# How to use If else condition in script fields

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-use-if-else-condition-in-script-fields/313947>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Tags:** painless\
**Created:** [September 8, 2022, 6:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-use-if-else-condition-in-script-fields/313947 "2022-09-08T06:17:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Krishna\_Sai\_Nag\_G](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/krishna_sai_nag_g/32/80467_2.png) [@Krishna\_Sai\_Nag\_G](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Krishna_Sai_Nag_G)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2022, 6:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-use-if-else-condition-in-script-fields/313947/1 "2022-09-08T06:17:43Z")

</div>

Hi i have a query as following, i am getting the result when the "field\_5" in script field have some data and when it is empty, it is not returning and is showing error.

And i want to check with if else condition in both cases(empty data case and if the filed exists data) and i need the result in both cases.

Is there anything we can do like that in Elasticsearch.

```auto
GET <index_name>/_search
{
  "_source": ["field_1","field_2","field_3","field_4","field_5"],
  "query": { 
			    "match_phrase": {
			      "<field_name>": {
        			"query": "some text to search"
      }
			    }
			    },
			  "highlight": {
			    "fields": {
			      "<field_5>": {}
			    }
			  },"script_fields": {
    "<field_5>": {
      "script": {
        "lang": "painless",
        "source": "params._source['<field_5>'].toString().length()"
      }
    }
  }
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jsanz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jsanz/32/53734_2.png) [@jsanz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jsanz)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-use-if-else-condition-in-script-fields/313947/2 "2022-09-09T13:27:08Z")

</div>

This works for me:

```auto
# Delete if exists
DELETE delete_if_else

# Define a simple index
PUT delete_if_else
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "text_field": {"type": "text"},
      "keyword_field": {"type": "keyword"}
    }
  }
}

# Add some data with incomplete documents
POST delete_if_else/_bulk
{"index" : {}}
{ "text_field": "hola"}
{"index" : {}}
{"keyword_field": "mundo"}
{"index" : {}}
{ "text_field": "fo", "keyword_field": "baaaar"}

# Search and get the length if the field exits
GET delete_if_else/_search
{
  "_source": ["text_field", "keyword_field"],
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": [
        {
          "query_string": {
            "query": "*baaa*"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "highlight": {
    "fields": {
      "*": {}
    }
  },
  "script_fields": {
    "scripted": {
      "script": {
        "lang": "painless",
        "source": """
if (params._source['text_field']!=null) {
  return params._source['text_field']?.toString().length();
} else {
  return 0;
}"""
      }
    }
  }
}

```

Some notes:

- You don't need to put the scripted field in the `_source` section
- It does not make sense to add the scripted field on the `highlight` section since it will return a computed value, nothing to do with the searched text
- The `if { ... } else { ...}` is pretty straight forward, just check for the value to not be `null` and you should be good to go.
- If you are on 8.x you may want to take a look to [Runtime Fields](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/8.4/runtime.html)

---

<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:** [October 7, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-use-if-else-condition-in-script-fields/313947/3 "2022-10-07T13:27:58Z")

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