How to export only few collections, not all, from a mongo database?

Question

I need to export few collections from mongo database, not all collections.

I know how to export the entire database using command line mongoexport, but I need only few collections

How do I do it?

First, get the list of collections - by querying in the mongo shell. Use *IX and Win operating system command-line for-loop to iterate the collections and export one for each iteration. — prasad_

prasad_ prasad_ · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-14T11:47:55

You can export a few collections in a database. First, find the list of collections you want to export.

From mongo shell you can get list of all collections in the current database using the command: db.getCollectionNames(). You figure the collections you want to export from this list.

Suppose you want to export two collections, "movies" and "books" within the test database.

For Windows, a batch file like this will do the export. E.g.,:

mongo_exp.bat:

for %%coll IN ("movies","books") DO mongoexport --db=test --collection=%%coll --out=%%coll.json

When you run this batch file from the Windows command-prompt it will export two collections to two JSON files: movies.json and books.json.

For UNIX like OS, a bash script like this will do the export. For example: mongo_exp.sh:

#!/bin/sh
declare -a colls=("movies" "books")
for coll in ${colls[@]}
do
    mongoexport --db=test --collection=$coll --out=$coll.json
done

In UNIX environment, make sure the script has execute permission before you run it.

How to export only few collections, not all, from a mongo database?

1 Answers