elasticsearch/docs/reference/query-dsl/intervals-query.asciidoc

[[query-dsl-intervals-query]]
=== Intervals query
++++
<titleabbrev>Intervals</titleabbrev>
++++

An `intervals` query allows fine-grained control over the order and proximity of
matching terms.  Matching rules are constructed from a small set of definitions,
and the rules are then applied to terms from a particular `field`.

The definitions produce sequences of minimal intervals that span terms in a
body of text.  These intervals can be further combined and filtered by
parent sources.

The example below will search for the phrase `my favourite food` appearing
before the terms `hot` and `water` or `cold` and `porridge` in any order, in
the field `my_text`

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "all_of" : {
          "ordered" : true,
          "intervals" : [
            {
              "match" : {
                "query" : "my favourite food",
                "max_gaps" : 0,
                "ordered" : true
              }
            },
            {
              "any_of" : {
                "intervals" : [
                  { "match" : { "query" : "hot water" } },
                  { "match" : { "query" : "cold porridge" } }
                ]
              }
            }
          ]
        },
        "_name" : "favourite_food"
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

In the above example, the text `my favourite food is cold porridge` would
match because the two intervals matching `my favourite food` and `cold
porridge` appear in the correct order, but the text `when it's cold my
favourite food is porridge` would not match, because the interval matching
`cold porridge` starts before the interval matching `my favourite food`.

[[intervals-match]]
==== `match`

The `match` rule matches analyzed text, and takes the following parameters:

[horizontal]
`query`::
The text to match.
`max_gaps`::
Specify a maximum number of gaps between the terms in the text.  Terms that
appear further apart than this will not match. If unspecified, or set to -1,
then there is no width restriction on the match.  If set to 0 then the terms
must appear next to each other.
`ordered`::
Whether or not the terms must appear in their specified order.  Defaults to
`false`
`analyzer`::
Which analyzer should be used to analyze terms in the `query`.  By
default, the search analyzer of the top-level field will be used.
`filter`::
An optional <<interval_filter,interval filter>>
`use_field`::
If specified, then match intervals from this field rather than the top-level field.
Terms will be analyzed using the search analyzer from this field.  This allows you
to search across multiple fields as if they were all the same field; for example,
you could index the same text into stemmed and unstemmed fields, and search for
stemmed tokens near unstemmed ones.

[[intervals-prefix]]
==== `prefix`

The `prefix` rule finds terms that start with a specified prefix.  The prefix will
expand to match at most 128 terms; if there are more matching terms in the index,
then an error will be returned.  To avoid this limit, enable the
<<index-prefixes,`index-prefixes`>> option on the field being searched.

[horizontal]
`prefix`::
Match terms starting with this prefix
`analyzer`::
Which analyzer should be used to normalize the `prefix`.  By default, the
search analyzer of the top-level field will be used.
`use_field`::
If specified, then match intervals from this field rather than the top-level field.
The `prefix` will be normalized using the search analyzer from this field, unless
`analyzer` is specified separately.

[[intervals-wildcard]]
==== `wildcard`

The `wildcard` rule finds terms that match a wildcard pattern.  The pattern will
expand to match at most 128 terms; if there are more matching terms in the index,
then an error will be returned.

[horizontal]
`pattern`::
Find terms matching this pattern
+
--
This parameter supports two wildcard operators:

* `?`, which matches any single character
* `*`, which can match zero or more characters, including an empty one

WARNING: Avoid beginning patterns with `*` or `?`. This can increase
the iterations needed to find matching terms and slow search performance.
--
`analyzer`::
Which analyzer should be used to normalize the `pattern`.  By default, the
search analyzer of the top-level field will be used.
`use_field`::
If specified, then match intervals from this field rather than the top-level field.
The `pattern` will be normalized using the search analyzer from this field, unless
`analyzer` is specified separately.

[[intervals-all_of]]
==== `all_of`

`all_of` returns returns matches that span a combination of other rules.

