# Complex regexp
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [October 11, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673 "2020-10-11T10:30:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sphawk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sphawk)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/1 "2020-10-11T10:30:13Z")
hello everybody,
i'm new in elasticsearch and i'm creating an internal search engine for my company.
i'm try to make a query that must returns only files contained in some paths.
here is my PHP code:
`$params['body']['query']['bool']['should']['regexp']['file'] = "/(000_Public|010_Users|020_Private)/";`
the query should match any file where path is "foo/000\_Public/foo" or "foo/010\_Users/foo" etc.
i've tried multiple format
"/(000\_Public|010\_Users|020\_Private)/"
"._(000\_Public|010\_Users|020\_Private)._"
"000\_Public"
"._000\_Public._"
every query return 0 hits
the full request is:
```auto
{
"from": 0,
"size": 10,
"type": "_doc",
"body": {
"sort": {
"date": "asc"
},
"query": {
"bool": {
"should": {
"regexp": {
"file": ".*(000_Public|010_Users|020_Private).*"
}
}
}
}
},
"index": "allfiles"
}
```
help!
---
### Author:  [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2020, 10:35am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/2 "2020-10-11T10:35:26Z")
What is the mapping of the `file` field?
---
### Author:  [@sphawk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sphawk)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2020, 10:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/3 "2020-10-11T10:54:55Z")
file is the filed with the path and the filename
`'file': '/home/samba/000_Public/file.doc'`
and sorry, i don't know what is a mapping and how to see what is the mapping for this field.
---
### Author:  [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/4 "2020-10-11T10:56:48Z")
What is the mapping in Elasticsearch for this field? Use the [get mapping API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.9/indices-get-field-mapping.html) to find out.
If you have not specified mappings it is likely that you are using dynamic mappings, and in that case `file` is mapped as an analyzed text field on which regexp will not work. Instead try using `file.keyword` and see if that helps.
---
### Author:  [@sphawk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sphawk)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/5 "2020-10-11T11:57:22Z")
```auto
{
"aperiodici": {
"mappings": {
"_doc": {
"file": {
"full_name": "file",
"mapping": {
"file": {
"type": "text",
"fields": {
"keyword": {
"type": "keyword",
"ignore_above": 256
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```
(i like your avatar so much!)
---
### Author:  [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/6 "2020-10-11T21:34:51Z")
As well as using ‘file.keyword’ as the field name in your query try use ‘.\*’ at the beginning and end of the regex string if you’re only supplying part of the file name in the search
---
### Author:  [@sphawk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sphawk)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/7 "2020-10-12T04:17:44Z")
awesome!
thank both of you.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/complex-regexp/251673/8 "2020-11-09T04:17:46Z")
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