# Removing elements from an array in a document
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-elements-from-an-array-in-a-document/10156
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [December 21, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-elements-from-an-array-in-a-document/10156 "2012-12-21T15:54:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jayant\_Kerai](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jayant_Kerai)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-elements-from-an-array-in-a-document/10156/1 "2012-12-21T15:54:09Z")
Hi, I'm very new to ES and am evaluating it for my search needs
[http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/update.html](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/update.html)
shows how to add elements to an array in an existing indexed document.
curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/test/type1/1/\_update' -d '{
```
"script" : "ctx._source.tags += tag",
"params" : {
"tag" : "blue"
}
```
}'
The above should add a new element to the list.
Is it possible to remove elements from an array in a similar fashion?
e.g. the equivalent of
curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/test/type1/1/\_update' -d '{
```
"script" : "ctx._source.tags -= tag",
"params" : {
"tag" : "blue"
}
```
}'
Aside from reading all the element entries and removing the one 1 want to
remove and updating the entire element using the \_update endpoint.
--
---
### Author:  [@Igor\_Motov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Motov)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-elements-from-an-array-in-a-document/10156/2 "2012-12-22T01:48:34Z")
Tags in your example is an ArrayList[http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/ArrayList.html#remove(java.lang.Object)](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/ArrayList.html#remove(java.lang.Object)).
So, you can do something like this:
curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/test/type1/1/\_update' -d '{
"script" : "ctx.\_source.tags.remove(tag)",
"params" : {
"tag" : "blue"
}
}'
On Friday, December 21, 2012 10:54:09 AM UTC-5, jkerai wrote:
> Hi, I'm very new to ES and am evaluating it for my search needs
>
> [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/update.html)
>
> shows how to add elements to an array in an existing indexed document.
>
> curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/test/type1/1/\_update' -d '{
>
> ```
> "script" : "ctx._source.tags += tag",
> "params" : {
> "tag" : "blue"
> }
>
> ```
>
> }'
> The above should add a new element to the list.
>
> Is it possible to remove elements from an array in a similar fashion?
> e.g. the equivalent of
>
> curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/test/type1/1/\_update' -d '{
>
> ```
> "script" : "ctx._source.tags -= tag",
> "params" : {
> "tag" : "blue"
> }
>
> ```
>
> }'
>
> Aside from reading all the element entries and removing the one 1 want to
> remove and updating the entire element using the \_update endpoint.
--
---
### Author:  [@Jayant\_Kerai](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jayant_Kerai)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2012, 12:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-elements-from-an-array-in-a-document/10156/3 "2012-12-22T12:25:32Z")
Excellent. That works like a dream.
And I appreciate you correcting my terminology. Thanks Igor!
Just to elaborate, my actual example is a little different from what I
posted but your solution works.
My example:
curl -XPUT '[http://localhost:9200/myindex/mytype/12](http://localhost:9200/myindex/mytype/12)' -d '{
"Name": "Entity 1",
"Description": "Jay Desc 1",
"Entities": [
{
"CategoryID": "1",
"CategoryName": "Office",
"EntityID": "1",
"EntityName": "UK"
},
{
"CategoryID": "1",
"CategoryName": "Office",
"EntityID": "2",
"EntityName": "South Africa"
},
{
"CategoryID": "2",
"CategoryName": "Team",
"EntityID": "3",
"EntityName": "Accounts"
},
{
"CategoryID": "2",
"CategoryName": "Team",
"EntityID": "4",
"EntityName": "Development"
}
]
}'
curl -XPOST '[http://localhost:9200/myindex/mytype/12/\_update](http://localhost:9200/myindex/mytype/12/_update)' -d
'{
"script" : "ctx.\_source.Entities.remove(Entities)",
"params" : {
"Entities":
{
"CategoryID": "2",
"CategoryName": "Team",
"EntityID": "4",
"EntityName": "Development"
}
}
}'
On Friday, 21 December 2012 15:54:09 UTC, jkerai wrote:
> Hi, I'm very new to ES and am evaluating it for my search needs
>
> [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/update.html)
>
> shows how to add elements to an array in an existing indexed document.
>
> curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/test/type1/1/\_update' -d '{
>
> ```
> "script" : "ctx._source.tags += tag",
> "params" : {
> "tag" : "blue"
> }
>
> ```
>
> }'
> The above should add a new element to the list.
>
> Is it possible to remove elements from an array in a similar fashion?
> e.g. the equivalent of
>
> curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/test/type1/1/\_update' -d '{
>
> ```
> "script" : "ctx._source.tags -= tag",
> "params" : {
> "tag" : "blue"
> }
>
> ```
>
> }'
>
> Aside from reading all the element entries and removing the one 1 want to
> remove and updating the entire element using the \_update endpoint.
--
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-elements-from-an-array-in-a-document/10156/4 "2017-07-06T02:58:39Z")