elastic/elasticsearch · error · ClassCastException
Cannot apply [|] operation to type [float]
Error message
Cannot apply [|] operation to type [float]
What it means
Thrown by DefMath.or(float, float) which unconditionally throws. When both operands are statically typed float, binary promotion yields float.class and the compiler dispatches to this overload. Bitwise OR is only defined for integral and boolean types; the float overload exists for method-table completeness but always raises this exception.
Source
Thrown at modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/DefMath.java:963
if (left instanceof Boolean && right instanceof Boolean) {
return (boolean) left ^ (boolean) right;
} else if (left instanceof Long || right instanceof Long) {
return longIntegralValue(left) ^ longIntegralValue(right);
} else {
return intIntegralValue(left) ^ intIntegralValue(right);
}
}
private static int or(int a, int b) {
return a | b;
}
private static long or(long a, long b) {
return a | b;
}
private static float or(float a, float b) {
throw new ClassCastException("Cannot apply [|] operation to type [float]");
}
private static double or(double a, double b) {
throw new ClassCastException("Cannot apply [|] operation to type [float]");
}
private static boolean or(boolean a, boolean b) {
return a | b;
}
private static Object or(Object left, Object right) {
if (left instanceof Boolean && right instanceof Boolean) {
return (boolean) left | (boolean) right;
} else if (left instanceof Long || right instanceof Long) {
return longIntegralValue(left) | longIntegralValue(right);
} else {
return intIntegralValue(left) | intIntegralValue(right);
}View on GitHub (pinned to db6a809a66)
Solutions
- Cast both float operands to int before applying |: int ia = (int) a; int ib = (int) b; int result = ia | ib;
- Change the field mapping to integer if OR-mask logic is the intended use case
- Use boolean conditional logic (a || b) if float values represent truthy conditions
Example fix
// before float a = doc['perm1'].value; float b = doc['perm2'].value; float combined = a | b; // after int ia = (int) doc['perm1'].value; int ib = (int) doc['perm2'].value; int combined = ia | ib;
Defensive patterns
Strategy: type-guard
Validate before calling
// Before bitwise OR on float, cast to int float a = doc['x'].value; float b = doc['y'].value; int ia = (int) a; int ib = (int) b; return ia | ib;
Type guard
// Check that the value is not floating-point before OR
boolean isIntegralType(Object v) {
return v instanceof Integer || v instanceof Long ||
v instanceof Short || v instanceof Byte;
} Prevention
- Never apply bitwise OR to float-typed variables — cast to int first
- Change field mapping to integer if OR-mask logic is needed
- Audit scripts that use | on fields mapped as float
- Use explicit int declarations for variables involved in OR-mask operations
When it happens
Trigger: A Painless script applies the | operator to two operands both statically typed as float. The promote() method returns float.class for (float, float), selecting the or(float, float) overload.
Common situations: Bitwise OR mask on float-typed fields; float variables used in a flag-combination expression; refactoring integer OR code to operate on float fields; float-mapped runtime field used in permission/flag merging.
Related errors
- Cannot apply [&] operation to type [float]
- Cannot apply [^] operation to type [float]
- Cannot convert [{}] to an integral value.
- Cannot apply [<<] operation to type [float]
- Cannot apply [>>] operation to type [float]
AI-assisted analysis of elastic/elasticsearch@db6a809a66 (2026-08-12).
Data as JSON: /api/errors/7962eb7fd6e2a9c5.
Report an issue: GitHub.