---
title: cbft-bleve for Moss Indexes
description: The <code>cbft-bleve</code> tool supports commands that return
  information on <em>Moss</em> index partitions.
pubDate: 2026-08-17T09:53:44.266Z
antora:
  editUrl: https://github.com/couchbase/docs-server/edit/release/8.0/modules/cli/pages/cbft-bleve-moss.adoc
  xref: xref:server:cli:cbft-bleve-moss.adoc[]
---

[Consult the llms.txt file for a full list of contents](/llms.txt)
[View original HTML](/server/current/cli/cbft-bleve-moss.html)

# cbft-bleve for Moss Indexes

> The `cbft-bleve` tool supports commands that return information on _Moss_ index partitions. 

The top-level syntax for `cbft-bleve` is provided at [cbft-bleve](cbft-bleve.md). All commands except [scorch](cbft-bleve-scorch.md) and [zap](cbft-bleve-zap.md) apply to _Moss_ indexes, and are described on this page. Examples are for Linux.

Note that the `check`, `count`, `dictionary`, `fields`, `mapping`, `query`, and `registry` command-values can also be used to return information on _Scorch_ index partitions — other than on _Red Hat-based distributions_ and _Ubuntu_: the syntax and required path-format is in each case identical to that demonstrated for _Moss_ index partitions on this page.

## [](#check)check

The `check` command checks for consistency the contents of a specified index partition. Its syntax is as follows.

cbft-bleve check [index-path] [flags]

The `index-path`, which is mandatory, is the filesystem path to the index-partition.

The value of the optional `flags` parameter can be:

* `-c`, `--count` `int`. The maximum number of terms to which the command is to be applied, per field. The default is `100`.
* `-f`, `--field` `string`. A field to which command-execution should be restricted. The default is for the command to be executed on _all_ fields.
* `-h`, `--help`. Prints help text to standard output.

Note that `field` is synonymous with _key_; and `term` with _value_. Therefore, for a `field` named `country`, the associated `terms` might include `france`, `united kingdom`, `united states`, and so on.

### [](#example-check-consistency-without-flags)Example: Check Consistency without Flags

In the following example, the `check` command is used without flags, to check the consistency of all fields in a specified _Moss_\-index partition, with up to `100` of their terms being examined.

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve check \
/opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex

If successful, the command returns output the initial lines of which are as follows.

checking fields: [type tz country faa geo.alt geo.lat geo.lon icao id airportname city _all schedule.utc schedule.day schedule.flight sourceairport distance equipment stops airline airlineid destinationairport content phone name address email geo.accuracy hours url activity title free_internet reviews.author reviews.content reviews.date reviews.ratings.Cleanliness reviews.ratings.Location reviews.ratings.Overall reviews.ratings.Rooms reviews.ratings.Service reviews.ratings.Sleep Quality reviews.ratings.Value description free_parking pets_ok vacancy free_breakfast public_likes price state image image_direct_url callsign iata directions reviews.ratings.Check in / front desk reviews.ratings.Business service (e.g., internet access) fax alt reviews.ratings.Business service checkin checkout tollfree alias]
checking field: 'type'
field contains 5 terms
done checking 5 terms, found 0 problems
checking field: 'tz'
field contains 15 terms
done checking 15 terms, found 0 problems
checking field: 'country'
field contains 4 terms
done checking 4 terms, found 0 problems
checking field: 'faa'
field contains 276 terms
done checking 100 terms, found 0 problems
checking field: 'geo.alt'
field contains 3195 terms
done checking 100 terms, found 0 problems

  .
  .
  .

Thus, the list of fields to be checked is printed first (this containing _all_ fields, since no restriction has been specified); then, each field is separately listed; along with the number of terms associated with it, the number of those terms that have been checked, and the number of problems encountered with those terms during checking. Note that in cases where the number of terms associated with a field is greater than `100`, only `100` terms are indicated to have been checked, this being the default.

