# Check empty string in nested attribute
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [February 1, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477 "2017-02-01T08:09:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dmitriiPopov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dmitriiPopov)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477/1 "2017-02-01T08:09:30Z")
How can I get all records from index with empty string value (`"field":""`)?
Example of needed document:
```auto
{
"post_id":"56565656",
"data" : {
"owner_id" : "121213123",
"text" : ""
}
}
```
I tried to use it:
```auto
curl 'localhost:9200/posts/_count?pretty' -d '
{
"query": {
"filtered": {
"filter": {
"nested" : {
"path" : "data",
"filter": {
"bool": {
"must": [
{"term" : { "data.text" : "" }}
]
}
}
}
}
}
}
}'
```
BUT it doesn't work!
Help me, please.
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2017, 8:27am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477/2 "2017-02-01T08:27:11Z")
Please format your code using `` icon as explained in [this guide](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-the-elasticsearch-category/21). It will make your post more readable.
Or use markdown style like:
````
```
CODE
```
````
Have a look at `exists` query: [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-exists-query.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-exists-query.html)
---
### Author:  [@dmitriiPopov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dmitriiPopov)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2017, 9:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477/3 "2017-02-01T09:14:41Z")
It didn't help.
`Exists` query finds records with "" value ((
This information is written in documentation as well.
I need to exclude records with empty-string value or find another.
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2017, 9:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477/4 "2017-02-01T09:44:05Z")
so wrap the `exists` query in a `must_not` clause of a `bool` query.
Would that work for you?
---
### Author:  [@dmitriiPopov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dmitriiPopov)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2017, 10:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477/5 "2017-02-01T10:17:38Z")
By this case records has been found with `"text":null` value.
BUT I need to find records with `"text":""`
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477/6 "2017-02-01T10:31:08Z")
I see.
So you need to reindex probably.
Or may be a script which reads the \_source stored field. But that will be slow.
For a one time usage, that's probably fine. If this is something you need to run everytime, change your source documents.
You can use ingest BTW to do that transformation while reindexing.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/check-empty-string-in-nested-attribute/73477/7 "2017-03-01T10:31:38Z")
This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.