# Preventing document update based on field values **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [April 5, 2024, 11:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858 "2024-04-05T11:02:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ashish25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@ashish25](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ashish25)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 11:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/1 "2024-04-05T11:02:14Z")
Is there anyway to prevent updating document based on some field? Eg- Below documents already present in elastic: { "business\_address" : "660 Sacramento St", "business\_city" : "San Francisco", "business\_id" : 22 } And if someone is trying to update above document then it should prevent it bcz "business\_id" : 22 Is there anyway to prevent it? ---
**Author:** ![Carlos\_D](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/carlos_d/32/126245_2.png) [@Carlos\_D](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Carlos_D)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/2 "2024-04-05T14:33:11Z")
> [@ashish25](#): > > Is there anyway to prevent updating document based on some field? Hey @ashish25 ! You might use script updating for that, something similar to: ```auto PUT /index_name/_update/doc_id { "script": { "lang": "painless", // Scripting language (other options available) "source": "if (ctx._source.field_name.value != 'undesired_value') { ... update logic ... }" } } ``` Or, you could implement the logic in your application, and retrieve the doc first before updating to check the value. Hope that helps! ---
**Author:** ![ashish25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@ashish25](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ashish25)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 6:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/3 "2024-04-08T06:56:50Z")
Thanks @Carlos_D for your response, just one more question regarding your script above - if (doc.field\_name.value != 'undesired\_value') --\> will it check the value of document which we are trying to ingest or will it check the value of existing document in elastic? ---
**Author:** ![Carlos\_D](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/carlos_d/32/126245_2.png) [@Carlos\_D](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Carlos_D)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 7:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/4 "2024-04-08T07:15:54Z")
Hi @ashish25 ! It refers to the current document value. There were some errors in the original script I provided - I updated the script in my previous response to properly use `ctx._source` to refer to the existing document. In case you want to check the provided value, I would suggest using script parameters for that. Please check [these examples](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-update.html#update-api-example). ---
**Author:** ![ashish25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@ashish25](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ashish25)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/5 "2024-04-08T12:26:12Z")
Thanks @Carlos_D, I am able to prevent the document via your suggestion. Is it possible to put this script at index pattern level ? So that the script will be executed for all the documents at the time of ingestion. ---
**Author:** ![Carlos\_D](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/carlos_d/32/126245_2.png) [@Carlos\_D](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Carlos_D)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 2:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/6 "2024-04-08T14:52:24Z")
> Is it possible to put this script at index pattern level ? So that the script will be executed for all the documents at the time of ingestion. You could use an [ingest pipeline](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/ingest.html) to check that, using the [fail processor](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/fail-processor.html). Using the ingest pipeline as the final pipeline for the index will perform that check for all ingested documents. ---
**Author:** ![ashish25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@ashish25](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ashish25)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/7 "2024-04-08T19:09:11Z")
Thank you very much for your response. I created processor like below: **Processor:** PUT \_ingest/pipeline/my-pipeline\_test { "description": "My optional pipeline description", "processors": [ { "drop": { "description": "Drop documents", "if": " **ctx.\_source?.status == 'Delivered**'" } } ] } And then trying to POST below document: POST my-test-stream/ **\_doc** /123?pipeline=my-pipeline\_test { "my-keyword-field": "foo", "status": "Delivered" } And after that when I am trying to update above document like: POST my-test-stream/ **\_update** /123?pipeline=my-pipeline\_test { "my-keyword-field": "foo1", "status": "Initiate" } It is giving me below error instead of dropping the document: { "error" : { "root\_cause" : [ { "type" : "x\_content\_parse\_exception", "reason" : "[2:3] [UpdateRequest] unknown field [my-keyword-field]" } ], "type" : "x\_content\_parse\_exception", "reason" : "[2:3] [UpdateRequest] unknown field [my-keyword-field]" }, "status" : 400 } And also when I am trying to execute below commands, it got updated successfully instead of dropping the document - POST my-test-stream/ **\_doc** /123?pipeline=my-pipeline\_test { "my-keyword-field": "foo1", "status": "Initiate" } Please let me know whether I am missing something. ---
**Author:** ![ashish25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@ashish25](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ashish25)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 8:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/8 "2024-04-10T08:31:25Z")
@Carlos_D It seems we can't query the existing document inside processor. So, is there any other workaround? ---
**Author:** ![Carlos\_D](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/carlos_d/32/126245_2.png) [@Carlos\_D](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Carlos_D)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/9 "2024-04-10T13:50:16Z")
I'm able to check the ingested document, but not the existing one on the `if` section ☹ . Another think I'd like to check is whether it's possible to do that in a `script` processor, as the context they receive is different that the `if` section. But I haven't been able to confirm that yet. Besides that, I can't think of anything else that is Elasticsearch based - it would have to be dealt with at the client level. ---
**Author:** ![ashish25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@ashish25](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ashish25)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 5:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preventing-document-update-based-on-field-values/356858/10 "2024-04-12T05:22:17Z")
**script processor** is also not able to query existing document ☹ We are having this check at client level but observing some edge scenario where our client is not able to handle it, so trying to explore this option. Thanks @Carlos_D for all your response.