---
type: api
title: Preview features used by data frame analytics
description: **All methods and paths for this operation:**
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch/v9/operation/operation-ml-preview-data-frame-analytics
resource: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch/v9/operation/operation-ml-preview-data-frame-analytics
products:
  - Elasticsearch
---

# Preview features used by data frame analytics


Availability: 7.13+

## Paths

- `POST` (also `GET`) `/_ml/data_frame/analytics/{id}/_preview`
- `POST` (also `GET`) `/_ml/data_frame/analytics/_preview`

- [Api key auth](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch/v9/authentication#apikeyauth)
- [Basic auth](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch/v9/authentication#basicauth)
- [Bearer auth](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch/v9/authentication#bearerauth)

#### Path Parameters

- `id` (string Id) — optional, leave it out to use `/_ml/data_frame/analytics/_preview`
  Identifier for the data frame analytics job.

## Description

Preview the extracted features used by a data frame analytics config.

## Required authorization

* Cluster privileges: `monitor_ml`

## Request Body

`application/json`

- `config` ({} DataframePreviewConfig) — optional
  A data frame analytics config as described in create data frame analytics
jobs. Note that `id` and `dest` don’t need to be provided in the context of
this API.
  - `source` ({} DataframeAnalyticsSource) — required
    - `index` (string Indices) — required
      Index or indices on which to perform the analysis. It can be a single index or index pattern as well as an array of indices or patterns. NOTE: If your source indices contain documents with the same IDs, only the document that is indexed last appears in the destination index.
    - `runtime_mappings` (RuntimeFields) — optional
      Definitions of runtime fields that will become part of the mapping of the destination index.
    - `_source` ({} DataframeAnalysisAnalyzedFields) — optional
      Specify `includes` and/or `excludes patterns to select which fields will be present in the destination. Fields that are excluded cannot be included in the analysis.
      - `includes` ([] string) — optional
        An array of strings that defines the fields that will be excluded from the analysis. You do not need to add fields with unsupported data types to excludes, these fields are excluded from the analysis automatically.
      - `excludes` ([] string) — optional
        An array of strings that defines the fields that will be included in the analysis.
    - `query` (object) — optional
      The Elasticsearch query domain-specific language (DSL). This value corresponds to the query object in an Elasticsearch search POST body. All the options that are supported by Elasticsearch can be used, as this object is passed verbatim to Elasticsearch. By default, this property has the following value: `{"match_all": {}}`.
  - `analysis` ({} DataframeAnalysisContainer) — required
    - `classification` ({} DataframeAnalysisClassification) — optional
      The configuration information necessary to perform classification.
      - `alpha` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Machine learning uses loss guided tree growing, which means that the decision trees grow where the regularized loss decreases most quickly. This parameter affects loss calculations by acting as a multiplier of the tree depth. Higher alpha values result in shallower trees and faster training times. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than or equal to zero.
      - `dependent_variable` (string) — required
        Defines which field of the document is to be predicted. It must match one of the fields in the index being used to train. If this field is missing from a document, then that document will not be used for training, but a prediction with the trained model will be generated for it. It is also known as continuous target variable.
For classification analysis, the data type of the field must be numeric (`integer`, `short`, `long`, `byte`), categorical (`ip` or `keyword`), or `boolean`. There must be no more than 30 different values in this field.
For regression analysis, the data type of the field must be numeric.
      - `downsample_factor` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Controls the fraction of data that is used to compute the derivatives of the loss function for tree training. A small value results in the use of a small fraction of the data. If this value is set to be less than 1, accuracy typically improves. However, too small a value may result in poor convergence for the ensemble and so require more trees. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than zero and less than or equal to 1.
      - `early_stopping_enabled` (boolean · default: true) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Specifies whether the training process should finish if it is not finding any better performing models. If disabled, the training process can take significantly longer and the chance of finding a better performing model is unremarkable.
      - `eta` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. The shrinkage applied to the weights. Smaller values result in larger forests which have a better generalization error. However, larger forests cause slower training. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be a value between 0.001 and 1.
      - `eta_growth_rate_per_tree` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Specifies the rate at which `eta` increases for each new tree that is added to the forest. For example, a rate of 1.05 increases `eta` by 5% for each extra tree. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be between 0.5 and 2.
      - `feature_bag_fraction` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Defines the fraction of features that will be used when selecting a random bag for each candidate split. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization.
