# Wildcard phrases with slop using string query

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/wildcard-phrases-with-slop-using-string-query/385418>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** elastic-stack-sql\
**Created:** [March 12, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/wildcard-phrases-with-slop-using-string-query/385418 "2026-03-12T02:13:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![S-Dragon0302](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/s-dragon0302/32/100509_2.png) [@S-Dragon0302](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/S-Dragon0302)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/wildcard-phrases-with-slop-using-string-query/385418/1 "2026-03-12T02:13:38Z")

</div>

> [@Wildcard phrases with slop using string query](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/wildcard-phrases-with-slop-using-string-query/26638/1):
>
> Elastic supports slop for simple phrases, like "quick fox"~2, but when wildcards are used in string, it doesn't work: "qui\* fox"~2
> 
> I've found a workaround for this using json query dsl using span\_near and match prefix: [http://grokbase.com/t/gg/elasticsearch/146vmnsj7r/workaround-for-using-wild-cards-in-phrases-and-proximity-searches-elastic-search](http://grokbase.com/t/gg/elasticsearch/146vmnsj7r/workaround-for-using-wild-cards-in-phrases-and-proximity-searches-elastic-search)
> 
> The thing is that I must allow users to make such queries using string query. Is there any other workaround that uses just query string syntax or maybe there's some plugin that extends query string syntax for this specific use case?
> 
> Thank you

Is this kind of query still not supported.

This won't work.

"query\_string": {  
"fields": [  
"nickname"  
],  
"query": "content:\"hello\" AND \"Rodan Fields?\"",  
"default\_operator": "AND"  
}

Writing "slop" like this won't work

"query\_string": {  
"fields": [  
"nickname"  
],  
"query": "content:\"hello\" AND Rodan Fields?~2",  
"default\_operator": "AND"  
}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mark\_Harwood1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood1/32/101255_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood1)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 8:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/wildcard-phrases-with-slop-using-string-query/385418/2 "2026-03-12T08:29:31Z")

</div>

There is a query syntax and parser that can help but there has been a conscious decision to keep it out of elasticsearch for performance reasons [(plugin) feature request: Add support for ComplexPhraseQueryParser · Issue #3875 · elastic/elasticsearch · GitHub](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/3875)