# Simple query string: minus (-) doesn't work if WHITESPACE not specified in flags **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [June 16, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/simple-query-string-minus-doesnt-work-if-whitespace-not-specified-in-flags/237347 "2020-06-16T17:15:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pilo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/pilo/32/46015_2.png) [@pilo](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pilo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/simple-query-string-minus-doesnt-work-if-whitespace-not-specified-in-flags/237347/1 "2020-06-16T17:15:05Z")
Hi everyone, like mentionned in the title, i'm facing the problem with simple query string when WHITESPACE is not specified in flags. I'm using `docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.4.1` I have a mapping like below: ```auto PUT test { "settings": { "analysis": { "analyzer": { "english": { "type": "custom", "char_filter": "html_strip", "tokenizer": "icu_tokenizer", "filter": [ "english_possessive_stemmer", "lowercase", "icu_folding", "english_stop", "english_stemmer" ] } }, "filter": { "english_stop": { "type": "stop", "stopwords": "_english_", "remove_trailing": false }, "english_stemmer": { "type": "stemmer", "language": "english" }, "english_possessive_stemmer": { "type": "stemmer", "language": "possessive_english" } } } }, "mappings": { "properties":{ "translations":{ "properties":{ "en": { "type": "text", "term_vector": "with_positions_offsets", "analyzer": "english" } } }, "elastic_translations":{ "properties":{ "en": { "type": "text", "analyzer": "english" } } }, "elastic_case_title":{ "properties":{ "en": { "type": "text", "analyzer": "english" } } } } } } PUT test/_doc/1 { "translations": { "en": "one two three of four" }, "elastic_translations":{ "en": "four of five" }, "elastic_case_title":{ "en": "five of six" } } PUT test/_doc/2 { "translations": { "en": "two three of four" }, "elastic_translations":{ "en": "three of four" }, "elastic_case_title":{ "en": "five of six" } } PUT test/_doc/3 { "translations": { "en": "six of seven" }, "elastic_translations":{ "en": "three of" }, "elastic_case_title":{ "en": "eight of nine" } } ``` and when i launch this request (with `default_operator: or` and `all flags enabled`) it works fine: ```auto GET test/_search { "query": { "bool": { "should": [ { "simple_query_string": { "query": "one two of three", "fields": [ "elastic_case_title.en^5", "elastic_translations.en^3", "translations.en" ] } } ] } }, "highlight": { "pre_tags": [ "" ], "post_tags": [ "" ], "fields" : { "translations.en": {}, "elastic_case_title.en": {}, "elastic_translations.en": {} } } } ``` but then i have another problem with **keyword** and **operator and** , so that i followed this solution: > > > I use the official docker image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:6.6.1 > Elasticsearch version (bin/elasticsearch --version): > Version: 6.6.1, Build: default/tar/1fd8f69/2019-02-13T17:10:04.160291Z, JVM: 11.0.1 > Plugins installed: nothing besides the default ones... as solution proposed by @jimczi, i remove **WHITESPACE flag** like below: ```auto GET test/_search { "query": { "bool": { "should": [ { "simple_query_string": { "query": "one two of three", "fields": [ "elastic_case_title.en^5", "elastic_translations.en^3", "translations.en" ], "flags": "AND|ESCAPE|NEAR|NOT|OR|PHRASE|PRECEDENCE|PREFIX|SLOP", "default_operator": "AND" } } ] } }, "highlight": { "pre_tags": [ "" ], "post_tags": [ "" ], "fields" : { "translations.en": {}, "elastic_case_title.en": {}, "elastic_translations.en": {} } } } ``` it work fine (i have doc 1 as result) until i give the query string minus (-) (aka prohibited clause) like this: ```auto GET test/_search { "query": { "bool": { "should": [ { "simple_query_string": { "query": "-one two of three", "fields": [ "elastic_case_title.en^5", "elastic_translations.en^3", "translations.en" ], "flags": "AND|ESCAPE|NEAR|NOT|OR|PHRASE|PRECEDENCE|PREFIX|SLOP", "default_operator": "AND" } } ] } }, "highlight": { "pre_tags": [ "" ], "post_tags": [ "" ], "fields" : { "translations.en": {}, "elastic_case_title.en": {}, "elastic_translations.en": {} } } } ``` or this one ( i followed the solution on elastic documention, as i give a (+) before (-)) ```auto GET test/_search { "query": { "bool": { "should": [ { "simple_query_string": { "query": "+-one two of three", "fields": [ "elastic_case_title.en^5", "elastic_translations.en^3", "translations.en" ], "flags": "AND|ESCAPE|NEAR|NOT|OR|PHRASE|PRECEDENCE|PREFIX|SLOP", "default_operator": "AND" } } ] } }, "highlight": { "pre_tags": [ "" ], "post_tags": [ "" ], "fields" : { "translations.en": {}, "elastic_case_title.en": {}, "elastic_translations.en": {} } } } ``` both queries dont work, it give me doc 2 and doc 3 (expected only doc 2) and i lost my highlight too. when i use explain, ```auto GET test/_explain/3(or2) { "query": { "bool": { "should": [ { "simple_query_string": { "query": "+-one two of three", "fields": [ "elastic_case_title.en^5", "elastic_translations.en^3", "translations.en" ], "flags": "AND|ESCAPE|NEAR|NOT|OR|PHRASE|PRECEDENCE|PREFIX|SLOP", "default_operator": "AND" } } ] } } } ``` it give me nothing: ```auto { "_index" : "test", "_type" : "_doc", "_id" : "3", "matched" : true, "explanation" : { "value" : 1.0, "description" : "sum of:", "details" : [ { "value" : 1.0, "description" : "*:*", "details" : [] } ] } } ``` i found a same issue on elastic github but no solution provided: > > > Refers to scenario described in #9525 > { > "query":{ > "simple\_query\_string" : { > "query" : "php developer -superguru", > "analyzer": "my\_synonyms", > "fields": \["title","\_all"\], > "flags" :... Do you guys have any explanation ? Otherwise, do you have any solution for filtering stopword, while using and operator ? @jimczi im sorry if i bother you, but your explanation in this issue is so clear, i wonder if you can help me this team. So thank you. Thank you guys. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/simple-query-string-minus-doesnt-work-if-whitespace-not-specified-in-flags/237347/2 "2020-07-14T17:15:14Z")
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