      - `feature_processors` ([] DataframeAnalysisFeatureProcessor) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. A collection of feature preprocessors that modify one or more included fields. The analysis uses the resulting one or more features instead of the original document field. However, these features are ephemeral; they are not stored in the destination index. Multiple `feature_processors` entries can refer to the same document fields. Automatic categorical feature encoding still occurs for the fields that are unprocessed by a custom processor or that have categorical values. Use this property only if you want to override the automatic feature encoding of the specified fields.
        - `frequency_encoding` ({} DataframeAnalysisFeatureProcessorFrequencyEncoding) — optional
          The configuration information necessary to perform frequency encoding.
          - `feature_name` (string Name) — required
            The resulting feature name.
          - `field` (string Field) — required
          - `frequency_map` (map string to number) — required
            The resulting frequency map for the field value. If the field value is missing from the frequency_map, the resulting value is 0.
        - `multi_encoding` ({} DataframeAnalysisFeatureProcessorMultiEncoding) — optional
          The configuration information necessary to perform multi encoding. It allows multiple processors to be changed together. This way the output of a processor can then be passed to another as an input.
          - `processors` ([] number) — required
            The ordered array of custom processors to execute. Must be more than 1.
        - `n_gram_encoding` ({} DataframeAnalysisFeatureProcessorNGramEncoding) — optional
          The configuration information necessary to perform n-gram encoding. Features created by this encoder have the following name format: <feature_prefix>.<ngram><string position>. For example, if the feature_prefix is f, the feature name for the second unigram in a string is f.11.
          - `feature_prefix` (string) — optional
            The feature name prefix. Defaults to ngram_<start>_<length>.
          - `field` (string Field) — required
            The name of the text field to encode.
          - `length` (number) — optional
            Specifies the length of the n-gram substring. Defaults to 50. Must be greater than 0.
          - `n_grams` ([] number) — required
            Specifies which n-grams to gather. It’s an array of integer values where the minimum value is 1, and a maximum value is 5.
          - `start` (number) — optional
            Specifies the zero-indexed start of the n-gram substring. Negative values are allowed for encoding n-grams of string suffixes. Defaults to 0.
          - `custom` (boolean) — optional
        - `one_hot_encoding` ({} DataframeAnalysisFeatureProcessorOneHotEncoding) — optional
          The configuration information necessary to perform one hot encoding.
          - `field` (string Field) — required
            The name of the field to encode.
          - `hot_map` (string) — required
            The one hot map mapping the field value with the column name.
        - `target_mean_encoding` ({} DataframeAnalysisFeatureProcessorTargetMeanEncoding) — optional
          The configuration information necessary to perform target mean encoding.
          - `default_value` (number) — required
            The default value if field value is not found in the target_map.
          - `feature_name` (string Name) — required
            The resulting feature name.
          - `field` (string Field) — required
            The name of the field to encode.
          - `target_map` (map string to object) — required
            The field value to target mean transition map.
      - `gamma` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Regularization parameter to prevent overfitting on the training data set. Multiplies a linear penalty associated with the size of individual trees in the forest. A high gamma value causes training to prefer small trees. A small gamma value results in larger individual trees and slower training. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be a nonnegative value.
      - `lambda` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Regularization parameter to prevent overfitting on the training data set. Multiplies an L2 regularization term which applies to leaf weights of the individual trees in the forest. A high lambda value causes training to favor small leaf weights. This behavior makes the prediction function smoother at the expense of potentially not being able to capture relevant relationships between the features and the dependent variable. A small lambda value results in large individual trees and slower training. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be a nonnegative value.
      - `max_optimization_rounds_per_hyperparameter` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. A multiplier responsible for determining the maximum number of hyperparameter optimization steps in the Bayesian optimization procedure. The maximum number of steps is determined based on the number of undefined hyperparameters times the maximum optimization rounds per hyperparameter. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization.
      - `max_trees` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Defines the maximum number of decision trees in the forest. The maximum value is 2000. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization.
      - `num_top_feature_importance_values` (number · default: 0) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Specifies the maximum number of feature importance values per document to return. By default, no feature importance calculation occurs.
      - `prediction_field_name` (string Field) — optional
        Defines the name of the prediction field in the results. Defaults to `<dependent_variable>_prediction`.
      - `randomize_seed` (number) — optional
        Defines the seed for the random generator that is used to pick training data. By default, it is randomly generated. Set it to a specific value to use the same training data each time you start a job (assuming other related parameters such as `source` and `analyzed_fields` are the same).
