# Search analyser + preserve special characters
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-analyser-preserve-special-characters/254883
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [November 10, 2020, 9:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-analyser-preserve-special-characters/254883 "2020-11-10T09:19:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Liam\_Aird](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Liam_Aird)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2020, 9:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-analyser-preserve-special-characters/254883/1 "2020-11-10T09:19:07Z")
Hi,
I am having somewhat of an issue here that I cannot seem to solve after a few different attempts and days worth of googling.
I am using the synonyms filter - and read that it would be better to do so search time instead of at index time.
So I did that, following this guide: [https://www.elastic.co/blog/boosting-the-power-of-elasticsearch-with-synonyms](https://www.elastic.co/blog/boosting-the-power-of-elasticsearch-with-synonyms)
I have the following mapping:
```auto
{
"company": {
"mappings": {
"properties": {
"p_name": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "custom_index",
"search_analyzer": "rebuilt_danish"
},
"slug": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "custom_index",
"search_analyzer": "rebuilt_danish"
}
}
}
}
}
```
And the settings:
```auto
{
"company": {
"settings": {
"index": {
"analysis": {
"filter": {
"danish_synonyms": {
"type": "synonym",
"synonyms": [
"brdr, brdr., brødrene",
"&, og",
"adm, adm., administration, administrativ",
"v, v., v/, /v, ved",
"adv, adv., advokat",
"as, a/s, as., aktieselskab",
"aps, aps., anpartsselskab",
"afd, afd., afdeling",
"alm, alm., almindelig",
"a-kasse, a kasse, akasse, arbejdsløshedskasse",
"amu, arbejdsmarkedsuddannelse",
"att, att., attention"
]
}
},
"analyzer": {
"custom_index": {
"filter": [
"lowercase"
],
"type": "custom",
"preserve_original": "true",
"tokenizer": "standard"
},
"rebuilt_danish": {
"filter": [
"lowercase",
"danish_synonyms"
],
"type": "custom",
"tokenizer": "whitespace"
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```
I have tried a few different things to try and make it work - but here is what I am having issues with.
We have a company called "brdr. madsen & søn"
I have created synonyms so you also should be able to search "brødrene madsen og søn"
But the indexer strips off the &, so the search will be "brdr madsen søn" - which is not ideal.
I have tried creating a custom indexer, that should do it, tried preserving the original, tried a few things.
And yes - I also tried adding the danish language filters - but they made it even worse and will not work in this situation.
The other issue I have is with the search\_analyzer at index time.
I use [Elastic.co](http://Elastic.co) as host - and followed the guide by uploading a plugin with my synonym text file - but once I update it, it is not reflected - So I still need to restart the node for it to update - which restricts the use of \_reload\_search\_analyzers, since it does not update/reload with the updates. So how can I make that work as well, together with [elastic.co](http://elastic.co)?
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2020, 9:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-analyser-preserve-special-characters/254883/2 "2020-12-08T09:19:20Z")
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