# Search syntax for "+" **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [April 13, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-syntax-for/47284 "2016-04-13T17:22:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Karthik\_Ramachandran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f19dbf/32.png) [@Karthik\_Ramachandran](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Karthik_Ramachandran)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-syntax-for/47284/1 "2016-04-13T17:22:04Z")
All, There is a user tendency that users search with + instead of boolean operator AND. Is it that we need to explicitly convert + to AND before searching? ex. I want search like NBA + Results + MVP instead of NBA AND Results AND MVP.. ---
**Author:** ![spinscale](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/spinscale/32/25011_2.png) [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-syntax-for/47284/2 "2016-04-14T13:30:58Z")
Hey, a couple solutions here: The [query\_string](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-query-string-query.html) allows you to set a default operator, so you dont have to specify any thing to have an AND query. However if you want to use OR it still needs to be specified. The [simple\_query\_string](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-simple-query-string-query.html) only supports `+` or `-` instead if `AND/OR`. Last but not least, you could go with the `match_query` and its default operator. If you need to support `AND/OR` plus `+/-` you might need to build your own query parser. Hope this helps. --Alex ---
**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, 10:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-syntax-for/47284/3 "2017-07-05T22:59:17Z")