# Changing data type
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 1, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852 "2017-06-01T07:31:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chanakyan-arivumani](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chanakyan-arivumani)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/1 "2017-06-01T07:31:28Z")
Is there any workaround to change the datatype of a field without reindexing?
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/2 "2017-06-01T07:31:58Z")
Nope.
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### Author:  [@chanakyan-arivumani](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chanakyan-arivumani)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/3 "2017-06-01T07:32:55Z")
for deleting a mapping and its documents?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/4 "2017-06-01T07:33:14Z")
Sorry?
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### Author:  [@chanakyan-arivumani](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chanakyan-arivumani)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:35am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/5 "2017-06-01T07:35:34Z")
i want to change the datatype of a field
Since i can't do that without reindexing, i thought that i could just drop the mapping and create a new one with the changes i need and then push the documents to the new mapping
is that possible?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/6 "2017-06-01T07:36:40Z")
Not unless you delete all the data as well.
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### Author:  [@chanakyan-arivumani](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chanakyan-arivumani)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/7 "2017-06-01T07:44:16Z")
Is there any reason why changing the field datatype isn't supported?
My index will contain a large volume of data which needs to be available at all times.
reindexing is an expensive operation and i just want to avoid or bypass it
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### Author:  [@Heinmci](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Heinmci)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/8 "2017-06-01T07:48:57Z")
This might not be usable at all since it seems like pretty bad practice but it might be of use to you :
Create a new field with the new dataType you want with the put mapping api :
```auto
PUT index/_mapping/type
{
"properties": {
"newField": {
"type": "keyword"
}
}
}
```
And then run an update by query on the documents you want to have their field change :
```auto
POST index/type/_update_by_query
{
"script": {
"inline": "ctx._source.newField= ctx._source.oldFieldWithOtherDataType",
"lang": "painless"
},
"query": {
"match_all": {
}
}
}
```
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 7:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/9 "2017-06-01T07:51:41Z")
> [@chanakyan-arivumani](#):
>
> Is there any reason why changing the field datatype isn't supported?
Yes. One of them is that elasticsearch/Lucene is using immutable files. What has been indexed will remain as it was when you indexed it which will lead to inconsistencies.
The only way to "regenerate" a new version of the Lucene files is to reindex.
---
### Author:  [@chanakyan-arivumani](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chanakyan-arivumani)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 6:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/10 "2017-06-02T06:34:42Z")
Thanks Heinmci
but this doesn't solve my issue..
---
### Author:  [@chanakyan-arivumani](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chanakyan-arivumani)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/11 "2017-06-02T06:42:53Z")
thanks guys for responding promptly
you've been of great help to me
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2017, 6:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-data-type/87852/12 "2017-06-30T06:43:06Z")
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