Dynamic field mapping

When Elasticsearch detects a new field in a document, it dynamically adds the field to the type mapping by default. The dynamic parameter controls this behavior.

You can explicitly instruct Elasticsearch to dynamically create fields based on incoming documents by setting the dynamic parameter to true or runtime. When dynamic field mapping is enabled, Elasticsearch uses the rules in the following table to determine how to map data types for each field.

Note

The field data types in the following table are the only field data types that Elasticsearch detects dynamically. You must explicitly map all other data types.

	Elasticsearch data type
JSON data type	"dynamic":"true"	"dynamic":"runtime"
null	No field added	No field added
true or false	boolean	boolean
double	float	double
long	long	long
object	object	No field added
array	Depends on the first non-null value in the array	Depends on the first non-null value in the array
string that passes date detection	date	date
string that passes numeric detection	float or long	double or long
string that doesn’t pass date detection or numeric detection	text with a .keyword sub-field	keyword

You can disable dynamic mapping, both at the document and at the object level. Setting the dynamic parameter to false ignores new fields, and strict rejects the document if Elasticsearch encounters an unknown field.

Tip

Use the update mapping API to update the dynamic setting on existing fields.

You can customize dynamic field mapping rules for date detection and numeric detection. To define custom mappings rules that you can apply to additional dynamic fields, use dynamic_templates.

Date detection

If date_detection is enabled (default), then new string fields are checked to see whether their contents match any of the date patterns specified in dynamic_date_formats. If a match is found, a new date field is added with the corresponding format.

The default value for dynamic_date_formats is:

[ "strict_date_optional_time","yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss Z||yyyy/MM/dd Z"]

For example:

			PUT my-index-000001/_doc/1
			{
  "create_date": "2015/09/02"
}

GET my-index-000001/_mapping 1

		

1. The create_date field has been added as a date field with the format:
   "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss Z||yyyy/MM/dd Z".

Disabling date detection

Dynamic date detection can be disabled by setting date_detection to false:

			PUT my-index-000001
			{
  "mappings": {
    "date_detection": false
  }
}

PUT my-index-000001/_doc/1 1
{
  "create_date": "2015/09/02"
}

		

1. The create_date field has been added as a text field.

Customizing detected date formats

Alternatively, the dynamic_date_formats can be customized to support your own date formats:

			PUT my-index-000001
			{
  "mappings": {
    "dynamic_date_formats": ["MM/dd/yyyy"]
  }
}

PUT my-index-000001/_doc/1
{
  "create_date": "09/25/2015"
}

		

Note

There is a difference between configuring an array of date patterns and configuring multiple patterns in a single string separated by ||. When you configure an array of date patterns, the pattern that matches the date in the first document with an unmapped date field will determine the mapping of that field:

			PUT my-index-000001
			{
  "mappings": {
    "dynamic_date_formats": [ "yyyy/MM", "MM/dd/yyyy"]
  }
}

PUT my-index-000001/_doc/1
{
  "create_date": "09/25/2015"
}

		

The resulting mapping will be:

			{
  "my-index-000001": {
    "mappings": {
      "dynamic_date_formats": [
        "yyyy/MM",
        "MM/dd/yyyy"
      ],
      "properties": {
        "create_date": {
          "type": "date",
          "format": "MM/dd/yyyy"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

		

Configuring multiple patterns in a single string separated by || results in a mapping that supports any of the date formats. This enables you to index documents that use different formats:

			PUT my-index-000001
			{
  "mappings": {
    "dynamic_date_formats": [ "yyyy/MM||MM/dd/yyyy"]
  }
}

PUT my-index-000001/_doc/1
{
  "create_date": "09/25/2015"
}

		

The resulting mapping will be:

			{
  "my-index-000001": {
    "mappings": {
      "dynamic_date_formats": [
        "yyyy/MM||MM/dd/yyyy"
      ],
      "properties": {
        "create_date": {
          "type": "date",
          "format": "yyyy/MM||MM/dd/yyyy"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

		

Note

Epoch formats (epoch_millis and epoch_second) are not supported as dynamic date formats.

Numeric detection

While JSON has support for native floating point and integer data types, some applications or languages may sometimes render numbers as strings. Usually the correct solution is to map these fields explicitly, but numeric detection (which is disabled by default) can be enabled to do this automatically:

			PUT my-index-000001
			{
  "mappings": {
    "numeric_detection": true
  }
}

PUT my-index-000001/_doc/1
{
  "my_float":   "1.0", 1
  "my_integer": "1" 2
}

		

1. The my_float field is added as a float field.
2. The my_integer field is added as a long field.