• Insert operation
  • Insert a single document
  • Insert multiple documents at once

Insert operation

The insert operation adds a new document to a collection.

Insert a single document

The insertOne() command is used to add a single document into a collection, using this syntax format:
1. db.collection.insertOne({field1: value1, field2: value2,.... fieldN: valueN})

The example below depicts how a single document can be added to a collection. If a collection does not exist, the insert command automatically creates one.
1. db.scientists.insertOne({
2. name: {
3. firstname: 'Thomas',
4. lastname: 'Edison'
5. },
6. born: 1847,
7. invention: 'lightbulb'
8. })

If the operation is successful, you will get a response with acknowledged set to true, and the autogenerated ObjectId of the document that looks like this:
1. {
2. acknowledged: true,
3. insertedId: ObjectId("6346fcafd7a4a1b0b38eb2db")
4. }

Insert multiple documents at once

A collection can contain multiple documents. Using the insertMany() command, you can add multiple documents to a collection at once.
1. db.collection_name.insertMany([{ document1 }, { document2 }, ...{ documentN }])

The following example shows how to insert multiple documents into a collection:
1. db.scientists.insertMany([
2. {
3. name: {
4. firstname: 'Alan',
5. lastname: 'Turing'
6. },
7. born: 1912,
8. invention: 'Turing Machine'
9. },
10. {
11. name: {
12. firstname: 'Graham',
13. lastname: 'Bell'
14. },
15. born: 1847,
16. invention: 'telephone'
17. },
18. {
19. name: {
20. firstname: 'Ada',
21. lastname: 'Lovelace'
22. },
23. born: 1815,
24. invention: 'computer programming'
25. }
26. ])

You can retrieve all the documents in the collection with this command: db.scientists.find({})