How to Drop all the indexes in a Collection using PyMongo?

In PyMongo, the drop_indexes() method is used to remove all non-default indexes from a collection. It helps developers clean up or reset indexing strategies, especially during optimization or testing. The method retains the default _id index, which cannot be dropped.

Syntax

collection.drop_indexes()

Note: drop_indexes() method does not take any parameters, it simply removes all indexes on the collection.

Sample database used:

Viewing Existing Indexes

By default, every MongoDB collection has an index on the _id field to uniquely identify each document. Even if you delete all other indexes, the _id index will still remain and cannot be removed.

To list all current indexes on a collection, run:

Where,

• key: Field used for indexing.
• name: Name of the index.
• ns: Namespace (i.e., Database.Collection).

Example 1:

This code creates an index on the l_id field. It then prints the auto-generated name of the new index and displays all indexes present in the collection using index_information().

import pprint
import pymongo

client = pymongo.MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/")
db = client['GFG']
print("Connection to the server established.")
collection = db['lecture']

# Create an index on the 'l_id' field
index_name = collection.create_index("l_id")

# Print the auto-generated index name
print("Created Index Name:", index_name)

# Display all indexes on the collection
print("\nCurrent Indexes:")
pprint.pprint(collection.index_information())

Output

Example 2:

In this Example all indexes are removed except default _id index using the drop_indexes() method, then prints the remaining indexes using index_information().

import pprint
import pymongo

client = pymongo.MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/")
db = client['GFG']
collection = db['lecture']

# Drop all indexes except the default _id index
collection.drop_indexes()

# Display current indexes on the collection
print("\nRemaining Indexes after drop_indexes():")
pprint.pprint(collection.index_information())

Output

Related Articles:

• Indexing in MongoDB
• Creating Index in MongoDB
• Rebuilding all Indexes in MongoDB
• Get all Information of index