What does creating a compound index allow you to do?

Creating a compound index allows you to index multiple fields together, which is crucial for optimizing queries that filter or sort on more than one field. When you have a compound index, MongoDB can efficiently use it when executing queries that involve conditions on the indexed fields.

For example, if you frequently query a collection for documents based on a combination of field1 and field2, creating a compound index on these two fields allows MongoDB to quickly locate the relevant documents. Compound indexes also help in sorting results based on multiple fields, leveraging the order specified in the index.

This enhances query performance significantly compared to creating separate indexes on each field, as a query that utilizes a compound index can avoid scanning the entire collection. Hence, compiling multiple fields into a single index is a powerful feature that aids in better query performance and efficiency.