3, "dept": "B", "item": { "sku": "222", "color": "blue" }, "sizes": "S" }
{ "_id": 4, "dept": "A", "item": { "sku": "333", "color": "black" }, "sizes": [ "S" ] }

Return Distinct Values for a Field

The following example returns the distinct values for the field dept from all documents in the inventory collection:

db.inventory.distinct( "dept" )

The method returns the following array of distinct dept values:

[ "A", "B" ]

Return Distinct Values for an Embedded Field

The following example returns the distinct values for the field sku, embedded in the item field, from all documents in the inventory collection:

db.inventory.distinct( "item.sku" )

The method returns the following array of distinct sku values:

[ "111", "222", "333" ]

Tip

Return Distinct Values for an Array Field

The following example returns the distinct values for the field sizes from all documents in the inventory collection:

db.inventory.distinct( "sizes" )

The method returns the following array of distinct sizes values:

[ "M", "S", "L" ]

For information on distinct() and array fields, see the Behavior section.

Specify Query with `distinct`

The following example returns the distinct values for the field sku, embedded in the item field, from the documents whose dept is equal to "A":

db.inventory.distinct( "item.sku", { dept: "A" } )

The method returns the following array of distinct sku values:

[ "111", "333" ]

Specify a Collation