CODEWITHSUNDEEP
mongodb
Boaz
Boaz

Reputation: 5084

mongoDB text index on subdocuments

I have a collection that looks something like this

{ "text1" : "text", 
  "url" : "http:....", 
  "title" : "the title",
   ......, 
   "search_metadata" : { "tags" : [ "tag1", "tag2", "tag3" ],
                         "title" : "the title",
                         "topcis": [ "topic1", "topic2"]
                       } 
}

I want to be able to add a text index to search_metadata and all it's subdocuments. ensureIndex({search_metadata:"text"}) Gives me no results
and: ensureIndex({"$**":"text"}) will give me irrelevant data

How can I make it happen?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2241

Answers (1)

Adam Comerford
Adam Comerford

Reputation: 21692

From the text indexes page:

text indexes can include any field whose value is a string or an array of string elements. To perform queries that access the text index, use the $text query operator

Your search_metadata field is a series of sub-documents, not a string or an array of strings, so it basically is not in the right format to make use of a text index in MongoDB as it is currently structured.

Now, embedded in search_metadata you have both strings and arrays of strings, so you could use a text index on those, so an index on {search_metadata.tags : "text"} for example fits the criteria and should work just fine.

Hence, it's a choice between restructuring the field to meet the text index criteria, or a matter of indexing the relevant sub-fields. If you take the latter approach you may find that you don't need text indexes on each of the fields and a simpler (and far smaller) index may serve you just as well (using a normal index on tags and then $elemMatch for example).

Upvotes: 3

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