Mongodb sort inner array

Question

I've been looking for a while now and can't seem to sort an inner array and keep that in the doc that I'm currently working with.

{
    "service": {
        "apps": {
            "updates": [
              {
                "n" : 1
                "date": ISODate("2012-03-10T16:15:00Z")
              },
              {
                "n" : 2
                "date": ISODate("2012-01-10T16:15:00Z")
              },
              {
                "n" : 5
                "date": ISODate("2012-07-10T16:15:00Z")
              }
            ]
        }
     }
 }

So I want to keep the item to be returned as the service, but have my updates array sorted. So far with the shell I have:

db.servers.aggregate(
        {$unwind:'$service'},
        {$project:{'service.apps':1}},
        {$unwind:'$service.apps'}, 
        {$project: {'service.apps.updates':1}}, 
        {$sort:{'service.apps.updates.date':1}});

Anyone think they can help on this?

Answer 1

You can do this by $unwinding the updates array, sorting the resulting docs by date, and then $grouping them back together on _id using the sorted order.

db.servers.aggregate(
    {$unwind: '$service.apps.updates'}, 
    {$sort: {'service.apps.updates.date': 1}}, 
    {$group: {_id: '$_id', 'updates': {$push: '$service.apps.updates'}}}, 
    {$project: {'service.apps.updates': '$updates'}})

Answer 2

Starting in Mongo 5.2, it's the exact use case for the new $sortArray aggregation operator:

// {
//   service: { apps: { updates: [
//     { n: 1, date: ISODate("2012-03-10") },
//     { n: 2, date: ISODate("2012-01-10") },
//     { n: 5, date: ISODate("2012-07-10") }
//   ]}}
// }
db.collection.aggregate([
  { $set: {
    "service.apps.updates": {
      $sortArray: {
        input: "$service.apps.updates",
        sortBy: { date: 1 }
      }
    }
  }}
])
// {
//   service: { apps: { updates: [
//     { n: 2, date: ISODate("2012-01-10") },
//     { n: 1, date: ISODate("2012-03-10") },
//     { n: 5, date: ISODate("2012-07-10") }
//   ]}}
// }

---

This:

• sorts ($sortArray) the service.apps.updates array (input: "$service.apps.updates")
• by applying a sort on dates (sortBy: { date: 1 })
• without having to apply a combination of expensive $unwind, $sort and $group stages