diff --git a/docs/reference/api-conventions.asciidoc b/docs/reference/api-conventions.asciidoc index 7d17a52a5f9..8b54ad83c5c 100644 --- a/docs/reference/api-conventions.asciidoc +++ b/docs/reference/api-conventions.asciidoc @@ -18,14 +18,19 @@ API, unless otherwise specified. Most APIs that accept a ``, ``, or `` request path parameter also support _multi-target syntax_. -In multi-target syntax, you can use a comma-separated list to execute a request across multiple resources, such as -data streams, indices, or index aliases: `test1,test2,test3`. You can also use -{wikipedia}/Glob_(programming)[glob-like] wildcard (`*`) -expressions to target any -resources that match the pattern: `test*` or `*test` or `te*t` or `*test*. +In multi-target syntax, you can use a comma-separated list to run a request on +multiple resources, such as data streams, indices, or index aliases: +`test1,test2,test3`. You can also use {wikipedia}/Glob_(programming)[glob-like] +wildcard (`*`) expressions to target resources that match a pattern: `test*` or +`*test` or `te*t` or `*test*`. You can exclude targets using the `-` character: `test*,-test3`. +IMPORTANT: Index aliases are resolved after wildcard expressions. This can +result in a request that targets an excluded alias. For example, if `test3` is +an index alias, the pattern `test*,-test3` still targets the indices for +`test3`. To avoid this, exclude the concrete indices for the alias instead. + Multi-target APIs that can target indices support the following query string parameters: