# Inserting a document that already exists. Exception?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 15, 2018, 11:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084 "2018-06-15T11:04:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@javidr](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/javidr)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2018, 11:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/1 "2018-06-15T11:04:54Z")
Hi
I will need to add documents to an elasticsearch index i already have. I want to validate if the document i an adding already exists in this index, and if thats the case, dont add it
Is elasticsearch controlling that scenario returning an exception? If not, how can i validate this?
I have tried using the GET API, but you need to send the ID as parameter. i want to search inside the whole index, not using a specific ID
Thanks
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2018, 11:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/2 "2018-06-15T11:19:38Z")
I guess this is what you want: [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-index\_.html#operation-type](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-index_.html#operation-type)
---
### Author:  [@tdasch](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tdasch)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2018, 11:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/3 "2018-06-15T11:23:53Z")
It looks like `op_type` requires the id?
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/4 "2018-06-15T11:36:28Z")
Ha I missed that part. Sorry.
Then there is no other than doing 2 calls.
The first to search if the document exists:
```auto
GET index/_search
{
"size": 0,
"query": ...
}
```
The second to effectively index if no document exists.
Problem is that document can be added in the meantime.
Another solution would be to compute a fingerprint on whatever fields are important to you and use that as the `_id`.
---
### Author:  [@javidr](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/javidr)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/5 "2018-06-15T13:23:34Z")
Thanks for the answer
My problem is that the id is just a number i am generating at insertion time (1,2,3...)
What i would like to do i search in an index if a document (without using the id) exists in that index, as i dont know what is the id for the existing document
Imagine i have {"name": "javi"} and it has been indexed with id 4847 on the index "test"
How can i check if {"name": "javi"} exists in "test"?
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/6 "2018-06-15T13:41:23Z")
Has I said:
- run a search to see if there is a match
Or
- generate a hash based on this payload and use it as an id
---
### Author:  [@tdasch](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tdasch)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/7 "2018-06-15T18:33:44Z")
Javi,
Like Mr. Pilato said, you can run a query to search. Let's use your example in the query:
```
GET test/_search
{
"query": {
"match": {
"name": "javi"
}
}
}
```
If the doc is present, you'll get a hit and the associated id, see example below:
```
{
"took": 10,
"timed_out": false,
"_shards": {
"total": 5,
"successful": 5,
"skipped": 0,
"failed": 0
},
"hits": {
"total": 1,
"max_score": 0.2876821,
"hits": [
{
"_index": "test",
"_type": "doc",
"_id": "gFO3BGQBHKIRaf1Qrs4z",
"_score": 0.2876821,
"_source": {
"name": "javi"
}
}
]
}
}
```
The line you are looking for is `"_id": "gFO3BGQBHKIRaf1Qrs4z",` , if it exists.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inserting-a-document-that-already-exists-exception/136084/8 "2018-07-13T18:33:44Z")
This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.