Using Query DSL For Complex Search Queries in Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch is a powerful search engine that provides a flexible and powerful query language called Query DSL (Domain Specific Language). Query DSL allows you to write complex search queries to retrieve the most relevant data from your Elasticsearch indices. This article will guide you through the basics and advanced features of Query DSL, with detailed examples and outputs, to help you master complex search queries in Elasticsearch.

Query DSL in Elasticsearch is a JSON-based query language that enables you to construct complex and precise search queries. It is composed of two types of clauses:

• Leaf Query Clauses: These clauses search for a specific value in a specific field.
• Compound Query Clauses: These clauses combine multiple leaf or compound query clauses to build complex queries.

Before diving into complex queries, let’s start with a basic example using the match query, which is a type of leaf query clause.

GET /products/_search
{
  "query": {
    "match": {
      "description": "wireless headphones"
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• We are searching the products index for documents where the description field contains the terms “wireless” and “headphones“.

The bool query is a compound query clause that allows you to combine multiple queries using boolean logic. It consists of four clauses:

• must: The query must appear in the matching documents.
• filter: The query must appear in the matching documents but does not affect the score.
• should: At least one of these queries must appear in the matching documents.
• must_not: The query must not appear in the matching documents.

Example: Bool Query

GET /products/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": [
        { "match": { "description": "wireless headphones" } }
      ],
      "filter": [
        { "term": { "brand": "BrandA" } }
      ],
      "should": [
        { "range": { "price": { "lte": 100 } } }
      ],
      "must_not": [
        { "term": { "color": "red" } }
      ]
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• The must clause ensures that the description field contains “wireless headphones“.
• The filter clause ensures that the brand field is “BrandA“.
• The should clause boosts documents where the price field is less than or equal to 100.
• The must_not clause excludes documents where the color field is “red“.

Sometimes, you need to query nested objects. Nested queries allow you to search within objects that are embedded within other objects.

Example: Nested Query

Consider a document structure where a product has nested reviews:

{
  "name": "Wireless Headphones",
  "brand": "BrandA",
  "reviews": [
    { "user": "John", "rating": 5, "comment": "Excellent!" },
    { "user": "Jane", "rating": 4, "comment": "Very good." }
  ]
}

To search for products with a specific review.rating, you can use a nested query.

GET /products/_search
{
  "query": {
    "nested": {
      "path": "reviews",
      "query": {
        "bool": {
          "must": [
            { "match": { "reviews.rating": 5 } }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• The nested query targets the review path.
• The bool query ensures that the reviews.rating field contains the value 5.

Aggregations allow you to summarize and analyze your data. They can be used to perform arithmetic, create histograms, compute statistics, and more.

Example: Aggregations

Let’s aggregate the average rating of products by brand.

GET /products/_search
{
  "size": 0,
  "aggs": {
    "avg_rating_by_brand": {
      "terms": {
        "field": "brand"
      },
      "aggs": {
        "avg_rating": {
          "avg": {
            "field": "reviews.rating"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• We use a terms aggregation to group products by the brand field.
• We nest an avg aggregation to calculate the average reviews.rating for each brand.

Scripted queries allow you to use scripts to customize how documents are scored or filtered. This is useful for advanced calculations and custom relevance scoring.

Example: Scripted Query

Let’s create a query that boosts products based on a custom formula using a script.

GET /products/_search
{
  "query": {
    "function_score": {
      "query": {
        "match": { "description": "wireless headphones" }
      },
      "functions": [
        {
          "script_score": {
            "script": {
              "source": "doc['reviews.rating'].value * doc['popularity'].value"
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• We use a function_score query to modify the relevance score.
• The script_score function applies a script that multiplies the reviews.rating by the popularity field.

Elasticsearch supports geospatial data, allowing you to perform queries based on geographical locations.

Example: Geo Query

Let’s find products available within a certain distance from a specific location.

GET /stores/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": [
        { "match": { "product": "wireless headphones" } }
      ],
      "filter": {
        "geo_distance": {
          "distance": "10km",
          "location": {
            "lat": 40.7128,
            "lon": -74.0060
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• The geo_distance filter ensures that only stores within 10km of the specified location (latitude 40.7128, longitude -74.0060) are returned.

Date queries allow you to filter and search based on date and time ranges.

Example: Date Range Query

Let’s search for products added within the last month.

GET /products/_search
{
  "query": {
    "range": {
      "date_added": {
        "gte": "now-1M/M",
        "lte": "now/M"
      }
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• The range query filters documents where the date_added field is within the last month.

Let’s combine multiple features into a complex query.

Scenario: Finding Highly Rated, Affordable Products

We want to find products that are highly rated, affordable, from a specific brand, available within a certain distance, and added within the last month.

GET /products/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": [
        { "match": { "description": "wireless headphones" } }
      ],
      "filter": [
        { "term": { "brand": "BrandA" } },
        {
          "geo_distance": {
            "distance": "10km",
            "location": {
              "lat": 40.7128,
              "lon": -74.0060
            }
          }
        },
        {
          "range": {
            "date_added": {
              "gte": "now-1M/M",
              "lte": "now/M"
            }
          }
        },
        {
          "range": {
            "price": {
              "lte": 100
            }
          }
        }
      ],
      "should": [
        {
          "nested": {
            "path": "reviews",
            "query": {
              "bool": {
                "must": [
                  { "range": { "reviews.rating": { "gte": 4 } } }
                ]
              }
            }
          }
        }
      ],
      "must_not": [
        { "term": { "color": "red" } }
      ]
    }
  },
  "aggs": {
    "avg_rating_by_brand": {
      "terms": {
        "field": "brand"
      },
      "aggs": {
        "avg_rating": {
          "avg": {
            "field": "reviews.rating"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In this example:

• The must clause ensures the product description contains “wireless headphones“.
• The filter clause includes brand, geographic location, date range, and price filters.
• The should clause boosts products with high ratings.
• The must_not clause excludes red products.
• Aggregations are used to calculate the average rating by brand.

• Nested Queries: Navigate complex data structures by querying nested objects within Elasticsearch documents, enabling targeted searches within embedded fields.
• Scripted Queries: Customize document scoring and filtering using scripts, facilitating advanced calculations and tailored relevance scoring.
• Geo Queries: Elasticsearch’s geospatial capabilities to perform location-based searches, ideal for applications requiring proximity-based results.
• Aggregations: Gain insights into data by summarizing and analyzing information through aggregations, enabling the computation of statistics, histograms, and more.
• Date Range Queries: Filter documents based on date and time ranges, facilitating time-sensitive searches and analysis of temporal data.

Using Query DSL in Elasticsearch allows you to construct complex and powerful search queries. By combining various query clauses and leveraging features like nested queries, aggregations, scripted queries, geo queries, and date queries, you can retrieve the most relevant data tailored to your needs.

This guide provided an overview of how to use Query DSL for complex search queries, with detailed examples and outputs. With these tools at your disposal, you can effectively harness the full power of Elasticsearch to build sophisticated search applications.