95

I want to convert ObjectID (Mongodb) to String in JavaScript. When I get a Object form MongoDB. it like as a object has: timestamp, second, inc, machine. I can't convert to string.

8
  • 2
    ""+objectId or objectId.toString() whereby objectId is the variable I believe will do what your looking for.
    – Sammaye
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 9:00
  • 2
    ObjectID loaded from MongoDB is a Object. if you use toString() function in Javascript, It will return [Object, Object].
    – vhlen
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 9:13
  • Odd, those functions were supposed to be implemented, I am sure that was fixed
    – Sammaye
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 9:15
  • Dunno who marked this a duplicate of: stackoverflow.com/questions/8106517/mongodb-objectid-to-string but you are seriously wrong...
    – Sammaye
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 9:23
  • I think it's not bad question.! Your link is used for PHP. I need it in JavaScript.!
    – vhlen
    Commented Jun 3, 2013 at 1:11

23 Answers 23

134

Try this:

// mongo shell
objectId.str

// mongo client, JS, Node.js
objectId.toString()

See the doc.

ObjectId() has the following attribute and methods:

  • str - Returns the hexadecimal string representation of the object.

.toString() added from comment of @J.C.

4
  • i dont understand why, this isnt working for me when i do a console.log, i see the objectId as an object on the console
    – roz
    Commented Mar 18, 2017 at 7:06
  • 22
    This didn't work for me either. However, objectId.toString() did.
    – J.C.
    Commented May 5, 2017 at 15:48
  • 1
    objectId.str is for mongo shell, objectId.toString() is for mongo client Commented Oct 15, 2021 at 3:38
  • What is the solution for monk? Neither .str or .toString() are working I am just getting an object, where the display is the exact string I am after but doesn't match equality checks against another string
    – jacktim
    Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 2:40
30

Here is a working example of converting the ObjectId in to a string

> a=db.dfgfdgdfg.findOne()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("518cbb1389da79d3a25453f9"), "d" : 1 }
> a['_id']
ObjectId("518cbb1389da79d3a25453f9")
> a['_id'].toString // This line shows you what the prototype does
function () {
    return "ObjectId(" + tojson(this.str) + ")";
}
> a['_id'].str // Access the property directly
518cbb1389da79d3a25453f9
> a['_id'].toString()
ObjectId("518cbb1389da79d3a25453f9") // Shows the object syntax in string form
> ""+a['_id'] 
518cbb1389da79d3a25453f9 // Gives the hex string

Did try various other functions like toHexString() with no success.

2
29

in the shell

ObjectId("507f191e810c19729de860ea").str

in js using the native driver for node

objectId.toHexString()

2
  • 3
    Nice answer, which points out the difference using native driver. Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 9:52
  • 1
    This is the case if you're using a client like NoSQLBooster. Thanks. Commented Feb 7, 2022 at 18:44
16

You can use $toString aggregation introduced in mongodb version 4.0 which converts the ObjectId to string

db.collection.aggregate([
  { "$project": {
    "_id": { "$toString": "$your_objectId_field" }
  }}
])
10

Use toString: var stringId = objectId.toString()

Works with the latest Node MongoDB Native driver (v3.0+):

http://mongodb.github.io/node-mongodb-native/3.0/

9

Acturally, you can try this:

> a['_id']
ObjectId("518cbb1389da79d3a25453f9")
> a['_id'] + ''
"518cbb1389da79d3a25453f9"

ObjectId object + String will convert to String object.

8

If someone use in Meteorjs, can try:

In server: ObjectId(507f191e810c19729de860ea)._str.

In template: {{ collectionItem._id._str }}.

6

Assuming the OP wants to get the hexadecimal string value of the ObjectId, using Mongo 2.2 or above, the valueOf() method returns the representation of the object as a hexadecimal string. This is also achieved with the str property.

The link on anubiskong's post gives all the details, the danger here is to use a technique which has changed from older versions e.g. toString().

6

In Javascript, String() make it easy

const id = String(ObjectID)
5

this works, You have mongodb object: ObjectId(507f191e810c19729de860ea), to get string value of _id, you just say

ObjectId(507f191e810c19729de860ea).valueOf();
2
  • Please improve your answer Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 20:21
  • the string is wrapped inside ObjectId, so to get the wrapped value you use the answer i just provided @ Ivan Barayev
    – ndotie
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 20:53
3

In Js do simply: _id.toString()

For example:

const myMongoDbObjId = ObjectID('someId');
const strId = myMongoDbObjId.toString();
console.log(typeof strId); // string
3
  • 2
    needs some explanation
    – sidgate
    Commented Nov 4, 2020 at 13:37
  • @sidgate, added an example
    – Mar
    Commented Nov 5, 2020 at 9:22
  • 1
    Thanks @Mar this just save me from a serialization bug.
    – cdaiga
    Commented Jan 17, 2021 at 5:03
1

You can use string formatting.

const stringId = `${objectId}`;

1

toString() method gives you hex String which is kind of ascii code but in base 16 number system.

