MongoDB $minute Operator

Example 1 — Sample Data

Imagine two sales with precise timestamps. We save them in a collection named sales.

db.sales.insertMany([
  {
    _id: 1,
    item: "abc",
    price: 10,
    quantity: 2,
    date: ISODate("2014-01-01T08:15:39.736Z")
  },
  {
    _id: 2,
    item: "xyz",
    price: 20,
    quantity: 1,
    date: ISODate("2016-01-01T12:01:00.000Z")
  }
]);

How the Data Is Stored in MongoDB

After the insert, MongoDB keeps two documents in sales. Run find() to see them:

db.sales.find()

[
  {
    _id: 1,
    item: "abc",
    price: 10,
    quantity: 2,
    date: ISODate("2014-01-01T08:15:39.736Z")
  },
  {
    _id: 2,
    item: "xyz",
    price: 20,
    quantity: 1,
    date: ISODate("2016-01-01T12:01:00.000Z")
  }
]

Read one document like this:

How It Works

1. Insert once. insertMany adds two sale documents to sales.
2. Dates are BSON Date. Use ISODate(...), not plain strings.
3. find() shows the same shape. Ready for $minute next.

Example 2 — Extract Minutes

Goal: read the 0–59 minute portion of each sale’s date (UTC).

db.sales.aggregate([
  {
    $addFields: {
      minutes: { $minute: "$date" }
    }
  }
]);

{
  _id: 1,
  item: "abc",
  price: 10,
  quantity: 2,
  date: ISODate("2014-01-01T08:15:39.736Z"),
  minutes: 15
}
{
  _id: 2,
  item: "xyz",
  price: 20,
  quantity: 1,
  date: ISODate("2016-01-01T12:01:00.000Z"),
  minutes: 1
}

How It Works

1. Read the stored date. Document 1 has …T08:15:39.736Z.
2. Extract minutes. $minute: "$date" returns 15 (UTC).
3. Second document. …T12:01:00Z → minute 1.
4. Keep all fields. $addFields adds minutes next to the original sale data.

Example 3 — Minutes with Timezone

Same sales, but read the minute in a local offset. Offsets that include minutes (like +0530) can change the result.

db.sales.aggregate([
  {
    $project: {
      item: 1,
      utcMinute: { $minute: "$date" },
      indiaMinute: {
        $minute: {
          date: "$date",
          timezone: "+0530"
        }
      }
    }
  }
]);

{
  _id: 1,
  item: "abc",
  utcMinute: 15,
  indiaMinute: 45
}
{
  _id: 2,
  item: "xyz",
  utcMinute: 1,
  indiaMinute: 31
}

How It Works

1. UTC first. Short form { $minute: "$date" } uses UTC → 15 and 1.
2. Add +5:30. Document form with timezone: "+0530" shifts the clock by 5 hours 30 minutes.
3. Minutes can change. 08:15 UTC → 13:45 IST, so indiaMinute is 45.
4. Second row. 12:01 UTC → 17:31 IST → minute 31.