# How to replace unicode \\u00a0 with space with ingest pipeline processor

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-unicode-u00a0-with-space-with-ingest-pipeline-processor/350484>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** ingest-pipeline\
**Created:** [January 5, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-unicode-u00a0-with-space-with-ingest-pipeline-processor/350484 "2024-01-05T18:48:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bowfish](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/bowfish/32/130394_2.png) [@Bowfish](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Bowfish)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-unicode-u00a0-with-space-with-ingest-pipeline-processor/350484/1 "2024-01-05T18:48:06Z")

</div>

I want to replace all non breaking space (\u00a0) characters with a normal spaces in a gsub processor in an ingest pipeline.

I tried it with this:

```auto
POST _ingest/pipeline/_simulate
{
  "pipeline": {
    "processors": [
      {
        "gsub": {
          "field": "message",
          "pattern": "^[\\\n]+",
          "replacement": "",
          "ignore_missing": false,
          "description": "Replace multiple newlines at the beginning",
          "on_failure": [
            {
              "append": {
                "description": "Record error information",
                "field": "_ingestion_errors",
                "value": "Processor 'gsub' with tag 'remove_page_numbers' in pipeline '{{ _ingest.on_failure_pipeline }}' failed with message '{{ _ingest.on_failure_message }}'"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "gsub": {
          "field": "message",
          "pattern": "\\\u00a0",
          "replacement": "",
          "ignore_missing": false,
          "description": "Replace non breaking spaces",
          "on_failure": [
            {
              "append": {
                "description": "Record error information",
                "field": "_ingestion_errors",
                "value": "Processor 'gsub' with tag 'remove_page_numbers' in pipeline '{{ _ingest.on_failure_pipeline }}' failed with message '{{ _ingest.on_failure_message }}'"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "gsub": {
          "field": "message",
          "pattern": "Page \\d of \\d",
          "replacement": "",
          "ignore_missing": false,
          "description": "Remove Page x of x",
          "on_failure": [
            {
              "append": {
                "description": "Record error information",
                "field": "_ingestion_errors",
                "value": "Processor 'gsub' with tag 'remove_page_numbers' in pipeline '{{ _ingest.on_failure_pipeline }}' failed with message '{{ _ingest.on_failure_message }}'"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "gsub": {
          "field": "message",
          "pattern": "\\\n ",
          "replacement": "",
          "ignore_missing": false,
          "description": "Replace multiple newlines",
          "on_failure": [
            {
              "append": {
                "description": "Record error information",
                "field": "_ingestion_errors",
                "value": "Processor 'gsub' with tag 'remove_page_numbers' in pipeline '{{ _ingest.on_failure_pipeline }}' failed with message '{{ _ingest.on_failure_message }}'"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "gsub": {
          "field": "message",
          "pattern": "[\\\n\\\n]+",
          "replacement": "\\\n\\\n",
          "ignore_missing": false,
          "description": "Replace multiple newlines",
          "on_failure": [
            {
              "append": {
                "description": "Record error information",
                "field": "_ingestion_errors",
                "value": "Processor 'gsub' with tag 'remove_page_numbers' in pipeline '{{ _ingest.on_failure_pipeline }}' failed with message '{{ _ingest.on_failure_message }}'"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "docs": [
    {
      "_source": {
        "message": "\n\n\n\nMarketing Intern\nMay 2009 - August 2009 (4 months)\nNew York City Metropolitan Area\n\nJump PR\nPublic Relations Intern\n\n Page 2 of 3\n\n\n\n \n\nMay 2008 - August 2008 (4 months)\nNew York City Metropolitan Area\n\nEducation\nUniversity\nBachelor of Arts - BA, Communication and Media Studies · (August 2010 - May\n2014)\n\nSenior High School\n · (September 2006 - June 2010)\n\n Page 3 of 3"
      }
    }
  ]
}

```

but it doesn't remove the \u00a0 character.

How can I remove it? And how can i optimize the gsub's that the I get the output like I posted it below?

I would like to look the output like this:

```auto
Marketing Intern
May 2009 - August 2009 (4 months) 
New York City Metropolitan Area Jump PR

Public Relations Intern  
May 2008 - August 2008 (4 months) 
New York City Metropolitan Area

Education
University
Bachelor of Arts - BA, Communication and Media Studies · (August 2010 - May 2014)
Senior High School· (September 2006 - June 2010)

```

Thanks for your help

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![goddardtan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/41988e/32.png) [@goddardtan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/goddardtan)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-unicode-u00a0-with-space-with-ingest-pipeline-processor/350484/2 "2024-01-06T12:29:52Z")

</div>

Hi @Bowfish

It seems like you have an additional \ in your regex. Maybe you can give a try:

"pattern": "\[1\]+" -\> "pattern": "\[2\]+"

"pattern": "\\u00a0" -\> "pattern": "\u00a0",

* * *

1. \\n 

2. \n

---

<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 3, 2024, 12:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-replace-unicode-u00a0-with-space-with-ingest-pipeline-processor/350484/3 "2024-02-03T12:30:00Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.