Text search with text indexes in MongoDB

Introduction

Text search helps you find documents containing specific words quickly by using special indexes made for text.

You want to find all articles containing a certain word or phrase.

You need to search product descriptions for keywords in an online store.

You want to filter user comments that mention a particular topic.

You want to build a simple search feature for your app's text data.

Syntax

MongoDB

db.collection.createIndex({ fieldName: "text" })
db.collection.find({ $text: { $search: "search words" } })

You create a text index on the fields you want to search.

Use $text with $search to find documents matching the words.

Examples

Create a text index on the 'title' field to search article titles.

MongoDB

db.articles.createIndex({ title: "text" })

Find articles that contain the words 'mongodb' and 'tutorial' in indexed text fields.

MongoDB

db.articles.find({ $text: { $search: "mongodb tutorial" } })

Create a text index on both 'name' and 'description' fields to search product info.

MongoDB

db.products.createIndex({ name: "text", description: "text" })

Search products that mention 'wireless' and 'headphones' in name or description.

MongoDB

db.products.find({ $text: { $search: "wireless headphones" } })

Sample Program

Insert three books, create a text index on the title, then find books with 'MongoDB' in the title.

MongoDB

db.books.insertMany([
  { title: "Learn MongoDB", author: "Alice" },
  { title: "MongoDB Basics", author: "Bob" },
  { title: "Advanced Databases", author: "Carol" }
])
db.books.createIndex({ title: "text" })
db.books.find({ $text: { $search: "MongoDB" } })

Important Notes

Text indexes support searching multiple fields at once by listing them in createIndex.

Search is case-insensitive and ignores common words like 'the' or 'and'.

You can use quotes in $search to look for exact phrases.

Summary

Text indexes speed up searching words in text fields.

Use createIndex with 'text' to set up searchable fields.

Use find with $text and $search to find matching documents.