# Query string query: default fuzziness?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [September 17, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788 "2018-09-17T08:22:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kasscharal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kasscharal)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788/1 "2018-09-17T08:22:39Z")
Hello people,
I'm using ES for quite a while but I'm stuck on something I cannot explain. I do a simple query like:
> {
> "query": {
> "query\_string" : {
> "query" : "daan"
> }
> }
> }
having all settings on default, and I get back results with the term 'dans' instead of 'daan'. I was under the impression that I had to use ~ in order to enable fuzziness, and that by default I would only get exact matches. Isn't that the case? If not, how can I require exact matches with query string queries? Thank you!
---
### Author:  [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2018, 10:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788/2 "2018-09-17T10:49:06Z")
Use the [explain API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/search-explain.html) to figure out what terms/fields are being matched for the docs in question.
If you have trouble interpreting the output paste it here.
---
### Author:  [@kasscharal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kasscharal)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788/3 "2018-10-02T11:43:14Z")
Hi @Mark_Harwood!
I used the explain API for one case without exact matches like this:
```
GET my-index/test/58de9cf6bfcd0b7cf3ab29d8/_explain
{"query": {
"function_score" : {
"query" : {
"bool" : {
"must" : [
{
"query_string" : {
"query" : "daan",
"fields" : [
"match_education^1.0",
"match_experience^2.0",
"match_personal^1.0",
"match_skill^2.0"
]
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
}
```
and I got back:
```
{
"_index": "my-index",
"_type": "test",
"_id": "58de9cf6bfcd0b7cf3ab29d8",
"matched": true,
"explanation": {
"value": 26.325321,
"description": "sum of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 26.325321,
"description": "sum of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 26.325321,
"description": "max of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 10.659221,
"description": "weight(match_education:dan in 38031) [PerFieldSimilarity], result of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 10.659221,
"description": "score(doc=38031,freq=1.0 = termFreq=1.0\n), product of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 7.654514,
"description": "idf(docFreq=33, docCount=70689)",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 1.3925406,
"description": "tfNorm, computed from:",
"details": [
{
"value": 1,
"description": "termFreq=1.0",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 1.2,
"description": "parameter k1",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 0.75,
"description": "parameter b",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 12.864208,
"description": "avgFieldLength",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 4,
"description": "fieldLength",
"details": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"value": 26.325321,
"description": "weight(match_experience:dan in 38031) [PerFieldSimilarity], result of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 26.325321,
"description": "score(doc=38031,freq=5.0 = termFreq=5.0\n), product of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 2,
"description": "boost",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 6.6921854,
"description": "idf(docFreq=85, docCount=68919)",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 1.9668703,
"description": "tfNorm, computed from:",
"details": [
{
"value": 5,
"description": "termFreq=5.0",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 1.2,
"description": "parameter k1",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 0.75,
"description": "parameter b",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 64.27036,
"description": "avgFieldLength",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 20.897959,
"description": "fieldLength",
"details": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"value": 0,
"description": "match on required clause, product of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 0,
"description": "# clause",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 1,
"description": "_type:talent, product of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 1,
"description": "boost",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 1,
"description": "queryNorm",
"details": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
}
```
My surprise is that it matches: 'dan' instead of 'daan'. Why would that be?
---
### Author:  [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2018, 12:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788/4 "2018-10-02T12:58:04Z")
> [@kasscharal](#):
>
> Why would that be?
Your choice of Analyzer dictates how documents and queries are sliced into tokens.
Can you supply the results of `GET my-index/_mapping`
---
### Author:  [@kasscharal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kasscharal)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788/5 "2018-10-02T14:29:32Z")
Oh yes! Makes total sense now!
Thank you for your time @Mark_Harwood
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-string-query-default-fuzziness/148788/6 "2018-10-30T14:29:38Z")
This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.