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$toDate (aggregation)

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Definition

$toDate

Converts a value to a date. If the value cannot be converted to a date, $toDate errors. If the value is null or missing, $toDate returns null.

$toDate has the following syntax:

{
   $toDate: <expression>
}

The $toDate takes any valid expression.

The $toDate is a shorthand for the following $convert expression:

{ $convert: { input: <expression>, to: "date" } }

Tip

See also:

Behavior

The following table lists the input types that can be converted to a date:

Input TypeBehavior
DoubleReturns a date that corresponds to the number of milliseconds represented by the truncated double value.
Positive number corresponds to the number of milliseconds since Jan 1, 1970.
Negative number corresponds to the number of milliseconds before Jan 1, 1970.
DecimalReturns a date that corresponds to the number of milliseconds represented by the truncated decimal value.
Positive number corresponds to the number of milliseconds since Jan 1, 1970.
Negative number corresponds to the number of milliseconds before Jan 1, 1970.
LongReturns a date that corresponds to the number of milliseconds represented by the long value.
Positive number corresponds to the number of milliseconds since Jan 1, 1970.
Negative number corresponds to the number of milliseconds before Jan 1, 1970.
StringReturns a date that corresponds to the date string.
The string must be a valid date string, such as:
  • "2018-03-20"
  • "2018-03-20T12:00:00Z"
  • "2018-03-20T12:00:00+0500"
ObjectIdReturns a date that corresponds to the timestamp of the ObjectId.
TimestampReturns a date that corresponds to the timestamp.

The following table lists some conversion to date examples:

ExampleResults
{$toDate: 120000000000.5}ISODate("1973-10-20T21:20:00Z")
{$toDate: NumberDecimal("1253372036000.50")}ISODate("2009-09-19T14:53:56Z")
{$toDate: NumberLong("1100000000000")}ISODate("2004-11-19T11:33:20Z")
{$toDate: NumberLong("-1100000000000")}ISODate("1935-02-22T12:26:40Z")
{$toDate: ObjectId("5ab9c3da31c2ab715d421285")}ISODate("2018-03-27T04:08:58Z")
{$toDate: "2018-03-20"}ISODate("2018-03-20T00:00:00Z")
{$toDate: "2018-03-20 11:00:06 +0500"}ISODate("2018-03-20T06:00:06Z")
{$toDate: "Friday"}Error
{$toDate: Timestamp({ t: 1637688118, i: 1 })}ISODate("2021-11-23T17:21:58.00Z")

Example

Create a collection orders with the following documents:

db.orders.insertMany( [
   { _id: 1, item: "apple", qty: 5, price: 2, order_date: new Date( "2018-03-20" ) },
   { _id: 2, item: "pie", qty: 10, price: 3, order_date: new Date( "2018-03-22" ) },
   { _id: 3, item: "ice cream", qty: 2, price: 4, order_date: "2018-03-15" },
   { _id: 4, item: "almonds" , qty: 5, price: 7, order_date: "2018-03-15 +10:00" }
] )

The following aggregation operation on the orders collection converts the order_date to date before sorting by the date value:

// Define stage to add convertedDate field with the converted order_date value


dateConversionStage = {
   $addFields: {
      convertedDate: { $toDate: "$order_date" }
   }
};


// Define stage to sort documents by the converted date


sortStage = {
   $sort: { "convertedDate": 1 }
};


db.orders.aggregate( [
   dateConversionStage,
   sortStage
] )

The operation returns the following documents:

{
   _id: 4,
   item: 'almonds',
   qty: 5,
   price: 7,
   order_date: '2018-03-15 +10:00',
   convertedDate: ISODate("2018-03-14T14:00:00.000Z")
},
{
   _id: 3,
   item: 'ice cream',
   qty: 2,
   price: 4,
   order_date: '2018-03-15',
   convertedDate: ISODate("2018-03-15T00:00:00.000Z")
},
{
   _id: 1,
   item: 'apple',
   qty: 5,
   price: 2,
   order_date: ISODate("2018-03-20T00:00:00.000Z"),
   convertedDate: ISODate("2018-03-20T00:00:00.000Z")
},
{
   _id: 2,
   item: 'pie',
   qty: 10,
   price: 3,
   order_date: ISODate("2018-03-22T00:00:00.000Z"),
   convertedDate: ISODate("2018-03-22T00:00:00.000Z")
}

Note

If the conversion operation encounters an error, the aggregation operation stops and throws an error. To override this behavior, use $convert instead.