`mongoimport`¶

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Mac OSX Sierra and Go 1.6 Incompatibility

Users running on Mac OSX Sierra require the 3.2.10 or newer version of mongoimport.

Synopsis¶

The mongoimport tool imports content from an Extended JSON, CSV, or TSV export created by mongoexport, or potentially, another third-party export tool.

See the mongoexport document for more information regarding mongoexport, which provides the inverse “exporting” capability.

Run mongoimport from the system command line, not the mongo shell.

Considerations¶

Warning

Avoid using mongoimport and mongoexport for full instance production backups. They do not reliably preserve all rich BSON data types, because JSON can only represent a subset of the types supported by BSON. Use mongodump and mongorestore as described in MongoDB Backup Methods for this kind of functionality.

mongoexport and mongoimport uses the strict mode representation for certain types.

mongoimport supports data files that are UTF-8 encoded. Using other encodings will produce errors.

Required Access¶

In order to connect to a mongod that enforces authorization with the --auth option, you must use the --username and --password options. The connecting user must possess, at a minimum, the readWrite role on the database into which they are importing data.

Options¶

Changed in version 3.0.0: mongoimport removed the --dbpath as well as related --directoryperdb and --journal options. To use mongoimport, you must run mongoimport against a running mongod or mongos instance as appropriate.

mongoimport¶

mongoimport¶

--help¶: Returns information on the options and use of mongoimport.

--verbose, -v¶: Increases the amount of internal reporting returned on standard output or in log files. Increase the verbosity with the -v form by including the option multiple times, (e.g. -vvvvv.)

--quiet¶

Runs mongoimport in a quiet mode that attempts to limit the amount of output.

This option suppresses:

output from database commands
replication activity
connection accepted events
connection closed events

--version¶: Returns the mongoimport release number.

--host <hostname><:port>, -h <hostname><:port>¶

Default: localhost:27017

Specifies a resolvable hostname for the mongod to which to connect. By default, the mongoimport attempts to connect to a MongoDB instance running on the localhost on port number 27017.

To connect to a replica set, specify the replSetName and a seed list of set members, as in the following:

<replSetName>/<hostname1><:port>,<hostname2><:port>,<...>

You can always connect directly to a single MongoDB instance by specifying the host and port number directly.

Changed in version 3.0.0: If you use IPv6 and use the <address>:<port> format, you must enclose the portion of an address and port combination in brackets (e.g. [<address>]).

--port <port>¶

Default: 27017

Specifies the TCP port on which the MongoDB instance listens for client connections.

--ipv6¶

Removed in version 3.0.

Enables IPv6 support and allows mongoimport to connect to the MongoDB instance using an IPv6 network. Prior to MongoDB 3.0, you had to specify --ipv6 to use IPv6. In MongoDB 3.0 and later, IPv6 is always enabled.

--ssl¶: New in version 2.6.

Enables connection to a mongod or mongos that has TLS/SSL support enabled.

Changed in version 3.0: Most MongoDB distributions include support for TLS/SSL. See Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients for more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB.

Changed in version 3.4: If --sslCAFile is not specified when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used.

--sslCAFile <filename>¶: New in version 2.6.

Specifies the .pem file that contains the root certificate chain from the Certificate Authority. Specify the file name of the .pem file using relative or absolute paths.

Changed in version 3.0: Most MongoDB distributions include support for TLS/SSL. See Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients for more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB.

Changed in version 3.4: If --sslCAFile is not specified when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used.

Warning

Version 3.2 and earlier: For SSL connections (--ssl) to mongod and mongos, if the mongoimport runs without the --sslCAFile, mongoimport will not attempt to validate the server certificates. This creates a vulnerability to expired mongod and mongos certificates as well as to foreign processes posing as valid mongod or mongos instances. Ensure that you always specify the CA file to validate the server certificates in cases where intrusion is a possibility.

--sslPEMKeyFile <filename>¶

New in version 2.6.

Specifies the .pem file that contains both the TLS/SSL certificate and key. Specify the file name of the .pem file using relative or absolute paths.

This option is required when using the --ssl option to connect to a mongod or mongos that has CAFile enabled without allowConnectionsWithoutCertificates.

Changed in version 3.0: Most MongoDB distributions include support for TLS/SSL. See Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients for more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB.

Changed in version 3.4: If --sslCAFile is not specified when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used.

--sslPEMKeyPassword <value>¶

New in version 2.6.

