---
title: Tutorials
description: Let’s have a typical search request written directly as a dict: The problem with this approach is that it is verbose, prone to syntax mistakes like incorrect...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/elasticsearch/clients/python/dsl_tutorials
products:
  - Elasticsearch
  - Elasticsearch Client
  - Elasticsearch Python Client
---

# Tutorials
## Search

Let’s have a typical search request written directly as a `dict`:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch

    client = Elasticsearch("https://localhost:9200")

    response = client.search(
        index="my-index",
        body={
          "query": {
            "bool": {
              "must": [{"match": {"title": "python"}}],
              "must_not": [{"match": {"description": "beta"}}],
              "filter": [{"term": {"category": "search"}}]
            }
          },
          "aggs" : {
            "per_tag": {
              "terms": {"field": "tags"},
              "aggs": {
                "max_lines": {"max": {"field": "lines"}}
              }
            }
          }
        }
    )

    for hit in response['hits']['hits']:
        print(hit['_score'], hit['_source']['title'])

    for tag in response['aggregations']['per_tag']['buckets']:
        print(tag['key'], tag['max_lines']['value'])
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import AsyncElasticsearch

    client = AsyncElasticsearch("https://localhost:9200")

    async def example():
        response = await client.search(
            index="my-index",
            body={
              "query": {
                "bool": {
                  "must": [{"match": {"title": "python"}}],
                  "must_not": [{"match": {"description": "beta"}}],
                  "filter": [{"term": {"category": "search"}}]
                }
              },
              "aggs" : {
                "per_tag": {
                  "terms": {"field": "tags"},
                  "aggs": {
                    "max_lines": {"max": {"field": "lines"}}
                  }
                }
              }
            }
        )

        for hit in response['hits']['hits']:
            print(hit['_score'], hit['_source']['title'])

        for tag in response['aggregations']['per_tag']['buckets']:
            print(tag['key'], tag['max_lines']['value'])
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

The problem with this approach is that it is verbose, prone to syntax mistakes like incorrect nesting, hard to modify (for example adding another filter) and definitely not fun to write.
Let’s rewrite the example using the DSL module:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
    from elasticsearch.dsl import Search, query, aggs

    client = Elasticsearch("https://localhost:9200")

    s = Search(using=client, index="my-index") \
        .query(query.Match("title", "python"))   \
        .filter(query.Term("category", "search")) \
        .exclude(query.Match("description", "beta"))

    s.aggs.bucket('per_tag', aggs.Terms(field="tags")) \
        .metric('max_lines', aggs.Max(field='lines'))

    response = s.execute()

    for hit in response:
        print(hit.meta.score, hit.title)

    for tag in response.aggregations.per_tag.buckets:
        print(tag.key, tag.max_lines.value)
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import AsyncElasticsearch
    from elasticsearch.dsl import AsyncSearch, query, aggs

    client = AsyncElasticsearch("https://localhost:9200")

    async def example():
        s = AsyncSearch(using=client, index="my-index") \
            .query(query.Match("title", "python"))   \
            .filter(query.Term("category", "search")) \
            .exclude(query.Match("description", "beta"))

        s.aggs.bucket('per_tag', aggs.Terms(field="tags")) \
            .metric('max_lines', aggs.Max(field='lines'))

        response = await s.execute()

        for hit in response:
            print(hit.meta.score, hit.title)

        for tag in response.aggregations.per_tag.buckets:
            print(tag.key, tag.max_lines.value)
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

As you see, the DSL module took care of:
- creating appropriate `Query` objects from classes
- composing queries into a compound `bool` query
- putting the `term` query in a filter context of the `bool` query
- providing a convenient access to response data
- no curly or square brackets everywhere


## Persistence

Let’s have a simple Python class representing an article in a blogging system:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    from datetime import datetime
    from elasticsearch.dsl import Document, Date, Integer, Keyword, Text, connections, mapped_field

