Bytes

The bytes processor converts a human-readable byte value to its equivalent value in bytes. The field can be a scalar or an array. If the field is a scalar, the value is converted and stored in the field. If the field is an array, all values of the array are converted.

The following is the syntax for the bytes processor:

{
    "bytes": {
        "field": "your_field_name"
    }
}

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Configuration parameters

The following table lists the required and optional parameters for the bytes processor.

Parameter	Required	Description
`field`	Required	The name of the field where the data should be converted. Supports template snippets.
`description`	Optional	A brief description of the processor.
`if`	Optional	A condition for running this processor.
`ignore_failure`	Optional	If set to `true`, failures are ignored. Default is `false`.
`ignore_missing`	Optional	If set to `true`, the processor does not modify the document if the field does not exist or is `null`. Default is `false`.
`on_failure`	Optional	A list of processors to run if the processor fails.
`tag`	Optional	An identifier tag for the processor. Useful for debugging to distinguish between processors of the same type.
`target_field`	Optional	The name of the field in which to store the parsed data. If not specified, the value will be stored in place in the `field` field. Default is `field`.

Using the processor

Follow these steps to use the processor in a pipeline.

Step 1: Create a pipeline.

The following query creates a pipeline, named file_upload, that has one bytes processor. It converts the file_size to its byte equivalent and stores it in a new field named file_size_bytes:

PUT _ingest/pipeline/file_upload
{
  "description": "Pipeline that converts file size to bytes",
  "processors": [
    {
      "bytes": {
        "field": "file_size",
        "target_field": "file_size_bytes"
      }
    }
  ]
}

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Step 2 (Optional): Test the pipeline.

It is recommended that you test your pipeline before you ingest documents.

To test the pipeline, run the following query:

POST _ingest/pipeline/file_upload/_simulate
{
  "docs": [
    {
      "_index": "testindex1",
      "_id": "1",
      "_source": {
        "file_size_bytes": "10485760",
        "file_size":
          "10MB"
      }
    }
  ]
}

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Response

The following response confirms that the pipeline is working as expected:

{
  "docs": [
    {
      "doc": {
        "_index": "testindex1",
        "_id": "1",
        "_source": {
          "event_types": [
            "event_type"
          ],
          "file_size_bytes": "10485760",
          "file_size": "10MB"
        },
        "_ingest": {
          "timestamp": "2023-08-22T16:09:42.771569211Z"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Step 3: Ingest a document.

The following query ingests a document into an index named testindex1:

PUT testindex1/_doc/1?pipeline=file_upload
{
  "file_size": "10MB"
}

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Step 4 (Optional): Retrieve the document.

To retrieve the document, run the following query:

GET testindex1/_doc/1

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