ElasticSearch Update Multi-field Mapping

Question

I have an existing mapping for a field, and I want to change it to a multi-field.

The existing mapping is

{
   "my_index": {
      "mappings": {
         "my_type": {
            "properties": {
               "author": {
                  "type": "string"
               },
               "isbn": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "analyzer": "standard",
                  "fields": {
                     "ngram": {
                        "type": "string",
                        "search_analyzer": "keyword"
                     }
                  }
               },
               "title": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "analyzer": "english",
                  "fields": {
                     "std": {
                        "type": "string",
                        "analyzer": "standard"
                     }
                  }
               }
            }
         }
      }
   }
}

Based on the documentation, I should be able to change "author" to a multi-field by executing the following

PUT /my_index
{
  "mappings": {
        "my_type": {
            "properties": {
                "author": 
                { 
                    "type": "multi-field",
                    "fields": {
                        "ngram": {
                          "type": "string",
                          "indexanalyzer": "ngram_analyzer",
                          "search_analyzer": "keyword"
                        },
                         "name" : {
                         "type": "string"
                        }
                    }
                }              
            }
        }
    }
}

But instead I get the following error:

{
"error": "IndexAlreadyExistsException[[my_index] already exists]",
"status": 400
}

Am I missing something really obvious?

PUT is good, but as the error states, the index already exists, and you can not change the mapping of an existing index. You have to delete it, then create it with the new mapping. If you have data you want to keep in that index, use scan & scroll API to move data to another index, then delete my_index, create it with the new mapping, and move the data back to my_index — Julien C.
– Julien C., Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 14:31
Thanks for clarifying juliendangers. But I am confused as to why the Elastic documentation that I linked to says that you can do it when adding multi-field mappings: Any scalar field (ie excluding fields of type object or nested) can be upgraded to a multi-field without reindexing, using the put_mapping API — maurocam
– maurocam, Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 17:37
Using POST /my_index returns the same error as PUT. Using POST /my_index/_mapping also does not work, as it returns the error: "ActionRequestValidationException[Validation Failed: 1: mapping type is missing;]" — maurocam
– maurocam, Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 17:42

jhilden · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-17 16:54:20Z

1

Instead of PUT to /my_index do:

POST /my_index/_mapping

answered Dec 17, 2014 at 16:54

jhilden

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1 Comment

Aminah Nuraini Over a year ago

I got this error instead: Validation Failed: 1: mapping type is missing;

Prabin Meitei · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-17 17:41:19Z

You won't be able to change the field type in an already existing index. If you can't recreate your index you can make use of the copy to field to achieve a similar capability.

   PUT /my_index
        {
          "mappings": {
           "my_type": {
        "properties": {
                   "author": 
                   { 
                      "type": "string",
                      "copy_to": ["author-name","author-ngram"]
                   }

                    "author-ngram": {
                      "type": "string",
                      "indexanalyzer": "ngram_analyzer",
                      "search_analyzer": "keyword"
                    },
                     "author-name" : {
                     "type": "string"
                    }

            }              
          }
       }
     }
  }

yoel halb · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-28 19:54:12Z

1

While I have not tried it in your particular example, it is indeed possible to update field mappings by first closing the index and then applying the mappings.

Example:

POST /my_index/_close
POST /my_index/_mapping
{
     "my_field:{"new_mapping"}
}
POST /my_index/_open

I have tested it, by adding a "copy_to" mapping property to mapped field.

Based on https://gist.github.com/nicolashery/6317643.

answered Oct 28, 2015 at 19:54

yoel halb

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