# Ignoring the search field if left empty

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignoring-the-search-field-if-left-empty/94434>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [July 25, 2017, 7:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignoring-the-search-field-if-left-empty/94434 "2017-07-25T07:37:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hyun\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/aca169/32.png) [@Hyun\_Thomas](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Hyun_Thomas)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 7:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignoring-the-search-field-if-left-empty/94434/1 "2017-07-25T07:37:46Z")

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Hi everyone,

I am new to Elasticsearch and for the past few weeks, I have been wrangling with Elasticsearch to create a search functionality for the website I am creating.

At the moment, I am working on an "Advanced Search" functionality where users can search with multiple criteria. But I am not too sure on how to deal with empty fields; for example, say a user specifies field 1 and field 3 but not field 2 then I would like the search results to return results that match field 1 AND field 3 but ignore field 2. I have tried using an all indicator (i.e. \* in kibana) but it doesn't seem to work on the query.

Could anyone provide some insights on how I can go about doing this?

Thank you,  
Thomas

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**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 7:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignoring-the-search-field-if-left-empty/94434/2 "2017-07-25T07:54:03Z")

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Here is how I built an advanced search like feature in Java:

> <https://github.com/dadoonet/legacy-search/blob/01-direct/src/main/java/fr/pilato/demo/legacysearch/service/PersonService.java#L133-L155>

I hope this helps.

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**Author:** ![Hyun\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/aca169/32.png) [@Hyun\_Thomas](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Hyun_Thomas)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 8:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignoring-the-search-field-if-left-empty/94434/3 "2017-07-25T08:15:41Z")

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Hey David,

Thanks for the reply.

Is there any equivalent to boolQueryBuilder or QueryBuilders in PHP?

Best,  
Thomas

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**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 8:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignoring-the-search-field-if-left-empty/94434/4 "2017-07-25T08:40:19Z")

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This ?

[https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/php-api/current/\_search\_operations.html#\_bool\_queries](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/php-api/current/_search_operations.html#_bool_queries)

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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:** [August 22, 2017, 8:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignoring-the-search-field-if-left-empty/94434/5 "2017-08-22T08:40:35Z")

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