Database Manual / Reference / mongosh Methods / User Management

db.getUser() (mongosh method)

Definition

db.getUser(username, args)

Returns user information for a specified user. Run this method on the user's database. If the user doesn't exist in the database, db.getUser() returns null.

The db.getUser() method has the following parameters:

db.getUser( "<username>", {
   showCredentials: <Boolean>,
   showCustomData: <Boolean>,
   showPrivileges: <Boolean>,
   showAuthenticationRestrictions: <Boolean>,
   filter: <document>
} )
ParameterTypeDescription

username

string

The name of the user for which to retrieve information.

args

document

Optional. A document specifying additional arguments.

The args document supports the following fields:

FieldTypeDescription

showCredentials

boolean

Optional. Set to true to display the user's password hash.

By default, this field is false.

showCustomData

boolean

Optional. Set to false to omit the user's customData from the output.

By default, this field is true.

New in version 5.2.

showPrivileges

boolean

Optional. Set to true to show the user's full set of privileges, including expanded information for the inherited roles.

By default, this field is false.

If viewing all users, you cannot specify this field.

showAuthenticationRestrictions

boolean

Optional. Set to true to show the user's authentication restrictions.

By default, this field is false.

If viewing all users, you cannot specify this field.

filter

document

Optional. A document that specifies $match stage conditions to return information for users that match the filter conditions.

db.getUser() wraps the usersInfo: <username> command.

For details on output, see usersInfo.

Compatibility

This method is available in deployments hosted in the following environments:

Important

This command is not supported in MongoDB Atlas clusters. For information on Atlas support for all commands, see Unsupported Commands.

Required Access

To view another user's information, you must have the viewUser action on the other user's database.

Users can view their own information.

Examples

The following operations return information about an example appClient user in an accounts database:

use accounts
db.getUser("appClient")

Example output:

{
   _id: 'accounts.appClient',
   userId: UUID("1c2fc1bf-c4dc-4a22-8b04-3971349ce0dc"),
   user: 'appClient',
   db: 'accounts',
   roles: [],
   mechanisms: [ 'SCRAM-SHA-1', 'SCRAM-SHA-256' ]
}

Omit Custom Data from Output

New in version 5.2: To omit a user's custom data from the db.getUser() output, set the showCustomData option to false.

Use the createUser command to create a user named accountAdmin01 on the products database:

db.getSiblingDB("products").runCommand( {
   createUser: "accountAdmin01",
   pwd: passwordPrompt(),
   customData: { employeeId: 12345 },
   roles: [ { role: 'readWrite', db: 'products' } ]
} )

The user contains a customData field of { employeeId: 12345 }.

To retrieve the user but omit the custom data from the output, run db.getUser() with showCustomData set to false:

db.getSiblingDB("products").getUser(
   "accountAdmin01",
   { showCustomData: false }
)

Example output:

{
   _id: 'products.accountAdmin01',
   userId: UUID("0955afc1-303c-4683-a029-8e17dd5501f4"),
   user: 'accountAdmin01',
   db: 'products',
   roles: [ { role: 'readWrite', db: 'products' } ],
   mechanisms: [ 'SCRAM-SHA-1', 'SCRAM-SHA-256' ]
}