[horizontal]
`intervals`::
An array of rules to combine.  All rules must produce a match in a
document for the overall source to match.
`max_gaps`::
Specify a maximum number of gaps between the rules.  Combinations that match
across a distance greater than this will not match.  If set to -1 or
unspecified, there is no restriction on this distance.  If set to 0, then the
matches produced by the rules must all appear immediately next to each other.
`ordered`::
Whether the intervals produced by the rules should appear in the order in
which they are specified.  Defaults to `false`
`filter`::
An optional <<interval_filter,interval filter>>

[[intervals-any_of]]
==== `any_of`

The `any_of` rule emits intervals produced by any of its sub-rules.

[horizontal]
`intervals`::
An array of rules to match
`filter`::
An optional <<interval_filter,interval filter>>

[[interval_filter]]
==== filters

You can filter intervals produced by any rules by their relation to the
intervals produced by another rule.  The following example will return
documents that have the words `hot` and `porridge` within 10 positions
of each other, without the word `salty` in between:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "match" : {
          "query" : "hot porridge",
          "max_gaps" : 10,
          "filter" : {
            "not_containing" : {
              "match" : {
                "query" : "salty"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

The following filters are available:
[horizontal]
`containing`::
Produces intervals that contain an interval from the filter rule
`contained_by`::
Produces intervals that are contained by an interval from the filter rule
`not_containing`::
Produces intervals that do not contain an interval from the filter rule
`not_contained_by`::
Produces intervals that are not contained by an interval from the filter rule
`overlapping`::
Produces intervals that overlap with an interval from the filter rule
`not_overlapping`::
Produces intervals that do not overlap with an interval from the filter rule
`before`::
Produces intervals that appear before an interval from the filter role
`after`::
Produces intervals that appear after an interval from the filter role

[[interval-script-filter]]
==== Script filters

You can also filter intervals based on their start position, end position and
internal gap count, using a script.  The script has access to an `interval`
variable, with `start`, `end` and `gaps` methods:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "match" : {
          "query" : "hot porridge",
          "filter" : {
            "script" : {
              "source" : "interval.start > 10 && interval.end < 20 && interval.gaps == 0"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

[[interval-minimization]]
==== Minimization

The intervals query always minimizes intervals, to ensure that queries can
run in linear time.  This can sometimes cause surprising results, particularly
when using `max_gaps` restrictions or filters.  For example, take the
following query, searching for `salty` contained within the phrase `hot
porridge`:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "match" : {
          "query" : "salty",
          "filter" : {
            "contained_by" : {
              "match" : {
                "query" : "hot porridge"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

This query will *not* match a document containing the phrase `hot porridge is
salty porridge`, because the intervals returned by the match query for `hot
porridge` only cover the initial two terms in this document, and these do not
overlap the intervals covering `salty`.

Another restriction to be aware of is the case of `any_of` rules that contain
sub-rules which overlap.  In particular, if one of the rules is a strict
prefix of the other, then the longer rule will never be matched, which can
cause surprises when used in combination with `max_gaps`.  Consider the
following query, searching for `the` immediately followed by `big` or `big bad`,
immediately followed by `wolf`:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "all_of" : {
          "intervals" : [
            { "match" : { "query" : "the" } },
            { "any_of" : {
                "intervals" : [
                    { "match" : { "query" : "big" } },
                    { "match" : { "query" : "big bad" } }
                ] } },
            { "match" : { "query" : "wolf" } }
          ],
          "max_gaps" : 0,
          "ordered" : true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

Counter-intuitively, this query *will not* match the document `the big bad
wolf`, because the `any_of` rule in the middle will only produce intervals
for `big` - intervals for `big bad` being longer than those for `big`, while
starting at the same position, and so being minimized away.  In these cases,
it's better to rewrite the query so that all of the options are explicitly
laid out at the top level:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "any_of" : {
          "intervals" : [
            { "match" : {
                "query" : "the big bad wolf",
                "ordered" : true,
                "max_gaps" : 0 } },
            { "match" : {
                "query" : "the big wolf",
                "ordered" : true,
                "max_gaps" : 0 } }
           ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE