How to list all collections in the mongo shell?

Question

In the MongoDB shell, how do I list all collections for the current database that I'm using?

Answer 1

I use listCollections (supports mongo 3.0 and up) for this purpose.

example:

db.runCommand({ listCollections: 1, filter: {}, nameOnly: true });

To fetch more info like index of the collection:

db.runCommand({ listCollections: 1, filter: {}, nameOnly: false });

To print just the collection names:

db.runCommand({ listCollections: 1, filter: {}, nameOnly: true }).cursor.firstBatch.forEach(v => {print(v.name)})

I feel this provide more flexibility.

read more: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/command/listCollections/

Answer 2

how do I list all collections for the current database that I'm using?

3 Methods

• show collections
• show tables
• db.getCollectionNames()

---

To list all databases:

show dbs

To enter or use given database:

use databasename

---

To list all collections:

show collections

Output:

collection1  
collection2  
system.indexes

(or)

show tables

Output:

collection1  
collection2  
system.indexes

(or)

db.getCollectionNames()

Output:

[ "collection1", "collection2", "system.indexes" ]

---

To enter or use given collection

use collectionname

Answer 3

> show collections

will list all the collections in the currently selected DB, as stated in the command line help (help).

Answer 4

> show tables

It gives the same result as Cameron's answer.

Answer 5

Apart from the options suggested by other people:

show collections  //output every collection
show tables
db.getCollectionNames() //shows all collections as a list

There is also another way which can be really handy if you want to know how each of the collections was created (for example it is a capped collection with a particular size)

db.system.namespaces.find()

Answer 6

> show dbs        
anuradhfirst  0.000GB
local         0.000GB
> use anuradhfirst
switched to db anuradhfirst
> show collections
record

• connect with mongo database using mongo, this will start the connection.
• then run show dbs command, this will show you all exiting/available database.
• then select the database you want.in above it is anuradhfirst, then run use anuradhfirst.this will switch to the database you want.
• then run show collections command, this will show all the collections inside your selected database.