Specifies the password to de-crypt the certificate-key file (i.e. --sslPEMKeyFile). Use the --sslPEMKeyPassword option only if the certificate-key file is encrypted. In all cases, the mongoimport will redact the password from all logging and reporting output.

If the private key in the PEM file is encrypted and you do not specify the --sslPEMKeyPassword option, the mongoimport will prompt for a passphrase. See SSL Certificate Passphrase.

Changed in version 3.0: Most MongoDB distributions include support for TLS/SSL. See Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients for more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB.

Changed in version 3.4: If --sslCAFile is not specified when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used.

--sslCRLFile <filename>¶: New in version 2.6.

Specifies the .pem file that contains the Certificate Revocation List. Specify the file name of the .pem file using relative or absolute paths.

Changed in version 3.0: Most MongoDB distributions include support for TLS/SSL. See Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients for more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB.

Changed in version 3.4: If --sslCAFile is not specified when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used.

--sslAllowInvalidCertificates¶: New in version 2.6.

Bypasses the validation checks for server certificates and allows the use of invalid certificates. When using the allowInvalidCertificates setting, MongoDB logs as a warning the use of the invalid certificate.

Changed in version 3.0: Most MongoDB distributions include support for TLS/SSL. See Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients for more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB.

Changed in version 3.4: If --sslCAFile is not specified when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used.

--sslAllowInvalidHostnames¶: New in version 3.0.

Disables the validation of the hostnames in TLS/SSL certificates. Allows mongoimport to connect to MongoDB instances even if the hostname in their certificates do not match the specified hostname.

Changed in version 3.0: Most MongoDB distributions include support for TLS/SSL. See Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL and TLS/SSL Configuration for Clients for more information about TLS/SSL and MongoDB.

Changed in version 3.4: If --sslCAFile is not specified when connecting to an TLS/SSL-enabled server, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used.

--sslFIPSMode¶: New in version 2.6.

Directs the mongoimport to use the FIPS mode of the installed OpenSSL library. Your system must have a FIPS compliant OpenSSL library to use the --sslFIPSMode option.

Note

FIPS-compatible SSL is available only in MongoDB Enterprise. See Configure MongoDB for FIPS for more information.

--username <username>, -u <username>¶: Specifies a username with which to authenticate to a MongoDB database that uses authentication. Use in conjunction with the --password and --authenticationDatabase options.

--password <password>, -p <password>¶: Specifies a password with which to authenticate to a MongoDB database that uses authentication. Use in conjunction with the --username and --authenticationDatabase options.

Changed in version 3.0.0: If you do not specify an argument for --password, mongoimport returns an error.

Changed in version 3.0.2: If you wish mongoimport to prompt the user for the password, pass the --username option without --password or specify an empty string as the --password value, as in --password "" .

--authenticationDatabase <dbname>¶: Specifies the database in which the user is created. See Authentication Database.

--authenticationMechanism <name>¶

Default: SCRAM-SHA-1

Changed in version 2.6: Added support for the PLAIN and MONGODB-X509 authentication mechanisms.

Changed in version 3.0: Added support for the SCRAM-SHA-1 authentication mechanism. Changed default mechanism to SCRAM-SHA-1.

Specifies the authentication mechanism the mongoimport instance uses to authenticate to the mongod or mongos.

Value	Description
SCRAM-SHA-1	RFC 5802 standard Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism using the SHA1 hash function.
MONGODB-CR	MongoDB challenge/response authentication.
MONGODB-X509	MongoDB TLS/SSL certificate authentication.
GSSAPI (Kerberos)	External authentication using Kerberos. This mechanism is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.
PLAIN (LDAP SASL)	External authentication using LDAP. You can also use `PLAIN` for authenticating in-database users. `PLAIN` transmits passwords in plain text. This mechanism is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.

--gssapiServiceName¶

New in version 2.6.

Specify the name of the service using GSSAPI/Kerberos. Only required if the service does not use the default name of mongodb.

This option is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.

--gssapiHostName¶

New in version 2.6.

Specify the hostname of a service using GSSAPI/Kerberos. Only required if the hostname of a machine does not match the hostname resolved by DNS.

This option is available only in MongoDB Enterprise.

--db <database>, -d <database>¶: Specifies the name of the database on which to run the mongoimport.

--collection <collection>, -c <collection>¶: Specifies the collection to import.

