Find CouchDB docs missing an arbitrary field

Question

I need a CouchDB view where I can get back all the documents that don\'t have an arbitrary field. This is easy to do if you know in advance what fields a document might

Answer 1

Without knowing the possible fields in advance, the answer is easy. You must create a new view to find the missing fields. The view will scan every document, one-by-one.

To avoid disturbing your existing views and design documents, you can use a brand new design document. That way, searching for the missing fields will not impact existing views you may be already using.