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Fuzzy Query

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Fuzzy Query

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The fuzzy query uses similarity based on Levenshtein edit distance.

String fields

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The fuzzy query generates matching terms that are within the maximum edit distance specified in fuzziness and then checks the term dictionary to find out which of those generated terms actually exist in the index. The final query uses up to max_expansions matching terms.

Here is a simple example:

GET /_search
{
    "query": {
       "fuzzy" : { "user" : "ki" }
    }
}

Or with more advanced settings:

GET /_search
{
    "query": {
        "fuzzy" : {
            "user" : {
                "value": "ki",
                "boost": 1.0,
                "fuzziness": 2,
                "prefix_length": 0,
                "max_expansions": 100
            }
        }
    }
}

Parameters

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`fuzziness`	The maximum edit distance. Defaults to `AUTO`. See Fuzziness.
`prefix_length`	The number of initial characters which will not be “fuzzified”. This helps to reduce the number of terms which must be examined. Defaults to `0`.
`max_expansions`	The maximum number of terms that the `fuzzy` query will expand to. Defaults to `50`.
`transpositions`	Whether fuzzy transpositions (`ab` → `ba`) are supported. Default is `false`.

This query can be very heavy if prefix_length is set to 0 and if max_expansions is set to a high number. It could result in every term in the index being examined!

« Regexp Query Type Query »