Update documents (TypeScript)

Finds documents in a collection using filter clauses, and then updates properties in those documents. Optionally, if no document matches the filter, inserts a new document.

This method does not support sort parameters, including vector search. If you want to use sort parameters to find documents, use the method to find documents instead. Then, use the method to update a single document to update the found documents by ID.

Ready to write code? See the examples for this method to get started. If you are new to the Data API, check out the quickstart.

Result

Updates documents that match the specified parameters and returns a promise that resolves to a CollectionUpdateManyResult<Schema> object that includes details about the operation, including the number of documents that were found and the number of documents that were modified.

Example resolved response:

{
  modifiedCount: 2,
  matchedCount: 3,
  upsertedCount: 0
}

If specified, the method inserts a new document if no document matches the filter.

Example resolved response if a new document was inserted:

{
  modifiedCount: 0,
  matchedCount: 0,
  upsertedCount: 1,
  upsertedId: '5be853e7-b5d3-401b-a853-e7b5d3801bae'
}

Parameters

Use the updateMany method, which belongs to the Collection class.

Method signature
async updateMany(
  filter: CollectionFilter<Schema>,
  update: CollectionUpdateFilter<Schema>,
  options?: {
    upsert?: boolean,
    timeout?: number | TimeoutDescriptor,
  },
): CollectionUpdateManyResult<Schema>
Name Type Summary

filter

CollectionFilter<Schema>

An object that defines filter criteria using the Data API filter syntax. The method only finds documents that match the filter criteria. Filters can improve performance by reducing the number of documents that the Data API processes.

You must use & to escape any . or & in field names in the filter clause. You cannot use & to escape any other characters. For more information, see Work with . and & in field names (TypeScript).

For a list of available filter operators and more examples, see Filter operators for collections (TypeScript).

Filters can use only indexed fields. If you apply selective indexing when you create a collection, you cannot reference non-indexed fields in a filter.

update

CollectionUpdateFilter<Schema>

An object that defines the updates using Data API operators.

For a list of available operators and more examples, see Update operators for collections (TypeScript).

You must use & to escape any . or & in field names in the update clause. You cannot use & to escape any other characters. For more information, see Work with . and & in field names (TypeScript).

options?

CollectionUpdateManyOptions

Optional. The options for this operation. See Properties of options for more details.

Properties of options
Name Type Summary

upsert

boolean

Optional. Whether to insert a new document if no document matches the filter criteria.

timeout

number | TimeoutDescriptor

Optional.

The timeout(s) to apply to this method. You can specify requestTimeoutMs and generalMethodTimeoutMs.

For more information about the TimeoutDescriptor, see TypeScript client internals: TimeoutDescriptor. If you specify a number instead of a TimeoutDescriptor object, that number will be applied to generalMethodTimeoutMs.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate how to update documents in a collection.

Update documents that match a filter

You can use a filter to find documents that match specific criteria. For example, you can find documents with an is_checked_out value of false and a number_of_pages value less than 300.

For a list of available filter operators and more examples, see Filter operators for collections (TypeScript).

Filters can use only indexed fields. If you apply selective indexing when you create a collection, you cannot reference non-indexed fields in a filter.

import {
  DataAPIClient,
  UsernamePasswordTokenProvider,
} from "@datastax/astra-db-ts";

// Get an existing collection
const client = new DataAPIClient({ environment: "hcd" });
const database = client.db("API_ENDPOINT", {
  token: new UsernamePasswordTokenProvider("USERNAME", "PASSWORD"),
  keyspace: "KEYSPACE_NAME",
});
const collection = database.collection("COLLECTION_NAME");

// Update documents
(async function () {
  const result = await collection.updateMany(
    {
      $and: [{ is_checked_out: false }, { number_of_pages: { $lt: 300 } }],
    },
    { $set: { color: "blue" } },
  );

  console.log(result);
})();

Update multiple properties

You can combine multiple operators and properties in a single call. For the full list of operators, see Update operators for collections (TypeScript).

import {
  DataAPIClient,
  UsernamePasswordTokenProvider,
} from "@datastax/astra-db-ts";

// Get an existing collection
const client = new DataAPIClient({ environment: "hcd" });
const database = client.db("API_ENDPOINT", {
  token: new UsernamePasswordTokenProvider("USERNAME", "PASSWORD"),
  keyspace: "KEYSPACE_NAME",
});
const collection = database.collection("COLLECTION_NAME");

// Update documents
(async function () {
  const result = await collection.updateMany(
    {
      $and: [{ is_checked_out: false }, { number_of_pages: { $lt: 300 } }],
    },
    {
      $set: {
        color: "blue",
        classes: ["biology", "algebra", "swimming"],
      },
      $unset: {
        phone: "",
      },
      $inc: {
        age: 1,
      },
    },
  );

  console.log(result);
})();

Update nested properties

To update a nested property, use dot notation. For example, field.subfield.subsubfield.