      - `soft_tree_depth_limit` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Machine learning uses loss guided tree growing, which means that the decision trees grow where the regularized loss decreases most quickly. This soft limit combines with the `soft_tree_depth_tolerance` to penalize trees that exceed the specified depth; the regularized loss increases quickly beyond this depth. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than or equal to 0.
      - `soft_tree_depth_tolerance` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. This option controls how quickly the regularized loss increases when the tree depth exceeds `soft_tree_depth_limit`. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than or equal to 0.01.
      - `training_percent` (number | string Percentage · default: 100) — optional
        Defines what percentage of the eligible documents that will be used for training. Documents that are ignored by the analysis (for example those that contain arrays with more than one value) won’t be included in the calculation for used percentage.
      - `class_assignment_objective` (string) — optional
      - `num_top_classes` (number · default: 2) — optional
        Defines the number of categories for which the predicted probabilities are reported. It must be non-negative or -1. If it is -1 or greater than the total number of categories, probabilities are reported for all categories; if you have a large number of categories, there could be a significant effect on the size of your destination index. NOTE: To use the AUC ROC evaluation method, `num_top_classes` must be set to -1 or a value greater than or equal to the total number of categories.
    - `outlier_detection` ({} DataframeAnalysisOutlierDetection) — optional
      The configuration information necessary to perform outlier detection. NOTE: Advanced parameters are for fine-tuning classification analysis. They are set automatically by hyperparameter optimization to give the minimum validation error. It is highly recommended to use the default values unless you fully understand the function of these parameters.
      - `compute_feature_influence` (boolean · default: true) — optional
        Specifies whether the feature influence calculation is enabled.
      - `feature_influence_threshold` (number · default: 0.1) — optional
        The minimum outlier score that a document needs to have in order to calculate its feature influence score. Value range: 0-1.
      - `method` (string · default: ensemble) — optional
        The method that outlier detection uses. Available methods are `lof`, `ldof`, `distance_kth_nn`, `distance_knn`, and `ensemble`. The default value is ensemble, which means that outlier detection uses an ensemble of different methods and normalises and combines their individual outlier scores to obtain the overall outlier score.
      - `n_neighbors` (number) — optional
        Defines the value for how many nearest neighbors each method of outlier detection uses to calculate its outlier score. When the value is not set, different values are used for different ensemble members. This default behavior helps improve the diversity in the ensemble; only override it if you are confident that the value you choose is appropriate for the data set.
      - `outlier_fraction` (number) — optional
        The proportion of the data set that is assumed to be outlying prior to outlier detection. For example, 0.05 means it is assumed that 5% of values are real outliers and 95% are inliers.
      - `standardization_enabled` (boolean · default: true) — optional
        If true, the following operation is performed on the columns before computing outlier scores: `(x_i - mean(x_i)) / sd(x_i)`.
    - `regression` ({} DataframeAnalysisRegression) — optional
      The configuration information necessary to perform regression. NOTE: Advanced parameters are for fine-tuning regression analysis. They are set automatically by hyperparameter optimization to give the minimum validation error. It is highly recommended to use the default values unless you fully understand the function of these parameters.
      - `alpha` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Machine learning uses loss guided tree growing, which means that the decision trees grow where the regularized loss decreases most quickly. This parameter affects loss calculations by acting as a multiplier of the tree depth. Higher alpha values result in shallower trees and faster training times. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than or equal to zero.
      - `dependent_variable` (string) — required
        Defines which field of the document is to be predicted. It must match one of the fields in the index being used to train. If this field is missing from a document, then that document will not be used for training, but a prediction with the trained model will be generated for it. It is also known as continuous target variable.
For classification analysis, the data type of the field must be numeric (`integer`, `short`, `long`, `byte`), categorical (`ip` or `keyword`), or `boolean`. There must be no more than 30 different values in this field.
For regression analysis, the data type of the field must be numeric.
      - `downsample_factor` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Controls the fraction of data that is used to compute the derivatives of the loss function for tree training. A small value results in the use of a small fraction of the data. If this value is set to be less than 1, accuracy typically improves. However, too small a value may result in poor convergence for the ensemble and so require more trees. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than zero and less than or equal to 1.
      - `early_stopping_enabled` (boolean · default: true) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Specifies whether the training process should finish if it is not finding any better performing models. If disabled, the training process can take significantly longer and the chance of finding a better performing model is unremarkable.
