Mongo $in query with case-insensitivity - mongodb

Question

I'm using Mongoose.js to perform an $in query, like so:
userModel.find({
'twitter_username': {
$in: friends
}
})
friends is just an array of strings. However, I'm having some case issues, and wondering if I can use Mongo's $regex functionality to make this $in query case-insensitive?

Answer 1

From the docs:
To include a regular expression in an $in query expression, you can
only use JavaScript regular expression objects (i.e. /pattern/ ). For
example:
{ name: { $in: [ /^acme/i, /^ack/ ] } }
One way is to create regular Expression for each Match and form the friends array.
var friends = [/^name1$/i,/^name2$/i];
or,
var friends = [/^(name1|name2)$/i]
userModel.find({"twitter_username":{$in:friends }})

Answer 2

Its a little tricky to do something like that
at first you should convert friends to new regex array list with:
var insesitiveFriends = [];
friends.forEach(function(item)
{
var re = new RegExp(item, "i");
insesitiveFriends.push(re);
})
then run the query
db.test.find(
{
'twitter_username':
{
$in: insesitiveFriends
}
})
I have the sample documents in test collection
/* 0 */
{
"_id" : ObjectId("5485e2111bb8a63952bc933d"),
"twitter_username" : "David"
}
/* 1 */
{
"_id" : ObjectId("5485e2111bb8a63952bc933e"),
"twitter_username" : "david"
}
and with var friends = ['DAvid','bob']; I got both documents

Answer 3

Sadly, mongodb tends to be pretty case-sensitive at the core. You have a couple of options:
1) Create a separate field that is a lowercase'd version of the twitter_username, and index that one instead. Your object would have twitter_username and twitter_username_lc. The non-lowerecase one you can use for display etc, but the lowercase one you index and use in your where clause etc.
This is the route I chose to go for my application.
2) Create a really ugly regex from your string of usernames in a loop prior to your find, then pass it in:
db.users.find({handle:{$regex: /^benhowdle89|^will shaver|^superman/i } })
Note that using the 'starts with' ^ carrot performs better if the field is indexed.