    # Define a default Elasticsearch client
    connections.create_connection(hosts="https://localhost:9200")

    class Article(Document):
        title: str = mapped_field(Text(analyzer='snowball', fields={'raw': Keyword()}))
        body: str = mapped_field(Text(analyzer='snowball'))
        tags: list[str] = mapped_field(Keyword())
        published_from: datetime
        lines: int

        class Index:
            name = 'blog'
            settings = {
              "number_of_shards": 2,
            }

        def save(self, **kwargs):
            self.lines = len(self.body.split())
            return super(Article, self).save(** kwargs)

        def is_published(self):
            return datetime.now() > self.published_from

    # create the mappings in elasticsearch
    Article.init()

    # create and save and article
    article = Article(meta={'id': 42}, title='Hello world!', tags=['test'])
    article.body = ''' looong text '''
    article.published_from = datetime.now()
    article.save()

    article = Article.get(id=42)
    print(article.is_published())

    # Display cluster health
    print(connections.get_connection().cluster.health())
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    from datetime import datetime
    from elasticsearch.dsl import AsyncDocument, Date, Integer, Keyword, Text, async_connections, mapped_field

    # Define a default Elasticsearch client
    async_connections.create_connection(hosts="https://localhost:9200")

    class Article(AsyncDocument):
        title: str = mapped_field(Text(analyzer='snowball', fields={'raw': Keyword()}))
        body: str = mapped_field(Text(analyzer='snowball'))
        tags: list[str] = mapped_field(Keyword())
        published_from: datetime
        lines: int

        class Index:
            name = 'blog'
            settings = {
              "number_of_shards": 2,
            }

        async def save(self, **kwargs):
            self.lines = len(self.body.split())
            return await super(Article, self).save(** kwargs)

        def is_published(self):
            return datetime.now() > self.published_from

    async def example():
        # create the mappings in elasticsearch
        await Article.init()

        # create and save and article
        article = Article(meta={'id': 42}, title='Hello world!', tags=['test'])
        article.body = ''' looong text '''
        article.published_from = datetime.now()
        await article.save()

        article = await Article.get(id=42)
        print(article.is_published())

        # Display cluster health
        print(await async_connections.get_connection().cluster.health())
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

In this example you can see:
- providing a default connection
- defining fields with Python type hints and additional mapping configuration when necessary
- setting index name
- defining custom methods
- overriding the built-in `.save()` method to hook into the persistence life cycle
- retrieving and saving the object into Elasticsearch
- accessing the underlying client for other APIs

You can see more in the [persistence](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/elasticsearch/clients/python/dsl_how_to_guides#_persistence_2) chapter.

## Pre-built Faceted Search

If you have your `Document`s defined you can create a faceted search class to simplify searching and filtering.
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch.dsl import FacetedSearch, TermsFacet, DateHistogramFacet

    class BlogSearch(FacetedSearch):
        doc_types = [Article, ]
        # fields that should be searched
        fields = ['tags', 'title', 'body']

        facets = {
            # use bucket aggregations to define facets
            'tags': TermsFacet(field='tags'),
            'publishing_frequency': DateHistogramFacet(field='published_from', interval='month')
        }

    # empty search
    bs = BlogSearch()
    response = bs.execute()

    for hit in response:
        print(hit.meta.score, hit.title)

    for (tag, count, selected) in response.facets.tags:
        print(tag, ' (SELECTED):' if selected else ':', count)

    for (month, count, selected) in response.facets.publishing_frequency:
        print(month.strftime('%B %Y'), ' (SELECTED):' if selected else ':', count)
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch.dsl import AsyncFacetedSearch, TermsFacet, DateHistogramFacet

    class BlogSearch(AsyncFacetedSearch):
        doc_types = [Article, ]
        # fields that should be searched
        fields = ['tags', 'title', 'body']

        facets = {
            # use bucket aggregations to define facets
            'tags': TermsFacet(field='tags'),
            'publishing_frequency': DateHistogramFacet(field='published_from', interval='month')
        }

    async def example():
        # empty search
        bs = BlogSearch()
        response = await bs.execute()

        for hit in response:
            print(hit.meta.score, hit.title)

        for (tag, count, selected) in response.facets.tags:
            print(tag, ' (SELECTED):' if selected else ':', count)

        for (month, count, selected) in response.facets.publishing_frequency:
            print(month.strftime('%B %Y'), ' (SELECTED):' if selected else ':', count)
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

You can find more details in the `faceted_search` chapter.