New in version 2.6: If you do not specify --collection, mongoimport takes the collection name from the input filename. MongoDB omits the extension of the file from the collection name, if the input file has an extension.

--fields <field1[,field2]>, -f <field1[,field2]>¶

Specify a comma separated list of field names when importing csv or tsv files that do not have field names in the first (i.e. header) line of the file.

If you attempt to include --fields when importing JSON data, mongoimport will return an error. --fields is only for csv or tsv imports.

--fieldFile <filename>¶

As an alternative to --fields, the --fieldFile option allows you to specify a file that holds a list of field names if your csv or tsv file does not include field names in the first line of the file (i.e. header). Place one field per line.

If you attempt to include --fieldFile when importing JSON data, mongoimport will return an error. --fieldFile is only for csv or tsv imports.

--ignoreBlanks¶

Ignores empty fields in csv and tsv exports. If not specified, mongoimport creates fields without values in imported documents.

If you attempt to include --ignoreBlanks when importing JSON data, mongoimport will return an error. --ignoreBlanks is only for csv or tsv imports.

--type <json|csv|tsv>¶

Specifies the file type to import. The default format is JSON, but it’s possible to import csv and tsv files.

The csv parser accepts that data that complies with RFC RFC 4180. As a result, backslashes are not a valid escape character. If you use double-quotes to enclose fields in the CSV data, you must escape internal double-quote marks by prepending another double-quote.

--file <filename>¶: Specifies the location and name of a file containing the data to import. If you do not specify a file, mongoimport reads data from standard input (e.g. “stdin”).

--drop¶: Modifies the import process so that the target instance drops the collection before importing the data from the input.

--headerline¶

If using --type csv or --type tsv, uses the first line as field names. Otherwise, mongoimport will import the first line as a distinct document.

If you attempt to include --headerline when importing JSON data, mongoimport will return an error. --headerline is only for csv or tsv imports.

--mode insert|upsert|merge¶

Default: insert

New in version 3.4.

Specifies how the import process should handle existing documents in the database that match documents in the import file.

By default, mongoimport uses the _id field to match documents in the collection with documents in the import file. To specify the fields against which to match existing documents for the upsert and merge modes, use --upsertFields.

Value	Description
`insert`	Insert the documents in the import file. `mongoimport` will log an error if you attempt to import a document that contains a duplicate value for a field with a unique index, such as `_id`.
`upsert`	Replace existing documents in the database with matching documents from the import file. `mongoimport` will insert all other documents. Replace Matching Documents during Import describes how to use `--mode` `upsert`.
`merge`	Merge existing documents that match a document in the import file with the new document. `mongoimport` will insert all other documents. Merge Matching Documents during Import describes how to use `--mode` `merge`.

--upsertFields <field1[,field2]>¶

Specifies a list of fields for the query portion of the upsert. Use this option if the _id fields in the existing documents don’t match the field in the document, but another field or field combination can uniquely identify documents as a basis for performing upsert operations.

Changed in version 3.4: Modifies the import process to update existing objects in the database if they match based on the specified fields, while inserting all other objects. You do not need to use --mode upsert with --upsertFields.

If you do not specify a field, --upsertFields will upsert on the basis of the _id field.

To ensure adequate performance, indexes should exist for this field or fields.

--stopOnError¶: Forces mongoimport to halt the insert operation at the first error rather than continuing the operation despite errors.

--jsonArray¶

Accepts the import of data expressed with multiple MongoDB documents within a single JSON array. Limited to imports of 16 MB or smaller.

Use --jsonArray in conjunction with mongoexport --jsonArray.

--maintainInsertionOrder¶

Default: False

If specified, mongoimport inserts the documents in the order of their appearance in the input source, otherwise mongoimport may perform the insertions in an arbitrary order.

--numInsertionWorkers int¶

Default: 1

New in version 3.0.0.

Specifies the number of insertion workers to run concurrently.

For large imports, increasing the number of insertion workers may increase the speed of the import.

--writeConcern <document>¶

Default: majority

Specifies the write concern for each write operation that mongoimport writes to the target database.

Specify the write concern as a document with w options.

--bypassDocumentValidation¶: Enables mongoimport to bypass document validation during the operation. This lets you insert documents that do not meet the validation requirements.

New in version 3.2.1.

--columnsHaveTypes¶

New in version 3.4.

Instructs mongoimport that the field list specified in --fields, --fieldFile, or --headerline specifies the types of each field.

