# Missing Query vs. Exists Query - null\_value support

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/missing-query-vs-exists-query-null-value-support/57268>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 4, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/missing-query-vs-exists-query-null-value-support/57268 "2016-08-04T18:08:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![klbrunnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@klbrunnett](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/klbrunnett)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/missing-query-vs-exists-query-null-value-support/57268/1 "2016-08-04T18:08:44Z")

</div>

I'm curious why the `missing` query was deprecated in ES 2.2.

The documentation states that you should "Use exists query inside a must\_not clause instead." However, the `exists` query doesn't support the `null_value` parameter (from the `missing` query), meaning that you can't control how null\_value's are handled (whether they should be included or excluded from the result).

Are there use-cases where `missing` can't be completely replaced by `exists`, or are there ways to mimic the behavior of the `null_value` parameter when using `exists`?

---

<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:** [July 5, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/missing-query-vs-exists-query-null-value-support/57268/2 "2017-07-05T22:30:00Z")

</div>