Introduction to Quickwit's query language
Quickwit allows you to search on your indexed documents using a simple query language. Here's a quick overview.
Clauses
The main concept of this language is a clause, which represents a simple condition that can be tested against documents.
Querying fields
A clause operates on fields of your document. It has the following syntax :
field:condition
For example, when searching documents where the field app_name contains the token tantivy, you would write the following clause:
app_name:tantivy
In many cases the field name can be omitted, quickwit will then use the default_search_fields configured for the index.
Clauses Cheat Sheet
Quickwit support various types of clauses to express different kinds of conditions. Here's a quick overview of them:
| type | syntax | examples | description | default_search_field |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| term | field:token | app_name:tantivy process_id:1234 word | A term clause tests the existence of avalue in the field's tokens | yes |
| term prefix | field:prefix* | app_name:tant* quick* | A term clause tests the existence of a token starting with the provided value | yes |
| term set | field:IN [token token ..] | severity:IN [error warn] | A term set clause tests the existence of any of the provided value in the field's tokens | yes |
| phrase | field:"sequence of tokens" | full_name:"john doe" | A phrase clause tests the existence of the provided sequence of tokens | yes |
| phrase prefix | field:"sequence of tokens"* | title:"how to m"* | A phrase prefix clause tests the existence of a sequence of tokens, the last one used like in a prefix clause | yes |
| all | * | * | A match-all clause will match every document | no |
| exist | field:* | error:* | An exist clause tests the existence of any value for the field, it will match only if the field exists | no |
| range | field:bounds | duration:[0 TO 1000} last_name:[banner TO miller] | A term clause tests the existence of a token between the provided bounds | no |
Queries
Combining queries
Clauses can be combined using boolean operators AND and OR to create more complex search expressions
An AND query will match only if conditions on both sides of the operator are met
type:rose AND color:red
An OR query will match if either or both conditions on each side of the operator are met
weekday:6 OR weekday:7
If no operator is provided, AND is implicitly assumed.
type:violet color:blue
Grouping queries
You can build complex expressions by grouping clauses using parentheses.
(type:rose AND color:red) OR (type:violet AND color:blue)
When no parentheses are used, AND takes precedence over OR, meaning that the following query is equivalent to the one above.
type:rose AND color:red OR type:violet AND color:blue
Negating queries
An expression can be negated either with the operator NOT or by prefixing the query with a dash -.
NOT and - take precedence over everything, such that -a AND b means (-a) AND b, not -(a AND B).
NOT severity:debug
or
type:proposal -(status:rejected OR status:pending)
Dive deeper
If you want to know more about the query language, head to the Query Language Reference