Query String Query with wrong Lucene syntax

Question

I am performing a Query String Query on a Text Field. When I use a query with wrong syntax (e.g., "/xyz") I get an exception indicating that ElasticSearch failed to parse the query on all shards:

Caused by: java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: RemoteTransportException[[PZCU_1Z][127.0.0.1:9300][indices:data/read/search]]; nested: SearchPhaseExecutionException[all shards failed]; nested: QueryShardException[Failed to parse query [/xyz]]; nested: NotSerializableExceptionWrapper[parse_exception: Cannot parse '/xyz': Lexical error at line 1, column 5.  Encountered: <EOF> after : "/xyz"]; nested: NotSerializableExceptionWrapper[token_mgr_error: Lexical error at line 1, column 5.  Encountered: <EOF> after : "/xyz"];

Is there a way to detect that this query has a wrong syntax before performing the query itself. Something like parsing the query in advance or matching it against a regular expression?

Update:

Sorry if my question was unclear. I am aware of the fact that this query has a wrong syntax as it uses some of the reserved characters and it, actually, was intended to be used as a regex query. What I need though is to provide a meaningful error message to the client indicating that his query has a wrong syntax before performing the query.

well, there are many wrong characters that could ruin a query :) I think the better way is to use a simple exception handling via try-catch — SergeiK
– SergeiK, Commented Sep 4, 2017 at 12:04

Val · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-04 11:53:10Z

2

The forward slash is a reserved character in the query string query syntax for searching via regular expressions, so you need to escape it.

Instead of "/xyz" you need to use "\\/xyz"

Note that not even Kibana parses the user input for correctness. If you want to check beforehand that the query is valid, you could use Lucene's StandardQueryParser to try to parse the query before sending it to ES.

Handing out the power of the query string to end users is dangerous. If you really need to provide them with some kind of free text search, consider using simple_query_string instead, as it will not throw any exceptions.

edited Sep 4, 2017 at 11:53

answered Sep 4, 2017 at 11:32

Val

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4 Comments

RubioRic Over a year ago

This does not answer the question. OP is asking if he can check query syntax before executing it.

Mousa Over a year ago

I have updated the question, hoping to be more clear

Val Over a year ago

@RubioRic happy now? If yes, you can un-downvote my answer ;-)

Mousa Over a year ago

Thank you for the update and for the hint, my users in this case are internal users.

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