      - `eta` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. The shrinkage applied to the weights. Smaller values result in larger forests which have a better generalization error. However, larger forests cause slower training. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be a value between 0.001 and 1.
      - `eta_growth_rate_per_tree` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Specifies the rate at which `eta` increases for each new tree that is added to the forest. For example, a rate of 1.05 increases `eta` by 5% for each extra tree. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be between 0.5 and 2.
      - `feature_bag_fraction` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Defines the fraction of features that will be used when selecting a random bag for each candidate split. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization.
      - `feature_processors` ([] DataframeAnalysisFeatureProcessor) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. A collection of feature preprocessors that modify one or more included fields. The analysis uses the resulting one or more features instead of the original document field. However, these features are ephemeral; they are not stored in the destination index. Multiple `feature_processors` entries can refer to the same document fields. Automatic categorical feature encoding still occurs for the fields that are unprocessed by a custom processor or that have categorical values. Use this property only if you want to override the automatic feature encoding of the specified fields.
        Same fields as `feature_processors` in `classification`
      - `gamma` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Regularization parameter to prevent overfitting on the training data set. Multiplies a linear penalty associated with the size of individual trees in the forest. A high gamma value causes training to prefer small trees. A small gamma value results in larger individual trees and slower training. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be a nonnegative value.
      - `lambda` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Regularization parameter to prevent overfitting on the training data set. Multiplies an L2 regularization term which applies to leaf weights of the individual trees in the forest. A high lambda value causes training to favor small leaf weights. This behavior makes the prediction function smoother at the expense of potentially not being able to capture relevant relationships between the features and the dependent variable. A small lambda value results in large individual trees and slower training. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be a nonnegative value.
      - `max_optimization_rounds_per_hyperparameter` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. A multiplier responsible for determining the maximum number of hyperparameter optimization steps in the Bayesian optimization procedure. The maximum number of steps is determined based on the number of undefined hyperparameters times the maximum optimization rounds per hyperparameter. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization.
      - `max_trees` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Defines the maximum number of decision trees in the forest. The maximum value is 2000. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization.
      - `num_top_feature_importance_values` (number · default: 0) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Specifies the maximum number of feature importance values per document to return. By default, no feature importance calculation occurs.
      - `prediction_field_name` (string Field) — optional
        Defines the name of the prediction field in the results. Defaults to `<dependent_variable>_prediction`.
      - `randomize_seed` (number) — optional
        Defines the seed for the random generator that is used to pick training data. By default, it is randomly generated. Set it to a specific value to use the same training data each time you start a job (assuming other related parameters such as `source` and `analyzed_fields` are the same).
      - `soft_tree_depth_limit` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. Machine learning uses loss guided tree growing, which means that the decision trees grow where the regularized loss decreases most quickly. This soft limit combines with the `soft_tree_depth_tolerance` to penalize trees that exceed the specified depth; the regularized loss increases quickly beyond this depth. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than or equal to 0.
      - `soft_tree_depth_tolerance` (number) — optional
        Advanced configuration option. This option controls how quickly the regularized loss increases when the tree depth exceeds `soft_tree_depth_limit`. By default, this value is calculated during hyperparameter optimization. It must be greater than or equal to 0.01.
      - `training_percent` (number | string Percentage · default: 100) — optional
        Defines what percentage of the eligible documents that will be used for training. Documents that are ignored by the analysis (for example those that contain arrays with more than one value) won’t be included in the calculation for used percentage.
      - `loss_function` (string · default: mse) — optional
        The loss function used during regression. Available options are `mse` (mean squared error), `msle` (mean squared logarithmic error), `huber` (Pseudo-Huber loss).
      - `loss_function_parameter` (number) — optional
        A positive number that is used as a parameter to the `loss_function`.
  - `model_memory_limit` (string) — optional
  - `max_num_threads` (number) — optional
  - `analyzed_fields` ({} DataframeAnalysisAnalyzedFields) — optional
    - `includes` ([] string) — optional
      An array of strings that defines the fields that will be excluded from the analysis. You do not need to add fields with unsupported data types to excludes, these fields are excluded from the analysis automatically.
    - `excludes` ([] string) — optional
      An array of strings that defines the fields that will be included in the analysis.