## Update By Query

Let’s resume the simple example of articles on a blog, and let’s assume that each article has a number of likes. For this example, imagine we want to increment the number of likes by 1 for all articles that match a certain tag and do not match a certain description. Writing this as a `dict`, we would have the following code:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch

    client = Elasticsearch()

    response = client.update_by_query(
        index="my-index",
        body={
          "query": {
            "bool": {
              "must": [{"match": {"tag": "python"}}],
              "must_not": [{"match": {"description": "beta"}}]
            }
          },
          "script"={
            "source": "ctx._source.likes++",
            "lang": "painless"
          }
        },
      )
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import AsyncElasticsearch

    client = AsyncElasticsearch()

    async def example():
        response = await client.update_by_query(
            index="my-index",
            body={
              "query": {
                "bool": {
                  "must": [{"match": {"tag": "python"}}],
                  "must_not": [{"match": {"description": "beta"}}]
                }
              },
              "script"={
                "source": "ctx._source.likes++",
                "lang": "painless"
              }
            },
          )
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

Using the DSL, we can now express this query as such:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
    from elasticsearch.dsl import Search, UpdateByQuery
    from elasticsearch.dsl.query import Match

    client = Elasticsearch()
    ubq = UpdateByQuery(using=client, index="my-index") \
          .query(Match("title", "python"))   \
          .exclude(Match("description", "beta")) \
          .script(source="ctx._source.likes++", lang="painless")

    response = ubq.execute()
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch import AsyncElasticsearch
    from elasticsearch.dsl import AsyncSearch, AsyncUpdateByQuery
    from elasticsearch.dsl.query import Match

    client = AsyncElasticsearch()

    async def example():
        ubq = UpdateByQuery(using=client, index="my-index") \
              .query(Match("title", "python"))   \
              .exclude(Match("description", "beta")) \
              .script(source="ctx._source.likes++", lang="painless")

        response = await ubq.execute()
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

As you can see, the `Update By Query` object provides many of the savings offered by the `Search` object, and additionally allows one to update the results of the search based on a script assigned in the same manner.

## ES|QL Queries

The DSL module features an integration with the ES|QL query builder, consisting of two methods available in all `Document` sub-classes: `esql_from()` and `esql_execute()`. Using the `Article` document from above, we can search for up to ten articles that include `"world"` in their titles with the following ES|QL query:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch.esql import functions

    query = Article.esql_from().where(functions.match(Article.title, 'world')).limit(10)
    for a in Article.esql_execute(query):
        print(a.title)
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    from elasticsearch.esql import functions

    async def example():
        query = Article.esql_from().where(functions.match(Article.title, 'world')).limit(10)
        async for a in Article.esql_execute(query):
            print(a.title)
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

Review the [ES|QL query builder section](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/elasticsearch/clients/python/esql-query-builder) to learn more about building ES|QL queries in Python.

## Migration from the standard client

You don’t have to port your entire application to get the benefits of the DSL module, you can start gradually by creating a `Search` object from your existing `dict`, modifying it using the API and serializing it back to a `dict`:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Standard Python">
    ```python
    body = {...}

    # Convert to Search object
    s = Search.from_dict(body)

    # Add some filters, aggregations, queries, ...
    s.filter(query.Term("tags", "python"))

    # Convert back to dict to plug back into existing code
    body = s.to_dict()
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Async Python">
    ```python
    body = {...}

    # Convert to Search object
    s = AsyncSearch.from_dict(body)

    # Add some filters, aggregations, queries, ...
    s.filter(query.Term("tags", "python"))

    # Convert back to dict to plug back into existing code
    body = s.to_dict()
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>