Field names must be in the form of <colName>.<type>(<arg>). You must backslash-escape the following characters if you wish to include them in an argument: (, ), and \.

`type`	Supported Arguments	Example Header Field
`auto()`	None.	`misc.auto()`
`binary(<arg>)`	`base32` (RFC4648 encoding schema) `base64` (RFC4648 encoding schema) `hex`	`user thumbnail.binary(base64)`
`boolean()`	None.	`verified.boolean()`
`date(<arg>)`	Alias for `date_go(<arg>)`. Go Language time.Parse format.	`created.date(2006-01-02 15:04:05)`
`date_go(<arg>)`	Go Language time.Parse format	`created.date_go(2006-01-02 15:04:05)`
`date_ms(<arg>)`	Microsoft SQL Server FORMAT format	`created.date_ms(yyyy-MM-dd H:mm:ss)`
`date_oracle(<arg>)`	Oracle Database TO_DATE format.	`created.date_oracle(YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS)`
`decimal()`	None	`price.decimal()`
`double()`	None.	`revenue.double()`
`int32()`	None.	`followerCount.int32()`
`int64()`	None.	`bigNumber.int64()`
`string()`	None.	`zipcode.string()`

See Import CSV with Specified Field Types for sample usage.

If you attempt to include --columnsHaveTypes when importing JSON data, mongoimport will return an error. --columnsHaveTypes is only for csv or tsv imports.

--parseGrace <grace>¶

Default: stop

New in version 3.4.

Specifies how mongoimport handles type coercion failures when importing CSV or TSV files with --columnsHaveTypes.

--parseGrace has no effect when importing JSON documents.

Value	Description
`autoCast`	Assigns a type based on the value of the field. For example, if a field is defined as a `double` and the value for that field was `"foo"`, `mongoimport` would make that field value a string type.
`skipField`	For the row being imported, `mongoimport` does not include the field whose type does not match the expected type.
`skipRow`	`mongoimport` does not import rows containing a value whose type does not match the expected type.
`stop`	`mongoimport` returns an error that ends the import.

Use¶

Simple Import¶

mongoimport restores a database from a backup taken with mongoexport. Most of the arguments to mongoexport also exist for mongoimport.

In the following example, mongoimport imports the JSON data from the contacts.json file into the collection contacts in the users database.

mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --file contacts.json

Replace Matching Documents during Import¶

Changed in version 3.4: In MongoDB 3.4, --mode upsert replaces the deprecated --upsert option.

With --mode upsert, mongoimport replaces existing documents in the database that match a document in the import file with the document from the import file. Documents that do not match an existing document in the database are inserted as usual. By default mongoimport matches documents based on the _id field. Use --upsertFields to specify the fields to match against.

Consider the following document in the people collection in the example database:

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("580100f4da893943d393e909"),
   "name" : "Crystal Duncan",
   "region" : "United States",
   "email" : "[email protected]"
}

The following document exists in a people-20160927.json JSON file. The _id field of the JSON object matches the _id field of the document in the people collection.

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("580100f4da893943d393e909"),
   "username" : "crystal",
   "likes" : [ "running", "pandas", "software development" ]
}

To import the people-20160927.json file and replace documents in the database that match the documents in the import file, specify --mode upsert, as in the following:

mongoimport -c people -d example --mode upsert --file people-20160927.json

The document in the people collection would then contain only the fields from the imported document, as in the following:

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("580100f4da893943d393e909"),
   "username" : "crystal",
   "likes" : [ "running", "pandas", "software development" ]
}

Merge Matching Documents during Import¶

New in version 3.4.

With --mode merge, mongoimport enables you to merge fields from a new record with an existing document in the database. Documents that do not match an existing document in the database are inserted as usual. By default mongoimport matches documents based on the _id field. Use --upsertFields to specify the fields to match against.

The people collection in the example database contains the following document:

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("580100f4da893943d393e909"),
   "name" : "Crystal Duncan",
   "region" : "United States",
   "email" : "[email protected]"
}

The following document exists in a people-20160927.json JSON file. The _id field of the JSON object matches the _id field of the document in the people collection.

