The Import Modes of mongoimport

When using mongoimport to import files into MongoDB, you have the option of specifying a mode to use. These modes determine what happens if there’s already matching documents in the collection that you’re trying to import into.

By default, mongoimport uses insert mode, but there are other modes you can use. The mode you use will depend on what you’re trying to do.

Below is an overview of each mode along with examples.

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Copy/Clone a Database in MongoDB

In earlier versions of MongoDB, you could use the copyDB command or its helper method, db.copyDatabase() to copy a database.

MongoDB has since deprecated these. Also, starting in version 4.2, MongoDB has removed the copydb command, and therefore also the db.copyDatabase() method, which means that you can’t use them even if you wanted to if you’re using MongoDB 4.2 or later.

Fortunately, there’s another way to copy a MongoDB database.

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Copy/Clone a Collection in MongoDB

In earlier versions of MongoDB, you could use the db.collection.copyTo() method to copy a collection.

MongoDB has since deprecated that method. Also, starting in version 4.2, MongoDB has removed the eval command. Given db.collection.copyTo() wraps eval, this means that you can’t use either of them if you’re using MongoDB 4.2 or later.

Fortunately, there’s another way to copy a MongoDB collection.

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