# Searching for multiple hyphenated terms
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 19, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997 "2017-06-19T21:36:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lrietze](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lrietze)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997/1 "2017-06-19T21:36:49Z")
Hi all,
I am new to the ELK stack, and am in need of some help with querying with Elasticsearch. In essence what I am trying to do is perform a query like such:
- select \* from source where (message = abc-def OR def-ghi OR abc-jkl OR ...)
The problem I am having though is I can get to a point where I can successfully find matches for just one hyphenated tern, but not multiples. I was wondering if there is a query related solution that wouldn't involve me skipping analysing the field, or changing the mappings?
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997/2 "2017-06-19T22:13:37Z")
You can try a match phrase with "abc-def" or "abc def". That should work in your case.
But the best option is to define the right mapping/analyzer for your fields.
---
### Author:  [@lrietze](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lrietze)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997/3 "2017-06-20T15:44:26Z")
Thanks for the quick reply dadoonet. The match phrase helped me match on one term. I ended up following the idea in the ["Combining Filters" guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/current/combining-filters.html) which - with the match phrase - seems to have solved my problem.
> GET \_search
> {
> "size": 5000,
> "query": {
> "bool": {
> "must": {
> "bool": {
> "should": [
> {
> "match":{
> "message":{
> "query":"abc-def",
> "operator": "AND"
> }
> }
> },
> {
> "match":{
> "message":{
> "query":"abc-ghi",
> "operator": "AND"
> }
> }
> },
> {
> "match":{
> "message":{
> "query":"abc-jkl",
> "operator": "AND"
> }
> }
> },
> {
> "match":{
> "message":{
> "query":"def - 34",
> "operator": "AND"
> }
> }
> },
> {
> "match":{
> "message":{
> "query":"hij - 27",
> "operator": "AND"
> }
> }
> },
> {
> "match":{
> "message":{
> "query":"31083",
> "operator": "AND"
> }
> }
> },
> {
> "match":{
> "message":{
> "query":"31070",
> "operator": "AND"
> }
> }
> }
> ]
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997/4 "2017-06-20T16:18:29Z")
Well. You are doing match phrase but match all the terms whatever the order is.
Which means that abc def will match as well as def abc.
Not exactly a phrase here
---
### Author:  [@lrietze](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lrietze)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997/5 "2017-06-20T17:53:04Z")
Hmm, I guess I haven't run into a case where they are flipped because I don't have that in my test data. Any suggestions on how to fix my match phrase? Do I need to create a custom analyser? (I'm not entirely familiar with the analyser / mapping features)
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997/6 "2017-06-20T21:07:00Z")
As I said, "the best option is to define the right mapping/analyzer for your fields."
Use a `keyword` type instead of `text`. Then you will only be able to search for the full and complete string.
```auto
DELETE test
PUT test
{
"mappings": {
"doc": {
"properties": {
"message": {
"type": "keyword"
}
}
}
}
}
PUT test/doc/1
{
"message": "abc-def"
}
```
Then try to use a match query with `abc-def` (should match) and `def-abc` (should not match).
HTH
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/searching-for-multiple-hyphenated-terms/89997/7 "2017-07-18T21:07:19Z")
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