How do match and term queries differ?

Question

IT Interview Practice · Accepted Answer

A `match` query analyzes ordinary text input before searching. A `term` query asks for one indexed term without performing full-text analysis of the input.

## Use one document to see the difference

Assume `title` is text with a word-splitting, lowercase analyzer. The title `Blue Shoes` is indexed as `blue` and `shoes`. These are alternative search bodies:

```json
{"query":{"match":{"title":"Blue Shoes"}}}
```

This analyzes the input into words compatible with those stored terms, so the document can match.

```json
{"query":{"term":{"title":"Blue Shoes"}}}
```

This asks for one term `Blue Shoes`. That whole term was not indexed, so the document does not match under the stated mapping.

## Where term is useful

For a keyword field `status`, use `term` with `published` to filter that exact status. Check normalization settings when reasoning about case.

Also distinguish words from phrases: `match` does not automatically require all words or their original order. Use the appropriate operator for all words, or `match_phrase` when word order is part of the requirement.

[Official documentation](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/query-languages/query-dsl/query-dsl-term-query).

Use one document to see the difference

Where term is useful

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