Get all the information of a Collection's indexes using PyMongo (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 4 Jul, 2025

In PyMongo, retrieving index information is useful for understanding how queries are optimized and what constraints are applied to a collection. The **index_information() method provides metadata about all indexes in a collection, including index names, fields, sort order and options such as uniqueness. It helps verify custom indexes and optimize query performance beyond the default _id index.

Syntax

collection.index_information()

**Parameters: This method doesn't take any parameters.

**Returns: A dictionary where:

Keys are the names of the indexes.
Values are dictionaries describing each index.

Examples

Example 1: Single field index

Python `

from pymongo import MongoClient c = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") db = c["mydb"] col = db["users"]

col.drop() col.insert_many([ {"name": "Alice", "age": 25}, {"name": "Bob", "age": 30}, {"name": "Charlie", "age": 22} ])

col.create_index([("name", 1)]) print(col.index_information())

**Output

Output

Single Field Index

**Explanation:

**create_index([("name", 1)]) creates an ascending index on the name field.
**index_information() returns info about all indexes, including the default _id index.

Example 2: Compound Index (Multiple Fields)

Python `

from pymongo import MongoClient c = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") db = c["mydb"] col = db["users"] col.drop()

col.insert_many([ {"name": "Alice", "city": "Delhi"}, {"name": "Bob", "city": "Mumbai"}, {"name": "Charlie", "city": "Bangalore"} ])

col.create_index([("name", 1), ("city", -1)]) print(col.index_information())

**Output

Output

Compound Index

**Explanation:

Compound indexes involve more than one field.
****("name", 1), ("city", -1)** indexes name in ascending and city in descending order.

Example 3: Unique index

Python `

from pymongo import MongoClient c = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") db = c["mydb"] col = db["users"] col.drop()

col.insert_many([ {"email": "alice@example.com"}, {"email": "bob@example.com"}, {"email": "charlie@example.com"} ]) col.create_index([("email", 1)], unique=True) print(col.index_information())