---
title: field
description: The value of this setting must be a timestamp field name.  This field must be present in the indices being filtered or an exception will be raised, and...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/curator/fe_field
products:
  - Elasticsearch
  - Elasticsearch Curator
---

# field
<note>
  This setting is available in the [age](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/curator/filtertype_age) filtertype, and any filter which has the [`use_age`](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/curator/fe_use_age) setting. This setting is strictly optional.
</note>

```yaml
 - filtertype: age
   source: field_stats
   direction: older
   unit: days
   unit_count: 3
   field: '@timestamp'
   stats_result: min_value
```

The value of this setting must be a timestamp field name.  This field must be present in the indices being filtered or an exception will be raised, and execution will halt.
In Curator 5.3 and older, source `field_stats` uses the [Field Stats API](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.6/search-field-stats.html) to calculate either the `min_value` or the `max_value` of the `field` as the [`stats_result`](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/curator/fe_stats_result), and then use that value for age comparisons.  In 5.4 and above, even though it is still called `field_stats`, it uses an aggregation to calculate the same values, as the `field_stats` API is no longer used in Elasticsearch 6.x and up.
This setting is only used when [source](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/curator/fe_source) is `field_stats`.
The default value for this setting is `@timestamp`.