### [](#example-check-consistency-with-flags)Example: Check Consistency with Flags

In the following example, the `check` command is again used, this time with flags: the sole `field` to be checked is specified as `geo.alt`; and the number of terms within it is specified as `150`:

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve check /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex -c 150 -f geo.alt

If successful, the command returns output as follows.

checking fields: [geo.alt]
checking field: 'geo.alt'
field contains 3195 terms
done checking 150 terms, found 0 problems

Thus, the `geo.alt` field and `150` of its associated terms have been checked.

## [](#count)count

The `count` command prints to standard output the total number of documents referred to in the specified index partition. Its syntax is as follows:

cbft-bleve count [index-path] [flags]

The `index-path` must be the pathname of a _Moss_\-index partition, on the current node. The value of the optional `flags` parameter can only be `--help` (or `-h`).

### [](#example-count-documents-in-an-index-partition)Example: Count Documents in an Index Partition

The following example counts the documents referred to in a specified Moss-index partition:

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve count /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex

If successful, this command displays the following:

5286

The total number of documents referred to in the index partition is thereby confirmed as `5286`.

## [](#dictionary)dictionary

The `dictionary` command prints to standard output the _term dictionary_ for a specified field referenced by a specified _Moss_\-index partition. The syntax is as follows:

cbft-bleve dictionary [index-path] [field-name] [flags]

The `index-path` must be the pathname of a _Moss_\-index partition, on the current node. The `field-name` is required, and is the name of a specific field within the index partition, for which term-dictionary content is to be returned. The value of the optional `flags` parameter can only be `--help` (or `-h`).

### [](#example-return-the-dictionary-for-a-specific-field)Example: Return the Dictionary for a Specific Field

The following example returns the term dictionary for the `name` field.

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve dictionary \
/opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex name

If successful, the command displays output whose initial lines are as follows:

1 - 1
24 - 1
4 - 1
40 - 1
500 - 1
55 - 1
575 - 1
58 - 1
9 - 1
a16 - 1
abbey - 2
aberdulais - 1
abergele - 1
aberystwyth - 1
absinthe - 1
abu - 1
ace - 1
adobe - 1
african - 1
aiguille - 1
  .
  .
  .

## [](#dump)dump

The `dump` command performs a _hex dump_, either of the entire or of a subset of the contents of a specified _Moss_\-index partition. The syntax takes two alternative forms:

cbft-bleve dump [index-path] [flags]

cbft-bleve dump [index-path][command] [flags]

The `index-path`, which is mandatory, is the filesystem path to the index-partition: if this argument alone is specified, the `dump` command dumps the entire contents of the specified index partition.

The optional `command` argument can be one of the following:

* `doc`. Only the rows relating to a specified document id are dumped. This id must follow the `index-path`: thus, the syntax becomes `cbft-bleve dump doc [index-path] [doc-id]`.
* `fields`. Only the `field` rows from the index partition are dumped. The complete syntax for the command becomes `cbft-bleve dump fields [index-path]`.

The value of the optional `flags` parameter can only be `--help` (or `-h`).

### [](#example-dump-an-entire-index-partition)Example: Dump an Entire Index Partition

The following command dumps the entire contents of the specified index partition.

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve dump /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex

If successful, the command displays output whose initial lines appear as follows:

