# Subtract two doc counts from one another
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/subtract-two-doc-counts-from-one-another/52865
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 15, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/subtract-two-doc-counts-from-one-another/52865 "2016-06-15T13:10:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lwintergerst](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lwintergerst)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/subtract-two-doc-counts-from-one-another/52865/1 "2016-06-15T13:10:30Z")
Hi,
I'm currently trying to find out how large the difference between the number of two seperate events is.
This is the response I get when I search for my events:
`"aggregations": { "aggname": { "buckets": { "event1": { "doc_count": 121 }, "event2": { "doc_count": 119 } } } }`
I got this result by running
`"aggs": { "aggname": { "filters": { "filters": { "event1": { "query": { "query_string": { "query": "event1" } } }, "event2": { "query": { "query_string": { "query": "event2" } } } } } } }`
I'm now trying to calculate the difference, but I cant get the bucket path to work...
I tried doing it like this and a few other ways, but had no success so far:
`"aggs": { "aggname": { "filters": { "filters": { "event1": { "query": { "query_string": { "query": "event1" } } }, "event2": { "query": { "query_string": { "query": "event2" } } } } }, "aggs": { "aggscript": { "bucket_script": { "buckets_path": { "my_var1": "event1>count", "my_var2": "event2>count" }, "script": "my_var1 - my_var2" } } } } }`
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### Author:  [@paulkeogh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/paulkeogh)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2016, 10:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/subtract-two-doc-counts-from-one-another/52865/2 "2016-06-21T10:56:16Z")
I think this won't work because the bucket script aggregation is a parent aggregation and your example does not have it structured as such.
I have exactly the same requirement so if anyone else knows how to do this without writing a custom client, please suggest !
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/subtract-two-doc-counts-from-one-another/52865/3 "2017-07-05T22:41:47Z")