# How to replace objects in documents?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [July 26, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657 "2021-07-26T17:39:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nahh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nahh)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657/1 "2021-07-26T17:39:47Z")
This may be a bug, but if not it's undocumented behavior (see [Object field type](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/object.html)). I accidentally created some objects with properties I don't want them to have, and I need to remove them. The object is dynamic and looks like:
```auto
{
"a": 1,
"b": 2
}
```
I need to remove `b`. When I try to update the object with `{"a": 3}` it just replaces `a` and unexpectedly leaves `b` in place. How do I replace the object entirely? Or remove the property?
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657/2 "2021-07-26T17:57:46Z")
I'm pretty sure that if you do:
```auto
PUT index/_doc/1
{
"a": 3
}
```
And then
```
GET index/_doc/1
```
You won't see `b` anymore in your document.
---
### Author:  [@nahh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nahh)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657/3 "2021-07-26T18:37:33Z")
I wasn't entirely clear -- the object is inside the document, so it's `{"obj": {"a": 1, "b": 2}}`
Removing the property doesn't seem to be enough. Here's an example (I'm using the bulk API, but it should work the same as the regular API):
```bash
$ curl -XPUT -H 'content-type: application/json' -d $'
{
"mappings": {
"properties": {
"obj": {
"type": "object",
"dynamic": true
}
}
}
}' localhost:9200/foo
{"acknowledged":true,"shards_acknowledged":true,"index":"foo"}
$ curl -XPOST -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"obj": {"a": 1, "b": 2}}' localhost:9200/foo/_doc/1
{"_index":"foo","_type":"_doc","_id":"1","_version":1,"result":"created","_shards":{"total":2,"successful":1,"failed":0},"_seq_no":0,"_primary_term":1}
$ curl -XPOST -H 'content-type: application/x-ndjson' -d $'
quote> { "update": { "_id": "1", "_index": "foo" } }
quote> { "doc": { "obj": { "a": 3 } } }
quote> ' localhost:9200/foo/_bulk
{"took":9,"errors":false,"items":[{"update":{"_index":"foo","_type":"_doc","_id":"1","_version":2,"result":"updated","_shards":{"total":2,"successful":1,"failed":0},"_seq_no":1,"_primary_term":1,"status":200}}]}
$ curl localhost:9200/foo/_doc/1\?pretty
{
"_index" : "foo",
"_type" : "_doc",
"_id" : "1",
"_version" : 2,
"_seq_no" : 1,
"_primary_term" : 1,
"found" : true,
"_source" : {
"obj" : {
"a" : 3,
"b" : 2
}
}
}
```
I forgot to mention I'm on ES 7.13.0.
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657/4 "2021-07-26T18:57:38Z")
That's the expected behavior. You are not replacing the object `obj` but the field `obj.a`.
You should use the index API IMO.
---
### Author:  [@nahh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nahh)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2021, 7:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657/5 "2021-07-26T19:15:32Z")
I see, using `index` instead of `update` when using the bulk API does indeed do what I need. Thank you!
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-objects-in-documents/279657/6 "2021-08-23T19:16:03Z")
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