# Dealing with search queries such as "Portland, OR" **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [June 15, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629 "2011-06-15T14:34:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Adam\_Creeger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/adam_creeger/32/3134_2.png) [@Adam\_Creeger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Adam_Creeger)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/1 "2011-06-15T14:34:16Z")
Hey all, Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails (see the error message at [https://gist.github.com/1027237](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? Thanks as always, Adam ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/2 "2011-06-15T14:35:15Z")
Use text queries in this case, they are simpler then a query\_string, but won't fail in this case. On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > Hey all, > > Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails (see the error message at [Error when using searching for Portland, OR · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). > > I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. > > Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? > > Thanks as always, > > Adam ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_Creeger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/adam_creeger/32/3134_2.png) [@Adam\_Creeger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Adam_Creeger)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/3 "2011-06-15T15:25:38Z")
Shay, thank you so much for such a quick response... This does indeed look much more suited to the "handling a search box" use case. Does it deal with quotes? For example: "Bob Jones" Smith Thanks again, Adam On 15 June 2011 07:35, Shay Banon [shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) wrote: > Use text queries in this case, they are simpler then a query\_string, but > won't fail in this case. > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > Hey all, > > Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as > "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails > (see the error message at [Error when using searching for Portland, OR · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). > > I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", > but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. > > Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? > > Thanks as always, > > Adam ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_Creeger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/adam_creeger/32/3134_2.png) [@Adam\_Creeger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Adam_Creeger)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/4 "2011-06-15T15:27:13Z")
Sorry, one more question - how should I search across multiple fields? I use the "fields" option of the query string currently with a default operator of AND... Adam On 15 June 2011 08:25, Adam Creeger [adamcreeger@gmail.com](mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com) wrote: > Shay, thank you so much for such a quick response... This does indeed look > much more suited to the "handling a search box" use case. Does it deal with > quotes? For example: "Bob Jones" Smith > > Thanks again, > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 07:35, Shay Banon [shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) wrote: > > > Use text queries in this case, they are simpler then a query\_string, but > > won't fail in this case. > > > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > > > Hey all, > > > > Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as > > "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails > > (see the error message at [Error when using searching for Portland, OR · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). > > > > I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", > > but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. > > > > Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? > > > > Thanks as always, > > > > Adam ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/5 "2011-06-15T16:21:42Z")
You can combine text query on several fields using bool query for example (or dis max). It will simple analyze the data, so quotes will be treated in a similar manner as analyzing it down to tokens. On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > Sorry, one more question - how should I search across multiple fields? I use the "fields" option of the query string currently with a default operator of AND... > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 08:25, Adam Creeger \<[adamcreeger@gmail.com](mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com) ([mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com](mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com))\> wrote: > > > Shay, thank you so much for such a quick response... This does indeed look much more suited to the "handling a search box" use case. Does it deal with quotes? For example: "Bob Jones" Smith > > > > Thanks again, > > > > Adam > > > > On 15 June 2011 07:35, Shay Banon \<[shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) ([mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com))\> wrote: > > > > > Use text queries in this case, they are simpler then a query\_string, but won't fail in this case. > > > > > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > > > > > > Hey all, > > > > > > > > Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails (see the error message at [Error when using searching for Portland, OR · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). > > > > > > > > I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. > > > > > > > > Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? > > > > > > > > Thanks as always, > > > > > > > > Adam ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_Creeger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/adam_creeger/32/3134_2.png) [@Adam\_Creeger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Adam_Creeger)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/6 "2011-06-15T18:36:50Z")
Hi Shay, thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly (again). I am struggling to come up with the right query to search across fields where each term is in a different field (the albino elephant example). From the research I've done, it looks like I'll have to split the terms up into separate dis\_max text queries and then combine them in a boolean query. See [Search Technology & Search Platform | Lucidworks](http://www.lucidimagination.com/blog/2010/05/23/whats-a-dismax/) for my source for that. That seems like a lot of work for something that is supposed to make things more simple... At first I assumed that text was just a variant of query\_string that does less parsing, but it appears it isn't as robust when it comes to multiple fields? Is that correct? Or is somehow an equivalent of Solr's DisMaxQParser? Thanks as always, I intend to enhance the docs with the result of this thread. Adam On 15 June 2011 09:21, Shay Banon [shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) wrote: > You can combine text query on several fields using bool query for example > (or dis max). It will simple analyze the data, so quotes will be treated in > a similar manner as analyzing it down to tokens. > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > Sorry, one more question - how should I search across multiple fields? I > use the "fields" option of the query string currently with a default > operator of AND... > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 08:25, Adam Creeger [adamcreeger@gmail.com](mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com) wrote: > > Shay, thank you so much for such a quick response... This does indeed look > much more suited to the "handling a search box" use case. Does it deal with > quotes? For example: "Bob Jones" Smith > > Thanks again, > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 07:35, Shay Banon [shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) wrote: > > Use text queries in this case, they are simpler then a query\_string, but > won't fail in this case. > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > Hey all, > > Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as > "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails > (see the error message at [Error when using searching for Portland, OR · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). > > I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", > but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. > > Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? > > Thanks as always, > > Adam ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/7 "2011-06-15T18:49:25Z")
