WARNING: Version 2.0 of Elasticsearch has passed its EOL date.

This documentation is no longer being maintained and may be removed. If you are running this version, we strongly advise you to upgrade. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

« _source field _ttl field »
Elastic Docs ›Elasticsearch Guide [2.0] ›Mapping ›Meta-Fields

_timestamp field

edit

_timestamp field

edit

Deprecated in 2.0.0-beta2.

The _timestamp field is deprecated. Instead, use a normal date field and set its value explicitly

The _timestamp field, when enabled, allows a timestamp to be indexed and stored with a document. The timestamp may be specified manually, generated automatically, or set to a default value:

PUT my_index
{
  "mappings": {
    "my_type": {
      "_timestamp": { 
        "enabled": true
      }
    }
  }
}

PUT my_index/my_type/1?timestamp=2015-01-01 
{ "text": "Timestamp as a formatted date" }

PUT my_index/my_type/2?timestamp=1420070400000 
{ "text": "Timestamp as milliseconds since the epoch" }

PUT my_index/my_type/3 
{ "text": "Autogenerated timestamp set to now()" }

Enable the _timestamp field with default settings.

Set the timestamp manually with a formatted date.

Set the timestamp with milliseconds since the epoch.

Auto-generates a timestamp with now().

The behaviour of the _timestamp field can be configured with the following parameters:

default
A default value to be used if none is provided. Defaults to now().
format
The date format (or formats) to use when parsing timestamps. Defaults to epoch_millis||strictDateOptionalTime.
ignore_missing
If true (default), replace missing timestamps with the default value. If false, throw an exception.

The value of the _timestamp field is accessible in queries, aggregations, scripts, and when sorting:

GET my_index/_search
{
  "query": {
    "range": {
      "_timestamp": { 
        "gte": "2015-01-01"
      }
    }
  },
  "aggs": {
    "Timestamps": {
      "terms": {
        "field": "_timestamp", 
        "size": 10
      }
    }
  },
  "sort": [
    {
      "_timestamp": { 
        "order": "desc"
      }
    }
  ],
  "script_fields": {
    "Timestamp": {
      "script": "doc['_timestamp']" 
    }
  }
}

Querying on the _timestamp field

Aggregating on the _timestamp field

Sorting on the _timestamp field

Accessing the _timestamp field in scripts (inline scripts must be enabled for this example to work)
« _source field _ttl field »