# Term and string
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/term-and-string/23378
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [April 23, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/term-and-string/23378 "2015-04-23T14:42:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jason\_Wee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jason_Wee)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/term-and-string/23378/1 "2015-04-23T14:42:13Z")
Can anybody explain what is the different between term and string in
elasticsearch context?
When we index using default mapping
([http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-put-mapping.html](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-put-mapping.html)),
the default type is string.
But when we query, we use the word term
([http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-term-query.html](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-term-query.html))
instead of string?
I google lucene documentation, the term is define as
A query is broken up into terms and operators. There are two types of
terms: Single Terms and Phrases. A Single Term is a single word such as
"test" or "hello". A Phrase is a group of words surrounded by double quotes
such as "hello dolly".
but it has no mentioned on string.
[https://lucene.apache.org/core/4\_10\_3/queryparser/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/package-summary.html#package\_description](https://lucene.apache.org/core/4_10_3/queryparser/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/package-summary.html#package_description)
Thank you.
Jason
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### Author:  [@softwaredoug](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/softwaredoug)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/term-and-string/23378/2 "2015-04-23T14:56:00Z")
A _term_ in a purely technical sense is an entry in the inverted index.
Technically it is a very low-level entity.
For example, if you tokenized and analyzed doc1: "Dougie Turnbull" using
the English analyzer (which stems words to root forms, lowercases, etc),
you'd get an inverted index that looks somethinglike:
doug
document: 1
position 0
freq 1
turnbul
document: 1
position 1
freq 1
A "term query" therefore directly accesses terms. Its a bit of a low-level
concern. You'd have to query "doug" directly even though the original text
said "dougie".
However, loosely people use the word "search term" to mean words people
enter into a search bar.
"string" is a concept that just reflects the text being analyzed. IE
"Dougie Turnbull". This type is at the Elasticsearch level, and is a peer
for integer, floats, doubles etc. This type dicates how Elasticsearch
understands the value passed from the client and converts it to the
inverted index structure above. A string type will be analyzed, picked
apart into terms, etc based on the associated analyzer. Other types like
numeric types have other low-level magic that helps convert them to the
inverted index data structure.
Hope that helps,
-Doug
On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 10:42 AM, Jason Wee [peichieh@gmail.com](mailto:peichieh@gmail.com) wrote:
> Can anybody explain what is the different between term and string in
> elasticsearch context?
>
> When we index using default mapping (
> [Update mapping API | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-put-mapping.html)),
> the default type is string.
>
> But when we query, we use the word term (
> [Term query | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-term-query.html))
> instead of string?
>
> I google lucene documentation, the term is define as
>
> A query is broken up into terms and operators. There are two types of
> terms: Single Terms and Phrases. A Single Term is a single word such as
> "test" or "hello". A Phrase is a group of words surrounded by double
> quotes such as "hello dolly".
>
> but it has no mentioned on string.
>
> [org.apache.lucene.queryparser.classic (Lucene 4.10.3 API)](https://lucene.apache.org/core/4_10_3/queryparser/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/package-summary.html#package_description)
>
> Thank you.
>
> Jason
>
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> .
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--
\*Doug Turnbull \*\*| \*Search Relevance Consultant | OpenSource Connections,
LLC | 240.476.9983 | [http://www.opensourceconnections.com](http://www.opensourceconnections.com)
Author: Taming Search [http://manning.com/turnbull](http://manning.com/turnbull) from Manning
Publications
This e-mail and all contents, including attachments, is considered to be
Company Confidential unless explicitly stated otherwise, regardless
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### Author:  [@Jason\_Wee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jason_Wee)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/term-and-string/23378/3 "2015-04-24T02:09:53Z")
Yeap, that help, thanks Doug! 🙂
On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 10:56 PM, Doug Turnbull
[dturnbull@opensourceconnections.com](mailto:dturnbull@opensourceconnections.com) wrote:
> A term in a purely technical sense is an entry in the inverted index.
> Technically it is a very low-level entity.
>
> For example, if you tokenized and analyzed doc1: "Dougie Turnbull" using the
> English analyzer (which stems words to root forms, lowercases, etc), you'd
> get an inverted index that looks somethinglike:
>
> doug
> document: 1
> position 0
> freq 1
> turnbul
> document: 1
> position 1
> freq 1
>
> A "term query" therefore directly accesses terms. Its a bit of a low-level
> concern. You'd have to query "doug" directly even though the original text
> said "dougie".
>
> However, loosely people use the word "search term" to mean words people
> enter into a search bar.
>
> "string" is a concept that just reflects the text being analyzed. IE "Dougie
> Turnbull". This type is at the Elasticsearch level, and is a peer for
> integer, floats, doubles etc. This type dicates how Elasticsearch
> understands the value passed from the client and converts it to the inverted
> index structure above. A string type will be analyzed, picked apart into
> terms, etc based on the associated analyzer. Other types like numeric types
> have other low-level magic that helps convert them to the inverted index
> data structure.
>
> Hope that helps,
> -Doug
>
> On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 10:42 AM, Jason Wee [peichieh@gmail.com](mailto:peichieh@gmail.com) wrote:
>
> > Can anybody explain what is the different between term and string in
> > elasticsearch context?
> >
> > When we index using default mapping
> > ([Update mapping API | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-put-mapping.html)),
> > the default type is string.
