# Convert Array to String by ingesting three double quotes
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-array-to-string-by-ingesting-three-double-quotes/308358
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [June 28, 2022, 12:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-array-to-string-by-ingesting-three-double-quotes/308358 "2022-06-28T12:46:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Elie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Elie)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 12:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-array-to-string-by-ingesting-three-double-quotes/308358/1 "2022-06-28T12:46:17Z")
Hi,
I am wanting to change an Array to a String to make it easier for me to store in my Elasticsearch, but I am having trouble finding the way of doing so. There are some special cases in my data where my field "value" will have an Array instead of a String, but I seem to not be able to add the three double quotes infront and behind my square brackets where I need them.
The following shows how my data looks like:
```auto
{
"Data": [{
"key": "keyName",
"value": "valueName"
},
{
"key": "keyName",
"value": "valueName"
},
{
"key": "keyName",
"value": [{
"type": "FailedName",
"message": "FailedMessage",
"path": "FailedPath"
}]
}
]
}
```
and here is how I want it to be inserted in ES:
```auto
{
"Data": [{
"key": "keyName",
"value": "valueName"
},
{
"key": "keyName",
"value": "valueName"
},
{
"key": "keyName",
"value": """[{
"type": "FailedName",
"message": "FailedMessage",
"path": "FailedPath"
}]"""
}
]
}
```
I have tried the mutate-\>gsub method but to no success.
Here is what my config file looks like
```auto
input {
file{
start_position => "beginning"
path => "XXX.json"
sincedb_path => "/dev/null"
codec => multiline {
pattern => "^Spalanzani"
negate => true
what => previous
auto_flush_interval => 1
multiline_tag => ""
}
}
stdin{}
}
filter {
mutate {
gsub => ["[data][customData][value]", "\[", '"""[', "[data][customData][value]", "\]", ']"""' ]
}
json {
source => "message"
}
}
output {
stdout {codec => rubydebug}
elasticsearch {
hosts => "hostAddress"
user => "user"
password => "password"
index => "index"
}
}
```
Could anyone help me figure out how I could make it possible for me to insert three double quotes in front of my array to insert it as a string to ES?
---
### Author:  [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-array-to-string-by-ingesting-three-double-quotes/308358/2 "2022-06-28T16:33:00Z")
To change the value from an array to a string you could use mutate+join
```
mutate {
join => {
"[Data][0][value]" => ","
"[Data][1][value]" => ","
"[Data][2][value]" => ","
"[Data][3][value]" => ","
}
}
```
or you could use a ruby filter. I have not tested it, but something like
```
ruby {
code => '
d = event.get("Data")
if d.is_a? Array
d.each_index { |x|
if d[x]["value"].is_a? Array
d[x]["value"] = d[x]["value"].join(",")
end
}
event.set("Data", d)
end
'
}
```
---
### Author:  [@Elie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Elie)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2022, 10:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-array-to-string-by-ingesting-three-double-quotes/308358/3 "2022-06-29T10:40:31Z")
Both of your solutions provided worked perfectly! Thank you Badger.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2022, 10:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-array-to-string-by-ingesting-three-double-quotes/308358/4 "2022-07-27T10:40:49Z")
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