# Logstash Mutate Split doesn't work
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-mutate-split-doesnt-work/140227
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [July 16, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-mutate-split-doesnt-work/140227 "2018-07-16T22:56:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@deadPix3l](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/deadPix3l)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-mutate-split-doesnt-work/140227/1 "2018-07-16T22:56:44Z")
I'm stuck with 6.1.1 and cannot upgrade, sorry if this was known and fixed but ive been searching for hours for a workaround.
using something similar to:
```auto
filter {
mutate {
split => { "dottedField" => '.' }
}
}
```
and a field value like `this.is.a.dotted.string` should produce `["this", "is", "a", "dotted", "string"]`
What it actually produces is `["this.is.a.dotted.string"]` ie. It does convert it into an array, but it doesn't actually split it. So i get string =\> array with original string as only element.
Please Help.
---
### Author:  [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-mutate-split-doesnt-work/140227/2 "2018-07-16T23:57:53Z")
If you run a really simple configuration like this, what do you get?
```
output { stdout { codec => rubydebug } }
input { generator { count => 1 message => '' } }
filter {
mutate { add_field => { "dottedField"=> "this.is.a.dotted.field" } }
mutate { split => { "dottedField" => '.' } }
}
```
In 6.3.1 I get an array with five entries.
Is it possible it started out as an array and you should really be using
```
mutate { split => { "[dottedField][0]" => '.' } }
```
---
### Author:  [@deadPix3l](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/deadPix3l)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-mutate-split-doesnt-work/140227/3 "2018-07-17T17:44:22Z")
Wow. Somehow i missed that.
Kibana shows arrays as comma seperated. only 1 element == no commas == looks like a string.
But the ES API returns a json array. AHA!
This fixed it, Thank You! (and so timely too!)
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-mutate-split-doesnt-work/140227/4 "2018-08-14T17:44:37Z")
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