mongoimport csv with headerline and datatype

Question

I'm trying to import a csv into mongodb using the following command:

mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --file data.csv --headerline

The database exists but not the collection, I want to create it and use the first row of the csv as the field names. Why am I getting error:

error validating settings: must specify --fields, --fieldFile or --headerline to import this file type

I also would like to know:

• how to copy/import data from one collection into another (basically the syntax)
• how datatypes from csv are handled in mongodb when imported; do I need to specify datatypes for headers or will mongodb read it from csv types?

Answer 1

To solve this:

1. Either make sure the first line of your data.csv file has field names of the data to be parsed and then execute:

   mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --type csv --headerline --file data.csv
   

Or

2. Define the list of field names that the values of csv would be parsed in using --fields

   mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --type csv --file data.csv --fields["name","surname","etc"]
   

Answer 2

You should write command like this:

mongoimport --db users --collection contacts --type csv --file data.csv --fields "name","surname","etc"