Backindex DocId: `airline_10` Terms Entries: [field:0 terms:"airline"  field:53 terms:"mile" terms:"air"  field:2 terms:"united" terms:"states"  field:54 terms:"q5"  field:7 terms:"mla"  field:11 terms:"\\\014" terms:",\006\000H\000\000\000\000\000" terms:"40" terms:"airline" terms:"states" terms:"mla" terms:"P\003\000$" terms:"mile" terms:"air" terms:"L0\004@" terms:"8\030\002 \000\000\000" terms:"@\014\001\020\000\000" terms:"$\014\001\020\000\000\000\000\000\000" terms:"X\001@" terms:"00\004@\000\000\000\000" terms:"T\030\002" terms:"4\003\000$\000\000\000\000" terms:"D`\t\000\000" terms:"<\001@\022\000\000\000" terms:"united" terms:"q5" terms:" \001@\022\000\000\000\000\000\000\000" terms:"H\006\000H\000" terms:"(`\t\000\000\000\000\000\000"  field:8 terms:",\006\000H\000\000\000\000\000" terms:"4\003\000$\000\000\000\000" terms:"<\001@\022\000\000\000" terms:"@\014\001\020\000\000" terms:"P\003\000$" terms:"T\030\002" terms:"\\\014" terms:" \001@\022\000\000\000\000\000\000\000" terms:"H\006\000H\000" terms:"$\014\001\020\000\000\000\000\000\000" terms:"L0\004@" terms:"X\001@" terms:"(`\t\000\000\000\000\000\000" terms:"00\004@\000\000\000\000" terms:"8\030\002 \000\000\000" terms:"D`\t\000\000"  field:24 terms:"air" terms:"40" terms:"mile" ], Stored Entries: []
Key:   62 61 69 72 6c 69 6e 65 5f 31 30
Value: 0a 0b 08 00 12 07 61 69 72 6c 69 6e 65 0a 0d 08 35 12 04
  .
  .
  .

### [](#example-dump-rows-for-a-document)Example: Dump Rows for a Document

The following command uses the `doc` option to dump the rows that correspond to the document `airline_10`.

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve dump doc \
/opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex airline_10

If successful, the command displays output whose initial lines are as follows:

Term: `airline` Field: 0 DocId: `airline_10` Frequency: 1 Norm: 1.000000 Vectors: [Field: 0 Pos: 1 Start: 0 End 7 ArrayPositions: []uint64(nil)]
Key:   74 00 00 61 69 72 6c 69 6e 65 ff 61 69 72 6c 69 6e 65 5f 31 30
Value: 01 80 80 80 fc 03 00 01 00 07 00

Term: `states` Field: 2 DocId: `airline_10` Frequency: 1 Norm: 0.707107 Vectors: [Field: 2 Pos: 2 Start: 7 End 13 ArrayPositions: []uint64(nil)]
Key:   74 02 00 73 74 61 74 65 73 ff 61 69 72 6c 69 6e 65 5f 31 30
Value: 01 f3 89 d4 f9 03 02 02 07 0d 00
  .
  .
  .

### [](#example-dump-index-fields)Example: Dump Index Fields

The following command uses the `fields` option to dump only the `fields` rows of the index:

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve dump fields \
/opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex

If successful, the command displays output whose initial lines are as follows:

Field: 0 Name: type
Key:   66 00 00
Value: 74 79 70 65 ff

Field: 1 Name: tz
Key:   66 01 00
Value: 74 7a ff

Field: 2 Name: country
Key:   66 02 00
Value: 63 6f 75 6e 74 72 79 ff

## [](#fields)fields

The `fields` command lists the fields in a specified _Moss_\-index partition. The syntax is as follows:

cbft-bleve fields [index-path] [flags]

The `index-path`, which is mandatory, is the filesystem path to the index-partition. The command dumps the entire contents of the specified index partition.

The value of the optional `flags` parameter can only be `--help` (or `-h`).

### [](#example-list-fields-in-an-index)Example: List Fields in an Index

The following command lists the fields in a specified index partition.

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve fields /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex

If successful, the command displays output whose initial lines are as follows:

0 - type
1 - tz
2 - country
3 - faa
4 - geo.alt
5 - geo.lat
6 - geo.lon
7 - icao
8 - id
9 - airportname
10 - city
11 - _all
12 - schedule.utc
13 - schedule.day
14 - schedule.flight
  .
  .
  .

## [](#mapping)mapping

The `mapping` command prints to standard output the _mapping_ used for a specified _Moss_\-index partition. The syntax is as follows:

cbft-bleve mapping [index path] [flags]

The `index-path`, which is mandatory, is the filesystem path to the index-partition. The command prints the mapping for the specified index partition. The value of the optional `flags` parameter can only be `--help` (or `-h`).

