# MongoCollection::batchInsert

(PECL mongo >=0.9.0)

MongoCollection::batchInsert — Inserts multiple documents into this collection

### Description

public MongoCollection::batchInsert ( array `$a` [, array `$options` = array() ] ) : mixed

### Parameters

`a`

  An array of arrays or objects. If any objects are used, they may not have protected or private properties.

  > Note:

  > If the documents to insert do not have an _id key or property, a new MongoId instance will be created and assigned to it. See MongoCollection::insert() for additional information on this behavior.

`options`

  An array of options for the batch of insert operations. Currently available options include:

  - "continueOnError"

    Boolean, defaults to `FALSE`. If set, the database will not stop processing a bulk insert if one fails (eg due to duplicate IDs). This makes bulk insert behave similarly to a series of single inserts, except that calling MongoDB::lastError() will have an error set if any insert fails, not just the last one. If multiple errors occur, only the most recent will be reported by MongoDB::lastError().

    > Note:

    > Please note that continueOnError affects errors on the database side only. If you try to insert a document that has errors (for example it contains a key with an empty name), then the document is not even transferred to the database as the driver detects this error and bails out. continueOnError has no effect on errors detected in the documents by the driver.

  - "fsync"

    Boolean, defaults to `FALSE`. If journaling is enabled, it works exactly like "j". If journaling is not enabled, the write operation blocks until it is synced to database files on disk. If `TRUE`, an acknowledged insert is implied and this option will override setting "w" to 0.

    > Note: If journaling is enabled, users are strongly encouraged to use the "j" option instead of "fsync". Do not use "fsync" and "j" simultaneously, as that will result in an error.

  - "j"

    Boolean, defaults to `FALSE`. Forces the write operation to block until it is synced to the journal on disk. If `TRUE`, an acknowledged write is implied and this option will override setting "w" to 0.

    > Note: If this option is used and journaling is disabled, MongoDB 2.6+ will raise an error and the write will fail; older server versions will simply ignore the option.

  - "socketTimeoutMS"

    This option specifies the time limit, in milliseconds, for socket communication. If the server does not respond within the timeout period, a MongoCursorTimeoutException will be thrown and there will be no way to determine if the server actually handled the write or not. A value of -1 may be specified to block indefinitely. The default value for MongoClient is 30000 (30 seconds).

  - "w"

    See Write Concerns. The default value for MongoClient is 1.

  - "wTimeoutMS"

    This option specifies the time limit, in milliseconds, for write concern acknowledgement. It is only applicable when "w" is greater than 1, as the timeout pertains to replication. If the write concern is not satisfied within the time limit, a MongoCursorException will be thrown. A value of 0 may be specified to block indefinitely. The default value for MongoClient is 10000 (ten seconds).

  The following options are deprecated and should no longer be used:

  - "safe"

    Deprecated. Please use the write concern "w" option.

  - "timeout"

    Deprecated alias for "socketTimeoutMS".

  - "wtimeout"

    Deprecated alias for "wTimeoutMS".

### Return Values

If the w parameter is set to acknowledge the write, returns an associative array with the status of the inserts ("ok") and any error that may have occurred ("err"). Otherwise, returns `TRUE` if the batch insert was successfully sent, `FALSE` otherwise.

### Errors/Exceptions

Throws MongoException if any inserted documents are empty or if they contains zero-length keys. Attempting to insert an object with protected and private properties will cause a zero-length key error.

Throws MongoCursorException if the "w" option is set and the write fails.

Throws MongoCursorTimeoutException if the "w" option is set to a value greater than one and the operation takes longer than MongoCursor::$timeout milliseconds to complete. This does not kill the operation on the server, it is a client-side timeout. The operation in MongoCollection::$wtimeout is milliseconds.

### Changelog

Version | Description
--- | ---
1.5.0 | Added the "wTimeoutMS" option, which replaces "wtimeout". Emits `E_DEPRECATED` when "wtimeout" is used. Added the "socketTimeoutMS" option, which replaces "timeout". Emits `E_DEPRECATED` when "timeout" is used. Emits `E_DEPRECATED` when "safe" is used.
1.3.4 | Added "wtimeout" option.
1.3.0 | Added "w" option.
1.2.7 | Added "continueOnError" option.
1.0.9 | Added ability to pass integers to the "safe" option, which previously only accepted booleans. Added "fsync" option.
1.0.5 | Added `options` parameter.

### Examples

Example #1 MongoCollection::batchInsert() example

Batch insertion is a quick way to add many elements to the database at once

`<?php
$users = array();
for ($i = 0; $i<100; $i++) {
$users[] = array('username' => 'user'.$i, 'i' => $i);
}
$mongo = new MongoClient();
$collection = $mongo->my_db->users;
$collection->drop();
$collection->batchInsert($users);
foreach ($users as $user) {
echo $user['_id']."\n"; // populated with instanceof MongoId
}
$users = $collection->find()->sort(array('i' => 1));
foreach ($users as $user) {
var_dump($user['username']);
}
?>`

The above example will output something similar to:

    4bf43ac68ead0e1971000000
    4bf43ac68ead0e1971010000
    4bf43ac68ead0e1971020000
    ...
    string(5) "user1"
    string(5) "user2"
    string(5) "user3"
    ...

Example #2 MongoCollection::batchInsert() example with ignoring errors

`<?php
$con = new Mongo;
$db = $con->demo;
$doc1 = array(
'_id' => new MongoId('4cb4ab6d7addf98506010001'),
'id' => 1,
'desc' => "ONE",
);
$doc2 = array(
'_id' => new MongoId('4cb4ab6d7addf98506010002'),
'id' => 2,
'desc' => "TWO",
);
$doc3 = array(
'_id' => new MongoId('4cb4ab6d7addf98506010002'), // same _id as above
'id' => 3,
'desc' => "THREE",
);
$doc4 = array(
'_id' => new MongoId('4cb4ab6d7addf98506010004'),
'id' => 4,
'desc' => "FOUR",
);
$c = $db->selectCollection('c');
$c->batchInsert(
array($doc1, $doc2, $doc3, $doc4),
array('continueOnError' => true)
);
$docs = $c->find();
foreach ($docs as $doc) {
var_dump($doc['desc']);
}
?>`

The above example will output something similar to:

    string(3) "ONE"
    string(3) "TWO"
    string(4) "FOUR"

### See Also

- MongoCollection::insert() - Inserts a document into the collection
- MongoCollection::update() - Update records based on a given criteria
- MongoCollection::find() - Queries this collection, returning a MongoCursor for the result set
- MongoCollection::remove() - Remove records from this collection
- MongoDB core docs on » insert.