# Add the current date in mapping elasticsearch
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [July 20, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983 "2016-07-20T13:25:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ericpietro](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ericpietro)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/1 "2016-07-20T13:25:19Z")
Hi,
I want to add - as a new field - the current date (now) in my index thus, i'll keep the elasticsearch indexing time in my index.
How can I do it in the mapping settings ?
I saw that the '\_timestamp' is deprecated...
something like : 'indexing\_ts' = now() ...
ty for your answer
---
### Author:  [@danielmitterdorfer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/danielmitterdorfer)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/2 "2016-07-20T14:02:52Z")
Hi @ericpietro,
you cannot define this in the mapping directly. Rather you should define `indexing_ts` as a normal `date` field in the mapping and set `indexing_ts` explicitly to the current timestamp in your client application for each document.
Daniel
---
### Author:  [@ericpietro](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ericpietro)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2016, 2:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/3 "2016-07-20T14:35:44Z")
ty danielmitterdorfer 🙂
but can you give me the syntax ?
I have to declare in the mapping a new field (that doesn't exist in my JSON message 'incoming'), like this ?
"properties": {
"my field x": {...},
"my field y" :{...},
...
"indexing\_ts": { "type": "date", "format": "strict\_date\_optional\_time||epoch\_millis"}
}
??
Is it enough ? How can it get the current timestamp (now) ?
---
### Author:  [@danielmitterdorfer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/danielmitterdorfer)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/4 "2016-07-20T14:50:41Z")
Hi @ericpietro,
Here is a complete example. I cannot tell you which date format you have to use. That depends on your application and your requirements. I have chosen epoch\_millis for my example.
```auto
PUT /logs
{
"mappings": {
"incoming": {
"properties": {
"timestamp": {
"type": "date",
"format": "epoch_millis"
},
"message": {
"type": "string",
"index": "not_analyzed"
}
}
}
}
}
```
You can now add a log record like this:
```auto
POST /logs/incoming/1
{
"timestamp": 1469025859000,
"message": "Hi there"
}
```
> How can it get the current timestamp (now) ?
As you can see in the example above your application / the client has to provide it. Elasticsearch does not set this value anymore.
Daniel
---
### Author:  [@ericpietro](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ericpietro)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/5 "2016-07-29T13:42:55Z")
ty again daniel... but it doen't help very much.
by goal is to date the instant when elasticsearch index my doc (log line)...
in my global solution, i have, for every event :
harvest-ts (when i catch the log line)
shipping-ts (when i transport it to kafka by logstash)
consuming-ts (when i consume log line from kafka and parse it)
indexing-ts (when i insert the log line in elasticsearch cluster. this is missing !!!)
thus, i can calculate the lag between two steps or stages...
so sorry that \_timestamp be deprecated ... 😒
---
### Author:  [@danielmitterdorfer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/danielmitterdorfer)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/6 "2016-08-01T06:34:25Z")
Hi @ericpietro,
so, which application puts your log lines into Elasticsearch? Do you use Logstash or is this a homegrown application? In the former case: Can't you use add a [mutate filter](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-mutate.html) to add `indexing_ts`? In the latter case: Can't the application add the field `indexing_ts`?
Daniel
---
### Author:  [@ericpietro](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ericpietro)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2016, 7:05am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/7 "2016-08-01T07:05:25Z")
hi daniel
thanks very much to answer 🙂
i use logstash and i already 'time' the treatment of my log line by a consuming-ts.
that is ok.
but i send each log line to elasticsearch using the output plugin and i would know the lag between I consume the log line by logtash and elasticsearch index the log line in the nosql database ... (\_timestamp used before)...
have a nice day 🙂
---
### Author:  [@danielmitterdorfer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/danielmitterdorfer)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/8 "2016-08-01T07:25:02Z")
Hi Eric,
ah, now I got you. If you want this, then I guess you could use the [Ingest Node API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/ingest.html). This runs within Elasticsearch so you get a chance to measure the time lag you're after.
Daniel
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-the-current-date-in-mapping-elasticsearch/55983/9 "2017-07-05T22:31:20Z")