# Elastic Search query with "+" prefix character escape not working

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-query-with-prefix-character-escape-not-working/311274>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 3, 2022, 8:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-query-with-prefix-character-escape-not-working/311274 "2022-08-03T08:10:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tobi\_owolawi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tobi_owolawi/32/109180_2.png) [@tobi\_owolawi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tobi_owolawi)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 8:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-query-with-prefix-character-escape-not-working/311274/1 "2022-08-03T08:10:18Z")

</div>

I have this issue currently with my elastic search not working suddenly. trying either of the following shows no hits when they are escaped.

```auto
GET /policies/_search
{
  "query" : {
    "simple_query_string" : {
      "query" : "\\+4912345678*"
    }
  }
}

GET /policies/_search
{
  "query" : {
    "query_string" : {
      "query" : "\\+4912345678*"
    }
  }
}

```

```auto
{
  "took" : 151,
  "timed_out" : false,
  "_shards" : {
    "total" : 5,
    "successful" : 5,
    "skipped" : 0,
    "failed" : 0
  },
  "hits" : {
    "total" : {
      "value" : 0,
      "relation" : "eq"
    },
    "max_score" : null,
    "hits" : []
  }
}

```

removing the + plus sign or the escaped character however shows theres a result.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-query-with-prefix-character-escape-not-working/311274/2 "2022-08-31T08:11:14Z")

</div>

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