# Invalid index name \[\_all\], must not start with '\_'\]

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/invalid-index-name-all-must-not-start-with/255808>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [November 18, 2020, 9:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/invalid-index-name-all-must-not-start-with/255808 "2020-11-18T09:01:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lankin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@lankin1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lankin1)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 9:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/invalid-index-name-all-must-not-start-with/255808/1 "2020-11-18T09:01:23Z")

</div>

Hi all,

When I try to delete all documents by id:

```
POST /_all/_delete_by_query
{"query": {"match":
{"id":"xxxxxxxx"}
}}

```

I get the following error:

`400 Bad Request: [{"error":"RemoteTransportException[[Launch_001][inet[]][indices:admin/create]]; nested: InvalidIndexNameException[[_all] Invalid index name [_all], must not start with '_']; ","status":400}]`

What could be the problem? is /\_all not correct?

Thank you in advance!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [November 18, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/invalid-index-name-all-must-not-start-with/255808/2 "2020-11-18T16:35:00Z")

</div>

Would that work?

```
POST /_delete_by_query
{"query": {"match":
{"id":"xxxxxxxx"}
}}
```

---

<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:** [December 16, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/invalid-index-name-all-must-not-start-with/255808/3 "2020-12-16T16:35:10Z")

</div>

Closed on December 16, 2020, 4:35pm UTC

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