How to export collection to CSV in MongoDB?

Question

How do you export all the records in a MongoDB collection to a .csv file?

mongoexport --host localhost --db dbname --collection name --type=csv          


        

Answer 1

For all those who are stuck with an error.

Let me give you guys a solution with a brief explanation of the same:-

command to connect:-

mongoexport --host your_host --port your_port -u your_username -p your_password --db your_db --collection your_collection --type=csv --out file_name.csv --fields all_the_fields --authenticationDatabase admin

--host --> host of Mongo server

--port --> port of Mongo server

-u --> username

-p --> password

--db --> db from which you want to export

--collection --> collection you want to export

--type --> type of export in my case CSV

--out --> file name where you want to export

--fields --> all the fields you want to export (don't give spaces in between two field name in between commas in case of CSV)

--authenticationDatabase --> database where all your user information is stored

Answer 2

Below command used to export collection to CSV format.

Note: naag is database, employee1_json is a collection.

mongoexport --db naag--collection employee1_json --type csv --out /home/orienit/work/mongodb/employee1_csv_op1

Answer 3

@karoly-horvath has it right. Fields are required for csv.

According to this bug in the MongoDB issue tracker https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/SERVER-4224 you MUST provide the fields when exporting to a csv. The docs are not clear on it. That is the reason for the error.

Try this:

mongoexport --host localhost --db dbname --collection name --csv --out text.csv --fields firstName,middleName,lastName

UPDATE:

This commit: https://github.com/mongodb/mongo-tools/commit/586c00ef09c32c77907bd20d722049ed23065398 fixes the docs for 3.0.0-rc10 and later. It changes

Fields string `long:"fields" short:"f" description:"comma separated list of field names, e.g. -f name,age"`

to

Fields string `long:"fields" short:"f" description:"comma separated list of field names (required for exporting CSV) e.g. -f \"name,age\" "`

VERSION 3.0 AND ABOVE:

You should use --type=csv instead of --csv since it has been deprecated.

More details: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/program/mongoexport/#export-in-csv-format

Full command:

mongoexport --host localhost --db dbname --collection name --type=csv --out text.csv --fields firstName,middleName,lastName

Answer 4

Also if you want to export inner json fields use dot (. operator).

JSON record:

{
    "_id" : "00118685076F2C77",
    "value" : {
        "userIds" : [ 
            "u1"
        ],
        "deviceId" : "dev"
}

mongoexport command with dot operator (using mongo version 3.4.7):

./mongoexport --host localhost --db myDB --collection myColl --type=csv --out out.csv --fields value.deviceId,value.userIds

Output csv:

value.deviceId,value.userIds
d1,"[""u1""]"
d2,"[""u2""]"

Note: Make sure you do not export an array. It would corrupt the CSV format like field userIds shown above

Answer 5

Also, you are not allowed spaces between comma separated field names.

BAD: -f firstname, lastname

GOOD: -f firstname,lastname