# Elasticsearch Java API: Return a boolean value

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-java-api-return-a-boolean-value/35791>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [November 27, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-java-api-return-a-boolean-value/35791 "2015-11-27T23:15:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Isra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Isra](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Isra)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-java-api-return-a-boolean-value/35791/1 "2015-11-27T23:15:28Z")

</div>

I need to build a query that returns a boolean value that Java could read. When I try this:

```
QueryBuilder qb = matchQuery(
         "user.name",                  
         "user123"
);
SearchResponse response = client.prepareSearch("logstash-*").addFields("user.name")
    .setTypes("names").setQuery(qb)
    .execute()
    .actionGet();

```

It returns all the hits for user123. If user123 doesn't exist, it returns the following:

```
{
  "took" : 69,
    "timed_out" : false,
    "_shards" : {
      "total" : 75,
      "successful" : 75,
      "failed" : 0
    },
    "hits" : {
      "total" : 0,
      "max_score" : null,
      "hits" : []
    }
  }

```

What I need, however, is a true or false value. If the user exists, then true, if not, then false. How can I accomplish that?

Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Isra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Isra](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Isra)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-java-api-return-a-boolean-value/35791/2 "2015-11-28T12:09:42Z")

</div>

oh nvm, ill just use CountResponse and compare it to 0

> <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33965913/elasticsearch-java-api-return-a-boolean-value/33966486#33966486>

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 11:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-java-api-return-a-boolean-value/35791/3 "2017-07-05T23:35:13Z")

</div>