Only insert if a value is unique in MongoDB else update

You can use upsert i.e. whenever you insert a value and it already exist then update would be performed. If the value does not already exist then it would get inserted.

Let us first create a collection with documents

> db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.insertOne({"StudentName":"Larry","StudentAge":22});
{
   "acknowledged" : true,
   "insertedId" : ObjectId("5c9a633815e86fd1496b38a4")
}
> db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.insertOne({"StudentName":"Mike","StudentAge":21});
{
   "acknowledged" : true,
   "insertedId" : ObjectId("5c9a634a15e86fd1496b38a5")
}
> db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.insertOne({"StudentName":"Sam","StudentAge":24});
{
   "acknowledged" : true,
   "insertedId" : ObjectId("5c9a635015e86fd1496b38a6")
}

Following is the query to display all documents from a collection with the help of find() method

> db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.find().pretty();

This will produce the following output

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a633815e86fd1496b38a4"),
      "StudentName" : "Larry",
"StudentAge" : 22
}
{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a634a15e86fd1496b38a5"),
   "StudentName" : "Mike",
   "StudentAge" : 21
}
{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a635015e86fd1496b38a6"),
   "StudentName" : "Sam",
   "StudentAge" : 24
}

Case 1: Following is the query when a value already exists. Since the value you are inserting already exists, it gets updated

> db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.update({StudentName:"Mike"},{$set:{"StudentAge":27}},{ upsert: true});
WriteResult({ "nMatched" : 1, "nUpserted" : 0, "nModified" : 1 })

Look at all the documents once again. Following is the query

> db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.find().pretty();

This will produce the following output

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a633815e86fd1496b38a4"),
   "StudentName" : "Larry",
   "StudentAge" : 22
}
{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a634a15e86fd1496b38a5"),
   "StudentName" : "Mike",
   "StudentAge" : 27
}
{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a635015e86fd1496b38a6"),
   "StudentName" : "Sam",
   "StudentAge" : 24
}

Case 2: Following is the query when a value is unique. Since the value you are inserting does not already exists, it gets inserted

>db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.update({StudentName:"David"},{$set:{"StudentAge":25}},{ upsert: true});
WriteResult({
   "nMatched" : 0,
   "nUpserted" : 1,
   "nModified" : 0,
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a654ce628c11759caea54")
})

Look at the all document once again. Following is the query

> db.onlyInsertIfValueIsUniqueDemo.find().pretty();

This will produce the following output

{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a633815e86fd1496b38a4"),
   "StudentName" : "Larry",
   "StudentAge" : 22
}
{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a634a15e86fd1496b38a5"),
   "StudentName" : "Mike",
   "StudentAge" : 27
}
{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a635015e86fd1496b38a6"),
   "StudentName" : "Sam",
   "StudentAge" : 24
}
{
   "_id" : ObjectId("5c9a654ce628c11759caea54"),
   "StudentName" : "David",
   "StudentAge" : 25
}