db.collection.renameCollection()
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Definition
db.collection.renameCollection(target, dropTarget)Important
mongosh Method
This page documents a
mongoshmethod. This is not the documentation for database commands or language-specific drivers, such as Node.js.For the database command, see the
renameCollectioncommand.For MongoDB API drivers, refer to the language-specific MongoDB driver documentation.
For the legacy
mongoshell documentation, refer to the documentation for the corresponding MongoDB Server release:Renames a collection. Provides a wrapper for the
renameCollectiondatabase command.Parameter Type Description targetstring The new name of the collection. Enclose the string in quotes. See Naming Restrictions. dropTargetboolean Optional. If true,mongoddrops thetargetofrenameCollectionprior to renaming the collection. The default value isfalse.
Behavior
The db.collection.renameCollection() method operates within a collection by changing the metadata associated with a given collection.
Refer to the documentation renameCollection for additional warnings and messages.
Warning
The db.collection.renameCollection() method and renameCollection command will invalidate open cursors which interrupts queries that are currently returning data.
For Change Streams, the db.collection.renameCollection() method and renameCollection command create an invalidate for any existing Change Streams opened on the source or target collection.
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The method has the following limitations:
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db.collection.renameCollection()cannot move a collection between databases. UserenameCollectionfor these rename operations. -
You cannot rename views.
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db.collection.renameCollection()is not supported on time series collections. -
You cannot rename a collection to itself. If you try to rename a collection to itself an
IllegalOperationerror is thrown.
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Resource Locking in Sharded Clusters
Changed in version 5.0.
When renaming a sharded or unsharded collection in a sharded cluster, the source and target collections are exclusively locked on every shard. Subsequent operations on the source and target collections must wait until the rename operation completes.
For more information on locking in MongoDB, see FAQ: Concurrency.
Resource Locking in Replica Sets
Changed in version 4.2.
renameCollection() obtains an exclusive lock on the source and target collections for the duration of the operation. All subsequent operations on the collections must wait until renameCollection() completes. Prior to MongoDB 4.2, renaming a collection within the same database with renameCollection required obtaining an exclusive database lock.
Interaction with mongodump
A mongodump started with --oplog fails if a client issues db.collection.renameCollection() during the dump process. See mongodump.--oplog for more information.
Example
Call the db.collection.renameCollection() method on a collection object. For example:
db.rrecord.renameCollection("record")
This operation will rename the rrecord collection to record. If the target name (i.e. record) is the name of an existing collection, then the operation will fail.