Tech Dive 1: MongoDB's ObjectId

MongoDB is a famous NoSQL Database. If you're just getting started with MongoDB, I would suggest you begin with Mongo University

Anatomy

MongoDB's ObjectID is made of 12 bytes. The 12 bytes consists of

a 4-byte timestamp.
a 5-byte random value generated once per process.
a 3-byte incrementing counter initialized to a random value.

Example:

65f87920068c7d17cb1288d6

65f87920 - Unix Epoch Timestamp

068c7d17cb - Random Value

1288d6 - Incrementing Counter

Constructing ObjectId

You can use the ObjectId() method to construct a new ObjectId.

Optionally, it can take two inputs.

hexadecimal - A 24-character hexadecimal string value.
integer - The integer value, in seconds, is added to the Unix epoch to create the new timestamp.

Example:
```
 > ObjectId(10)
 < ObjectId('0000000a0d098c2eda0f296e')
```

Methods you can use on ObjectId

getTimestamp()

Movie gif. Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean in Mr. Bean's Holiday, stands in a field of yellow flowers on a windy day. He looks off into the distance and then at his watch, before scratching his head.

Since the timestamp is included in the ObjectId, you can retrieve the time in which the ObjectId was generated.

> ObjectId('665377378755af3d1e7c5701').getTimestamp()
< 2024-05-26T17:53:59.000Z

> ObjectId('0000000a0d098c2eda0f296e').getTimestamp()
< 1970-01-01T00:00:10.000Z

toString()

You can use this method in case if you want to convert the ObjectId to hexadecimal string.

> ObjectId('665b4d520d098c2eda0f296d').toString()
< 665b4d520d098c2eda0f296d

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Tech Dive 1: MongoDB's ObjectId

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Anatomy

Constructing ObjectId

Methods you can use on ObjectId

getTimestamp()

toString()

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Tech Dives

More from this blog

Anatomy

Constructing ObjectId

Methods you can use on ObjectId

getTimestamp()

toString()