[[keyword]]
=== Keyword datatype

A field to index structured content such as email addresses, hostnames, status
codes, zip codes or tags.

They are typically used for filtering (_Find me all blog posts where
++status++ is ++published++_), for sorting, and for aggregations. Keyword
fields are only searchable by their exact value.

If you need to index full text content such as email bodies or product
descriptions, it is likely that you should rather use a <<text,`text`>> field.

Below is an example of a mapping for a keyword field:

[source,js]
--------------------------------
PUT my_index
{
  "mappings": {
    "_doc": {
      "properties": {
        "tags": {
          "type":  "keyword"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------
// CONSOLE

[[keyword-params]]
==== Parameters for keyword fields

The following parameters are accepted by `keyword` fields:

[horizontal]

<<mapping-boost,`boost`>>::

    Mapping field-level query time boosting. Accepts a floating point number, defaults
    to `1.0`.

<<doc-values,`doc_values`>>::

    Should the field be stored on disk in a column-stride fashion, so that it
    can later be used for sorting, aggregations, or scripting? Accepts `true`
    (default) or `false`.

<<eager-global-ordinals,`eager_global_ordinals`>>::

    Should global ordinals be loaded eagerly on refresh? Accepts `true` or `false`
    (default). Enabling this is a good idea on fields that are frequently used for
    terms aggregations.

<<multi-fields,`fields`>>::

    Multi-fields allow the same string value to be indexed in multiple ways for
    different purposes, such as one field for search and a multi-field for
    sorting and aggregations.

<<ignore-above,`ignore_above`>>::

    Do not index any string longer than this value.  Defaults to `2147483647`
    so that all values would be accepted. Please however note that default
    dynamic mapping rules create a sub `keyword` field that overrides this
    default by setting `ignore_above: 256`.

<<mapping-index,`index`>>::

    Should the field be searchable? Accepts `true` (default) or `false`.

<<index-options,`index_options`>>::

    What information should be stored in the index, for scoring purposes.
    Defaults to `docs` but can also be set to `freqs` to take term frequency into account
    when computing scores.

<<norms,`norms`>>::

    Whether field-length should be taken into account when scoring queries.
    Accepts `true` or `false` (default).

<<null-value,`null_value`>>::

    Accepts a string value which is substituted for any explicit `null`
    values.  Defaults to `null`, which means the field is treated as missing.

<<mapping-store,`store`>>::

    Whether the field value should be stored and retrievable separately from
    the <<mapping-source-field,`_source`>> field. Accepts `true` or `false`
    (default).

<<similarity,`similarity`>>::

    Which scoring algorithm or _similarity_ should be used. Defaults
    to `BM25`.

<<normalizer,`normalizer`>>::

    How to pre-process the keyword prior to indexing. Defaults to `null`,
    meaning the keyword is kept as-is.

`split_queries_on_whitespace`::

    Whether <<full-text-queries,full text queries>> should split the input on whitespace
    when building a query for this field.
    Accepts `true` or `false` (default).

NOTE: Indexes imported from 2.x do not support `keyword`. Instead they will
attempt to downgrade `keyword` into `string`. This allows you to merge modern
mappings with legacy mappings. Long lived indexes will have to be recreated
before upgrading to 6.x but mapping downgrade gives you the opportunity to do
the recreation on your own schedule.