To update an item in a list, specify a numeric index. For example, listProperty.3.

import {
  DataAPIClient,
  UsernamePasswordTokenProvider,
} from "@datastax/astra-db-ts";

// Get an existing collection
const client = new DataAPIClient({ environment: "hcd" });
const database = client.db("API_ENDPOINT", {
  token: new UsernamePasswordTokenProvider("USERNAME", "PASSWORD"),
  keyspace: "KEYSPACE_NAME",
});
const collection = database.collection("COLLECTION_NAME");

// Update documents
(async function () {
  const result = await collection.updateMany(
    {
      $and: [{ is_checked_out: false }, { number_of_pages: { $lt: 300 } }],
    },
    {
      $set: {
        color: "blue",
        "address.city": "Austin",
        "classes.2": "biology",
      },
    },
  );

  console.log(result);
})();

Insert a new document if no matching document exists

You can use upsert to insert a new document if no document matches the filter criteria.

In addition to any fields you explicitly set in the update parameter, the new document also includes any top-level equality conditions from the filter parameter. Equality conditions that are nested within $and from the filter parameter are not included. If a field is defined both in the filter and in the update, the explicitly set value takes precedence.

import {
  DataAPIClient,
  UsernamePasswordTokenProvider,
} from "@datastax/astra-db-ts";

// Get an existing collection
const client = new DataAPIClient({ environment: "hcd" });
const database = client.db("API_ENDPOINT", {
  token: new UsernamePasswordTokenProvider("USERNAME", "PASSWORD"),
  keyspace: "KEYSPACE_NAME",
});
const collection = database.collection("COLLECTION_NAME");

// Update documents
(async function () {
  const result = await collection.updateMany(
    {
      $and: [{ is_checked_out: false }, { number_of_pages: { $lt: 300 } }],
    },
    { $set: { color: "blue" } },
    { upsert: true },
  );

  console.log(result);
})();

You can also use the setOnInsert operator to specify additional fields to set if a new document is created:

import {
  DataAPIClient,
  UsernamePasswordTokenProvider,
} from "@datastax/astra-db-ts";

// Get an existing collection
const client = new DataAPIClient({ environment: "hcd" });
const database = client.db("API_ENDPOINT", {
  token: new UsernamePasswordTokenProvider("USERNAME", "PASSWORD"),
  keyspace: "KEYSPACE_NAME",
});
const collection = database.collection("COLLECTION_NAME");

// Update documents
(async function () {
  const result = await collection.updateMany(
    {
      $and: [{ is_checked_out: false }, { number_of_pages: { $lt: 300 } }],
    },
    {
      $set: { color: "blue" },
      $setOnInsert: {
        "customer.name": "James",
      },
    },
    { upsert: true },
  );

  console.log(result);
})();

Update more than 20 documents

The client automatically issues multiple Data API HTTP requests to update all documents that match your filter.

Work with . and & in field names

You must use & to escape any . or & in field names when the field is used in a filter, sort, projection, update, or indexing clause. Dot notation, which is used to reference nested fields, should not be escaped. For more information, see Work with . and & in field names (TypeScript).

For example, in the following document, you would use escaping like this: areas.r&&d, costs.price&.usd, and costs.price&.cad.

{
  "areas": {
    "r&d": true,
    "design": false
  },
  "costs": {
    "price.usd": 100,
    "price.cad": 90
  }
}
import {
  DataAPIClient,
  UsernamePasswordTokenProvider,
} from "@datastax/astra-db-ts";

// Get an existing collection
const client = new DataAPIClient({ environment: "hcd" });
const database = client.db("API_ENDPOINT", {
  token: new UsernamePasswordTokenProvider("USERNAME", "PASSWORD"),
  keyspace: "KEYSPACE_NAME",
});
const collection = database.collection("COLLECTION_NAME");

// Find a document
(async function () {
  const result = await collection.updateMany(
    {
      $and: [{ "areas.r&&d": false }, { "costs.price&.usd": { $lt: 300 } }],
    },
    {
      $set: {
        "areas.r&&d": true,
        "costs.price&.usd": 310,
      },
    },
  );

  console.log(result);
})();

You can also use the escapeFieldNames function provided by the client:

import {
  DataAPIClient,
  UsernamePasswordTokenProvider,
  escapeFieldNames,
} from "@datastax/astra-db-ts";

// Get an existing collection
const client = new DataAPIClient({ environment: "hcd" });
const database = client.db("API_ENDPOINT", {
  token: new UsernamePasswordTokenProvider("USERNAME", "PASSWORD"),
  keyspace: "KEYSPACE_NAME",
});
const collection = database.collection("COLLECTION_NAME");

// Find a document
(async function () {
  const result = await collection.updateMany(
    {
      $and: [
        { [escapeFieldNames("areas", "r&d")]: false },
        { [escapeFieldNames("costs", "price.usd")]: { $lt: 300 } },
      ],
    },
    {
      $set: {
        [escapeFieldNames("areas", "r&d")]: true,
        [escapeFieldNames("costs", "price.usd")]: 310,
      },
    },
  );

  console.log(result);
})();

Client reference

For more information, see the client reference.

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