MongoDB - Create a Database

In MongoDB, you create a database by switching to a non-existent database, then inserting data into it.

There is no CREATE DATABASE statement in MongoDB like there is in SQL. To create a database in MongoDB, simply switch to a non-existent database, then insert data into it.

To switch databases, run the use statement. If the database doesn't already exist, it will be created:

use music

This results in the following message:

switched to db music

However, the database isn't actually created until you insert data into it:

db.artists.insert({ artistname: "The Tea Party" })

The above statement creates a collection and inserts a document into it.

It will generate the following message:

WriteResult({ "nInserted" : 1 })

You can see the database in your list of databases by issuing the following command:

show databases

Here's an example of the output:

local  0.000GB
music  0.000GB
test   0.005GB

In this case, three databases are displayed, one of which is our newly created database (music).

You can also run the following line to view the contents of your database:

db.artists.find()

Which should result in output like this:

{ "_id" : ObjectId("5780fbf948ef8c6b3ffb0149"), "artistname" : "The Tea Party" }

As you can see, our name/value pair is now stored in the new database. MongoDB has also inserted an _id field. If you don't provide an _id field, MongoDB provides it for you.