# Confused result sets: total hit is equal to 1 but but "hits" is an empty JSON list
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/confused-result-sets-total-hit-is-equal-to-1-but-but-hits-is-an-empty-json-list/5538
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [October 7, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/confused-result-sets-total-hit-is-equal-to-1-but-but-hits-is-an-empty-json-list/5538 "2011-10-07T10:19:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pcdinh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pcdinh)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/confused-result-sets-total-hit-is-equal-to-1-but-but-hits-is-an-empty-json-list/5538/1 "2011-10-07T10:19:20Z")
Hi,
I just upgraded my ES to 0.17.8 from 0.17.7 successfully. However, I got an
issue with the response
root@es1:~$
root@es1:~$ curl -XGET [http://localhost:9200/atest/exp/\_search?pretty=true](http://localhost:9200/atest/exp/_search?pretty=true)
-d'{
> "fields":[
> "account\_id"
> ],
> "query":{
> "query\_string":{
> "use\_dis\_max":true,
> "fields":[
> "names"
> ],
> "query":"phuongthao.le"
> }
> },
> "from":30,
> "size":20
> }'
> curl: /opt/lib/libcurl.so.4: no version information available (required by
> curl)
> {
> "took" : 24,
> "timed\_out" : false,
> "\_shards" : {
> "total" : 5,
> "successful" : 5,
> "failed" : 0
> },
> "hits" : {
> "total" : 1,
> "max\_score" : 7.20773,
> "hits" :
> }
> }root@es1:~$
The response gets me confused. It says there is a match (total = 1,
max\_score: 7.2) but there is no document (hits = )
I have tried another keyword that I know should not have any match
root@es1:~$ curl -XGET [http://localhost:9200/atest/exp/\_search?pretty=true](http://localhost:9200/atest/exp/_search?pretty=true)
-d'{
> "fields":[
> "account\_id"
> ],
> "query":{
> "query\_string":{
> "use\_dis\_max":true,
> "fields":[
> "names"
> ],
> "query":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
> }
> },
> "from":30,
> "size":20
> }'
> curl: /opt/lib/libcurl.so.4: no version information available (required by
> curl)
> {
> "took" : 2,
> "timed\_out" : false,
> "\_shards" : {
> "total" : 5,
> "successful" : 5,
> "failed" : 0
> },
> "hits" : {
> "total" : 0,
> "max\_score" : null,
> "hits" :
> }
> }root@es1:~$
The response is OK now. There is no match so total = 0, max\_score is null
and hits =
So I think that the first query response can be a bug.
There is no exception logged in Elasticsearch log file
[2011-10-07 07:13:33,524][INFO][node] [Big Man]
{elasticsearch/0.17.8}[16423]: initializing ...
[2011-10-07 07:13:33,530][INFO][plugins] [Big Man] loaded
, sites
[2011-10-07 07:13:37,993][INFO][node] [Big Man]
{elasticsearch/0.17.8}[16423]: initialized
[2011-10-07 07:13:37,993][INFO][node] [Big Man]
{elasticsearch/0.17.8}[16423]: starting ...
[2011-10-07 07:13:38,289][INFO][transport] [Big Man]
bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9300]}, publish\_address
{inet[/10.128.66.251:9300]}
[2011-10-07 07:13:41,451][INFO][cluster.service] [Big Man]
new\_master [Big Man][YKOF0nVzTR-9RXt89Kp01w][inet[/10.128.66.251:9300]],
reason: zen-disco-join (elected\_as\_master)
[2011-10-07 07:13:41,598][INFO][discovery] [Big Man]
es1/YKOF0nVzTR-9RXt89Kp01w
[2011-10-07 07:13:42,132][INFO][http] [Big Man]
bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9200]}, publish\_address
{inet[/10.128.66.251:9200]}
[2011-10-07 07:13:42,132][INFO][node] [Big Man]
{elasticsearch/0.17.8}[16423]: started
[2011-10-07 07:13:44,313][INFO][gateway] [Big Man]
recovered [16] indices into cluster\_state
Regards,
Dinh
---
### Author:  [@pcdinh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pcdinh)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2011, 10:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/confused-result-sets-total-hit-is-equal-to-1-but-but-hits-is-an-empty-json-list/5538/2 "2011-10-07T10:31:07Z")
Just ignore my email. I misunderstand the meaning of "total" field
Thanks
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/confused-result-sets-total-hit-is-equal-to-1-but-but-hits-is-an-empty-json-list/5538/3 "2017-07-06T03:52:37Z")