# How to search for special characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [February 11, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-search-for-special-characters/41453 "2016-02-11T05:18:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harish\_Ramanathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Harish\_Ramanathan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Harish_Ramanathan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-search-for-special-characters/41453/1 "2016-02-11T05:18:16Z")
I am using Elasticsearch 2.1.1 and have fields with special characters - $, %, ., :, ;, @,&,+,- I tried using bool, match, match phrase, query string, multi match query. None of the queries return back the documents containing the above special characters. Is there something I am missing here? ---
**Author:** ![nik9000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nik9000/32/44947_2.png) [@nik9000](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nik9000)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-search-for-special-characters/41453/2 "2016-02-11T15:20:19Z")
`match` and `match_phrase` will work, but you have to make sure that the analyzer that you use for the field doesn't throw out the character. Have a look at the [analysis](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/analysis.html) section and the [analysis](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-analyze.html) api for ways to learn experiment with this. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-search-for-special-characters/41453/3 "2017-07-05T23:17:09Z")