# Boolean must/should where field is optional in some documents
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [May 28, 2013, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145 "2013-05-28T09:31:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Nick\_Dunn](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Dunn)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2013, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/1 "2013-05-28T09:31:25Z")
I can't quite get my head around a specific search requirement I have, so I
hope someone can help.
My documents have a field "published" with a string value "yes" or "no"
(not boolean true/false, indexed data out of my control at present!). This
defines whether the document has been published or not, obviously. I have a
fairly large boolean query of a series of "must" sub-queries, of which one
is on this published field, ensuring that only those "yes" are returned.
However I've just realised that this field is _optional_ in the document.
If it doesn't have a yes/no value, then the assumption is that the document
is published ("yes") and should be returned. So in essence I want to add a
must clause for this field _only when it exists and has a value_. Is this
even possible? Should I perhaps use a filter here?
Any ideas gratefully received.
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### Author:  [@Ivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ivan)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/2 "2013-05-29T21:11:33Z")
You can work around your problem by using the exists and/or missing filter.
If the default for the published field is "yes, then you can use an Or
filter with one clause being a term filter for "yes" and the other a
missing filter.
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Ivan
On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 2:31 AM, Nick Dunn [nick@nick-dunn.co.uk](mailto:nick@nick-dunn.co.uk) wrote:
> I can't quite get my head around a specific search requirement I have, so
> I hope someone can help.
>
> My documents have a field "published" with a string value "yes" or "no"
> (not boolean true/false, indexed data out of my control at present!). This
> defines whether the document has been published or not, obviously. I have a
> fairly large boolean query of a series of "must" sub-queries, of which one
> is on this published field, ensuring that only those "yes" are returned.
>
> However I've just realised that this field is _optional_ in the document.
> If it doesn't have a yes/no value, then the assumption is that the document
> is published ("yes") and should be returned. So in essence I want to add a
> must clause for this field _only when it exists and has a value_. Is this
> even possible? Should I perhaps use a filter here?
>
> Any ideas gratefully received.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "elasticsearch" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com).
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---
### Author:  [@javierco](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/javierco)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/3 "2016-03-01T15:36:59Z")
Hi, I found this old posting but it is now relevant with the new Boolean Queries in es 2.x. I have a similar situation where I need to search for documents where a specific field may be missing, but if it is present, then it needs to have an specific value. My old query using OR (deprecated) looks like this:
```
{
"query": {
"filtered": {
"query": {
"query_string": {
"query": "(title:mykeyword body:mykeyword)"
}
},
"filter": {
"or": {
"filters": [
{
"missing": {
"field": "bookId"
}
},
{
"term": {
"bookId": 2
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
}
```
How can I replicate this same behavior with a boolean query that does not have OR clauses?
Thanks a lot!
Javier C.
---
### Author:  [@javierco](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/javierco)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/4 "2016-03-01T15:44:26Z")
Update: I tried the following, but it does not work ;(
```
{
"bool" : {
"must" : {
"query_string" : {
"query": "(title:mykeyword body:mykeyword)"
}
},
"filter" : {
"bool" : {
"must" : {
"term" : {
"bookId" : 2
}
},
"must_not" : {
"exists" : {
"field" : "bookId"
}
}
}
}
}
}
```
---
### Author:  [@Camilo\_Sierra](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Camilo_Sierra)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/5 "2016-03-01T16:43:25Z")
hope it helps !
```
{
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": {
"query_string": {
"query": "(title:mykeyword body:mykeyword)"
}
},
"filter": {
"bool": {
"should": [
{
"missing": {
"field": "bookId"
}
},
{
"term": {
"bookId": 2
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
}
```
---
### Author:  [@javierco](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/javierco)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/6 "2016-03-01T17:19:48Z")
Thanks @Camilo_Sierra but the "missing" query is also deprecated in es 2.2 (Deprecated in 2.2.0. Use exists query inside a must\_not clause instead.) So, based on your example, I tried something like this:
```
{
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": {
"query_string": {
"query": "(title:mykeyword body:mykeyword)"
}
},
"filter": {
"bool": {
"should": [
{
"must_not": {
"exists": {
"field": "bookId"
}
}
},
{
"term": {
"bookId": 2
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
}
```
and it gave me this error:
`QueryParsingException[No query registered for [must_not]]`
Thanks again!
---
### Author:  [@Camilo\_Sierra](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Camilo_Sierra)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/7 "2016-03-01T17:22:14Z")
need to use bool 😉
```
{
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": {
"query_string": {
"query": "(title:mykeyword body:mykeyword)"
}
},
"filter": {
"bool": {
"should": [{
"bool": {
"must_not": {
"exists": {
"field": "bookId"
}
}
}
}, {
"term": {
"bookId": 2
}
}]
}
}
}
}
}
```
---
### Author:  [@javierco](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/javierco)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/8 "2016-03-01T17:26:05Z")
And... it worked! 🙂
Thanks a lot!!!
Javier C.
---
### Author:  [@Camilo\_Sierra](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Camilo_Sierra)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/9 "2016-03-01T17:28:16Z")
awesome!!
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/boolean-must-should-where-field-is-optional-in-some-documents/12145/10 "2017-07-05T23:12:24Z")