Filters and boolean operators
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Algolia supports the following operators, which must be in capital letters:
OR: must match any of the combined conditionsAND: must match all the combined conditionsNOT: negates a filter
Use of parentheses
Use parentheses ( and ) to combine several OR conditions.
These rules apply:
-
Don’t group ANDs within ORs. For example,
A OR (B AND C) OR (D AND E)isn’t supported. -
Don’t use parentheses with top-level AND combinations. For example,
(A AND (B OR C))isn’t supported. (ButA AND (B OR C)is supported) -
Don’t use parentheses to negate a group of expressions. For example,
NOT (filter1 OR filter2)isn’t supported.
Use the filter syntax validator to help you verify and build filter statements.
Examples of valid combinations
The following examples are valid combinations of filter expressions:
A AND (B OR C)(A OR B) AND CA AND (B OR C) AND (D OR E)A AND B AND (C OR D) AND (E OR F)(A OR B) AND (C OR D) AND E
Example scenarios for filter combinations
The filters parameter gives precise control over search results with a SQL-like syntax.
Use the following examples to learn how to apply different filters and combine them with boolean logic.
Basic filters
| Filter type | Example | Filter |
|---|---|---|
| Numeric comparison | Show products that cost $13 or more | price > 12.99 |
| Numeric range | Show products with a price between $5.99 and $100 | price:5.99 TO 100 |
| Facets | Show records categorized as “Book” | category:Book |
| Tag filters | Show records marked with the “published” tag | _tags:published |
| Boolean filters | Show records where the isEnabled attribute is true |
isEnabled:true |
| Filter by date | Show records published between two dates Unix timestamps | date: 1441745506 TO 1441755506 |
| Negation | Exclude discontinued products | NOT is_discontinued:true |
Combine filters
- Find books not written by a specific author:
(category:Book OR category:Ebook) AND NOT author:"JK Rowling" - Filter products by price range and category:
price:10 TO 50 AND (category:Electronics OR category:Accessories) - Complex filter with several conditions:
inStock:true AND (category:Phones OR category:Tablets) AND (brand:Apple OR brand:Samsung) AND price>500
Don’t mix filter types in OR conditions
You can’t compare different filter types (string, numeric, tags) with an OR.
For example, num=3 OR tag1 OR facet:value isn’t allowed.
Apps and user actions change filter expressions
If a user or app selects a filter, Algolia omits the filters that don’t apply from the expression.
For example, if the original filter expression is ((category:Electronics OR category:Home) AND NOT brand:LG) AND NOT price:100 TO 500 and the user selects the Electronics category, the expression simplifies to (category:Electronics AND NOT brand:LG) AND NOT price:100 TO 500.
Filters syntax validator
Type your filter to validate it:
