# Search across fields using different custom index analyzer **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [October 9, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-across-fields-using-different-custom-index-analyzer/9292 "2012-10-09T15:20:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stephanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Stephanie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stephanie)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-across-fields-using-different-custom-index-analyzer/9292/1 "2012-10-09T15:20:03Z")
I have an index containing multiple types, on some of those types, some fields are using a custom analyzer. This implementation was adopted to allow a case-insensitive search allowing matches on special characters. However, when I execute a query string search across all fields(without specifying a field or default\_field), all fields seem to be matched as if they are all using the standard analyzer. My items with special characters are only matched if I use a space instead of the special character. Searches specifying a particular field work fine... matching on special characters. Is there an adjustment to the mapping or query construction that I can make to enable searches using different analyzers on different fields? - Thanks -- ---
**Author:** ![Ivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/df788c/32.png) [@Ivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ivan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-across-fields-using-different-custom-index-analyzer/9292/2 "2012-10-09T16:13:48Z")
When searching across "all fields", you are actually searching a field called \_all. > **[Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale](https://www.elastic.co)** > > Power insights and outcomes with the Elasticsearch Platform and AI. See into your data and find answers that matter with enterprise solutions designed to help you build, observe, and protect. Try Elasticsearch free today. This field has it own analyzer, which defaults to the StandardAnalyzer. You can redefine the analyzer for the \_all field in your mapping. Another option is to use the multi field option of the query string query and explicitly search against multiple fields. Cheers, Ivan On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 8:20 AM, Stephanie [stephanie.barulic@gmail.com](mailto:stephanie.barulic@gmail.com)wrote: > I have an index containing multiple types, on some of those types, some > fields are using a custom analyzer. This implementation was adopted to > allow a case-insensitive search allowing matches on special characters. > However, when I execute a query string search across all > fields(without specifying a field or default\_field), all fields seem to be > matched as if they are all using the standard analyzer. My items with > special characters are only matched if I use a space instead of the special > character. Searches specifying a particular field work fine... matching on > special characters. > > Is there an adjustment to the mapping or query construction that I can > make to enable searches using different analyzers on different fields? > > - Thanks > > -- -- ---
**Author:** ![Stephanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Stephanie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stephanie)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-across-fields-using-different-custom-index-analyzer/9292/3 "2012-10-12T17:48:56Z")
\_all sounds very promising. However, while I seem to be able to successfully update the type mapping in an index with a custom analyzer, it doesn't seem to change the behavior of a query against the \_all field. Is there a trick to getting information about the \_all field to come back with the metadata on a mapping get? I cannot seem to find a way to verify that I've actually updated the analyzer. - Thanks for your help On Tuesday, October 9, 2012 11:20:03 AM UTC-4, Stephanie wrote: > I have an index containing multiple types, on some of those types, some > fields are using a custom analyzer. This implementation was adopted to > allow a case-insensitive search allowing matches on special characters. > However, when I execute a query string search across all > fields(without specifying a field or default\_field), all fields seem to be > matched as if they are all using the standard analyzer. My items with > special characters are only matched if I use a space instead of the special > character. Searches specifying a particular field work fine... matching on > special characters. > > Is there an adjustment to the mapping or query construction that I can > make to enable searches using different analyzers on different fields? > > - Thanks -- ---
**Author:** ![Stephanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Stephanie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stephanie)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-across-fields-using-different-custom-index-analyzer/9292/4 "2012-10-18T15:33:22Z")
I'm having trouble making this approach work in a way that seems consistent between the \_all field and the other fields I have mapped to the custom analyzer. (Again, if there is a more straightforward approach to enabling special character matching and preserving case-insensitive matching, I would be happy to give something else a shot. I am trying to avoid constructing a query against every field on all of our types.) First, I should say that while I am seemingly able to update the analyzer on the \_all field successfully, I can't seem to get anything back in the metadata for the mapping indicating that the non-default analyzer has been applied. Any suggestion there would be fantastic. I've attempted to make sure both the \_all and the name queries are using the standard search\_analyzer. The inconsistency around behavior has to do with matching partial strings with multiple words. Any clues you might be able to give as to what might explain the differences in behavior would be welcome. For instance, while searching for an entity with name="_l&g foods_" 1. If I execute this query against the name field where the name field is using the custom analyzer but the \_all field is not, I get a matching result. {"query":{"query\_string":{"default\_field":"_name_ ","default\_operator":"AND","_query":"l&g\ foo_\*"}},"fields":["name"]} However, if I execute the same query against the \_all field in an index where both the \_all field and the name field are using the custom analyzer, I do not get matching results. {"query":{"query\_string":{"default\_field":"_\_all_ ","default\_operator":"AND","_query":"l&g\ foo_\*"}},"fields":["name"]} Instead, I have to run the query with an unescaped space... {"query":{"query\_string":{"default\_field":"_\_all_ ","default\_operator":"AND","_query":"l&g foo_\*"}},"fields":["name"]} 1. When querying the index with \_all set to the custom analyzer for \_all, I cannot seem to construct a query to match the single term with the special character while still using a trailing wildcard... {"query":{"query\_string":{"default\_field":"_\_all_ ","default\_operator":"AND","query":"_l&g_\*"}},"fields":["name"]} will return not results. However, {"query":{"query\_string":{"default\_field":"_\_all_ ","default\_operator":"AND","query":"_l&g_"}},"fields":["name"]} will match. 1. Finally, leading wildcards seem to behave differently. my \_all searches seems to disallow them... no matches, while they seem to be required in the name field searches, as I would expect, to find words in the middle of the field text. It's almost as if the \_all field analyzer is still splitting the field into tokens. Thank you again. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012 12:13:54 PM UTC-4, Ivan Brusic wrote: > When searching across "all fields", you are actually searching a field > called \_all. > > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/all-field.html) > > This field has it own analyzer, which defaults to the StandardAnalyzer. > You can redefine the analyzer for the \_all field in your mapping. > > Another option is to use the multi field option of the query string query > and explicitly search against multiple fields. > > Cheers, > > Ivan > > On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 8:20 AM, Stephanie \<[stephani...@gmail.com](mailto:stephani...@gmail.com)\ > > > wrote: > > > I have an index containing multiple types, on some of those types, some > > fields are using a custom analyzer. This implementation was adopted to > > allow a case-insensitive search allowing matches on special characters. > > However, when I execute a query string search across all > > fields(without specifying a field or default\_field), all fields seem to be > > matched as if they are all using the standard analyzer. My items with > > special characters are only matched if I use a space instead of the special > > character. Searches specifying a particular field work fine... matching on > > special characters. > > > > Is there an adjustment to the mapping or query construction that I can > > make to enable searches using different analyzers on different fields? > > > > - Thanks > > > > -- -- ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-across-fields-using-different-custom-index-analyzer/9292/5 "2017-07-06T03:08:04Z")