Converts the id into a 24 character hex string for printing

For example in this system:

"a" -> 61
"b" -> 62
"c" -> 63

So if you pass "abc..." to get objectId you will get "616263...".

As a result if you want to get readable string(char string) from objectId you have to convert it(hexCode to char).

To do this I wrote an utility function hexStringToCharString()

function hexStringToCharString(hexString) {
  const hexCodeArray = [];

  for (let i = 0; i < hexString.length - 1; i += 2) {
    hexCodeArray.push(hexString.slice(i, i + 2));
  }

  const decimalCodeArray = hexCodeArray.map((hex) => parseInt(hex, 16));

  return String.fromCharCode(...decimalCodeArray);
}

and there is usage of the function

import { ObjectId } from "mongodb";

const myId = "user-0000001"; // must contains 12 character for "mongodb": 4.3.0
const myObjectId = new ObjectId(myId); // create ObjectId from string

console.log(myObjectId.toString()); // hex string >> 757365722d30303030303031
console.log(myObjectId.toHexString()); // hex string >> 757365722d30303030303031

const convertedFromToHexString = hexStringToCharString(
  myObjectId.toHexString(),
);

const convertedFromToString = hexStringToCharString(myObjectId.toString());

console.log(`convertedFromToHexString:`, convertedFromToHexString);
//convertedFromToHexString: user-0000001
console.log(`convertedFromToString:`, convertedFromToString);
//convertedFromToHexString: user-0000001

And there is also TypeScript version of hexStringToCharString() function

function hexStringToCharString(hexString: string): string {
  const hexCodeArray: string[] = [];

  for (let i = 0; i < hexString.length - 1; i += 2) {
    hexCodeArray.push(hexString.slice(i, i + 2));
  }

  const decimalCodeArray: number[] = hexCodeArray.map((hex) =>
    parseInt(hex, 16),
  );

  return String.fromCharCode(...decimalCodeArray);
}
0

Just use this : _id.$oid

And you get the ObjectId string. This come with the object.

1
0

Found this really funny but it worked for me:

    db.my_collection.find({}).forEach((elm)=>{

    let value = new String(elm.USERid);//gets the string version of the ObjectId which in turn changes the datatype to a string.

    let result = value.split("(")[1].split(")")[0].replace(/^"(.*)"$/, '$1');//this removes the objectid completely and the quote 
    delete elm["USERid"]
    elm.USERid = result
    db.my_collection.save(elm)
    })
2
  • Hello Hogan jerry, and welcome to StackOverflow! Please use code formatting only for the code parts, it will be easier to read :) Have a good day!
    – Zoette
    Commented May 14, 2019 at 23:32
  • 1
    Thanks... was too excited Commented May 14, 2019 at 23:44
0

On aggregation use $addFields

$addFields: {
      convertedZipCode: { $toString: "$zipcode" }
   }
0

Documentation of v4 (right now it's latest version) MongoDB NodeJS Driver says: Method toHexString() of ObjectId returns the ObjectId id as a 24 character hex string representation.

0

In Mongoose, you can use toString() method on ObjectId to get a 24-character hexadecimal string.

Mongoose documentation

0

Below three methods can be used to get the string version of id.
(Here newUser is an object containing the data to be stored in the mongodb document)

newUser.save((err, result) => {
  if (err) console.log(err)
  else {
     console.log(result._id.toString()) //Output - 23f89k46546546453bf91
     console.log(String(result._id))    //Output - 23f89k46546546453bf91
     console.log(result._id+"")         //Output - 23f89k46546546453bf91
  }
});
0
user: {
  _id: ObjectId('234578fbf161fefa4b4efc')
  userId: ObjectId('234578fbf161fefa4b4efc')
}
console.log(user._id)            // new ObjectId('234578fbf161fefa4b4efc')
console.log(user.id)             // 234578fbf161fefa4b4efc

console.log(user.userId)         // new ObjectId('234578fbf161fefa4b4efc')
console.log(String(user.userId)) // 234578fbf161fefa4b4efc
-1

Use this simple trick, your-object.$id

I am getting an array of mongo Ids, here is what I did.

jquery:

...
success: function (res) {
   console.log('without json res',res);
    //without json res {"success":true,"message":" Record updated.","content":[{"$id":"58f47254b06b24004338ffba"},{"$id":"58f47254b06b24004338ffbb"}],"dbResponse":"ok"}

var obj = $.parseJSON(res);

if(obj.content !==null){
    $.each(obj.content, function(i,v){
        console.log('Id==>', v.$id);
    });
}

...
-1

You could use String

String(a['_id'])
-2

If you're using Mongoose along with MongoDB, it has a built-in method for getting the string value of the ObjectID. I used it successfully to do an if statement that used === to compare strings.

From the documentation:

Mongoose assigns each of your schemas an id virtual getter by default which returns the document's _id field cast to a string, or in the case of ObjectIds, its hexString. If you don't want an id getter added to your schema, you may disable it by passing this option at schema construction time.

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