# Distinct results by field for a given query
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 18, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469 "2013-06-18T20:17:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@David\_MZ](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_MZ)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469/1 "2013-06-18T20:17:35Z")
I have the following problem, I have a document that has a field 'xxx'
which may have duplicate values across the entire index,
I want to do a very simple thing, I want to be able to query the index
using a bool query on all my other fields,
but the _results_ of the query should return only distinct results based on
xxx, my index simulates people, and people who live in the same house are
duplicates. I would like only to have distinct houses in my results but the
search is done across all houses
I know the duplication in advance as this is a one time index job, Is there
a trick I can do to enable this feature in elasticsearch, I was reading
around and I know that distinct is not present in elastic or lucene out of
the box
I am asking for some advanced ideas on how to make this happen, including
some clever indexing as I have full control and I also know the duplicates
in advance
I have two scenarios:
1. I want to count the results of a given query- needs to be very fast
2. I want to retrieve the actual documents - performance does not matter
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### Author:  [@Jorge\_T](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jorge_T)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469/2 "2013-06-18T20:39:38Z")
Hi David,
As far as I know, there is no grouping functionality in ES (like Solr for
instance). However, they do have a nifty parent/child feature you may want
to take a look at. You could index the people as children of house objects,
and then make use of the "has\_child" query. This will return only parent
items that have matching properties in their children. I hope that helps.
Best,
Jorge
On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 4:17:35 PM UTC-4, David MZ wrote:
> I have the following problem, I have a document that has a field 'xxx'
> which may have duplicate values across the entire index,
> I want to do a very simple thing, I want to be able to query the index
> using a bool query on all my other fields,
>
> but the _results_ of the query should return only distinct results based
> on xxx, my index simulates people, and people who live in the same house
> are duplicates. I would like only to have distinct houses in my results but
> the search is done across all houses
>
> I know the duplication in advance as this is a one time index job, Is
> there a trick I can do to enable this feature in elasticsearch, I was
> reading around and I know that distinct is not present in elastic or lucene
> out of the box
> I am asking for some advanced ideas on how to make this happen, including
> some clever indexing as I have full control and I also know the duplicates
> in advance
>
> I have two scenarios:
>
> 1. I want to count the results of a given query- needs to be very fast
> 2. I want to retrieve the actual documents - performance does not matter
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### Author:  [@David\_MZ](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_MZ)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469/3 "2013-06-18T21:10:03Z")
Thank I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Would the has\_child query return also the child document?
On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 11:39 PM, Jorge T
[jorge.alberto.trujillo@gmail.com](mailto:jorge.alberto.trujillo@gmail.com)wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> As far as I know, there is no grouping functionality in ES (like Solr for
> instance). However, they do have a nifty parent/child feature you may want
> to take a look at. You could index the people as children of house objects,
> and then make use of the "has\_child" query. This will return only parent
> items that have matching properties in their children. I hope that helps.
>
> Best,
>
> Jorge
>
> On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 4:17:35 PM UTC-4, David MZ wrote:
>
> > I have the following problem, I have a document that has a field 'xxx'
> > which may have duplicate values across the entire index,
> > I want to do a very simple thing, I want to be able to query the index
> > using a bool query on all my other fields,
> >
> > but the _results_ of the query should return only distinct results based
> > on xxx, my index simulates people, and people who live in the same house
> > are duplicates. I would like only to have distinct houses in my results but
> > the search is done across all houses
> >
> > I know the duplication in advance as this is a one time index job, Is
> > there a trick I can do to enable this feature in elasticsearch, I was
> > reading around and I know that distinct is not present in elastic or lucene
> > out of the box
> > I am asking for some advanced ideas on how to make this happen, including
> > some clever indexing as I have full control and I also know the duplicates
> > in advance
> >
> > I have two scenarios:
> >
> > 1. I want to count the results of a given query- needs to be very fast
> > 2. I want to retrieve the actual documents - performance does not matter
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the
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### Author:  [@Jorge\_T](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jorge_T)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469/4 "2013-06-18T22:03:20Z")
Hi,
It does not, it only returns parents. There is a "has\_parent" query which
is the mirror of this, or you could just simply gather up the IDs and
retrieve the children directly.
Also check out "top\_children", which seems like it is similar to has\_child,
but may be more performant as it seems it does not need to traverse the
entire index.
Best of luck,
Jorge
On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 4:17:35 PM UTC-4, David MZ wrote:
> I have the following problem, I have a document that has a field 'xxx'
> which may have duplicate values across the entire index,
> I want to do a very simple thing, I want to be able to query the index
> using a bool query on all my other fields,
>
> but the _results_ of the query should return only distinct results based
> on xxx, my index simulates people, and people who live in the same house
> are duplicates. I would like only to have distinct houses in my results but
> the search is done across all houses
>
> I know the duplication in advance as this is a one time index job, Is
> there a trick I can do to enable this feature in elasticsearch, I was
> reading around and I know that distinct is not present in elastic or lucene
> out of the box
> I am asking for some advanced ideas on how to make this happen, including
> some clever indexing as I have full control and I also know the duplicates
> in advance
>
> I have two scenarios:
>
> 1. I want to count the results of a given query- needs to be very fast
> 2. I want to retrieve the actual documents - performance does not matter
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### Author:  [@David\_MZ](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_MZ)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469/5 "2013-06-19T05:13:02Z")
My issue is that I need to simulate distinct, so I "need" to know which of
the children has triggered the parent, so I can include it into the results
as two children may have the same parent
the has\_parent query won't give me a distinct answer
I did not understand the retrieve ids approach
On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 1:03 AM, Jorge T
[jorge.alberto.trujillo@gmail.com](mailto:jorge.alberto.trujillo@gmail.com)wrote:
> Hi,
>
> It does not, it only returns parents. There is a "has\_parent" query which
> is the mirror of this, or you could just simply gather up the IDs and
> retrieve the children directly.
>
> Also check out "top\_children", which seems like it is similar to
> has\_child, but may be more performant as it seems it does not need to
> traverse the entire index.
>
> Best of luck,
>
> Jorge
>
> On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 4:17:35 PM UTC-4, David MZ wrote:
>
> > I have the following problem, I have a document that has a field 'xxx'
> > which may have duplicate values across the entire index,
> > I want to do a very simple thing, I want to be able to query the index
> > using a bool query on all my other fields,
> >
> > but the _results_ of the query should return only distinct results based
> > on xxx, my index simulates people, and people who live in the same house
> > are duplicates. I would like only to have distinct houses in my results but
> > the search is done across all houses
> >
> > I know the duplication in advance as this is a one time index job, Is
> > there a trick I can do to enable this feature in elasticsearch, I was
> > reading around and I know that distinct is not present in elastic or lucene
> > out of the box
> > I am asking for some advanced ideas on how to make this happen, including
> > some clever indexing as I have full control and I also know the duplicates
> > in advance
> >
> > I have two scenarios:
> >
> > 1. I want to count the results of a given query- needs to be very fast
> > 2. I want to retrieve the actual documents - performance does not matter
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the
> > Google Groups "elasticsearch" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit
> > [https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/\_3HVEt9\_\_aQ/unsubscribe](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/_3HVEt9__aQ/unsubscribe).
> > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/distinct-results-by-field-for-a-given-query/12469/6 "2017-07-06T02:30:30Z")