$ifNull (aggregation)

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Definition

Compatibility
Syntax
Examples

Definition

$ifNull

Changed in version 5.0.

The $ifNull expression evaluates input expressions for null values and returns:

The first non-null input expression value found.
A replacement expression value if all input expressions evaluate to null.

$ifNull treats undefined values and missing fields as null.

Compatibility

You can use $ifNull 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

{
   $ifNull: [
      <input-expression-1>,
      ...
      <input-expression-n>,
      <replacement-expression-if-null>
   ]
}

Examples

This inventory collection is used in the examples:

db.inventory.insertMany( [
   { "_id" : 1, "item" : "buggy", description: "toy car", "quantity" : 300 },
   { "_id" : 2, "item" : "bicycle", description: null, "quantity" : 200 },
   { "_id" : 3, "item" : "flag" }
] )

Single Input Expression

The following example uses $ifNull to return:

description if it is non-null.
"Unspecified" string if description is null or missing.

db.inventory.aggregate(
   [
      {
         $project: {
            item: 1,
            description: { $ifNull: [ "$description", "Unspecified" ] }
         }
      }
   ]
)

Output:

{ "_id" : 1, "item" : "buggy", "description" : "toy car" }
{ "_id" : 2, "item" : "bicycle", "description" : "Unspecified" }
{ "_id" : 3, "item" : "flag", "description" : "Unspecified" }

Multiple Input Expressions

New in version 5.0.

The following example uses $ifNull to return:

description if it is non-null.
quantity if description is null or missing and quantity is non-null.
"Unspecified" string if description and quantity are both null or missing.

db.inventory.aggregate(
   [
      {
         $project: {
            item: 1,
            value: { $ifNull: [ "$description", "$quantity", "Unspecified" ] }
         }
      }
   ]
)

Output:

{ "_id" : 1, "item" : "buggy", "value" : "toy car" }
{ "_id" : 2, "item" : "bicycle", "value" : 200 }
{ "_id" : 3, "item" : "flag", "value" : "Unspecified" }

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