> >
> > But when we query, we use the word term
> > ([Term query | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-term-query.html))
> > instead of string?
> >
> > I google lucene documentation, the term is define as
> >
> > A query is broken up into terms and operators. There are two types of
> > terms: Single Terms and Phrases. A Single Term is a single word such as
> > "test" or "hello". A Phrase is a group of words surrounded by double quotes
> > such as "hello dolly".
> >
> > but it has no mentioned on string.
> >
> > [org.apache.lucene.queryparser.classic (Lucene 4.10.3 API)](https://lucene.apache.org/core/4_10_3/queryparser/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/package-summary.html#package_description)
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Jason
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> > "elasticsearch" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com).
> > To view this discussion on the web visit
> > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/df898132-f7f8-4476-8a81-21e3891dfb1a%40googlegroups.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/df898132-f7f8-4476-8a81-21e3891dfb1a%40googlegroups.com).
> > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout).
>
> --
> Doug Turnbull | Search Relevance Consultant | OpenSource Connections, LLC |
> 240.476.9983 | [http://www.opensourceconnections.com](http://www.opensourceconnections.com)
> Author: Taming Search from Manning Publications
> This e-mail and all contents, including attachments, is considered to be
> Company Confidential unless explicitly stated otherwise, regardless of
> whether attachments are marked as such.
>
> --
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>
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### Author:  [@Jason\_Wee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jason_Wee)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2015, 7:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/term-and-string/23378/4 "2015-05-03T07:44:48Z")
There are some terminology explain at this link.
> **[Glossary of terms | Reference \[0.90\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/0.90/glossary.html)**
On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 10:09 AM, Jason Wee [peichieh@gmail.com](mailto:peichieh@gmail.com) wrote:
> Yeap, that help, thanks Doug! 🙂
>
> On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 10:56 PM, Doug Turnbull
> [dturnbull@opensourceconnections.com](mailto:dturnbull@opensourceconnections.com) wrote:
>
> > A term in a purely technical sense is an entry in the inverted index.
> > Technically it is a very low-level entity.
> >
> > For example, if you tokenized and analyzed doc1: "Dougie Turnbull" using
> > the
> > English analyzer (which stems words to root forms, lowercases, etc),
> > you'd
> > get an inverted index that looks somethinglike:
> >
> > doug
> > document: 1
> > position 0
> > freq 1
> > turnbul
> > document: 1
> > position 1
> > freq 1
> >
> > A "term query" therefore directly accesses terms. Its a bit of a
> > low-level
> > concern. You'd have to query "doug" directly even though the original
> > text
> > said "dougie".
> >
> > However, loosely people use the word "search term" to mean words people
> > enter into a search bar.
> >
> > "string" is a concept that just reflects the text being analyzed. IE
> > "Dougie
> > Turnbull". This type is at the Elasticsearch level, and is a peer for
> > integer, floats, doubles etc. This type dicates how Elasticsearch
> > understands the value passed from the client and converts it to the
> > inverted
> > index structure above. A string type will be analyzed, picked apart into
> > terms, etc based on the associated analyzer. Other types like numeric
> > types
> > have other low-level magic that helps convert them to the inverted index
> > data structure.
> >
> > Hope that helps,
> > -Doug
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 10:42 AM, Jason Wee [peichieh@gmail.com](mailto:peichieh@gmail.com) wrote:
> >
> > > Can anybody explain what is the different between term and string in
> > > elasticsearch context?
> > >
> > > When we index using default mapping
> > > (
> > > [Update mapping API | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-put-mapping.html)
> > > ),
> > > the default type is string.
> > >
> > > But when we query, we use the word term
> > > (
> > > [Term query | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](http://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-term-query.html)
> > > )
> > > instead of string?
> > >
> > > I google lucene documentation, the term is define as
> > >
> > > A query is broken up into terms and operators. There are two types of
> > > terms: Single Terms and Phrases. A Single Term is a single word such as
> > > "test" or "hello". A Phrase is a group of words surrounded by double
> > > quotes
> > > such as "hello dolly".
> > >
> > > but it has no mentioned on string.
>
> [org.apache.lucene.queryparser.classic (Lucene 4.10.3 API)](https://lucene.apache.org/core/4_10_3/queryparser/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/package-summary.html#package_description)
>
> > > Thank you.
> > >
> > > Jason
> > >
> > > --
> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > > Groups
> > > "elasticsearch" group.
> > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> > > an
> > > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com).
> > > To view this discussion on the web visit
>
> [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/df898132-f7f8-4476-8a81-21e3891dfb1a%40googlegroups.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/df898132-f7f8-4476-8a81-21e3891dfb1a%40googlegroups.com)
> .
>
> > > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout).
> >
> > --
> > Doug Turnbull | Search Relevance Consultant | OpenSource Connections,
> > LLC |
> > 240.476.9983 | [http://www.opensourceconnections.com](http://www.opensourceconnections.com)
> > Author: Taming Search from Manning Publications
> > This e-mail and all contents, including attachments, is considered to be
> > Company Confidential unless explicitly stated otherwise, regardless of
> > whether attachments are marked as such.
> >
> > --
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>
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> .
>
> > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout).
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/term-and-string/23378/5 "2017-07-06T00:16:06Z")