# How to change the value of a filed in existed index?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-change-the-value-of-a-filed-in-existed-index/111072>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [December 11, 2017, 10:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-change-the-value-of-a-filed-in-existed-index/111072 "2017-12-11T10:59:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Robin\_Guo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/robin_guo/32/42297_2.png) [@Robin\_Guo](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Robin_Guo)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 10:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-change-the-value-of-a-filed-in-existed-index/111072/1 "2017-12-11T10:59:41Z")

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Hi ES folks,

ES: 5.5.x

Is there a way can change the value of a field in the existed index rather than to reindex?

eg:

dc: 798  
=\>dc:cn

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [December 11, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-change-the-value-of-a-filed-in-existed-index/111072/2 "2017-12-11T14:28:53Z")

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You can reindex the full document or use the update API.

Is that what you are looking for?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robin\_Guo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/robin_guo/32/42297_2.png) [@Robin\_Guo](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Robin_Guo)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-change-the-value-of-a-filed-in-existed-index/111072/3 "2017-12-12T02:39:59Z")

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hi @dadoonet,

With update API, so need to reindex, isn't it?

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [December 12, 2017, 6:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-change-the-value-of-a-filed-in-existed-index/111072/4 "2017-12-12T06:19:46Z")

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Update API does a GET old doc, merge with your update request and reindex the doc.

One of the reason I rarely use update API.

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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:** [January 9, 2018, 6:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-change-the-value-of-a-filed-in-existed-index/111072/5 "2018-01-09T06:20:18Z")

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