# Find and replace in elasticsearch all documents **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [July 28, 2016, 11:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612 "2016-07-28T11:10:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madhuakula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/madhuakula/32/11098_2.png) [@madhuakula](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhuakula)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 11:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/1 "2016-07-28T11:10:45Z")
I wanted to replace the single username in all my elasticsearch index documents. Is there any API query ? I tried searching multiple but couldn't find. Any one has idea? Thanks in advance 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 11:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/2 "2016-07-28T11:36:11Z")
Reindex API with a script? ---
**Author:** ![madhuakula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/madhuakula/32/11098_2.png) [@madhuakula](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhuakula)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/3 "2016-07-28T11:52:42Z")
@dadoonet thanks for the reply. I am new to the elasticsearch API, If you don't mind could you please give an example? My scenario: curl -XPOST '[http://localhost:9200/test/movies/](http://localhost:9200/test/movies/)' -d '{"user":"mad", "role":"tester"}' curl -XPOST '[http://localhost:9200/test/movies/](http://localhost:9200/test/movies/)' -d '{"user":"bob", "role":"engineer"}' curl -XPOST '[http://localhost:9200/test/movies/](http://localhost:9200/test/movies/)' -d '{"user":"cat", "role":"engineer"}' curl -XPOST '[http://localhost:9200/test/movies/](http://localhost:9200/test/movies/)' -d '{"user":"bob", "role":"doctor"}' I have the above data in the index called "test" and type "movies". Here I wanted to replace all the "bob" name with "alice". Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ravi_Shanker_Reddy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/4 "2016-07-28T12:02:06Z")
Please mention which OS you are using. Ex (Linux, Windows) And also to which scripting language you are familiar with. Then we can help you. ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/5 "2016-07-28T12:06:02Z")
Look here: [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.3/docs-reindex.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.3/docs-reindex.html) ---
**Author:** ![madhuakula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/madhuakula/32/11098_2.png) [@madhuakula](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhuakula)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/6 "2016-07-28T12:13:43Z")
@dadoonet Thanks for this reference. I saw this link already, But I couldn't see any documentation for find and replace. Looks like it mostly contains reindexing of already existing using sort (or) field name changes. ---
**Author:** ![madhuakula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/madhuakula/32/11098_2.png) [@madhuakula](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhuakula)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/7 "2016-07-28T12:16:27Z")
I am not a programmer. If you know the answer could you please provide the API call for the given scenario. I really appreciate your time. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![madhuakula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/madhuakula/32/11098_2.png) [@madhuakula](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhuakula)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/8 "2016-07-28T12:21:59Z")
Hello @dadoonet, I have tried the below code ```auto POST /_reindex { "source": { "index": "test", "type": "movies" }, "dest": { "index": "new_test" "query": { "term": { "pattern": "bob" "replacement": "alice" } } } } ``` It didn't work. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/9 "2016-07-28T13:11:25Z")
What "did not work"? Sorry I can't help without a full example. [This article](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-the-elasticsearch-category/21) explains how to post a complete example. ---
**Author:** ![madhuakula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/madhuakula/32/11098_2.png) [@madhuakula](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhuakula)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/10 "2016-07-28T13:12:51Z")
Thanks for the help. I got working using update query. Here is the best answer rather re indexing. > ---
**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, 10:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/find-and-replace-in-elasticsearch-all-documents/56612/11 "2017-07-05T22:32:04Z")