# Dates with nulls **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [September 9, 2015, 7:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dates-with-nulls/28909 "2015-09-09T07:56:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dceder906](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@dceder906](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dceder906)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 7:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dates-with-nulls/28909/1 "2015-09-09T07:56:33Z")
How can I map a null\_value for a date field? ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dates-with-nulls/28909/2 "2015-09-11T06:50:05Z")
Pretty sure you cannot do that - [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/mapping-date-format.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/mapping-date-format.html) ---
**Author:** ![colings86](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/colings86/32/44960_2.png) [@colings86](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/colings86)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 7:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dates-with-nulls/28909/3 "2015-09-11T07:11:18Z")
I'm not sure if I completely understand what you are after, but if you want to insert a particular value when a document has a value of `null` for a date field have a look at the `null_value` option here: [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/mapping-core-types.html#date](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/mapping-core-types.html#date) If that's not what you are after please could you elaborate on what you are wanting to do? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dates-with-nulls/28909/4 "2017-07-05T23:50:55Z")