# Access the epoch of the date type doc in groovy script
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/access-the-epoch-of-the-date-type-doc-in-groovy-script/53129
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 17, 2016, 8:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/access-the-epoch-of-the-date-type-doc-in-groovy-script/53129 "2016-06-17T08:57:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dhruvpsaru](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dhruvpsaru)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2016, 8:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/access-the-epoch-of-the-date-type-doc-in-groovy-script/53129/1 "2016-06-17T08:57:02Z")
As per my understanding and from here [[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29341715/understanding-how-elasticsearch-stores-dates-internally](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29341715/understanding-how-elasticsearch-stores-dates-internally)] ([http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29341715/understanding-how-elasticsearch-stores-dates-internally](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29341715/understanding-how-elasticsearch-stores-dates-internally)) ealstic search stores the date internally as epoch format. Now consider I need to access this epoch in groovy script and out doc date format is date\_optional\_time. Now when I try to access it in groovy script it gives me the formatted date(as on the time of input). Is there a way to access the epoch time here.
I have come up with three thoughts
1. Convert the doc value to date and get millis in script,
2. Create a new field with copy\_to that stores the date as epoch format
3)//or if possible directly access the epoch. but how?
Can some body guide me on this.I need epoch because I need to update some other field on basis of the epoch
e.g
Consider a mapping like this
{
"createdDate": {
"type": "date",
"store": true,
"format": "dateOptionalTime"
}
"modifiedDate": {
"type": "date",
"store": true,
"format": "dateOptionalTime"
}
"daysINBetween" : {
"type" : "long"
}
,
}
Now I need to run a script that stores `(createdDate.millis - modifiedDate.millis) / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)`. I don't want to create a new object of date each time, that's why I am trying to access epoch in script
[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/37877534/access-epoch-from-date-field-in-groovy-script-in-elastic-search](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/37877534/access-epoch-from-date-field-in-groovy-script-in-elastic-search)
---
### Author:  [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/access-the-epoch-of-the-date-type-doc-in-groovy-script/53129/2 "2016-06-17T12:45:10Z")
Hey,
try `doc['createdDate'].date.getMillis()`
I would try to do calculate this on index time, instead of query time though, in order to have faster queries.
--Alex
---
### Author:  [@dhruvpsaru](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dhruvpsaru)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/access-the-epoch-of-the-date-type-doc-in-groovy-script/53129/3 "2016-06-17T13:18:58Z")
> [@spinscale](#):
>
> doc['createdDate'].date.getMillis()
As per my knowledge `doc['createdDate'].date.getMillis()` will be accessible in script\_field only.Am I right?
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/access-the-epoch-of-the-date-type-doc-in-groovy-script/53129/4 "2017-07-05T22:42:46Z")