elasticsearch/docs/reference/mapping.asciidoc

[[mapping]]
= Mapping

[partintro]
--

Mapping is the process of defining how a document, and the fields it contains,
are stored and indexed. For instance, use mappings to define:

* which string fields should be treated as full text fields.
* which fields contain numbers, dates, or geolocations.
* the <<mapping-date-format,format>> of date values.
* custom rules to control the mapping for
  <<dynamic-mapping,dynamically added fields>>.

A mapping definition includes metadata fields and fields:

<<mapping-fields,Metadata fields>>::

Metadata fields are used to customize how a document's associated metadata is
treated. Examples of metadata fields include the document's
<<mapping-index-field,`_index`>>, <<mapping-id-field,`_id`>>, and
<<mapping-source-field,`_source`>> fields.

<<mapping-types,Fields>>::

A mapping contains a list of fields or `properties` pertinent to the
document. Each field has its own <<mapping-types, data type>>.

NOTE: Before 7.0.0, the 'mappings' definition used to include a type name.
For more details, please see <<removal-of-types>>.

[discrete]
[[mapping-limit-settings]]
== Settings to prevent mapping explosion
Defining too many fields in an index can lead to a mapping explosion, which can
cause out of memory errors and difficult situations to recover from.

Consider a situation where every new document inserted
introduces new fields, such as with <<dynamic-mapping,dynamic mapping>>.
Each new field is added to the index mapping, which can become a
problem as the mapping grows.

Use the <<mapping-settings-limit,mapping limit settings>> to limit the number
of field mappings (created manually or dynamically) and prevent documents from
causing a mapping explosion.

[discrete]
[[runtime-fields]]
== Runtime fields
Typically, you index data into {es} to promote faster search. However, indexing
can be slow and requires more disk space, and you have to reindex your data to
add fields to existing documents.

<<runtime,Runtime fields>> are not indexed, which saves disk space and makes
data ingest faster. You can add runtime fields to existing documents without
reindexing your data and calculate field values dynamically at search time.

[discrete]
[[dynamic-mapping-intro]]
== Dynamic mapping

Fields and mapping types do not need to be defined before being used. Thanks
to _dynamic mapping_, new field names will be added automatically, just by
indexing a document. New fields can be added both to the top-level mapping
type, and to inner <<object,`object`>>  and <<nested,`nested`>> fields.

The <<dynamic-mapping,dynamic mapping>> rules can be configured to customise
the mapping that is used for new fields.

[discrete]
== Explicit mappings

You know more about your data than Elasticsearch can guess, so while dynamic
mapping can be useful to get started, at some point you will want to specify
your own explicit mappings.

You can create field mappings when you <<create-mapping,create an index>> and
<<add-field-mapping,add fields to an existing index>>.

[discrete]
[[create-mapping]]
=== Create an index with an explicit mapping

You can use the <<indices-create-index,create index>> API to create a new index
with an explicit mapping.

[source,console]
----
PUT /my-index-000001
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "age":    { "type": "integer" },  <1>
      "email":  { "type": "keyword"  }, <2>
      "name":   { "type": "text"  }     <3>
    }
  }
}
----

<1> Creates `age`, an <<number,`integer`>> field
<2> Creates `email`, a <<keyword,`keyword`>> field
<3> Creates `name`, a <<text,`text`>> field

[discrete]
[[add-field-mapping]]
== Add a field to an existing mapping

You can use the <<indices-put-mapping, put mapping>> API to add one or more new
fields to an existing index.

The following example adds `employee-id`, a `keyword` field with an
<<mapping-index,`index`>> mapping parameter value of `false`. This means values
for the `employee-id` field are stored but not indexed or available for search.

[source,console]
----
PUT /my-index-000001/_mapping
{
  "properties": {
    "employee-id": {
      "type": "keyword",
      "index": false
    }
  }
}
----
// TEST[continued]

[discrete]
[[update-mapping]]
=== Update the mapping of a field

include::{es-repo-dir}/indices/put-mapping.asciidoc[tag=change-field-mapping]

include::{es-repo-dir}/indices/put-mapping.asciidoc[tag=rename-field]

[discrete]
[[view-mapping]]
== View the mapping of an index

You can use the <<indices-get-mapping, get mapping>> API to view the mapping of
an existing index.

[source,console]
----
GET /my-index-000001/_mapping
----
// TEST[continued]

The API returns the following response:

[source,console-result]
----
{
  "my-index-000001" : {
    "mappings" : {
      "properties" : {
        "age" : {
          "type" : "integer"
        },
        "email" : {
          "type" : "keyword"
        },
        "employee-id" : {
          "type" : "keyword",
          "index" : false
        },
        "name" : {
          "type" : "text"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
----


[discrete]
[[view-field-mapping]]
== View the mapping of specific fields

If you only want to view the mapping of one or more specific fields, you can use
the <<indices-get-field-mapping, get field mapping>> API.

This is useful if you don't need the complete mapping of an index or your index
contains a large number of fields.

The following request retrieves the mapping for the `employee-id` field.

[source,console]
----
GET /my-index-000001/_mapping/field/employee-id
----
// TEST[continued]

The API returns the following response:

[source,console-result]
----
{
  "my-index-000001" : {
    "mappings" : {
      "employee-id" : {
        "full_name" : "employee-id",
        "mapping" : {
          "employee-id" : {
            "type" : "keyword",
            "index" : false
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

----

--

include::mapping/removal_of_types.asciidoc[]

include::mapping/mapping-settings-limit.asciidoc[]

include::mapping/types.asciidoc[]

include::mapping/runtime.asciidoc[]

include::mapping/fields.asciidoc[]

include::mapping/params.asciidoc[]

include::mapping/dynamic-mapping.asciidoc[]