You can read/retrieve stored documents from MongoDB using the find() method. This method retrieves and displays all the documents in MongoDB in a non-structured way.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of the find() method.

>db.COLLECTION_NAME.find()

Example

Assume we have inserted 3 documents into a database named testDB in a collection named sample using the following queries −

> use testDB
> db.createCollection("sample")
> data = [
   {"_id": "1001", "name": "Ram", "age": "26", "city": "Hyderabad"},
   {"_id": "1002", "name" : "Rahim", "age" : 27, "city" : "Bangalore" },
   {"_id": "1003", "name" : "Robert", "age" : 28, "city" : "Mumbai" }
]
> db.sample.insert(data)

You can retrieve the inserted documents using the find() method as −

> use testDB
switched to db testDB
> db.sample.find()
{ "_id" : "1001", "name" : "Ram", "age" : "26", "city" : "Hyderabad" }
{ "_id" : "1002", "name" : "Rahim", "age" : 27, "city" : "Bangalore" }
{ "_id" : "1003", "name" : "Robert", "age" : 28, "city" : "Mumbai" }
>

You can also retrieve first document in the collection using the findOne() method as −

> db.sample.findOne()
{ "_id" : "1001", "name" : "Ram", "age" : "26", "city" : "Hyderabad" }

Retrieving Data (find) Using Python

The find_One() method of pymongo is used to retrieve a single document based on your query, in case of no matches this method returns nothing and if you doesn’t use any query it returns the first document of the collection.

This method comes handy whenever you need to retrieve only one document of a result or, if you are sure that your query returns only one document.

Example

Following python example retrieve first document of a collection −

from pymongo import MongoClient

#Creating a pymongo client
client = MongoClient(''localhost'', 27017)

#Getting the database instance
db = client[''mydatabase'']

#Creating a collection
coll = db[''example'']

#Inserting document into a collection
data = [
   {"_id": "101", "name": "Ram", "age": "26", "city": "Hyderabad"},
   {"_id": "102", "name": "Rahim", "age": "27", "city": "Bangalore"},
   {"_id": "103", "name": "Robert", "age": "28", "city": "Mumbai"}
]
res = coll.insert_many(data)
print("Data inserted ......")
print(res.inserted_ids)

#Retrieving the first record using the find_one() method
print("First record of the collection: ")
print(coll.find_one())

#Retrieving a record with is 103 using the find_one() method
print("Record whose id is 103: ")
print(coll.find_one({"_id": "103"}))

Output

Data inserted ......
[''101'', ''102'', ''103'']
First record of the collection:
{''_id'': ''101'', ''name'': ''Ram'', ''age'': ''26'', ''city'': ''Hyderabad''}
Record whose id is 103:
{''_id'': ''103'', ''name'': ''Robert'', ''age'': ''28'', ''city'': ''Mumbai''}

To get multiple documents in a single query (single call od find method), you can use the find() method of the pymongo. If haven’t passed any query, this returns all the documents of a collection and, if you have passed a query to this method, it returns all the matched documents.

Example

#Getting the database instance
db = client[''myDB'']

#Creating a collection
coll = db[''example'']

#Inserting document into a collection
data = [
   {"_id": "101", "name": "Ram", "age": "26", "city": "Hyderabad"},
   {"_id": "102", "name": "Rahim", "age": "27", "city": "Bangalore"},
   {"_id": "103", "name": "Robert", "age": "28", "city": "Mumbai"}
]
res = coll.insert_many(data)
print("Data inserted ......")

#Retrieving all the records using the find() method
print("Records of the collection: ")
for doc1 in coll.find():
   print(doc1)

#Retrieving records with age greater than 26 using the find() method
print("Record whose age is more than 26: ")
for doc2 in coll.find({"age":{"$gt":"26"}}):
   print(doc2)

Output

Data inserted ......
Records of the collection:
{''_id'': ''101'', ''name'': ''Ram'', ''age'': ''26'', ''city'': ''Hyderabad''}
{''_id'': ''102'', ''name'': ''Rahim'', ''age'': ''27'', ''city'': ''Bangalore''}
{''_id'': ''103'', ''name'': ''Robert'', ''age'': ''28'', ''city'': ''Mumbai''}
Record whose age is more than 26:
{''_id'': ''102'', ''name'': ''Rahim'', ''age'': ''27'', ''city'': ''Bangalore''}
{''_id'': ''103'', ''name'': ''Robert'', ''age'': ''28'', ''city'': ''Mumbai''}