## Response

`application/json`

- `feature_values` ([] string to string)
  An array of objects that contain feature name and value pairs. The features have been processed and indicate what will be sent to the model for training.
## Code Examples

#### Console

```console
POST _ml/data_frame/analytics/_preview
{
  "config": {
    "source": {
      "index": "houses_sold_last_10_yrs"
    },
    "analysis": {
      "regression": {
        "dependent_variable": "price"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

#### JavaScript

```javascript
const response = await client.ml.previewDataFrameAnalytics({
  config: {
    source: {
      index: "houses_sold_last_10_yrs",
    },
    analysis: {
      regression: {
        dependent_variable: "price",
      },
    },
  },
});
```

#### Python

```python
resp = client.ml.preview_data_frame_analytics(
    config={
        "source": {
            "index": "houses_sold_last_10_yrs"
        },
        "analysis": {
            "regression": {
                "dependent_variable": "price"
            }
        }
    },
)
```

#### curl

```curl
curl -X POST "$ELASTICSEARCH_URL/_ml/data_frame/analytics/_preview" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "config": {
      "source": {
        "index": "houses_sold_last_10_yrs"
      },
      "analysis": {
        "regression": {
          "dependent_variable": "price"
        }
      }
    }
  }'
```

#### Java

```java
client.ml().previewDataFrameAnalytics(p -> p
    .config(c -> c
        .source(s -> s
            .index("houses_sold_last_10_yrs")
        )
        .analysis(a -> a
            .regression(r -> r
                .dependentVariable("price")
            )
        )
    )
);
```

#### C#

```c#
var response = await client.MachineLearning
    .PreviewDataFrameAnalyticsAsync(d1 => d1
        .Config(d2 => d2
            .Analysis(d3 => d3
                .Regression(d4 => d4
                    .DependentVariable("price")
                )
            )
            .Source(d3 => d3
                .Indices(new[] { "houses_sold_last_10_yrs" })
            )
        )
    );
```

#### PHP

```php
$resp = $client->ml()->previewDataFrameAnalytics([
    "body" => [
        "config" => [
            "source" => [
                "index" => "houses_sold_last_10_yrs",
            ],
            "analysis" => [
                "regression" => [
                    "dependent_variable" => "price",
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ],
]);
```

#### Ruby

```ruby
response = client.ml.preview_data_frame_analytics(
  body: {
    "config": {
      "source": {
        "index": "houses_sold_last_10_yrs"
      },
      "analysis": {
        "regression": {
          "dependent_variable": "price"
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
```

