ES|QL metadata fields

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ES|QL metadata fields

To access these fields, use the METADATA directive with the FROM source command. For example:

FROM index METADATA _index, _id

Available metadata fields

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The following metadata fields are available in ES|QL:

Metadata field	Type	Description
`_id`	keyword	Unique document ID.
`_ignored`	keyword	Names every field in a document that was ignored when the document was indexed.
`_index`	keyword	Index name.
`_index_mode`	keyword	Index mode. For example: `standard`, `lookup`, or `logsdb`.
`_score`	`float`	Query relevance score (when enabled). Scores are updated when using full text search functions.
`_source`	Special `_source` type	Original JSON document body passed at index time (or a reconstructed version if synthetic `_source` is enabled).
`_version`	`long`	Document version number

Usage and limitations

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Metadata fields are only available when the data source is an index
The _source type is not supported by functions
Only the FROM command supports the METADATA directive
Once enabled, metadata fields work like regular index fields

Examples

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Basic metadata usage

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Once enabled, metadata fields are available to subsequent processing commands, just like other index fields:

FROM ul_logs, apps METADATA _index, _version
| WHERE id IN (13, 14) AND _version == 1
| EVAL key = CONCAT(_index, "_", TO_STR(id))
| SORT id, _index
| KEEP id, _index, _version, key

id:long	_index:keyword	_version:long	key:keyword
13	apps	1	apps_13
13	ul_logs	1	ul_logs_13
14	apps	1	apps_14
14	ul_logs	1	ul_logs_14

Metadata fields and aggregations

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Similar to index fields, once an aggregation is performed, a metadata field will no longer be accessible to subsequent commands, unless used as a grouping field:

FROM employees METADATA _index, _id
| STATS max = MAX(emp_no) BY _index

max:integer	_index:keyword
10100	employees

Sort results by search score

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FROM products METADATA _score
| WHERE MATCH(description, "wireless headphones")
| SORT _score DESC
| KEEP name, description, _score

Refer to Using ES|QL for search for more information on relevance scoring and how to use _score in your queries.

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