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("580100f4da893943d393e909"),
   "username" : "crystal",
   "email": "[email protected]",
   "likes" : [ "running", "pandas", "software development" ]
}

To import the people-20160927.json file and merge documents from the import file with matching documents in the database, specify --mode merge, as in the following:

mongoimport -c people -d example --mode merge --file people-20160927.json

The import operation combines the fields from the JSON file with the original document in the database, matching the documents based on the _id field. During the import process, mongoimport adds the new username and likes fields to the document and updates the email field with the value from the imported document, as in the following:

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("580100f4da893943d393e909"),
   "name" : "Crystal Duncan",
   "region" : "United States",
   "email" : "[email protected]",
   "username" : "crystal",
   "likes" : [
      "running",
      "pandas",
      "software development"
   ]
}

Import `JSON` to Remote Host Running with Authentication¶

In the following example, mongoimport imports data from the file /opt/backups/mdb1-examplenet.json into the contacts collection within the database marketing on a remote MongoDB database with authentication enabled.

mongoimport connects to the mongod instance running on the host mongodb1.example.net over port 37017. It authenticates with the username user and the password pass.

mongoimport --host mongodb1.example.net --port 37017 --username user --password "pass" --collection contacts --db marketing --file /opt/backups/mdb1-examplenet.json

`CSV` Import¶

General CSV Import¶

In the following example, mongoimport imports the csv formatted data in the /opt/backups/contacts.csv file into the collection contacts in the users database on the MongoDB instance running on the localhost port numbered 27017.

Specifying --headerline instructs mongoimport to determine the name of the fields using the first line in the CSV file.

mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --type csv --headerline --file /opt/backups/contacts.csv

mongoimport uses the input file name, without the extension, as the collection name if -c or --collection is unspecified. The following example is therefore equivalent:

mongoimport --db users --type csv --headerline --file /opt/backups/contacts.csv

Import CSV with Specified Field Types¶

New in version 3.4.

MongoDB 3.4 added support for specifying field types. Specify field names and types in the form <colName>.<type>(<arg>) using --fields, --fieldFile, or --headerline.

Consider the following CSV data:

Katherine Gray, 1996-02-03, F, 1235, 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
Albert Gilbert, 1992-04-24, T, 13, Q3VwY2FrZSBpcHN1bSBkb2xvciBzaXQgYW1ldCB0b290c2llIHJvbGwgYm9uYm9uIHRvZmZlZS4gQ2FuZHkgY2FuZXMgcGllIGNyb2lzc2FudCBjaG9jb2xhdGUgYmFyIGxvbGxpcG9wIGJlYXIgY2xhdyBtYWNhcm9vbi4gU3dlZXQgcm9sbCBjdXBjYWtlIGNoZWVzZWNha2Ugc291ZmZsw6kgYnJvd25pZSBpY2UgY3JlYW0uIEp1anViZXMgY2FrZSBjdXBjYWtlIG1hY2Fyb29uIGRhbmlzaCBqZWxseS1vIHNvdWZmbMOpLiBDYWtlIGFwcGxlIHBpZSBnaW5nZXJicmVhZCBjaG9jb2xhdGUgc3VnYXIgcGx1bS4gU3dlZXQgY2hvY29sYXRlIGNha2UgY2hvY29sYXRlIGNha2UganVqdWJlcyB0aXJhbWlzdSBvYXQgY2FrZS4gU3dlZXQgc291ZmZsw6kgY2hvY29sYXRlLiBMaXF1b3JpY2UgY290dG9uIGNhbmR5IGNob2NvbGF0ZSBtYXJzaG1hbGxvdy4gSmVsbHkgY29va2llIGNha2UgamVsbHkgYm

The --fields option specifies which field type mongoimport will use when importing the data into MongoDB.

mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --type csv --columnsHaveTypes --fields "name.string(),birthdate.date(2006-01-02),contacted.boolean(),followerCount.int32(),user thumbnail.binary(base64)" --file /example/file.csv

Ignore Blank Fields¶

Use the --ignoreBlanks option to ignore blank fields. For CSV and TSV imports, this option provides the desired functionality in most cases because it avoids inserting fields with null values into your collection.

The following example imports the data from data.csv, skipping any blank fields:

mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --type csv --file /example/data.csv --ignoreBlanks

← mongooplog mongoexport →

mongoimport¶

Synopsis¶

Considerations¶

Required Access¶

Options¶

Use¶

Simple Import¶

Replace Matching Documents during Import¶

Merge Matching Documents during Import¶

Import JSON to Remote Host Running with Authentication¶

CSV Import¶

General CSV Import¶

Import CSV with Specified Field Types¶

Ignore Blank Fields¶

`mongoimport`¶

Import `JSON` to Remote Host Running with Authentication¶

`CSV` Import¶