Delete a key from a MongoDB document using Mongoose - mongodb

Question

I'm using the Mongoose Library for accessing MongoDB with node.js
Is there a way to remove a key from a document? i.e. not just set the value to null, but remove it?
User.findOne({}, function(err, user){
//correctly sets the key to null... but it's still present in the document
user.key_to_delete = null;
// doesn't seem to have any effect
delete user.key_to_delete;
user.save();
});

Answer 1

In early versions, you would have needed to drop down the node-mongodb-native driver. Each model has a collection object that contains all the methods that node-mongodb-native offers. So you can do the action in question by this:
User.collection.update({_id: user._id}, {$unset: {field: 1 }});
Since version 2.0 you can do:
User.update({_id: user._id}, {$unset: {field: 1 }}, callback);
And since version 2.4, if you have an instance of a model already you can do:
doc.field = undefined;
doc.save(callback);

Answer 2

You'll want to do this:
User.findOne({}, function(err, user){
user.key_to_delete = undefined;
user.save();
});

Answer 3

I use mongoose and using any of the above functions did me the requirement. The function compiles error free but the field would still remain.
user.set('key_to_delete', undefined, {strict: false} );
did the trick for me.

Answer 4

At mongo syntax to delete some key you need do following:
{ $unset : { field : 1} }
Seems at Mongoose the same.
Edit
Check this example.

Answer 5

Try:
User.findOne({}, function(err, user){
// user.key_to_delete = null; X
`user.key_to_delete = undefined;`
delete user.key_to_delete;
user.save();
});

Answer 6

if you want to remove a key from collection try this method.
db.getCollection('myDatabaseTestCollectionName').update({"FieldToDelete": {$exists: true}}, {$unset:{"FieldToDelete":1}}, false, true);

Answer 7

Could this be a side problem like using
function (user)
instead of
function(err, user)
for the find's callback ? Just trying to help with this as I already had the case.

Answer 8

Mongoose document is NOT a plain javascript object and that's why you can't use delete operator.(Or unset from 'lodash' library).
Your options are to set doc.path = null || undefined or to use Document.toObject() method to turn mongoose doc to plain object and from there use it as usual.
Read more in mongoose api-ref:
http://mongoosejs.com/docs/api.html#document_Document-toObject
Example would look something like this:
User.findById(id, function(err, user) {
if (err) return next(err);
let userObject = user.toObject();
// userObject is plain object
});

Answer 9

the problem with all of these answers is that they work for one field. for example let's say i want delete all fields from my Document if they were an empty string "".
First you should check if field is empty string put it to $unset :
function unsetEmptyFields(updateData) {
const $unset = {};
Object.keys(updatedData).forEach((key) => {
if (!updatedData[key]) {
$unset[key] = 1;
delete updatedData[key];
}
});
updatedData.$unset = $unset;
if (isEmpty(updatedData.$unset)) { delete updatedData.$unset; }
return updatedData;
}
function updateUserModel(data){
const updatedData = UnsetEmptyFiled(data);
const Id = "";
User.findOneAndUpdate(
{ _id: Id },
updatedData, { new: true },
);
}

Answer 10

I believe that, if you desire remove a specific field into a collection, you should do this:
User.remove ({ key_to_delete: req.params.user.key_to_delete});

Answer 11

you can use
delete user._doc.key