Python MongoDB - Limit Query

Last Updated : 04 Jul, 2025

In PyMongo, the limit() method is used to restrict the number of documents returned by a query. It’s especially useful when you want to preview only a few records from a large dataset.

Syntax

collection.find().limit(n)

Parameter: n (int) is the maximum number of documents to return.

Here is our sample data.

Python

from pymongo import MongoClient c = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") db = c['grpDB'] col = db['sales'] data = [ {"_id": 1, "user": "Amit", "product": "Pen", "amount": 5}, {"_id": 2, "user": "Drew", "product": "Pencil", "amount": 3}, {"_id": 3, "user": "Amit", "product": "Notebook", "amount": 15}, {"_id": 4, "user": "Cody", "product": "Pen", "amount": 7}, {"_id": 5, "user": "Drew", "product": "Notebook", "amount": 12}, {"_id": 6, "user": "Cody", "product": "Eraser", "amount": 2}, {"_id": 7, "user": "Amit", "product": "Pen", "amount": 10} ] col.delete_many({}) col.insert_many(data) print("Data inserted.")

Output

Data inserted.

Explanation:

MongoClient() connects to the MongoDB server running on localhost at the default port 27017.
delete_many({}) clears any existing documents from the collection to prevent duplicate entries.
insert_many(data) inserts the list of sample documents into the collection.

Examples

Example 1: Limit to first 3 documents

Python

#Driver Code Starts from pymongo import MongoClient c = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") db = c['grpDB'] col = db['sales'] #Driver Code Ends  res = col.find().limit(3) for doc in res:  #Driver Code Starts print(doc) #Driver Code Ends

Output

Explanation: find().limit(3) returns only the first 3 documents from the collection.

Example 2: Combine with sort

Python

from pymongo import MongoClient c = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") db = c['grpDB'] col = db['sales'] res = col.find().sort("amount", -1).limit(2) for doc in res: print(doc)

Output

Explanation: Sorts the documents by amount in descending order and limits the output to the top 2.

Example 3: Limit results based on a filter

Python

from pymongo import MongoClient c = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/") db = c['grpDB'] col = db['sales'] res = col.find({"user": "Cody"}).limit(1) for doc in res: print(doc)