# Using query\_string to search on wildcard field name and specific value **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [June 28, 2019, 9:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-query-string-to-search-on-wildcard-field-name-and-specific-value/188016 "2019-06-28T09:54:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alexjb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexjb/32/48999_2.png) [@alexjb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alexjb)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 9:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-query-string-to-search-on-wildcard-field-name-and-specific-value/188016/1 "2019-06-28T09:54:42Z")
Using query\_string to search on wildcard field name and specific value I'm using NEST to index a doc, which in .net looks like: ``` public class Supplier { public string AccountId {get; set} public int Level {get; set} public Dictionary Dimensions {get; set;} } ``` When it's in the index, it looks something like this: ``` { "accountId": "1d36a070-4699-e611-80r9-005056953547", "dimensions": { "name": "Some Special Account Name", "level": 2 "workCategory[0].name": "Name 1", "workCategory[0].refId": "d9b5ec75-5697-e611-8113-005056956082", "workCategory[1].name": "Name 2", "workCategory[1].refId": "51b2e075-5692-e611-8113-005055956082", } } ``` This is a simplistic version of our doc, but for the purposes of the demo, we have to store each `workCategory` as a flat list like this. What I'm trying to do is find docs where any 'workCategory refId' is equal to `d9b5ec75-5697-e611-8113-005056956082` So I've tried `query_string` like this: ``` { "query": { "query_string": { "query": "workCategory[./*].refId:\"d9b5ec75-5697-e611-8113-005056956082\"" } } } ``` When I run this, I get hits for _all_ docs - including docs that don't have `d9b5ec75-5697-e611-8113-005056956082` in any `workCategory[*].refId` I'm not doing anything with the mapping, other than using Automap. The mapping currently looks like the below Could it be that the dimensions are not nested? Not sure where I'm going wrong at the moment ``` { "my_index_name": { "mappings": { "properties": { "accountId": { "type": "text", "fields": { "keyword": { "type": "keyword", "ignore_above": 256 } } }, "dimensions": { "properties": { "name": { "type": "text", "fields": { "keyword": { "type": "keyword", "ignore_above": 256 } } }, "level": { "type": "long" }, "workCategory[0]": { "properties": { "name": { "type": "text", "fields": { "keyword": { "type": "keyword", "ignore_above": 256 } } }, "refId": { "type": "text", "fields": { "keyword": { "type": "keyword", "ignore_above": 256 } } } } }, "workCategory[1]": { "properties": { "name": { "type": "text", "fields": { "keyword": { "type": "keyword", "ignore_above": 256 } } }, "refId": { "type": "text", "fields": { "keyword": { "type": "keyword", "ignore_above": 256 } } } } } } } } } } } ``` ---
**Author:** ![forloop](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/forloop/32/9021_2.png) [@forloop](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/forloop)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-query-string-to-search-on-wildcard-field-name-and-specific-value/188016/2 "2019-07-01T02:34:25Z")
> [@alexjb](#): > > This is a simplistic version of our doc, but for the purposes of the demo, we have to store each `workCategory` as a flat list like this. The following will work ```auto var defaultIndex = "default_index"; var pool = new SingleNodeConnectionPool(new Uri("http://localhost:9200")); var settings = new ConnectionSettings(pool) .DefaultIndex(defaultIndex); var client = new ElasticClient(settings); if (client.Indices.Exists(defaultIndex).Exists) client.Indices.Delete(defaultIndex); var indexResponse = client.LowLevel.Index(defaultIndex, "1", @"{ ""accountId"": ""1d36a070-4699-e611-80r9-005056953547"", ""dimensions"": { ""name"": ""Some Special Account Name"", ""level"": 2, ""workCategory[0].name"": ""Name 1"", ""workCategory[0].refId"": ""d9b5ec75-5697-e611-8113-005056956082"", ""workCategory[1].name"": ""Name 2"", ""workCategory[1].refId"": ""51b2e075-5692-e611-8113-005055956082"" } }", new IndexRequestParameters { Refresh = Refresh.WaitFor }); var searchResponse = client.Search(s => s .Query(q => q .QueryString(qs => qs .Query("workCategory\\[/[0-9]*/\\].refId.keyword:d9b5ec75-5697-e611-8113-005056956082") ) ) ); ``` The `[` and `]` need to be escaped because they are part of the query syntax. A regular expression, `[0-9]*` , is embedded, to represent the index. I would consider rethinking your indexing approach, for a couple of very good reasons: 1. It makes querying data much harder as you are finding, because indexes are codified into field names. 2. It can result in a [field mapping explosion](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/mapping.html#mapping-limit-settings) because each unique field name is a new mapping in the index. There are other ways in which the index of items in a collection could be stored, if this information is important. For example, flattening out values to objects with properties `Key`, `Value` and `Index`, and mapping a `nested` datatype. This would allow you to write `bool` queries that target e.g. `Name:workCategory.refId` and `Value:d9b5ec75-5697-e611-8113-005056956082` and `Index:0`. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-query-string-to-search-on-wildcard-field-name-and-specific-value/188016/3 "2019-07-29T02:34:31Z")
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