# Removing items from an ArrayList with script
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-items-from-an-arraylist-with-script/203729
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [October 16, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-items-from-an-arraylist-with-script/203729 "2019-10-16T01:45:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dennis\_Monsewicz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Dennis_Monsewicz)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-items-from-an-arraylist-with-script/203729/1 "2019-10-16T01:45:02Z")
I'm attempting to try to remove items from an ArrayList on a doc, but not having any luck.
```
source: "for(item in params.tags) { if(ctx._source.tag_list.indexOf(item) !== -1) { ctx._source.tag_list.remove(item) } }",
params: {
tags: tags
}
```
The code runs, but the indexOf always returns -1 even though the document contains the tags I am trying to remove
---
### Author:  [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-items-from-an-arraylist-with-script/203729/2 "2019-10-16T13:00:50Z")
can you provide a fully reproducible minimal example including index and document creation?
--Alex
---
### Author:  [@Dennis\_Monsewicz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Dennis_Monsewicz)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-items-from-an-arraylist-with-script/203729/3 "2019-10-16T13:24:12Z")
@spinscale sure.
Document already indexed in my ES index:
```
{
"_index": "my_index_development",
"_type": "my_type",
"_id": "1",
"_version": 20,
"_routing": "2",
"found": true,
"_source": {
"first_name": "hello",
"last_name": "world",
"full_name": "hello world",
"email": "fu@bar.com",
"created_at": "2019-10-15T19:45:52.000Z",
"user_id": 3,
"account_id": 3,
"lists": [],
"tag_list": [
[
"challenger",
"ram"
]
]
}
}
```
What I am trying to do is remove tags from the `tag_list` attribute.
```
POST /my_index/my_type/1/_update
{
"script": {
source: "for(item in params.tags) { if(ctx._source.tag_list.indexOf(item) !== -1) { ctx._source.tag_list.remove(item) } }",
params: {
tags: ['challenger']
}
}
}
```
---
### Author:  [@Dennis\_Monsewicz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Dennis_Monsewicz)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-items-from-an-arraylist-with-script/203729/4 "2019-10-16T13:48:44Z")
I figured out my problem. It was working all along, but the `tag_list` attribute for this document got saved with a nested array which is why I kept running into problems.
The for loop works like its supposed too
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/removing-items-from-an-arraylist-with-script/203729/5 "2019-11-13T13:58:16Z")
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