Quickstartedit

In elasticsearch-php, almost everything is configured by associative arrays. The REST endpoint, document and optional parameters - everything is an associative array.

To index a document, we need to specify three pieces of information: index, id and a document body. This is done by constructing an associative array of key:value pairs. The request body is itself an associative array with key:value pairs corresponding to the data in your document:

$params = [
    'index' => 'my_index',
    'id'    => 'my_id',
    'body'  => ['testField' => 'abc']
];

$response = $client->index($params);
print_r($response);

The response that you get back indicates that the document was created in the index that you specified. The response is an associative array containing a decoded version of the JSON that Elasticsearch returns:

Array
(
    [_index] => my_index
    [_type] => _doc
    [_id] => my_id
    [_version] => 1
    [created] => 1
)

Let’s get the document that we just indexed. This returns the document:

$params = [
    'index' => 'my_index',
    'id'    => 'my_id'
];

$response = $client->get($params);
print_r($response);

The response contains metadata such as index, version, and so on as well as a _source field, which is the original document you sent to Elasticsearch.

Array
(
    [_index] => my_index
    [_type] => _doc
    [_id] => my_id
    [_version] => 1
    [found] => 1
    [_source] => Array
        (
            [testField] => abc
        )

)

Searching is a hallmark of Elasticsearch, so let’s perform a search. We are going to use the match query as a demonstration:

$params = [
    'index' => 'my_index',
    'body'  => [
        'query' => [
            'match' => [
                'testField' => 'abc'
            ]
        ]
    ]
];

$response = $client->search($params);
print_r($response);

The response here is different from the previous ones. You can see metadata (took, timed_out, etc.) and an array named hits. This represents your search results. Inside of hits is another array named hits, which contains individual search results:

Array
(
    [took] => 1
    [timed_out] =>
    [_shards] => Array
        (
            [total] => 5
            [successful] => 5
            [failed] => 0
        )

    [hits] => Array
        (
            [total] => 1
            [max_score] => 0.30685282
            [hits] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [_index] => my_index
                            [_type] => _doc
                            [_id] => my_id
                            [_score] => 0.30685282
                            [_source] => Array
                                (
                                    [testField] => abc
                                )
                        )
                )
        )
)

Alright, let’s go ahead and delete the document that we added previously:

$params = [
    'index' => 'my_index',
    'id'    => 'my_id'
];

$response = $client->delete($params);
print_r($response);

This syntax is identical to the get syntax. The only difference is the operation: delete instead of get. The response confirms the document is deleted:

Array
(
    [found] => 1
    [_index] => my_index
    [_type] => _doc
    [_id] => my_id
    [_version] => 2
)

Due to the dynamic nature of Elasticsearch, the first document you added automatically built an index with some default settings. Delete that index and specify your own settings later:

$deleteParams = [
    'index' => 'my_index'
];
$response = $client->indices()->delete($deleteParams);
print_r($response);

The response:

Array
(
    [acknowledged] => 1
)

Now that you are starting fresh (no data or index), add a new index with custom settings:

$params = [
    'index' => 'my_index',
    'body' => [
        'settings' => [
            'number_of_shards' => 2,
            'number_of_replicas' => 0
        ]
    ]
];

$response = $client->indices()->create($params);
print_r($response);

Elasticsearch now creates that index with your chosen settings and return an acknowledgement:

Array
(
    [acknowledged] => 1
)

That was just a crash-course overview of the client and it’s syntax. If you are familiar with Elasticsearch, you’ll notice that the methods are named just like REST endpoints.

You may also notice that the client is configured in a manner that facilitates easy discovery via your IDE. All core actions are available under the $client object (indexing, searching, getting, etc). Index and cluster management are located under the $client->indices() and $client->cluster() objects, respectively.

Check out the rest of the documentation to see how the entire client works.