Is it possible to query MongoDB by subfield object values? - mongodb

Question

I have documents like this:
db.planet.insert({
name: 'Earth',
stuff: {
'grass': 'green',
'sky': 'blue',
'sea': 'blue'
}
})
db.planet.insert({
name: 'Mars',
stuff: {
'dust': 'red',
'sky': 'yellow'
}
})
I want to find all planets that have at least some blue stuff (only earth in this case). How can I do that?
Catch: I tried solving this by using an array (instead of object) for stuff (stuff: [ { k: 'grass', v: 'green'},... ]) but I also need to be able to update (upsert to be exact) value of some stuff. For instance I must be able to do this:
db.planet.update({ name: 'Mars' }, {
'$set': {
'stuff.canals': 'brown',
'stuff.dust': 'reddish'
}
})
So, how can I find the planets with something blue on them? :)

Answer 1

Use the $or operator. The $or operator value should be an array, with the array containing conditions of which at least one must be true.
In your case, given the field names you have mentioned:
db.planet.find($or:[
{"stuff.sky":"blue"},
{"stuff.grass":"blue"},
{"stuff.sea":"blue"},
{"stuff.dust":"blue"},
{"stuff.canals":"blue")
])
See http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/reference/operator/or/
As there are a quite a number of different fields you want to query, you may want to keep an array of all these field names somewhere so you can generate the $or array programmatically.
I don't think there's a way to make the query without knowing the field names in advance. See mongodb query without field name .