---
title: stack es ilm explain-lifecycle cli command
description: Explain the lifecycle state. Behaviour flags: --dry-run — validate all inputs and exit without performing any action 
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4120/reference/elastic-cli/cli/stack/es/ilm/explain-lifecycle
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Preview
  - Elastic Stack: Preview
---

# stack es ilm explain-lifecycle cli command
<cli-modifiers>
</cli-modifiers>

```bash
elastic stack es ilm explain-lifecycle --index <index> [options]
```

Explain the lifecycle state.
**Behaviour flags:**
`--dry-run` — validate all inputs and exit without performing any action

## Options

<definitions>
  <definition term="--index string required">
    Comma-separated list of data streams, indices, and aliases to target. Supports wildcards (`*`).
    To target all data streams and indices, use `*` or `_all`.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--only-errors">
    Filters the returned indices to only indices that are managed by ILM and are in an error state, either due to an encountering an error while executing the policy, or attempting to use a policy that does not exist.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--only-managed">
    Filters the returned indices to only indices that are managed by ILM.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--master-timeout string">
    Period to wait for a connection to the master node. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.
  </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>