# Unknown key for a START\_ARRAY in \[query\]

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unknown-key-for-a-start-array-in-query/173989>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [March 26, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unknown-key-for-a-start-array-in-query/173989 "2019-03-26T18:06:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hughplatform](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9a140/32.png) [@hughplatform](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/hughplatform)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unknown-key-for-a-start-array-in-query/173989/1 "2019-03-26T18:06:03Z")

</div>

My GET request is returning an error response to my query. Can't figure out what's wrong with my DSL.

Error:

```
{
"error": {
    "root_cause": [
        {
            "type": "parsing_exception",
            "reason": "Unknown key for a START_ARRAY in [query].",
            "line": 11,
            "col": 14
        }
    ],
    "type": "parsing_exception",
    "reason": "Unknown key for a START_ARRAY in [query].",
    "line": 11,
    "col": 14
},
"status": 400

```

}

Query:

```
{
"size": 1,
"sort": [
    {
        "@timestamp": {
            "unmapped_type": "boolean",
            "order": "desc"
        }
    }
],
"query": [
    {
        "query_string": {
            "query": "\"context.request.body.event.type\": 7",
            "analyze_wildcard": true
        },
        "bool": {
            "filter": [
                {
                    "range": {
                        "@timestamp": {
                            "gte": "now-20m"
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    }
]

```

}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unknown-key-for-a-start-array-in-query/173989/2 "2019-03-26T23:07:00Z")

</div>

The `query` can't be an array. You must write it like:

```auto
{
  "query": {
    // One query here
  }
}

```

So put the `query_string` query within the `bool` query under a `must` clause.

---

<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:** [April 23, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unknown-key-for-a-start-array-in-query/173989/3 "2019-04-23T23:07:05Z")

</div>

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