Find posts that are older than current date in MongoDB?

To find posts older than current date in MongoDB, use the $lte operator with new Date() to compare document dates against the current system date.

Syntax

db.collection.find({
    dateField: { $lte: new Date() }
});

Sample Data

Let us create a collection with documents containing different due dates ?

db.demo746.insertMany([
    { DueDate: new Date("2020-01-10") },
    { DueDate: new Date("2020-10-10") },
    { DueDate: new Date("2020-03-05") },
    { DueDate: new Date("2020-05-04") }
]);

{
    "acknowledged": true,
    "insertedIds": [
        ObjectId("5eae67eca930c785c834e55b"),
        ObjectId("5eae67eda930c785c834e55c"),
        ObjectId("5eae67eea930c785c834e55d"),
        ObjectId("5eae67f1a930c785c834e55e")
    ]
}

Display Sample Data

db.demo746.find();

{ "_id": ObjectId("5eae67eca930c785c834e55b"), "DueDate": ISODate("2020-01-10T00:00:00Z") }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5eae67eda930c785c834e55c"), "DueDate": ISODate("2020-10-10T00:00:00Z") }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5eae67eea930c785c834e55d"), "DueDate": ISODate("2020-03-05T00:00:00Z") }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5eae67f1a930c785c834e55e"), "DueDate": ISODate("2020-05-04T00:00:00Z") }

Find Posts Older Than Current Date

Query to find posts with due dates older than today ?

db.demo746.find({
    DueDate: { $lte: new Date() }
});

{ "_id": ObjectId("5eae67eca930c785c834e55b"), "DueDate": ISODate("2020-01-10T00:00:00Z") }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5eae67eea930c785c834e55d"), "DueDate": ISODate("2020-03-05T00:00:00Z") }
{ "_id": ObjectId("5eae67f1a930c785c834e55e"), "DueDate": ISODate("2020-05-04T00:00:00Z") }

Key Points

• $lte means "less than or equal to" − includes dates equal to current date
• new Date() gets the current system date and time
• Use $lt if you want strictly older dates (excluding today)

Conclusion

The $lte operator with new Date() effectively filters documents containing dates older than or equal to the current date. This approach is commonly used for finding overdue items or expired content.