# ES regexp not working properly

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-regexp-not-working-properly/264297>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 15, 2021, 10:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-regexp-not-working-properly/264297 "2021-02-15T10:25:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Vijay\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/vijay_gupta/32/53067_2.png) [@Vijay\_Gupta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Vijay_Gupta)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 10:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-regexp-not-working-properly/264297/1 "2021-02-15T10:25:43Z")

</div>

Hello,

I want to query my index and get documents where "@" is present in my "cust\_email" field.

```
GET my_index/_search
    {
"sort": [
    { "last_updated_date": {"order":"desc"}}
],
   "_source": ["cust_email"],
      "from" : 0, "size" : 10,
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": [ 
     {
        "regexp": {
          "cust_email": ".*@.*"
         }
    }
      ]
    }
  }
}

```

However ES gives result where "@" is not present in "cust\_email" field.  
see results, I m getting "cust\_email" : "mbol" in some row, where "@" is not there

Can Anyone please suggest, why this is happening and, what's the solution to ignore records where "@" is not present.

```
{
  "took" : 687,
  "timed_out" : false,
  "_shards" : {
    "total" : 1,
    "successful" : 1,
    "skipped" : 0,
    "failed" : 0
  },
  "hits" : {
    "total" : {
      "value" : 1714,
      "relation" : "eq"
    },
    "max_score" : null,
    "hits" : [
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "2f9e5f22a1bc2dc7e6dd419f0b55ca44d8eb2eed",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "nasserhli888@live.com"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374232000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "95d9d77dfec631b48cb882d456318918d4212649",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "aubrey.annelie@gmail.com"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374229000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "f3a79288541e14e90b48f2ed03fd94d8984f97d2",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "joenabhan@hotmail.com"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374214000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "2c6c6fcb086628748b0d4cc97d313409bc05e5cb",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "mbol"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374212000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "fbdd18ac0511e1e1c21ce4383585128b3d767614",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "mbol"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374206000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "7230d8c151fccf0513c3a8d89ab980cf2c7b6eac",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "nabulsihani@yahoo.com"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374202000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "0143409fc0255ce223c29146687f572136770948",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "mbol"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374201000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "40784392aaa30c0c100794ed523d6bf92b592d3c",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "joeybernardino@hotmail.com"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374198000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "0e693a29f6eab48b1971755702e2652a311a3598",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "ninakalaw@yahoo.co.in"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374195000
        ]
      },
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "46dc21b4ab5291f7c7387c87b34c2fb2425834d3",
        "_score" : null,
        "_source" : {
          "cust_email" : "mbol"
        },
        "sort" : [
          1613374186000
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 11:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-regexp-not-working-properly/264297/2 "2021-02-15T11:06:22Z")

</div>

This is because by default the @ symbol has a special meaning. See [these docs](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/regexp-syntax.html#regexp-optional-operators).

To disable this interpretation you'll need to set parser flags e.g.

```auto
POST test/_search
{
  "query": {
    "regexp": {
      "email.keyword": {
        "value": ".*@.*",
        "flags": "COMPLEMENT|INTERSECTION|INTERVAL"
      }
    }
  }
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Vijay\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/vijay_gupta/32/53067_2.png) [@Vijay\_Gupta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Vijay_Gupta)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-regexp-not-working-properly/264297/3 "2021-02-15T15:05:54Z")

</div>

> [@Mark\_Harwood](#):
>
> ```auto
> "email.keyword": {
> "value": ".*@.*",
> "flags": "COMPLEMENT|INTERSECTION|INTERVAL"
> }
> 
> ```

Thank you @Mark_Harwood  
Does **.keyword** is compulsory , if yes why??  
I tried without **.keyword** then it gives nothing.  
However with **.keyword** it works perfectly,

Thanks Again, Made my day!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-regexp-not-working-properly/264297/4 "2021-02-15T15:09:39Z")

</div>

Glad you got it working.  
To understand `keyword` you need to understand about mappings (how your JSON content is organised into searchable indices).  
[This doc](https://www.elastic.co/blog/strings-are-dead-long-live-strings) describes how JSON strings are mapped by default if you don't declare a mapping for your fields.

---

<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:** [March 15, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-regexp-not-working-properly/264297/5 "2021-03-15T15:10:00Z")

</div>

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