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Terms set query

Returns documents that contain a minimum number of exact terms in a provided field.

The terms_set query is the same as the terms query, except you can define the number of matching terms required to return a document. For example:

A field, programming_languages, contains a list of known programming languages, such as c++, java, or php for job candidates. You can use the terms_set query to return documents that match at least two of these languages.
A field, permissions, contains a list of possible user permissions for an application. You can use the terms_set query to return documents that match a subset of these permissions.

Example request

Index setup

In most cases, you’ll need to include a numeric field mapping in your index to use the terms_set query. This numeric field contains the number of matching terms required to return a document.

To see how you can set up an index for the terms_set query, try the following example.

Create an index, job-candidates, with the following field mappings:
- name, a keyword field. This field contains the name of the job candidate.
- programming_languages, a keyword field. This field contains programming languages known by the job candidate.
- required_matches, a numeric long field. This field contains the number of matching terms required to return a document.
```
PUT /job-candidates
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "name": {
        "type": "keyword"
      },
      "programming_languages": {
        "type": "keyword"
      },
      "required_matches": {
        "type": "long"
      }
    }
  }
}
```
Index a document with an ID of 1 and the following values:
- Jane Smith in the name field.
- ["c++", "java"] in the programming_languages field.
- 2 in the required_matches field.
Include the ?refresh parameter so the document is immediately available for search.
```
PUT /job-candidates/_doc/1?refresh
{
  "name": "Jane Smith",
  "programming_languages": [ "c++", "java" ],
  "required_matches": 2
}
```
Index another document with an ID of 2 and the following values:
- Jason Response in the name field.
- ["java", "php"] in the programming_languages field.
- 2 in the required_matches field.
```
PUT /job-candidates/_doc/2?refresh
{
  "name": "Jason Response",
  "programming_languages": [ "java", "php" ],
  "required_matches": 2
}
```

You can now use the required_matches field value as the number of matching terms required to return a document in the terms_set query.

Example query

The following search returns documents where the programming_languages field contains at least two of the following terms:

c++
java
php

The minimum_should_match_field is required_matches. This means the number of matching terms required is 2, the value of the required_matches field.

GET /job-candidates/_search
{
  "query": {
    "terms_set": {
      "programming_languages": {
        "terms": [ "c++", "java", "php" ],
        "minimum_should_match_field": "required_matches"
      }
    }
  }
}

Top-level parameters for `terms_set`

<field>: (Required, object) Field you wish to search.

Parameters for `<field>`

terms

(Required, array of strings) Array of terms you wish to find in the provided <field>. To return a document, a required number of terms must exactly match the field values, including whitespace and capitalization.

The required number of matching terms is defined in the minimum_should_match_field or minimum_should_match_script parameter.

minimum_should_match_field

(Optional, string) Numeric field containing the number of matching terms required to return a document.

minimum_should_match_script

(Optional, string) Custom script containing the number of matching terms required to return a document.

For parameters and valid values, see Scripting.

For an example query using the minimum_should_match_script parameter, see How to use the minimum_should_match_script parameter.

Notes

How to use the `minimum_should_match_script` parameter

You can use minimum_should_match_script to define the required number of matching terms using a script. This is useful if you need to set the number of required terms dynamically.

Example query using `minimum_should_match_script`

The following search returns documents where the programming_languages field contains at least two of the following terms:

c++
java
php

The source parameter of this query indicates:

The required number of terms to match cannot exceed params.num_terms, the number of terms provided in the terms field.
The required number of terms to match is 2, the value of the required_matches field.

GET /job-candidates/_search
{
  "query": {
    "terms_set": {
      "programming_languages": {
        "terms": [ "c++", "java", "php" ],
        "minimum_should_match_script": {
          "source": "Math.min(params.num_terms, doc['required_matches'].value)"
        },
        "boost": 1.0
      }
    }
  }
}

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https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.17/query-dsl-terms-set-query.html

Terms set query

Example request

Index setup

Example query

Top-level parameters for terms_set

Parameters for <field>

Notes

How to use the minimum_should_match_script parameter

Example query using minimum_should_match_script

Top-level parameters for `terms_set`

Parameters for `<field>`

How to use the `minimum_should_match_script` parameter

Example query using `minimum_should_match_script`