### [](#example-print-the-mapping-for-an-index-partition)Example: Print the Mapping for an Index Partition

The following example prints out the mapping for a specified index partition:

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve mapping /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex

If successful, the command prints out the following:

{
  "default_mapping": {
    "enabled": true,
    "dynamic": true
  },
  "type_field": "_type",
  "default_type": "_default",
  "default_analyzer": "standard",
  "default_datetime_parser": "dateTimeOptional",
  "default_field": "_all",
  "store_dynamic": false,
  "index_dynamic": true,
  "docvalues_dynamic": true,
  "analysis": {}
}

## [](#query)query

The `query` command executes a specified query against a specified _Moss_\-index partition. The syntax is as follows:

cbft-bleve query [index-path] [query] [flags]

The `index-path`, which is mandatory, is the filesystem path to the index-partition. The `query` is as described in [Understanding Queries](#fts:fts-queries.adoc). The optional flags are as follows:

| Flag                   | Description                                                                                                                                          |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| \-X, \--explain        | Explain the result scoring.                                                                                                                          |
| \-f, \--field string   | Restrict the query to the field specified by string. By default, no restriction is applied. This parameter is not applied to _query-string_ queries. |
| \--fields              | Load stored fields. If this is not specified, fields are not loaded.                                                                                 |
| \--highlight           | Highlight matching text in results.                                                                                                                  |
| \-l, \--limit int      | Limit the number of results returned. The default is 10.                                                                                             |
| \-r, \--repeat int     | Repeat the query this many times. The default is 1.                                                                                                  |
| \-s, \--skip int       | Skip this many results. The default is 0.                                                                                                            |
| \-b, \--sort-by string | Sort the results by the specified field.                                                                                                             |
| \-t, \--type string    | The type of query to be run. The default is 'query\_string' query.                                                                                   |
| \-h, \--help           | Prints help text to standard output.                                                                                                                 |

### [](#example-submit-query)Example: Submit Query

The following example applies to the specified index partition a _query-string_ query that returns all hotels whose cleanliness rating is greater than `4`.

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve query /opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex 'reviews.ratings.Cleanliness:>4'

If successful, the command returns the following:

108 matches, showing 1 through 10, took 22.54727ms
    1. hotel_21673 (1.220367)
    2. hotel_26139 (1.220367)
    3. hotel_5335 (1.220367)
    4. hotel_15978 (1.220367)
    5. hotel_21665 (1.220367)
    6. hotel_21679 (1.220367)
    7. hotel_35667 (1.220367)
    8. hotel_635 (1.220367)
    9. hotel_4397 (1.220367)
   10. hotel_16458 (1.220367)

## [](#registry)registry

The `registry` command prints to standard output a list of the _analyzers_, _tokenizers_ and other components used by a specified _Moss_\-index partition.

The syntax is as follows:

cbft-bleve registry [index-path] [flags]

The value of the optional `flags` parameter can only be `--help` (or `-h`).

### [](#example-print-the-registry-for-an-index-partition)Example: Print the Registry for an Index Partition

The following command prints out the registry for the specified index partition:

/opt/couchbase/bin/cbft-bleve registry \
/opt/couchbase/var/lib/couchbase/data/@fts/\
mossIndex_690ef363c7557832_54820232.pindex

If successful, the command produces output whose initial lines are as follows:

Char Filter Types:
	regexp

Char Filter Instances:
	asciifolding
	html
	zero_width_spaces

Tokenizer Types:
	exception
	regexp

Tokenizer Instances:
	letter
	single
	unicode
	web
	whitespace

Token Map Types:
	custom

Token Map Instances:
	articles_ca
	articles_fr
	articles_ga
	articles_it
	stop_ar
	stop_bg
    .
    .
    .

## [](#additional-commands)Additional Commands

The following, additional commands are supported:

* `scorch`. Returns information on a _Scorch_\-index partition. For information, see [cbft-bleve for Scorch Indexes](cbft-bleve-scorch.md).
* `zap`. Returns information on a _Zap_ file. For information, see [cbft-bleve for Zap Files](cbft-bleve-zap.md).