MongoDB: cursor.limit() method

cursor.limit

The cursor.limit() method is used to specify the maximum number of documents the cursor will return.

Syntax:

cursor.limit()

NOTE: You must apply limit() to the cursor before retrieving any documents from the database.

Use limit() to maximize performance and prevent MongoDB from returning more results than required for processing.

Sample document in the restaurants collection:

{
  "address": {
     "building": "1007",
     "coord": [ -73.856077, 40.848447 ],
     "street": "Morris Park Ave",
     "zipcode": "10462"
  },
  "borough": "Bronx",
  "cuisine": "Bakery",
  "grades": [
     { "date": { "$date": 1393804800000 }, "grade": "A", "score": 2 },
     { "date": { "$date": 1378857600000 }, "grade": "A", "score": 6 },
     { "date": { "$date": 1358985600000 }, "grade": "A", "score": 10 },
     { "date": { "$date": 1322006400000 }, "grade": "A", "score": 9 },
     { "date": { "$date": 1299715200000 }, "grade": "B", "score": 14 }
  ],
  "name": "Morris Park Bake Shop",
  "restaurant_id": "30075445"
}
.......

Example: MongoDB: cursor.limit() method

The following example will restrict the documents to return within 10 from the collection restaurants.

db.restaurants.find({"cuisine" : "American "}).limit(10);

Retrieve the restaurants data from here

Output:

> db.restaurants.find({"cuisine" : "American "}).limit(10);
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c8c"), "address" : { "building" : "2780", "coord" : [ -73.98241999999999, 40.579505 ], "street" : "Stillwell Avenue", "zipcode" : "11224" }, "borough" : "Brooklyn", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-06-10T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A
", "score" : 5 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-06-05T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 7 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-04-13T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 12 }, { "date" : ISODate("2011-10-12T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 12 } ], "name" : "Riviera Caterer", "restaurant_id" : "40356018"
 }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c8e"), "address" : { "building" : "8825", "coord" : [ -73.8803827, 40.7643124 ], "street" : "Astoria Boulevard", "zipcode" : "11369" }, "borough" : "Queens", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-11-15T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "Z", "sco
re" : 38 }, { "date" : ISODate("2014-05-02T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 10 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-03-02T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 7 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-02-10T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 13 } ], "name" : "Brunos On The Boulevard", "restaurant_id" : "4035615
1" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c91"), "address" : { "building" : "6409", "coord" : [ -74.00528899999999, 40.628886 ], "street" : "11 Avenue", "zipcode" : "11219" }, "borough" : "Brooklyn", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-07-18T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "sco
re" : 12 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-07-30T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 12 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-02-13T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 11 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-08-16T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 2 }, { "date" : ISODate("2011-08-17T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "scor
e" : 11 } ], "name" : "Regina Caterers", "restaurant_id" : "40356649" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c93"), "address" : { "building" : "2300", "coord" : [ -73.8786113, 40.8502883 ], "street" : "Southern Boulevard", "zipcode" : "10460" }, "borough" : "Bronx", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-05-28T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "sco
re" : 11 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-06-19T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 4 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-06-15T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 3 } ], "name" : "Wild Asia", "restaurant_id" : "40357217" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c94"), "address" : { "building" : "7715", "coord" : [ -73.9973325, 40.61174889999999 ], "street" : "18 Avenue", "zipcode" : "11214" }, "borough" : "Brooklyn", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-04-16T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "sc
ore" : 5 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-04-23T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 2 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-04-24T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 5 }, { "date" : ISODate("2011-12-16T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 2 } ], "name" : "C & C Catering Service", "restaurant_id" : "40357437"
}
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c96"), "address" : { "building" : "1", "coord" : [ -73.96926909999999, 40.7685235 ], "street" : "East   66 Street", "zipcode" : "10065" }, "borough" : "Manhattan", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-05-07T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A"
, "score" : 3 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-05-03T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 4 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-04-30T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 6 }, { "date" : ISODate("2011-12-27T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 0 } ], "name" : "1 East 66Th Street Kitchen", "restaurant_id" : "4
0359480" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c9b"), "address" : { "building" : "522", "coord" : [ -73.95171, 40.767461 ], "street" : "East   74 Street", "zipcode" : "10021" }, "borough" : "Manhattan", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-09-02T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score
" : 12 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-12-19T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "B", "score" : 16 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-05-28T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 9 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-12-07T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 13 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-03-29T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score"
 : 11 } ], "name" : "Glorious Food", "restaurant_id" : "40361521" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5c9c"), "address" : { "building" : "284", "coord" : [ -73.9829239, 40.6580753 ], "street" : "Prospect Park West", "zipcode" : "11215" }, "borough" : "Brooklyn", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-11-19T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "s
core" : 11 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-11-14T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 2 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-12-05T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 13 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-05-17T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 11 } ], "name" : "The Movable Feast", "restaurant_id" : "40361606" }

{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5ca1"), "address" : { "building" : "730", "coord" : [ -73.96805719999999, 40.7925587 ], "street" : "Columbus Avenue", "zipcode" : "10025" }, "borough" : "Manhattan", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-09-12T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "B
", "score" : 26 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-08-28T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 9 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-03-25T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "B", "score" : 20 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-02-14T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 12 } ], "name" : "P & S Deli Grocery", "restaurant_id" : "40362
264" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("55c3043ab165fa6355ec5ca2"), "address" : { "building" : "18", "coord" : [ -73.996984, 40.72589 ], "street" : "West Houston Street", "zipcode" : "10012" }, "borough" : "Manhattan", "cuisine" : "American ", "grades" : [ { "date" : ISODate("2014-04-03T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "sco
re" : 9 }, { "date" : ISODate("2013-04-05T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 4 }, { "date" : ISODate("2012-03-21T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 13 }, { "date" : ISODate("2011-04-27T00:00:00Z"), "grade" : "A", "score" : 5 } ], "name" : "Angelika Film Center", "restaurant_id" : "40362274" }

Behavior

Zero Value

A limit() value of 0 (i.e. .limit(0)) is equivalent to setting no limit.

Negative Values

A negative limit is similar to a positive limit but closes the cursor after returning a single batch of results. As such, with a negative limit, if the limited result set does not fit into a single batch, the number of documents received will be less than the specified limit. By passing a negative limit, the client indicates to the server that it will not ask for a subsequent batch via getMore.

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