Find records with a value outside a specific range in MongoDB - mongodb

Question

I'm trying to find records in MongoDB that are created outside a specific period. The query to search for records inside a specific period is pretty straightforward:
db.test.find({"Published":{'$gt':"2011-08-02", '$lt':"2011-08-06"}})
So naturally, I tried this for "outside" a specific range:
db.test.find({'$not':{"Published":{'$gt':"2011-08-02", '$lt':"2011-08-06"}}})
But this returns an empty result, while there are definately records published then.
What query should I use instead? Can anyone help me? I'm using raw mongo queries.
Thanks in advance
--- UPDATE ---
I found that the following query works, but it doesn't look like the perfect solution:
db.test.find(
{'$or': [
{"Published":{'$lt':"2011-02-02"}},
{"Published":{'$gt':"2011-08-06"}}
]}
)
Is there a cleaner way to do it?

Answer 1

You are putting the $not in the wrong place. Try this:
db.test.find({"Published":{ $not:{$gt:"2011-08-02", $lt:"2011-08-06"} } })
For details, see the MongoDB docs about the $notoperator.
Edit as because of the comment this solution would not work:
> db.dates.find()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("5492d46ef6226b581c80c0a2"), "a" : 1, "date" : "2011-08-04" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("5492d4e2f6226b581c80c0a3"), "a" : 2, "date" : "2011-08-07" }
> db.dates.find({date:{$not:{$gt:"2011-08-02",$lt:"2011-08-06"}}})
{ "_id" : ObjectId("5492d4e2f6226b581c80c0a3"), "a" : 2, "date" : "2011-08-07" }