Note: A collection in MongoDB is the same as a table in SQL databases.
Creating a Collection
To create a collection in MongoDB, use database object and specify the name of the collection you want to create.
MongoDB will create the collection if it does not exist.
Example
import pymongo
myclient = pymongo.MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/")
mydb = myclient["mydatabase"]
mycol = mydb["customers"]
Note: Important: In MongoDB, a collection is not created until it gets content!
MongoDB waits until you have inserted a document before it actually creates the collection.
Check if Collection Exists
Note: Remember: In MongoDB, a collection is not created until it gets content, so if this is your first time creating a collection, you should complete the next chapter (create document) before you check if the collection exists!
You can check if a collection exist in a database by listing all collections:
Example
print(mydb.list_collection_names())
Or you can check a specific collection by name:
Example
collist = mydb.list_collection_names()
if "customers" in collist:
print("The collection exists.")
