# Why was datatype:string changed to datatype:text?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/why-was-datatype-string-changed-to-datatype-text/156329>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [November 12, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/why-was-datatype-string-changed-to-datatype-text/156329 "2018-11-12T17:37:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KevinV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ab992/32.png) [@KevinV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KevinV)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/why-was-datatype-string-changed-to-datatype-text/156329/1 "2018-11-12T17:37:45Z")

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Why was datatype:string changed to datatype:text ?

The new version of Elasticsearch is not very backwards compatible. One of the things that seems to break is that datatype string should now be called datatype text ?

Why was this change made? Would it be better to support "string" and "text" as both being the same datatype?

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/why-was-datatype-string-changed-to-datatype-text/156329/2 "2018-12-10T17:37:48Z")

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Closed on December 10, 2018, 5:37pm UTC

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