Match phrase query in Elasticsearch - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Match phrase query exact phrase search

What is the output of this Elasticsearch match_phrase query when searching for the phrase "quick brown fox" in the content field?

Elasticsearch

{
  "query": {
    "match_phrase": {
      "content": "quick brown fox"
    }
  }
}

A Returns documents where the phrase "brown fox quick" appears exactly in the content field.

B Returns documents where any of the words "quick", "brown", or "fox" appear anywhere in the content field.

C Returns documents where the words "quick" and "fox" appear, but not necessarily together or in order.

D Returns documents where the exact phrase "quick brown fox" appears in the content field.

💡 Hint

Match phrase queries look for the exact sequence of words in the given order.

The match_phrase query searches for the exact phrase as a sequence of words in the specified field. It does not match individual words separately or out of order.

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding slop in match_phrase query

In an Elasticsearch match_phrase query, what does the slop parameter control?

A The maximum number of positions the words in the phrase can be apart and still match.

B The minimum number of words that must appear in the phrase to match.

C The maximum number of characters allowed between words in the phrase.

D The number of times the phrase must appear in the document to match.

💡 Hint

Think about how flexible the phrase matching is regarding word order and distance.

The slop parameter allows words in the phrase to be separated by a certain number of other words or to appear out of order within that distance, enabling fuzzy phrase matching.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this match_phrase query return no results?

Given this query searching for the phrase "fast fox" in the description field, why might it return no results even though documents contain the words "fast" and "fox"?

Elasticsearch

{
  "query": {
    "match_phrase": {
      "description": "fast fox"
    }
  }
}

A Because match_phrase queries only work on keyword fields, not text fields.

B Because the words "fast" and "fox" do not appear together in that exact order in any document.

C Because the query syntax is invalid and causes a parsing error.

D Because the analyzer removed the word "fast" during indexing.

💡 Hint

Match phrase requires the exact sequence of words.

Match phrase queries require the exact phrase to appear in the specified order. If the words appear separately or in a different order, no match is found.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Identify the syntax error in this match_phrase query

Which option contains the correct syntax for a match_phrase query searching for "data science" in the summary field?

A { "query": { "match_phrase": { "summary": "data science" } } }

B { "query": { "match_phrase": { "summary": ["data", "science"] } } }

C { "query": { "match_phrase": { "summary": { "query": "data science" } } } }

D { "query": { "match_phrase": { "summary": { "phrase": "data science" } } } }

💡 Hint

Check the correct structure for match_phrase with a query string.

A correct syntax for match_phrase is the field name mapped to an object with a "query" key holding the phrase string.

🚀 Application

expert

Using slop to find near matches with match_phrase

You want to find documents where the phrase "machine learning" appears but allow up to 2 words between "machine" and "learning". Which query achieves this?

A { "query": { "match_phrase": { "text": { "query": "machine learning", "slop": 2 } } } }

B { "query": { "match": { "text": { "query": "machine learning", "slop": 2 } } } }

C { "query": { "match_phrase": { "text": { "query": "machine learning" } }, "slop": 2 } }

D { "query": { "match_phrase": { "text": "machine learning", "slop": 2 } } }

💡 Hint

Slop must be inside the match_phrase field object with the query string.

The slop parameter must be inside the object for the field in the match_phrase query, alongside the query string.