Elasticsearch: don't return document if any of nested object field matches term value

Question

I struggle with writing a query that should not return a document if any of its nested objects field value matches a term value passed in a query.

Document sample:

 {
      "id": 1,
      "test": "name",
      "rules": [
        {
          "id": 2,
          "name": "rule3",
          "questionDetailConditionalRules": [
            {
              "questionDetailId": 1
            },
            {
              "questionDetailId": 2
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "id": 3,
          "name": "rule3",
          "questionDetailConditionalRules": [
            {
              "questionDetailId": 4
            },
            {
              "questionDetailId": 5
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }

The rule field has nested type

My nested search query is:

{
  "query": {
    "nested": {
      "path": "rules",
      "query": {
        "bool": {
          "must_not": [
            {
              "terms": {
                "rules.questionDetailConditionalRules.questionDetailId": [
                  1
                ]
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Expected result: the document should not be returned Actual result: document is returned.

Should I miss anything in my query?

Answer 1

Was able to reproduce your issue and fixed it, please find step by step solution to make it work. you need to move nested inside the must_not block and some modification to your query.

Index def

{
    "mappings" :{
        "properties" :{
            "rules" :{
                "type" : "nested"
            }
        }
    }
}

Index your sample doc

{
    "rules": [
        {
            "id": 2,
            "name": "rule3",
            "questionDetailConditionalRules": [
                {
                    "questionDetailId": 1
                },
                {
                    "questionDetailId": 2
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": 3,
            "name": "rule3",
            "questionDetailConditionalRules": [
                {
                    "questionDetailId": 4
                },
                {
                    "questionDetailId": 5
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Search Query

{
    "query": {
        "bool": {
            "must_not": [
                {
                    "nested": {
                        "path": "rules",  --> note `nested` is inside the `must_not` block.
                        "query": {
                            "bool": {
                                "filter": [
                                    {
                                        "term": {
                                            "rules.questionDetailConditionalRules.questionDetailId": 1
                                        }
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Search result

"hits": {
        "total": {
            "value": 0,
            "relation": "eq"
        },
        "max_score": null,
        "hits": []
    }

Note: you can find more info in this link.