Could not parse date time expected date field to be either a number or a string but – How to solve this Elasticsearch exception

Opster Team

August-23, Version: 6.8-7.15

Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch tries to parse a date/time field and encounters an unexpected data type. It expects a number or a string, but it found something else. To resolve this issue, you can check the data you’re trying to index and ensure that the date/time fields are either numbers or strings. If you’re using a date format, make sure it’s correctly formatted. Also, check your mappings to ensure the field is correctly set as a date type. If necessary, you may need to reindex your data with the correct formats.

This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” could not parse date/time. expected date field [{}] to be either a number or a string but ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin.

Log Context

Log “could not parse date/time. expected date field [{}] to be either a number or a string but” class name is WatcherDateTimeUtils.java. We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :

 }
 }
 if (token == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_NULL) {
 return null;
 }
 throw new ElasticsearchParseException("could not parse date/time. expected date field [{}] to be either a number or a string but " +
 "found [{}] instead"; fieldName; token);
 }  public static ZonedDateTime parseDateMath(String valueString; ZoneId timeZone; final Clock clock) {
 return dateMathParser.parse(valueString; clock::millis).atZone(timeZone);

 

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