# Char\_filter not applied to a query **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [June 4, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249 "2013-06-04T02:01:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexey_kotlyarov/32/1386_2.png) [@Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Alexey_Kotlyarov)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/1 "2013-06-04T02:01:34Z")
I am trying to make several multi-word expressions index and be searchable completely separately from the words they are made of. E.g. a query about "red shift" should never return "red" or "shift" mentioned separately, and vice versa. To protect those words from the tokenizer, I had to apply a Mapping char\_filter joining them by triple underscores (e.g. "red\_\_\_shift"). This works for indexing, and I can see separate indexed entries for the MWEs. However, they are not searchable without manually putting the triple underscore in! In other words, a query of "red\_\_\_shift" produces the results needed, but a query of "red shift" does not. Here is a cURL reproduction: [https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c](https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c) Am I completely wrong in my approach to MWEs? If not, how can I make char\_filter apply to the query so that it matches the indexed MWE? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexey_kotlyarov/32/1386_2.png) [@Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Alexey_Kotlyarov)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/2 "2013-06-04T02:44:24Z")
I have since found out: - "query\_string" separates my query into words ("red" and "shift"), from there on char\_filter is helpless. I can escape the whole query ("query": ""red shift""), however, this stops legitimate multi-word queries. - "match" search method works as expected. The only question left is, still, is there a less hacky way of "escaping" MWEs? вторник, 4 июня 2013 г., 12:01:34 UTC+10 пользователь Alexey Kotlyarov написал: > I am trying to make several multi-word expressions index and be searchable > completely separately from the words they are made of. E.g. a query about > "red shift" should never return "red" or "shift" mentioned separately, and > vice versa. > > To protect those words from the tokenizer, I had to apply a Mapping > char\_filter joining them by triple underscores (e.g. "red\_\_\_shift"). This > works for indexing, and I can see separate indexed entries for the MWEs. > However, they are not searchable without manually putting the triple > underscore in! In other words, a query of "red\_\_\_shift" produces the > results needed, but a query of "red shift" does not. > > Here is a cURL reproduction: > [https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c](https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c) > > Am I completely wrong in my approach to MWEs? > > If not, how can I make char\_filter apply to the query so that it matches > the indexed MWE? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![brian\_yoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f1d935/32.png) [@brian\_yoder](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/brian_yoder)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/3 "2013-06-04T22:25:02Z")
It appears that you are trying to match a phrase. Which works very well, but you need the correct query! Brian On Monday, June 3, 2013 10:01:34 PM UTC-4, Alexey Kotlyarov wrote: > I am trying to make several multi-word expressions index and be searchable > completely separately from the words they are made of. E.g. a query about > "red shift" should never return "red" or "shift" mentioned separately, and > vice versa. > > To protect those words from the tokenizer, I had to apply a Mapping > char\_filter joining them by triple underscores (e.g. "red\_\_\_shift"). This > works for indexing, and I can see separate indexed entries for the MWEs. > However, they are not searchable without manually putting the triple > underscore in! In other words, a query of "red\_\_\_shift" produces the > results needed, but a query of "red shift" does not. > > Here is a cURL reproduction: > [https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c](https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c) > > Am I completely wrong in my approach to MWEs? > > If not, how can I make char\_filter apply to the query so that it matches > the indexed MWE? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexey_kotlyarov/32/1386_2.png) [@Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Alexey_Kotlyarov)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/4 "2013-06-04T22:28:39Z")
Looked at match\_phrase. Yes, that would be what I need, except I would like ES to pick phrases out of my query. For example, "red shift time" should match, independently, on "red shift" and "time", but not on "red time shift". 2013/6/5 InquiringMind [brian.from.fl@gmail.com](mailto:brian.from.fl@gmail.com) > It appears that you are trying to match a phrase. Which works very well, > but you need the correct query! > > Brian > > On Monday, June 3, 2013 10:01:34 PM UTC-4, Alexey Kotlyarov wrote: > > > I am trying to make several multi-word expressions index and be > > searchable completely separately from the words they are made of. E.g. a > > query about "red shift" should never return "red" or "shift" mentioned > > separately, and vice versa. > > > > To protect those words from the tokenizer, I had to apply a Mapping > > char\_filter joining them by triple underscores (e.g. "red\_\_\_shift"). This > > works for indexing, and I can see separate indexed entries for the MWEs. > > However, they are not searchable without manually putting the triple > > underscore in! In other words, a query of "red\_\_\_shift" produces the > > results needed, but a query of "red shift" does not. > > > > Here is a cURL reproduction: [https://gist.github.com/\*\*koterpillar/](https://gist.github.com/**koterpillar/)\*\* > > 7b11639d4b0a9e38726c[https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c](https://gist.github.com/koterpillar/7b11639d4b0a9e38726c) > > > > Am I completely wrong in my approach to MWEs? > > > > If not, how can I make char\_filter apply to the query so that it matches > > the indexed MWE? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/o4MmRObHFYo/unsubscribe?hl=en-US](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/o4MmRObHFYo/unsubscribe?hl=en-US) > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexey_kotlyarov/32/1386_2.png) [@Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Alexey_Kotlyarov)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/5 "2013-06-04T22:48:17Z")
To add some complexity, how do I run the tokenizer on each word but _still_ only match the phrase? For example, if I specify "read write", it should be found for a query like "reading writing". -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![tarang\_dawer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@tarang\_dawer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tarang_dawer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/6 "2013-06-05T05:01:01Z")
Hi Alexey I would recommend that you look into some stemming tokenizer , (try looking at snowball analyzer). As for the match\_phrase, it will only match "red shift" and "time" from the indexed item "red shift time", but will not match "red time shift". Regards Tarang Dawer On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 4:18 AM, Alexey Kotlyarov [koterpillar@gmail.com](mailto:koterpillar@gmail.com)wrote: > To add some complexity, how do I run the tokenizer on each word but > _still_ only match the phrase? For example, if I specify "read write", it > should be found for a query like "reading writing". > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexey_kotlyarov/32/1386_2.png) [@Alexey\_Kotlyarov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Alexey_Kotlyarov)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/7 "2013-06-05T05:10:08Z")
I ended up removing the char\_filter altogether and using synonyms filter, after the snowball one. The only problem left: if a part of an MWE (e.g. "respite") is stemmed, I have to put the end result ("respit") into the synonym mapping. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![brian\_yoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f1d935/32.png) [@brian\_yoder](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/brian_yoder)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/8 "2013-06-05T14:53:24Z")
Does it help to place the synonyms filter before the snowball filter, instead of after? On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 1:10:08 AM UTC-4, Alexey Kotlyarov wrote: > I ended up removing the char\_filter altogether and using synonyms filter, > after the snowball one. The only problem left: if a part of an MWE (e.g. > "respite") is stemmed, I have to put the end result ("respit") into the > synonym mapping. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/char-filter-not-applied-to-a-query/12249/9 "2017-07-06T02:32:46Z")