$[<identifier>]

The $[<identifier>] filtered positional operator updates all array elements that match the specified filter conditions. It is used with the arrayFilters option to selectively update array elements.

Parameters

• field.$[identifier]: The array field with the filtered positional operator.

• arrayFilters: An array of filter conditions that determine which elements to update.

Example (MongoDB Shell)

The following example demonstrates using the $[<identifier>] operator to update specific array elements based on a condition.

Create sample documents

db.students.insertOne({
  _id: 1,
  name: "Alice",
  grades: [
    { subject: "Math", score: 85 },
    { subject: "Science", score: 92 },
    { subject: "History", score: 78 }
  ]
});

Query example

db.students.updateOne(
  { _id: 1 },
  { $inc: { "grades.$[elem].score": 5 } },
  { arrayFilters: [{ "elem.score": { $gte: 80 } }] }
);

Output

{
  "_id" : 1,
  "name" : "Alice",
  "grades" : [
    { "subject" : "Math", "score" : 90 },
    { "subject" : "Science", "score" : 97 },
    { "subject" : "History", "score" : 78 }
  ]
}

Code examples

To view a code example for using the $[<identifier>] operator, choose the tab for the language that you want to use:

Node.js

const { MongoClient } = require('mongodb');

async function updateDocument() {
  const client = await MongoClient.connect('mongodb://<username>:<password>@<cluster-endpoint>:27017/?tls=true&tlsCAFile=global-bundle.pem&replicaSet=rs0&readPreference=secondaryPreferred&retryWrites=false');
  const db = client.db('test');
  const collection = db.collection('students');

  await collection.updateOne(
    { _id: 1 },
    { $inc: { "grades.$[elem].score": 5 } },
    { arrayFilters: [{ "elem.score": { $gte: 80 } }] }
  );

  const updatedDocument = await collection.findOne({ _id: 1 });
  console.log(updatedDocument);

  await client.close();
}

updateDocument();

Python

from pymongo import MongoClient

def update_document():
    client = MongoClient('mongodb://<username>:<password>@<cluster-endpoint>:27017/?tls=true&tlsCAFile=global-bundle.pem&replicaSet=rs0&readPreference=secondaryPreferred&retryWrites=false')
    db = client.test
    collection = db.students

    collection.update_one(
        {'_id': 1},
        {'$inc': {'grades.$[elem].score': 5}},
        array_filters=[{'elem.score': {'$gte': 80}}]
    )

    updated_document = collection.find_one({'_id': 1})
    print(updated_document)

    client.close()

update_document()