Format date in elasticsearch query (during retrieval)

When you run a query in Elasticsearch you can request it to return the raw data, for example specifying fields:

curl -XGET http://localhost:9200/myindex/date-test/_search?pretty -d '{ "fields" : "aDate", "query":{     "match_all":{     } }}'

Will give you the date in the format that you originally stored it:

{  "_index" : "myindex",  "_type" : "date-test",  "_id" : "AUrlWNTAk1DYhbTcL2xO",  "_score" : 1.0,  "fields" : {    "aDate" : [ "2015-01-13T20:08:56" ]  }}, {  "_index" : "myindex",  "_type" : "date-test",  "_id" : "AUrlQnFgk1DYhbTcL2xM",  "_score" : 1.0,  "fields" : {    "aDate" : [ 1421179734000 ]  }

It's not possible to change the date format unless you use a script.

curl -XGET http://localhost:9200/myindex/date-test/_search?pretty -d '{   "query":{     "match_all":{ } }, "script_fields":{     "aDate":{        "script":"use( groovy.time.TimeCategory ) { new Date( doc[\"aDate\"].value )  }"   } }}'

Will return:

{  "_index" : "myindex",  "_type" : "date-test",  "_id" : "AUrlWNTAk1DYhbTcL2xO",  "_score" : 1.0,  "fields" : {    "aDate" : [ "2015-01-13T20:08:56.000Z" ]  }}, {  "_index" : "myindex",  "_type" : "date-test",  "_id" : "AUrlQnFgk1DYhbTcL2xM",  "_score" : 1.0,  "fields" : {    "aDate" : [ "2015-01-13T20:08:54.000Z" ]  }}

To apply a format, append it as follows:

"script":"use( groovy.time.TimeCategory ){ new Date( doc[\"aDate\"].value ).format(\"yyyy-MM-dd\")   }"

will return "aDate" : [ "2015-01-13" ]

To display the T, you'll need to use quotes but replace them with the Unicode equivalent:

"script":"use( groovy.time.TimeCategory ){ new Date( doc[\"aDate\"].value ).format(\"yyyy-MM-dd\u0027T\u0027HH:mm:ss\") }"

returns "aDate" : [ "2015-01-13T20:08:54" ]

To return script_fields and source

Use _source in your query to specify the fields you want to return:

curl -XGET http://localhost:9200/myindex/date-test/_search?pretty -d ' {  "_source" : "name",  "query":{    "match_all":{ }  },  "script_fields":{    "aDate":{       "script":"use( groovy.time.TimeCategory ) { new Date( doc[\"aDate\"].value )  }"    }  } }'

Will return my name field:

"_source":{"name":"Terry"},  "fields" : {    "aDate" : [ "2015-01-13T20:08:56.000Z" ]  }

Using asterisk will return all fields, e.g.: "_source" : "*",

"_source":{"name":"Terry","aDate":1421179736000},  "fields" : {    "aDate" : [ "2015-01-13T20:08:56.000Z" ]  }

As LabOctoCat mentioned, Olly Cruickshank answer no longer works in elastic 2.2. I changed the script to:

"script":"new Date(doc['time'].value)"

You can format the date according to this.

Since 5.0.0, es use Painless as script language: link

Try this (work in 6.3.2)

"script":"doc['aDate'].value.toString('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss')"