# Convert a json nested string array to a flat string
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-a-json-nested-string-array-to-a-flat-string/116731
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [January 23, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-a-json-nested-string-array-to-a-flat-string/116731 "2018-01-23T19:08:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hmed](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/hmed)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-a-json-nested-string-array-to-a-flat-string/116731/1 "2018-01-23T19:08:43Z")
Hello,
I have this JSON
{
"users": **"** [{"id":1,"name":"bob"},{"id":2,"name":"alice"},{"id":3,"name":"david"}] **"** ,
"date":"23/01/2017"
}
even if I'm using the logstash filter:
filter {
split {
field =\> "users"
}
}
the message is stored in elastic as single event
**users** =\> [{"id":1,"name":"bob"},{"id":2,"name":"alice"},{"id":3,"name":"david"}]
**date** =\> 23/01/2017
question1: how I can convert the user field from string to a json array to have this
"users":[{"id":1,"name":"bob"},{"id":2,"name":"alice"},{"id":1,"name":"david"}],
"date":"23/01/2017"
}
question 2: how I can store this nested json as a multiple json events in elastic
Expected output:
{
"id":1,
"name":"bob",
"date":"23/01/2017"
}
{
"id":2,
"name":"alice",
"date":"23/01/2017"
}
{
"id":3,
"name":"david",
"date":"23/01/2017"
}
Thanks in advance for your answer
---
### Author:  [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-a-json-nested-string-array-to-a-flat-string/116731/2 "2018-01-23T21:26:00Z")
> question1: how I can convert the user field from string to a json array to have this
Use the json filter.
> question 2: how I can store this nested json as a multiple json events in elastic
Use the split filter.
---
### Author:  [@hmed](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/hmed)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-a-json-nested-string-array-to-a-flat-string/116731/4 "2018-01-24T14:48:34Z")
Hello @magnusbaeck,
Many thanks for your answer.
Actually I'm using both json filter and split filters lik this
json {
source =\> "users"
}
split {
field =\> "users"
}
but I still have my users filed stored in elastic as string
users =\> [{"id":1,"name":"bob"},{"id":2,"name":"alice"},{"id":3,"name":"david"}]
Do you have any idea on what is wrong with my logstash conf ?
this is the warn log I have in logstash:
Parsed JSON object/hash requires a target configuration option {:source=\>"users", :raw=\>" [{"id":1,"name":"bob"},{"id":2,"name":"alice"},{"id":3,"name":"david"}]"}
Thanks in advance.
---
### Author:  [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2018, 10:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-a-json-nested-string-array-to-a-flat-string/116731/5 "2018-01-25T10:08:59Z")
> Parsed JSON object/hash requires a target configuration option
You need to use the `target` option in the json filter to choose a field to store the array in.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2018, 10:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-a-json-nested-string-array-to-a-flat-string/116731/6 "2018-02-22T10:09:09Z")
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