# Elasticsearch sql query does not work when index name contains "-"

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 4, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946 "2019-01-04T11:29:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zozo6015](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zozo6015/32/12117_2.png) [@zozo6015](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zozo6015)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946/1 "2019-01-04T11:29:20Z")

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I've been playing with elasticsearch sql query and I have tried to run `DESCRIBE filebeat-6.5.0-2019.01.04` but I am getting the following error:

```
{
  "error": {
    "root_cause": [
      {
        "type": "parsing_exception",
        "reason": "line 1:18: mismatched input '-' expecting <EOF>"
      }
    ],
    "type": "parsing_exception",
    "reason": "line 1:18: mismatched input '-' expecting <EOF>",
    "caused_by": {
      "type": "input_mismatch_exception",
      "reason": null
    }
  },
  "status": 400
}

```

It seam that the sql query does not support '-' in index name.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zozo6015](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zozo6015/32/12117_2.png) [@zozo6015](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zozo6015)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946/2 "2019-01-04T13:42:59Z")

</div>

Found a workaround by createting an alias for the index and using that alias in the query.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Igor\_Motov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/igor_motov/32/45193_2.png) [@Igor\_Motov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Motov)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946/3 "2019-01-04T17:47:12Z")

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SQL treats `-` as a minus operation, which doesn't makes sense in this particular context. So, in order to use the index as is, you can simply put it in quotes:

`DESCRIBE "filebeat-6.5.0-2019.01.04"`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zozo6015](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zozo6015/32/12117_2.png) [@zozo6015](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zozo6015)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946/4 "2019-01-04T17:48:33Z")

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Tried that and did not worked.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Igor\_Motov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/igor_motov/32/45193_2.png) [@Igor\_Motov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Motov)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946/5 "2019-01-04T17:48:55Z")

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Where did you try it?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zozo6015](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zozo6015/32/12117_2.png) [@zozo6015](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zozo6015)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946/6 "2019-01-04T17:50:55Z")

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I might have done something wrong. I just tried that with escaped double quotes and it worked. Thank you for the information.

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<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:** [February 1, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-sql-query-does-not-work-when-index-name-contains/162946/7 "2019-02-01T17:50:56Z")

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