Term query in Elasticsearch - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this term query?

Given the following Elasticsearch term query, what documents will it match?

Elasticsearch

{
  "query": {
    "term": {
      "status": {
        "value": "active"
      }
    }
  }
}

A Documents where the field 'status' exactly matches the string 'active'

B Documents where the field 'status' starts with 'active'

C Documents where the field 'status' contains the word 'active' anywhere in the text

D Documents where the field 'status' is missing or null

💡 Hint

Remember, term query matches exact values without analyzing the text.

The term query in Elasticsearch matches documents where the field value exactly matches the given term. It does not analyze or tokenize the field value.

So it matches documents where 'status' is exactly 'active'.

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Which field type is best for term query?

Which Elasticsearch field type is most suitable for using with a term query to match exact values?

A keyword (not analyzed string field)

B text (analyzed string field)

C date

D geo_point

💡 Hint

Term query works best on fields that are not broken into tokens.

Term queries work best on keyword fields because these fields are not analyzed and store exact values.

Text fields are analyzed and broken into tokens, so term query may not match as expected.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this term query return no results?

You run this term query but get no results. What is the likely cause?

Elasticsearch

{
  "query": {
    "term": {
      "user": "John Doe"
    }
  }
}

A The term query only works on numeric fields

B The term query syntax is invalid and causes a syntax error

C The field 'user' does not exist in the index

D The field 'user' is analyzed and the term query expects exact match, so 'John Doe' does not match the analyzed tokens

💡 Hint

Think about how term query matches exact values and how analyzed fields store data.

Term query matches exact values. If 'user' is a text field analyzed into tokens like 'John' and 'Doe', the term query looking for 'John Doe' as a single token will not find matches.

Use match query for analyzed text fields.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Identify the syntax error in this term query

Which option contains a syntax error in the term query?

A { "query": { "term": { "status": "active" } } }

B { "query": { "term": { "status": ["active"] } } }

C { "query": { "term": { "status": { "value": "active", "boost": 2.0 } } } }

D { "query": { "term": { "status": { "value": "active" } } } }

💡 Hint

Check the expected data type for the term query value.

The term query expects a single value, not an array. Option B uses an array which is invalid syntax for term query.

Options A, B, and D are valid syntaxes.

🚀 Application

expert

How many documents match this term query?

Assume an Elasticsearch index has these documents with field 'category': 1. {"category": "Books"} 2. {"category": "books"} 3. {"category": "Books and More"} 4. {"category": "Books"} Given the term query below, how many documents will match?

Elasticsearch

{
  "query": {
    "term": {
      "category.keyword": "Books"
    }
  }
}

A 1

B 3

C 2

D 4

💡 Hint

Term query on keyword fields is case sensitive and matches exact values only.

The term query on 'category.keyword' matches exactly 'Books'.

Documents 1 and 4 have 'Books' exactly. Document 2 has 'books' (lowercase), and 3 has 'Books and More' which do not match exactly.