Simple query string query
editSimple query string query
editReturns documents based on a provided query string, using a parser with a limited but fault-tolerant syntax.
This query uses a simple syntax to parse and split the provided query string into terms based on special operators. The query then analyzes each term independently before returning matching documents.
While its syntax is more limited than the
query_string
query, the simple_query_string
query does not return errors for invalid syntax. Instead, it ignores any invalid
parts of the query string.
Example request
editresponse = client.search( body: { query: { simple_query_string: { query: '"fried eggs" +(eggplant | potato) -frittata', fields: [ 'title^5', 'body' ], default_operator: 'and' } } } ) puts response
GET /_search { "query": { "simple_query_string" : { "query": "\"fried eggs\" +(eggplant | potato) -frittata", "fields": ["title^5", "body"], "default_operator": "and" } } }
Top-level parameters for simple_query_string
edit-
query
- (Required, string) Query string you wish to parse and use for search. See Simple query string syntax.
-
fields
-
(Optional, array of strings) Array of fields you wish to search.
This field accepts wildcard expressions. You also can boost relevance scores for matches to particular fields using a caret (
^
) notation. See Wildcards and per-field boosts in thefields
parameter for examples.Defaults to the
index.query.default_field
index setting, which has a default value of*
. The*
value extracts all fields that are eligible to term queries and filters the metadata fields. All extracted fields are then combined to build a query if noprefix
is specified.There is a limit on the number of fields that can be queried at once. It is defined by the
indices.query.bool.max_clause_count
search setting, which defaults to1024
. -
default_operator
-
(Optional, string) Default boolean logic used to interpret text in the query string if no operators are specified. Valid values are:
-
OR
(Default) -
For example, a query string of
capital of Hungary
is interpreted ascapital OR of OR Hungary
. -
AND
-
For example, a query string of
capital of Hungary
is interpreted ascapital AND of AND Hungary
.
-
-
analyze_wildcard
-
(Optional, Boolean) If
true
, the query attempts to analyze wildcard terms in the query string. Defaults tofalse
. -
analyzer
-
(Optional, string) Analyzer used to convert text in the
query string into tokens. Defaults to the
index-time analyzer mapped for the
default_field
. If no analyzer is mapped, the index’s default analyzer is used. -
auto_generate_synonyms_phrase_query
-
(Optional, Boolean) If
true
, the parser creates amatch_phrase
query for each multi-position token. Defaults totrue
. For examples, see Multi-position tokens. -
flags
-
(Optional, string) List of enabled operators for the
simple query string syntax. Defaults to
ALL
(all operators). See Limit operators for valid values. -
fuzzy_max_expansions
-
(Optional, integer) Maximum number of terms to which the query expands for fuzzy
matching. Defaults to
50
. -
fuzzy_prefix_length
-
(Optional, integer) Number of beginning characters left unchanged for fuzzy
matching. Defaults to
0
. -
fuzzy_transpositions
-
(Optional, Boolean) If
true
, edits for fuzzy matching include transpositions of two adjacent characters (ab → ba). Defaults totrue
. -
lenient
-
(Optional, Boolean) If
true
, format-based errors, such as providing a text value for a numeric field, are ignored. Defaults tofalse
. -
minimum_should_match
-
(Optional, string) Minimum number of clauses that must match for a document to
be returned. See the
minimum_should_match
parameter for valid values and more information. -
quote_field_suffix
-
(Optional, string) Suffix appended to quoted text in the query string.
You can use this suffix to use a different analysis method for exact matches. See Mixing exact search with stemming.
Notes
editSimple query string syntax
editThe simple_query_string
query supports the following operators:
-
+
signifies AND operation -
|
signifies OR operation -
-
negates a single token -
"
wraps a number of tokens to signify a phrase for searching -
*
at the end of a term signifies a prefix query -
(
and)
signify precedence -
~N
after a word signifies edit distance (fuzziness) -
~N
after a phrase signifies slop amount
To use one of these characters literally, escape it with a preceding backslash
(\
).
The behavior of these operators may differ depending on the default_operator
value. For example:
response = client.search( body: { query: { simple_query_string: { fields: [ 'content' ], query: 'foo bar -baz' } } } ) puts response
GET /_search { "query": { "simple_query_string": { "fields": [ "content" ], "query": "foo bar -baz" } } }
This search is intended to only return documents containing foo
or bar
that
also do not contain baz
. However because of a default_operator
of OR
,
this search actually returns documents that contain foo
or bar
and any
documents that don’t contain baz
. To return documents as intended, change the
query string to foo bar +-baz
.
Limit operators
editYou can use the flags
parameter to limit the supported operators for the
simple query string syntax.
To explicitly enable only specific operators, use a |
separator. For example,
a flags
value of OR|AND|PREFIX
disables all operators except OR
, AND
,
and PREFIX
.
response = client.search( body: { query: { simple_query_string: { query: 'foo | bar + baz*', flags: 'OR|AND|PREFIX' } } } ) puts response
GET /_search { "query": { "simple_query_string": { "query": "foo | bar + baz*", "flags": "OR|AND|PREFIX" } } }
Valid values
editThe available flags are:
-
ALL
(Default) - Enables all optional operators.
-
AND
-
Enables the
+
AND operator. -
ESCAPE
-
Enables
\
as an escape character. -
FUZZY
-
Enables the
~N
operator after a word, whereN
is an integer denoting the allowed edit distance for matching. See Fuzziness. -
NEAR
-
Enables the
~N
operator, after a phrase whereN
is the maximum number of positions allowed between matching tokens. Synonymous toSLOP
. -
NONE
- Disables all operators.
-
NOT
-
Enables the
-
NOT operator. -
OR
-
Enables the
\|
OR operator. -
PHRASE
-
Enables the
"
quotes operator used to search for phrases. -
PRECEDENCE
-
Enables the
(
and)
operators to control operator precedence. -
PREFIX
-
Enables the
*
prefix operator. -
SLOP
-
Enables the
~N
operator, after a phrase whereN
is maximum number of positions allowed between matching tokens. Synonymous toNEAR
. -
WHITESPACE
- Enables whitespace as split characters.
Wildcards and per-field boosts in the fields
parameter
editFields can be specified with wildcards, eg:
response = client.search( body: { query: { simple_query_string: { query: 'Will Smith', fields: [ 'title', '*_name' ] } } } ) puts response
GET /_search { "query": { "simple_query_string" : { "query": "Will Smith", "fields": [ "title", "*_name" ] } } }
Individual fields can be boosted with the caret (^
) notation:
response = client.search( body: { query: { simple_query_string: { query: 'this is a test', fields: [ 'subject^3', 'message' ] } } } ) puts response
Multi-position tokens
editBy default, the simple_query_string
query parser creates a
match_phrase
query for each
multi-position token in the query string.
For example, the parser creates a match_phrase
query for the multi-word
synonym ny, new york
:
(ny OR ("new york"))
To match multi-position tokens with an AND
conjunction instead, set
auto_generate_synonyms_phrase_query
to false
:
response = client.search( body: { query: { simple_query_string: { query: 'ny city', auto_generate_synonyms_phrase_query: false } } } ) puts response
GET /_search { "query": { "simple_query_string": { "query": "ny city", "auto_generate_synonyms_phrase_query": false } } }
For the above example, the parser creates the following
bool
query:
(ny OR (new AND york)) city)
This bool
query matches documents with the term ny
or the conjunction
new AND york
.