$size

The $size operator in MongoDB is a powerful tool for querying and filtering documents based on the size of an array field. This operator lets you find documents with array fields containing an exact number of elements. It is used within the $elemMatch operator, which allows for matching documents where an array field contains elements that satisfy a set of specified conditions.

Here’s a brief summary of how to work with the $size operator:

Syntax:

{ "<array_field>": { "$size": <numer_of_elements> } }

Example:

Assume we have a collection called products with documents containing an attribute colors which is an array type.

db.products.find({ colors: { $size: 5 } });

This query will return all documents in the products collection that have exactly 5 elements in the colors array field.

Important notes:

• Keep in mind that the $size operator only matches exact array sizes. If you need more flexible array length comparison, you may consider using $expr with $size in the aggregation framework.

• The $size operator does not require the creation of an additional index to work efficiently. It can leverage existing indexes on an array field.

For more information and examples, refer to the MongoDB documentation on $size.