Update By Query: Inline script ctx with multiple statements fail if one or more items don't match?

Question

I am using below inline script with update by query to update approved=true in elastic and the timestamp lastModifiedDate.

POST /limp-access/_update_by_query
{
    "query": {
        "terms": {
            "_id": [
                "asdasfasf-laHg5qeld",
                "asdfadfdfdsf-asdasd"
             ]
        }
    },
    "script":{
    "source": "ctx._source.approved = true; ctx._source.fields.lastModifiedDate = ['2019-05-21T06:16:05.133Z'];"
  }
}

The problem is that some documents do not have this field lastModifiedDate at all. So whenever it encounters such doc, it fails with null pointer expression. Is there a way to ignore such docs and update the one's where it is found?

EDIT: Posting the error that I get below:

{ "error": { "root_cause": [ { "type": "script_exception", "reason": "runtime error", "script_stack": [ "ctx._source.fields.lastModifiedDate = ['2019-05-21T06:16:05.133Z'];", " ^---- HERE" ], "script": "ctx._source.approved = true; ctx._source.fields.lastModifiedDate = ['2019-05-21T06:16:05.133Z'];", "lang": "painless" } ], "type": "script_exception", "reason": "runtime error", "script_stack": [ "ctx._source.fields.lastModifiedDate = ['2019-05-21T06:16:05.133Z'];", " ^---- HERE" ], "script": "ctx._source.approved = true; ctx._source.fields.lastModifiedDate = ['2019-05-21T06:16:05.133Z'];", "lang": "painless", "caused_by": { "type": "null_pointer_exception", "reason": null } }, "status": 500 }

The expectation is that if one the IDs do not have the field fields, I want it to be ignored and the script to update the rest of the documents where the field fields is found. Is this possible?

You mean that some documents don't have the field named fields. Can you show the error you get? — Val
@Val Yes, some documents do not have this field. I have updated the error in the original post. — Koshur

Val Val · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-21T08:43:56

Then simply update your script like this:

"source": "ctx._source.approved = true; if (ctx._source.fields != null) { ctx._source.fields.lastModifiedDate = ['2019-05-21T06:16:05.133Z'];}"

Update By Query: Inline script ctx with multiple statements fail if one or more items don't match?

1 Answers