# Update only a single field of a subobject?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/update-only-a-single-field-of-a-subobject/39815
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [January 21, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/update-only-a-single-field-of-a-subobject/39815 "2016-01-21T20:32:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jpblair](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jpblair)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/update-only-a-single-field-of-a-subobject/39815/1 "2016-01-21T20:32:14Z")
So I noticed [here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-update.html#_updates_with_a_partial_document) that you can use the `doc` field in the update API to update single fields. However, I can't seem to get this working when the field is not at the root of the document, without erasing the other fields in the subobject. For example, if I have a document with this structure:
```
{
"parent": {
"child1":1,
"child2":2,
"child3":3,
"child4":4
}
}
```
How can I update ONLY `child2`? If I send `{"parent":{"child2":5}}`, that will replace the whole `parent` object. I had thought that maybe I could do `{"parent.child2":5}`, but that appears to create a new field with the literal name `parent.child2`. Is what I'm trying to do possible? I know I can retrieve the current value of `parent`, modify it client-side and resend, but wouldn't there be potential race conditions from that? Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2016, 6:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/update-only-a-single-field-of-a-subobject/39815/2 "2016-01-22T06:25:30Z")
You need to update the entire structure.
Nested documents may work here, but I am no expert there.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/update-only-a-single-field-of-a-subobject/39815/3 "2017-07-05T23:22:20Z")