--
:api: exists
:request: GetRequest
:response: boolean
--

[id="{upid}-{api}"]
=== Exists API

The exists API returns `true` if a document exists, and `false` otherwise.

[id="{upid}-{api}-request"]
==== Exists Request

It uses +{request}+ just like the <<java-rest-high-document-get>>.
All of its <<java-rest-high-document-get-request-optional-arguments, optional arguments>>
are supported. Since `exists()` only returns `true` or `false`, we recommend
turning off fetching `_source` and any stored fields so the request is
slightly lighter:

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests-file}[{api}-request]
--------------------------------------------------
<1> Index
<2> Type
<3> Document id
<4> Disable fetching `_source`.
<5> Disable fetching stored fields.

include::../execution.asciidoc[]


==== Source exists request
A variant of the exists request is `existsSource` method which has the additional check
that the document in question has stored the `source`. If the mapping for the index has opted
to remove support for storing JSON source in documents then this method will return false
for documents in this index.
