# How to update date field in elasticsearch if it has "-" **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [February 29, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999 "2016-02-29T12:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Prashant\_Agrawal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prashant_agrawal/32/74982_2.png) [@Prashant\_Agrawal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Prashant_Agrawal)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/1 "2016-02-29T12:42:29Z")
I have data in my Elastic index as below : Indexed data as: ``` curl -XPUT 'http://localhost:9200/twitter/tweet/1' -d '{ "user" : "kimchy", "post_date" : "2009-11-15T14:12:12", "message" : "trying out Elasticsearch" }' ``` Mapping obtained using > curl -XGET localhost:9200/twitter `{"twitter":{"aliases":{},"mappings":{"tweet":{"properties":{"message":{"type":"string"},"post_date":{"type":"date","format":"strict_date_optional_time||epoch_millis"},"user":{"type":"string"}}}},"settings":{"index":{"creation_date":"1456739938440","number_of_shards":"5","number_of_replicas":"1","uuid":"DwhS57l1TsKQFyzY23LSiQ","version":{"created":"2020099"}}},"warmers":{}}}` Now if I am modifying user as below I am able to do the same: > curl -XPOST '[http://localhost:9200/twitter/tweet/1/\_update](http://localhost:9200/twitter/tweet/1/_update)' -d '{ > "script" : "ctx.\_source.user=new\_user", > "params" : { > "new\_user" : "search" > } > }' But when I tried modifying the date fields as below it is giving an exception : > curl -XPOST '[http://localhost:9200/twitter/tweet/1/\_update](http://localhost:9200/twitter/tweet/1/_update)' -d '{ > "script" : "ctx.\_source.post\_date='new-date'", > "params" : { > "new-date" : "2016-02-02T16:12:23" > } > }' Exception received is : > {"error":{"root\_cause":[{"type":"remote\_transport\_exception","reason":"[Anomaly][127.0.0.1:9300][indices:data/write/update[s]]"}],"type":"illegal\_argument\_exception","reason":"failed to execute script","caused\_by":{"type":"script\_exception","reason":"Failed to compile inline script [ctx.\_source.post\_date=new-date] using lang [groovy]","caused\_by":{"type":"script\_exception","reason":"failed to compile groovy script","caused\_by":{"type":"multiple\_compilation\_errors\_exception","reason":"startup failed:\ne90a551666b36d90e4fc5b08d04250da5c4d552d: 1: unexpected token: - @ line 1, column 26.\n ctx.\_source.post\_date=new-date\n > ^\n\n1 error\n"}}}} Now can anyone let me know how I can handle the same. ~Prashant ---
**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:** [February 29, 2016, 1:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/2 "2016-02-29T13:45:03Z")
can you try to replace `new-date` with `newdate`? And also replace `ctx.source.postdate='new-date'` with `ctx.source.postdate=newdate` ---
**Author:** ![Prashant\_Agrawal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prashant_agrawal/32/74982_2.png) [@Prashant\_Agrawal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Prashant_Agrawal)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/3 "2016-02-29T14:37:03Z")
Hi David, If I change new-date to newdate then its working. But as we have indexed all docs with field name having "-" in between so how we could achieve that. ~Prashant +91-8097606642 ---
**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:** [February 29, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/4 "2016-02-29T14:57:42Z")
In your example `new-date` is a script parameter. Not a field. Is it different from your real use case? ---
**Author:** ![Prashant\_Agrawal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prashant_agrawal/32/74982_2.png) [@Prashant\_Agrawal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Prashant_Agrawal)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/5 "2016-02-29T15:15:16Z")
In my real use case I have script parameter and field both as "-" in between ~Prashant +91-8097606642 ---
**Author:** ![Prashant\_Agrawal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prashant_agrawal/32/74982_2.png) [@Prashant\_Agrawal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Prashant_Agrawal)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/6 "2016-02-29T18:03:22Z")
So any suggestion how can I use the same just for real use case : I have two fields as last-ip as IP , and last-login as date. Now I am running a script something like: > for (int i = 0; i \< ctx.\_source.device.size(); i++){if(ctx.\_source.device[i].browser == browser){ctx.\_source.device[i].last-ip = newip;i--;}} ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 10:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/7 "2016-03-01T10:04:34Z")
Unsure as I'm not super familiar with scripting but may be something like: `ctx._source.device[i]['last-ip'].value` I took this from [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.2/search-request-script-fields.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.2/search-request-script-fields.html) ---
**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, 11:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-update-date-field-in-elasticsearch-if-it-has/42999/8 "2017-07-05T23:12:36Z")