Elasticsearch Index and Document Operations Tutorial

This article provides a step‑by‑step guide to using Elasticsearch for index and document management via its REST API.

Index operations

Create an index:

PUT http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping

Get an index:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping

List all indices:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/_cat/indices?v

Delete an index:

DELETE http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping

Document operations

Create a document (auto‑generated ID):

POST http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_doc

Create a document with a custom ID:

POST http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_doc/1001

Put (upsert) a document with a specific ID (idempotent):

PUT http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_doc/1001

Get a document by ID:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_doc/1001

Search all documents:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search

Update a document completely:

PUT http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_doc/1001
{ "name": "商品" }

Partial update (scripted or doc):

POST http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_update/1001
{ "doc": { "name": "局部修改商品" } }

Delete a document:

DELETE http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_doc/1001

Query examples

Simple term query:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search?q=category:小米

Match query (recommended):

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": { "match": { "category": "小米" } }
}

Match‑all query:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": { "match_all": {} }
}

Pagination (from, size):

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": { "match_all": {} },
  "from": 0,
  "size": 10
}

Field‑source filtering:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": { "match_all": {} },
  "from": 0,
  "size": 10,
  "_source": ["title"]
}

Sorting by price descending:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": { "match_all": {} },
  "from": 0,
  "size": 10,
  "_source": ["title"],
  "sort": { "price": { "order": "desc" } }
}

Boolean must (AND) query:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": [
        { "match": { "category": "小米" } },
        { "match": { "price": 1999.00 } }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Boolean should (OR) query:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "should": [
        { "match": { "category": "小米" } },
        { "match": { "price": 1999.00 } }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Range filter (price > 5000) combined with should:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "should": [
        { "match": { "category": "小米" } },
        { "match": { "price": 1999.00 } }
      ],
      "filter": {
        "range": { "price": { "gt": 5000 } }
      }
    }
  }
}

Match phrase (exact phrase) query:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": { "match_phrase": { "category": "小华" } }
}

Highlighting results:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "query": { "match_phrase": { "category": "小华" } },
  "highlight": { "fields": { "category": {} } }
}

Aggregations – terms aggregation on price:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "aggs": { "price_group": { "terms": { "field": "price" } } }
}

Aggregations with size 0 to return only stats:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "aggs": { "price_group": { "terms": { "field": "price" } } },
  "size": 0
}

Average price aggregation:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/shopping/_search {
  "aggs": { "price_avg": { "avg": { "field": "price" } } },
  "size": 0
}

Mapping operations

Create a mapping for a user index:

PUT http://127.0.0.1:9200/user/_mapping {
  "properties": {
    "name": { "type": "text", "index": true },
    "sex":  { "type": "keyword", "index": true },
    "tel":  { "type": "keyword", "index": false }
  }
}

Retrieve the mapping:

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/user/_mapping

Insert a document into the user index:

PUT http://127.0.0.1:9200/user/_create/1001 {
  "name": "小米",
  "sex": "男的",
  "tel": "10010"
}

Search the user index by name (partial match):

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/user/_search {
  "query": { "match": { "name": "小" } }
}

Search by exact sex value (must match full keyword):

GET http://127.0.0.1:9200/user/_search {
  "query": { "match": { "sex": "男的" } }
}

Note: fields indexed as keyword require exact matches; tel is not indexed and cannot be searched.