---
title: stack es indices forcemerge cli command
description: Force a merge. Behaviour flags: --dry-run — validate all inputs and exit without performing any action 
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4097/reference/elastic-cli/cli/stack/es/indices/forcemerge
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Preview
  - Elastic Stack: Preview
---

# stack es indices forcemerge cli command
<cli-modifiers>
</cli-modifiers>

```bash
elastic stack es indices forcemerge [options]
```

Force a merge.
**Behaviour flags:**
`--dry-run` — validate all inputs and exit without performing any action

## Options

<definitions>
  <definition term="--allow-no-indices">
    A setting that does two separate checks on the index expression.
    If `false`, the request returns an error (1) if any wildcard expression
    (including `_all` and `*`) resolves to zero matching indices or (2) if the
    complete set of resolved indices, aliases or data streams is empty after all
    expressions are evaluated. If `true`, index expressions that resolve to no
    indices are allowed and the request returns an empty result.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--expand-wildcards enum">
    Whether to expand wildcard expression to concrete indices that are open, closed or both.
    **Values:** all, open, closed, hidden, none
    **Repeatable:** pass `--expand-wildcards` multiple times to supply more than one value
  </definition>
  <definition term="--flush">
    Specify whether the index should be flushed after performing the operation
  </definition>
  <definition term="--ignore-unavailable">
    If `false`, the request returns an error if it targets a concrete (non-wildcarded)
    index, alias, or data stream that is missing, closed, or otherwise unavailable.
    If `true`, unavailable concrete targets are silently ignored.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--max-num-segments number">
    The number of segments the index should be merged into (default: dynamic)
  </definition>
  <definition term="--only-expunge-deletes">
    Specify whether the operation should only expunge deleted documents
  </definition>
  <definition term="--wait-for-completion">
    Should the request wait until the force merge is completed
  </definition>
  <definition term="--index string">
    A comma-separated list of index names; use `_all` or empty string to perform the operation on all indices
    **Repeatable:** pass `--index` multiple times to supply more than one value
  </definition>
  <definition term="--error-trace">
    When set to `true` Elasticsearch will include the full stack trace of errors
    when they occur.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--filter-path string">
    Comma-separated list of filters in dot notation which reduce the response
    returned by Elasticsearch.
    **Repeatable:** pass `--filter-path` multiple times to supply more than one value
  </definition>
  <definition term="--human">
    When set to `true` will return statistics in a format suitable for humans.
    For example `"exists_time": "1h"` for humans and
    `"exists_time_in_millis": 3600000` for computers. When disabled the human
    readable values will be omitted. This makes sense for responses being consumed
    only by machines.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--pretty">
    If set to `true` the returned JSON will be "pretty-formatted". Only use
    this option for debugging only.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--input-file string">
    path to a JSON file to use as command input
  </definition>
  <definition term="--dry-run">
    validate all inputs and exit without performing any action (preview changes without applying them)
  </definition>
</definitions>


## Global Options

<definitions>
  <definition term="--json">
    output as JSON
  </definition>
</definitions>