Yes, text has different semantics compared to query\_string, you can do dis\_max, but only between "full" generated text queries. You can use bool query to combine them as well, but again, on the whole query level. On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 9:36 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > Hi Shay, thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly (again). > > I am struggling to come up with the right query to search across fields where each term is in a different field (the albino elephant example). From the research I've done, it looks like I'll have to split the terms up into separate dis\_max text queries and then combine them in a boolean query. See [Search Technology & Search Platform | Lucidworks](http://www.lucidimagination.com/blog/2010/05/23/whats-a-dismax/) for my source for that. That seems like a lot of work for something that is supposed to make things more simple... > > At first I assumed that text was just a variant of query\_string that does less parsing, but it appears it isn't as robust when it comes to multiple fields? Is that correct? Or is somehow an equivalent of Solr's DisMaxQParser? > > Thanks as always, I intend to enhance the docs with the result of this thread. > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 09:21, Shay Banon \<[shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) ([mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com))\> wrote: > > > You can combine text query on several fields using bool query for example (or dis max). It will simple analyze the data, so quotes will be treated in a similar manner as analyzing it down to tokens. > > > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > > > > Sorry, one more question - how should I search across multiple fields? I use the "fields" option of the query string currently with a default operator of AND... > > > > > > Adam > > > > > > On 15 June 2011 08:25, Adam Creeger \<[adamcreeger@gmail.com](mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com) ([mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com](mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com))\> wrote: > > > > > > > Shay, thank you so much for such a quick response... This does indeed look much more suited to the "handling a search box" use case. Does it deal with quotes? For example: "Bob Jones" Smith > > > > > > > > Thanks again, > > > > > > > > Adam > > > > > > > > On 15 June 2011 07:35, Shay Banon \<[shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) ([mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com))\> wrote: > > > > > > > > > Use text queries in this case, they are simpler then a query\_string, but won't fail in this case. > > > > > > > > > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > Hey all, > > > > > > > > > > > > Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails (see the error message at [Error when using searching for Portland, OR · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). > > > > > > > > > > > > I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. > > > > > > > > > > > > Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks as always, > > > > > > > > > > > > Adam ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_Creeger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/adam_creeger/32/3134_2.png) [@Adam\_Creeger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Adam_Creeger)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/8 "2011-06-15T19:43:32Z")
Sorry, I don't really understand your response. ☹ I only spend 10% of my time in the search world... Can you clarify what you mean by "full" generated text queries? Can you provide examples? I know this is a time suck, and I am happy to help improve the docs where I can, but I can't do that without more understanding. Staying solution focussed, I've created a gist ( [ElasticSearch: query\_string vs text queries · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027916)) that demonstrates the kind of search I want to do with a "text" query. I expect this is a major use case and was simple to implement with query\_string. I don't expect anyone to solve the problem for me, but I would like some pointers on where to begin... For example, if I need to analyze the query to create a matrix of boolean and DisMax queries, is there any ES code that does that already? Or is that even necessary? Thanks so much for ES and your support, Adam On 15 June 2011 11:49, Shay Banon [shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) wrote: > Yes, text has different semantics compared to query\_string, you can do > dis\_max, but only between "full" generated text queries. You can use bool > query to combine them as well, but again, on the whole query level. > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 9:36 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > Hi Shay, thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly (again). > > I am struggling to come up with the right query to search across fields > where each term is in a different field (the albino elephant example). From > the research I've done, it looks like I'll have to split the terms up into > separate dis\_max text queries and then combine them in a boolean query. See > [Search Technology & Search Platform | Lucidworks](http://www.lucidimagination.com/blog/2010/05/23/whats-a-dismax/) for my > source for that. That seems like a lot of work for something that is > supposed to make things more simple... > > At first I assumed that text was just a variant of query\_string that does > less parsing, but it appears it isn't as robust when it comes to multiple > fields? Is that correct? Or is somehow an equivalent of > Solr's DisMaxQParser? > > Thanks as always, I intend to enhance the docs with the result of this > thread. > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 09:21, Shay Banon [shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) wrote: > > You can combine text query on several fields using bool query for example > (or dis max). It will simple analyze the data, so quotes will be treated in > a similar manner as analyzing it down to tokens. > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > Sorry, one more question - how should I search across multiple fields? I > use the "fields" option of the query string currently with a default > operator of AND... > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 08:25, Adam Creeger [adamcreeger@gmail.com](mailto:adamcreeger@gmail.com) wrote: > > Shay, thank you so much for such a quick response... This does indeed look > much more suited to the "handling a search box" use case. Does it deal with > quotes? For example: "Bob Jones" Smith > > Thanks again, > > Adam > > On 15 June 2011 07:35, Shay Banon [shay.banon@elasticsearch.com](mailto:shay.banon@elasticsearch.com) wrote: > > Use text queries in this case, they are simpler then a query\_string, but > won't fail in this case. > > On Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Adam Creeger wrote: > > Hey all, > > Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with search queries such as > "Portland, OR"? When doing a query string based search, the parsing fails > (see the error message at [Error when using searching for Portland, OR · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1027237)). > > I could use a regex such as \bOR\W\*$ and replace it with a lowercase "or", > but that seems kind of clunky and I'm sure that regex will miss some cases. > > Has anyone solved this kind of issue before, or have better solutions? > > Thanks as always, > > Adam ---
**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, 4:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/dealing-with-search-queries-such-as-portland-or/4629/9 "2017-07-06T04:03:25Z")