# How can you know if a fuzzy search has exact matches in returned results

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-you-know-if-a-fuzzy-search-has-exact-matches-in-returned-results/146192>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 27, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-you-know-if-a-fuzzy-search-has-exact-matches-in-returned-results/146192 "2018-08-27T14:27:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ana\_Maria\_Rusu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ana_maria_rusu/32/34782_2.png) [@Ana\_Maria\_Rusu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ana_Maria_Rusu)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-you-know-if-a-fuzzy-search-has-exact-matches-in-returned-results/146192/1 "2018-08-27T14:27:25Z")

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If you are using the "fuzziness" parameter from "query\_string" is there any way for you to know if you have any exact match in your results?  
My main problem is to figure out what searches would fail (end with 0 results) if I had not used the fuzziness. Any advices?

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**Author:** ![loren](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/loren/32/44942_2.png) [@loren](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/loren)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-you-know-if-a-fuzzy-search-has-exact-matches-in-returned-results/146192/2 "2018-08-27T17:06:00Z")

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I would try using a boolean query here with two should clauses (with default `minimum_should_match` = 1):

1. Should be an exact match
2. Should be a fuzzy match

Use [named queries](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/search-request-named-queries-and-filters.html) to see if sub-query 1 matched.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ana\_Maria\_Rusu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ana_maria_rusu/32/34782_2.png) [@Ana\_Maria\_Rusu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ana_Maria_Rusu)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-you-know-if-a-fuzzy-search-has-exact-matches-in-returned-results/146192/3 "2018-08-28T06:51:17Z")

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Hi Loren,

Thanks a lot! You had a brilliant method here 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![loren](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/loren/32/44942_2.png) [@loren](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/loren)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-you-know-if-a-fuzzy-search-has-exact-matches-in-returned-results/146192/4 "2018-08-28T15:37:17Z")

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Great! Glad to be of help.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-you-know-if-a-fuzzy-search-has-exact-matches-in-returned-results/146192/5 "2018-09-25T15:37:24Z")

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