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Lesson 4: Understanding MongoDB Documents: Fields & Data Types

MongoDB 101: Getting Started The MongoDB Basics: Databases, Collections & Documents Lesson 4: Understanding MongoDB Documents: Fields & Data Types

The document, which is comprised of field/value pairs, is at the heart of the MongoDB data structure. Most interactions with MongoDB occur at the document level.

A field can contain a single value, multiple fields, or multiple elements.

A MongoDB document containing fields of String and Integer data type
(Source)

A value made up of multiple fields is referred to as an embedded document and is assigned the Object data type (see field cars in the screenshot). When rendered in the JSON format, an embedded document is enclosed in curly braces and adheres to the same structure as the outer (main) document.

(Source)

A value made up of multiple elements is referred to as an array and is assigned the Array data type (see field Profession in the screenshot). When rendered in the JSON format, an array is enclosed in square brackets, with each element separated by a comma. An element can be a scalar value (like in the field Profession) or an embedded document (like in the field cars).

MongoDB Data Types

A field can be one of these MongoDB data types:

TypeAlias
Double“double”
String“string”
Object“object”
Array“array”
Binary data“binData”
Undefined“undefined”
ObjectId“objectId”
Boolean“bool”
Date“date”
Null“null”
Regular Expression“regex”
DBPointer“dbPointer”
JavaScript“javascript”
Symbol“symbol”
JavaScript (with scope)“javascriptWithScope”
32-bit integer“int”
Timestamp“timestamp”
64-bit integer“long”
Decimal128“decimal”
Min key“minKey”
Max key“maxKey”

Not surprisingly, there’s much more to the document data structure than what is covered here. For more in-depth information, see the topics Databases and Collections and Documents in the MongoDB manual.

Terms you might not know:

data type: an attribute that tells what kind of data that value can have. Common data types include: integers, strings, floating point values (source)

embedded document: related data attached in a single structure or document (source)

scalar value: a variable that holds one value at a time. It is a single component that assumes a range of number or string values (source)

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    Lesson 2, Exercise: Setting up MongoDB Atlas
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    Lesson 3, Exercise: Connecting to MongoDB via Studio 3T
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    The MongoDB Basics: Databases, Collections & Documents
    7 Topics | 2 Quizzes
    Lesson 4: Understanding MongoDB Documents: Fields & Data Types
    Test your skills: Understanding MongoDB Documents
    Lesson 4: Comparing MongoDB vs SQL Concepts
    Lesson 4, Exercise 1: Creating a collection from a .json file
    Test your skills: Creating a Collection
    Lesson 4, Exercise 2: Reviewing the collection in different views
    Lesson 4, Exercise 3: Using Visual Query Builder to query data
    Lesson 4, Exercise 4: Updating data directly within the collection
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    Using SQL in MongoDB Aggregation
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    Lesson 5, Exercise 1: Running a SQL aggregate query in MongoDB
    Test your skills: Using SQL in MongoDB Aggregation
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    Lesson 5, Exercise 3: Editing a query in the Aggregation Editor
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    Lesson 6, Exercise 1: Importing document data from a .csv file
    Lesson 6, Exercise 2: Exporting document data to a .json file
    Lesson 6, Exercise 3: Exporting document data to a new collection
    Test your skills: Importing and Exporting MongoDB Data
    Running MongoDB Queries on the mongo Shell
    4 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 7: Introducing IntelliShell
    Lesson 7, Exercise 1: Using IntelliShell to load and run a script file
    Lesson 7, Exercise 2: Using IntelliShell’s auto-completion features to write queries
    Lesson 7, Exercise 3: Running queries in IntelliShell and viewing the results
    Test your skills: Running MongoDB Queries on the mongo Shell
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