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

Returns documents based on the order and proximity of matching terms.

The `intervals` query uses *matching rules*, constructed from a small set of
definitions. Theses rules are then applied to terms from a specified `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.


[[intervals-query-ex-request]]
==== Example request

The following `intervals` search returns documents containing `my
favorite food` immediately followed by `hot water` or `cold porridge` in the
`my_text` field.

This search would match a `my_text` value of `my favorite food is cold
porridge` but not `when it's cold my favorite food is porridge`.

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "all_of" : {
          "ordered" : true,
          "intervals" : [
            {
              "match" : {
                "query" : "my favorite food",
                "max_gaps" : 0,
                "ordered" : true
              }
            },
            {
              "any_of" : {
                "intervals" : [
                  { "match" : { "query" : "hot water" } },
                  { "match" : { "query" : "cold porridge" } }
                ]
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------

[[intervals-top-level-params]]
==== Top-level parameters for `intervals`
[[intervals-rules]]
`<field>`::
+
--
(Required, rule object) Field you wish to search.

The value of this parameter is a rule object used to match documents
based on matching terms, order, and proximity.

Valid rules include:

* <<intervals-match,`match`>>
* <<intervals-prefix,`prefix`>>
* <<intervals-wildcard,`wildcard`>>
* <<intervals-all_of,`all_of`>>
* <<intervals-any_of,`any_of`>>
* <<interval_filter,`filter`>>
--

[[intervals-match]]
==== `match` rule parameters

The `match` rule matches analyzed text.

`query`::
(Required, string) Text you wish to find in the provided `<field>`.

`max_gaps`::
+
--
(Optional, integer) Maximum number of positions between the matching terms.
Terms further apart than this are not considered matches. Defaults to
`-1`.

If unspecified or set to `-1`, there is no width restriction on the match. If
set to `0`, the terms must appear next to each other.
--

`ordered`::
(Optional, boolean) 
If `true`, matching terms must appear in their specified order. Defaults to
`false`.

`analyzer`::
(Optional, string) <<analysis, analyzer>> used to analyze terms in the `query`.
Defaults to the top-level `<field>`'s analyzer.

`filter`::
(Optional, <<interval_filter,interval filter>> rule object) An optional interval
filter.

`use_field`::
(Optional, string) If specified, then match intervals from this
field rather than the top-level `<field>`. Terms are 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` rule parameters

The `prefix` rule matches terms that start with a specified set of characters.
This prefix can expand to match at most 128 terms. If the prefix matches more
than 128 terms, {es} returns an error. You can use the
<<index-prefixes,`index-prefixes`>> option in the field mapping to avoid this
limit.

`prefix`::
(Required, string) Beginning characters of terms you wish to find in the
top-level `<field>`.

`analyzer`::
(Optional, string) <<analysis, analyzer>> used to normalize the `prefix`.
Defaults to the top-level `<field>`'s analyzer.

`use_field`::
+
--
(Optional, string) If specified, then match intervals from this field rather
than the top-level `<field>`.

The `prefix` is normalized using the search analyzer from this field, unless a
separate `analyzer` is specified.
--

[[intervals-wildcard]]
==== `wildcard` rule parameters

The `wildcard` rule matches terms using a wildcard pattern. This pattern can
expand to match at most 128 terms. If the pattern matches more than 128 terms,
{es} returns an error.

`pattern`::
(Required, string) Wildcard pattern used to find matching terms.
+
--
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`::
(Optional, string) <<analysis, analyzer>> used to normalize the `pattern`.
Defaults to the top-level `<field>`'s analyzer.

`use_field`::
+
--
(Optional, string) If specified, match intervals from this field rather than the
top-level `<field>`.

The `pattern` is normalized using the search analyzer from this field, unless
`analyzer` is specified separately.
--

[[intervals-all_of]]
==== `all_of` rule parameters

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

`intervals`::
(Required, array of rule objects) An array of rules to combine. All rules must
produce a match in a document for the overall source to match.

`max_gaps`::
+
--
(Optional, integer) Maximum number of positions between the matching terms.
Intervals produced by the rules further apart than this are not considered
matches. Defaults to `-1`.

If unspecified or set to `-1`, there is no width restriction on the match. If
set to `0`, the terms must appear next to each other.
--

`ordered`::
(Optional, boolean) If `true`, intervals produced by the rules should appear in
the order in which they are specified. Defaults to `false`.

`filter`::
(Optional, <<interval_filter,interval filter>> rule object) Rule used to filter
returned intervals.

[[intervals-any_of]]
==== `any_of` rule parameters

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

`intervals`::
(Required, array of rule objects) An array of rules to match.

`filter`::
(Optional, <<interval_filter,interval filter>> rule object) Rule used to filter
returned intervals.

[[interval_filter]]
==== `filter` rule parameters

The `filter` rule returns intervals based on a query. See
<<interval-filter-rule-ex>> for an example.

`after`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals that follow an interval
from the `filter` rule.

`before`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals that occur before an
interval from the `filter` rule.

`contained_by`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals contained by an interval
from the `filter` rule.

`containing`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals that contain an interval
from the `filter` rule.

`not_contained_by`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals that are *not*
contained by an interval from the `filter` rule.

`not_containing`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals that do *not* contain
an interval from the `filter` rule.

`not_overlapping`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals that do *not* overlap
with an interval from the `filter` rule.

`overlapping`::
(Optional, query object) Query used to return intervals that overlap with an
interval from the `filter` rule.

`script`::
(Optional, <<modules-scripting-using, script object>>) Script used to return
matching documents. This script must return a boolean value, `true` or `false`.
See <<interval-script-filter>> for an example.


[[intervals-query-note]]
==== Notes

[[interval-filter-rule-ex]]
===== Filter example

The following search includes a `filter` rule. It returns documents that have
the words `hot` and `porridge` within 10 positions of each other, without the
word `salty` in between:

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

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

You can use a script to filter intervals based on their start position, end
position, and internal gap count. The following `filter` script uses the
`interval` variable with the `start`, `end`, and `gaps` methods:

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


[[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,console]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "intervals" : {
      "my_text" : {
        "match" : {
          "query" : "salty",
          "filter" : {
            "contained_by" : {
              "match" : {
                "query" : "hot porridge"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------

This query does *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 can never match, 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,console]
--------------------------------------------------
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
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------

Counter-intuitively, this query does *not* match the document `the big bad
wolf`, because the `any_of` rule in the middle only produces 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,console]
--------------------------------------------------
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 } }
           ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------