# In App Search API how to check if the field exists or not in a document during search **URL:** \ **Category:** Elastic Search\ **Tags:** elastic-app-search\ **Created:** [November 19, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/in-app-search-api-how-to-check-if-the-field-exists-or-not-in-a-document-during-search/208535 "2019-11-19T15:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jayrraval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@jayrraval](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jayrraval)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/in-app-search-api-how-to-check-if-the-field-exists-or-not-in-a-document-during-search/208535/1 "2019-11-19T15:10:00Z")
In App Search API, how i can in query for documents that does not contain a particular field. In Elasticsearch we have "exists" keyword in while in App Search API there does not seems to be "exists" keyword to check if a field exists in a particular document. ---
**Author:** ![JasonStoltz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jasonstoltz/32/49893_2.png) [@JasonStoltz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/JasonStoltz)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/in-app-search-api-how-to-check-if-the-field-exists-or-not-in-a-document-during-search/208535/2 "2019-11-19T21:18:33Z")
Hey @jayrraval, you are correct, I don't believe there is an "exists" query for App Search. Just thinking out loud, you could probably handle this with some pre-processing. Make sure that documents that don't have the field set get indexed with a consistent empty value, like: `field: ""`. Then in a query you could do: ```auto "filters" : { "field": "" } ``` ---
**Author:** ![jayrraval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@jayrraval](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jayrraval)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 3:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/in-app-search-api-how-to-check-if-the-field-exists-or-not-in-a-document-during-search/208535/3 "2019-11-20T03:59:53Z")
Thanks Jason for the clarification. It seems in App Search API empty fields filters are not working. We might need to initialize the field with a constant (non-empty) value and filter on that constant value. ---
**Author:** ![JasonStoltz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jasonstoltz/32/49893_2.png) [@JasonStoltz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/JasonStoltz)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/in-app-search-api-how-to-check-if-the-field-exists-or-not-in-a-document-during-search/208535/4 "2019-11-20T18:30:27Z")
Ah, you're right. I suspect that is a bug, I can't imagine that is an intended behavior. I'll see if we can get that fixed. In the meantime, I recommend using a constant (non-empty) value as you suggested, or even a separate field, like `isFieldSet: false`. ---
**Author:** ![jayrraval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@jayrraval](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jayrraval)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 9:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/in-app-search-api-how-to-check-if-the-field-exists-or-not-in-a-document-during-search/208535/5 "2019-11-21T09:06:46Z")
Thanks Jason ! Appreciate your help ! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 9:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/in-app-search-api-how-to-check-if-the-field-exists-or-not-in-a-document-during-search/208535/6 "2019-12-19T09:11:16Z")
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