# \$1lt
<a name="lt-aggregation"></a>

The `$lt` aggregation operator compares two values and returns `true` if the first value is less than the second, otherwise returns `false`.

**Parameters**
+ `expression1`: The first value to compare.
+ `expression2`: The second value to compare.

## Example (MongoDB Shell)
<a name="lt-aggregation-examples"></a>

The following example demonstrates using the `$lt` operator to identify low stock items.

**Create sample documents**

```
db.warehouse.insertMany([
  { _id: 1, item: "Bolts", stock: 5 },
  { _id: 2, item: "Nuts", stock: 25 },
  { _id: 3, item: "Screws", stock: 8 }
]);
```

**Query example**

```
db.warehouse.aggregate([
  {
    $project: {
      item: 1,
      stock: 1,
      lowStock: { $lt: ["$stock", 10] }
    }
  }
]);
```

**Output**

```
[
  { _id: 1, item: 'Bolts', stock: 5, lowStock: true },
  { _id: 2, item: 'Nuts', stock: 25, lowStock: false },
  { _id: 3, item: 'Screws', stock: 8, lowStock: true }
]
```

## Code examples
<a name="lt-aggregation-code"></a>

To view a code example for using the `$lt` aggregation operator, choose the tab for the language that you want to use:

------
#### [ Node.js ]

```
const { MongoClient } = require('mongodb');

async function example() {
  const client = await MongoClient.connect('mongodb://<username>:<password>@<cluster-endpoint>:27017/?tls=true&tlsCAFile=global-bundle.pem&replicaSet=rs0&readPreference=secondaryPreferred&retryWrites=false');
  const db = client.db('test');
  const collection = db.collection('warehouse');

  const result = await collection.aggregate([
    {
      $project: {
        item: 1,
        stock: 1,
        lowStock: { $lt: ["$stock", 10] }
      }
    }
  ]).toArray();

  console.log(result);
  await client.close();
}

example();
```

------
#### [ Python ]

```
from pymongo import MongoClient

def example():
    client = MongoClient('mongodb://<username>:<password>@<cluster-endpoint>:27017/?tls=true&tlsCAFile=global-bundle.pem&replicaSet=rs0&readPreference=secondaryPreferred&retryWrites=false')
    db = client['test']
    collection = db['warehouse']

    result = list(collection.aggregate([
        {
            '$project': {
                'item': 1,
                'stock': 1,
                'lowStock': { '$lt': ['$stock', 10] }
            }
        }
    ]))

    print(result)
    client.close()

example()
```

------