# Prioritising matches in specific field **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [February 16, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/prioritising-matches-in-specific-field/41897 "2016-02-16T14:38:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![basiclaser](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/basiclaser/32/23304_2.png) [@basiclaser](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/basiclaser)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/prioritising-matches-in-specific-field/41897/1 "2016-02-16T14:38:44Z")
Hi all. Im trying to clarify what the current standard for prioritising document matches with matches from a certain field. Questions ( I don't expect answers to them all, just wanted to get my different lines of enquiry in one place ): - would you use a field boost, and function score, or a bool\>must/should query to prioritise results from a certain field? - I see that \_boost was deprecated, and now 'boost' is available in 2.x. are they two different strategies with the same name? - would 'field\_name^2' suffice to favor results that match in a particular field ( the lastest 'boost' docs show this )? - how can i return results in order of score? - can i return results in order with matches in a certain field first? - Are 'function score' and 'score function' the same thing? I saw mention of both. - Is a bool/must/should also suitable for prioritising matches from a certain field? Thanks for your help in clearing this up. ---
**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 17, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/prioritising-matches-in-specific-field/41897/2 "2016-02-17T17:16:42Z")
> [@basiclaser](#): > > would you use a field boost, and function score, or a bool\>must/should query to prioritise results from a certain field? Personally, I'd use field boost because it feels more search-y. Say you boost `title` 10 compared to `text`. It is still possible for something with a wonderful text match to outrank a poor title match. This comes up more if you happen to do both `match_phrase` and `match` at the same time. Like, if you have a boost on the `match_phrase` so that phrase matches float to the top. Then, depending on the boost on the `match_phrase` a phrase match in the `text` can beat a regular match in the `title`. > [@basiclaser](#): > > I see that \_boost was deprecated, and now 'boost' is available in 2.x. are they two different strategies with the same name? Yes. This mirrors a change in Lucene where boost was removed from queries a boost query was added to replace it. > [@basiclaser](#): > > would 'field\_name^2' suffice to favor results that match in a particular field ( the lastest 'boost' docs show this )? That syntax working in `multi_match` and `query_string` queries and probably more I don't remember off the top of my head. Under the covers the those queries are building `bool` queries and `boost` queries. The preference won't be hard and fast. If a term is twice as good a match against `foo` its going to beat a half as good match of `bar^2`. "Goodness" of a match is a bit complicated to explain though. > [@basiclaser](#): > > how can i return results in order of score? Its the default. [Here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/search-request-sort.html) are the docs for `_sort`. If you don't send that field the default is sorting by score descending. > [@basiclaser](#): > > can i return results in order with matches in a certain field first? Probably. But its usually better to use score. I suspect you'd do something like ```js { "query": { "function_score": { "functions": { "filter": { "match": {"foo": "some text"}, "weight": 1 }, "filter": { "match": {"bar": "some text"}, "weight": 2 } } "score_mode": "sum" } } } ``` But that'd put all results that contained the bar match above the foo matches, all tied. Its probably not what you want, but you can play with it. I think its madness compared to just using field boosts, but if you want it, it is there for you. And it probably is the right thing to do in some rare situations. > [@basiclaser](#): > > Are 'function score' and 'score function' the same thing?I saw mention of both. `function_score` is a [query](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-function-score-query.html). "score functions" are the functions you can feed to it. They are the `functions` field in the dsl of `function_score`. > [@basiclaser](#): > > Is a bool/must/should also suitable for prioritising matches from a certain field? Sure. You can use the boosting query to make one of the `must` or `should` clauses strong than another one. You can use the `^` syntax on the field names if you are using `multi_match` too. ---
**Author:** ![Ivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/df788c/32.png) [@Ivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ivan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/prioritising-matches-in-specific-field/41897/3 "2016-02-17T17:58:53Z")
Great explanation by Nik and I would like to add that using a function score makes it more difficult to debug the score explanation, which is useful when tuning relevancy. Ivan ---
**Author:** ![basiclaser](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/basiclaser/32/23304_2.png) [@basiclaser](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/basiclaser)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/prioritising-matches-in-specific-field/41897/4 "2016-02-19T14:27:36Z")
Thanks so much as always nik9000 for this in-depth response! This will come in handy. ---
**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, 11:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/prioritising-matches-in-specific-field/41897/5 "2017-07-05T23:14:53Z")