Share via


FQL Syntax Reference (ABNF)

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

The structure of a FAST Query Language (FQL) expression corresponds to the following rules, which conform to Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) syntax.

For readability, the rules assume that no extra white space exists in the FQL expression. However, FQL does permit white space to immediately precede and follow parentheses, commas, operators, keywords, and tokens.

Although ABNF does not explicitly support any encoding other than US-ASCII, the quoted-string-value and unquoted-string-value data types support wide character values that have UTF-8 encoding.

fql-expression  = (operator-expression / paren-expression / token)

operator-expression = [in-expression] (and / andnot / any / or / rank
    / xrank / near / onear / not / equals / filter / starts-with
    / ends-with / count)

paren-expression = [in-expression] "(" fql-expression ")"

token = [in-expression] (datetime-token / float-token / int-token
    / phrase-token / range-token / string-token)

; Operator expressions
and = "and" "(" multiple-fql-params ")"
andnot = "andnot" "(" multiple-fql-params ")"
any = "any" "(" multiple-fql-params ")"
or = "or" "(" multiple-fql-params ")"

rank = "rank" "(" rank-param *("," rank-param) ")"
rank-param = token / fql-expression

xrank = "xrank" "(" xrank-param *("," xrank-param) ")"
xrank-param = ("boost" "=" integer-value)
    / ("boostall" "=" yesno-value)
    / fql-expression

near = "near" "(" near-param *("," near-param) ")"
near-param = ("N" "=" token-distance) / fql-expression

onear = "onear" "(" onear-param *("," onear-param) ")"
onear-param = ("N" "=" token-distance) / fql-expression

not = "not" "(" fql-expression ")"

count = ("count" "(" token
    1*("," (("from" "=" int-token) / ("to" "=" int-token))) ")")

equals = "equals" "("
    [in-expression] (string-token / phrase-token) ")"
starts-with = "starts-with" "("
    [in-expression] (string-token / phrase-token) ")"
ends-with = "ends-with" "("
    [in-expression] (string-token / phrase-token) ")"
filter = "filter" "(" fql-expression ")"

; Token operator expressions
phrase-token = "phrase" "(" phrase-token-param
    *("," phrase-token-param) ")"
phrase-token-param = ("weight" "=" unsigned-integer-value)
    / ("linguistics" "=" onoff-value)
    / ("wildcard" "=" onoff-value)
    / token

string-token = explicit-string-token / implicit-string-token
explicit-string-token = "string" "(" string-token-param
    *("," string-token-param) ")"
string-token-param = ("mode" "=" mode-value)
    / ("N" "=" token-distance)
    / ("weight" "=" integer-value)
    / ("minexpansion" "=" integer-value)
    / ("maxexpansion" "=" integer-value)
    / ("linguistics" "=" onoff-value)
    / ("wildcard" "=" onoff-value)
    / token
implicit-string-token = string-value

float-token = explicit-float-token / implicit-float-token
explicit-float-token = "float" "(" (float-value
    / (DQUOTE float-value DQUOTE)) ")"
implicit-float-token = *DIGIT "." 1*DIGIT

int-token = explicit-int-token / implicit-int-token
explicit-int-token = "int" "(" (integer-value
    / (DQUOTE integer-value DQUOTE)
    / (DQUOTE integer-value *(SP integer-value) DQUOTE ","
    numeric-or-mode)
    / (numeric-or-mode "," DQUOTE 1*integer-value *(SP integer-value)
    DQUOTE))
    ")"
implicit-int-token = integer-value

datetime-token = explicit-datetime-token / implicit-datetime-token
explicit-datetime-token = "datetime" "(" (datetime-value
    / (DQUOTE datetime-value DQUOTE)) ")"
implicit-datetime-token = datetime-value

range-token = "range" "(" range-token-param *("," range-token-param)
    ")"
range-token-param = ("from" "=" from-condition)
    / ("to" "=" to-condition)
    / range-limit
range-limit = datetime-token / float-token / int-token
    / "min" / "max"
from-condition = unquoted-from-condition
    / (DQUOTE unquoted-from-condition DQUOTE)
unquoted-from-condition = "GE" / "GT"
to-condition = unquoted-to-condition
    / (DQUOTE unquoted-to-condition DQUOTE)
unquoted-to-condition = "LE" / "LT"

; Data types
string-value = quoted-string-value / unquoted-string-value

; <quoted-string-value> can contain any characters
; (including wide characters) that are not control
; characters, except for double quotation marks.
quoted-string-value = DQUOTE 1*(quoted-escaped-character
    / %x20-21 / %x23-ffffffff) DQUOTE
quoted-escaped-character =
    quoted-escaped-backslash
    / quoted-escaped-newline
    / quoted-escaped-carriage-return
    / quoted-escaped-tab
    / quoted-escaped-backspace
    / quoted-escaped-form-feed
    / quoted-escaped-double-quote
    / quoted-escaped-single-quote

quoted-escaped-backslash = "\\"
quoted-escaped-newline = "\n"
quoted-escaped-carriage-return = "\r"
quoted-escaped-tab = "\t"
quoted-escaped-backspace = "\b"
quoted-escaped-form-feed = "\f"
quoted-escaped-double-quote = "\" DQUOTE
quoted-escaped-single-quote = "'"

; <unquoted-string-value> can contain any characters (including wide
; characters) that are not control characters, except for spaces,
; commas, double quotation marks, parentheses,colons, and equals
; signs.
unquoted-string-value =
    1*(%x21 / %x23-27 / %x2a-2b / %x2d-39 / %x3b-3c / %x3e-ffffffff)
integer-value = ["-" / "+"] 1*DIGIT
unsigned-integer-value = 1*DIGIT
float-value = ["-" / "+"] (*DIGIT "." 1*DIGIT) / 1*DIGIT

datetime-value = year "-" month "-" day
    ["T" hour ":" minute ":" second ["Z"]]
year = 4*DIGIT            ; four-digit or longer year (0000-infinity)
month = ("0" DIGIT)       ; two-digit month (00-09)
    / ("1" %x30-32)       ; two-digit month (10-12)
day = (%x30-32 DIGIT)     ; two-digit day (00-29)
    / ("3" %x30-31)       ; two-digit day (30-31)
hour = (%x30-31 DIGIT)    ; two-digit hour (00-19)
    / ("2" %x30-33)       ; two-digit hour (20-23)
minute = (%x30-35 DIGIT)  ; two-digit minute (00-59)
second = (%x30-35 DIGIT)  ; two-digit second (00-59)

yesno-value = quoted-yesno-value / unquoted-yesno-value
quoted-yesno-value = DQUOTE unquoted-yesno-value DQUOTE
unquoted-yesno-value = "YES" / "NO"

onoff-value = quoted-onoff-value / unquoted-onoff-value
quoted-onoff-value = DQUOTE unquoted-onoff-value DQUOTE
unquoted-onoff-value = "ON" / "OFF"

; <mode-value> must be inside double quotation marks.
mode-value = DQUOTE ("PHRASE" / "AND" / "OR" / "ANY" / "NEAR"
    / "ONEAR" / "SIMPLEALL" / "SIMPLEANY") DQUOTE

; General syntax elements
in-expression = ((internal-property-name / property-name) ":")
    / (DQUOTE (internal-property-name / property-name) DQUOTE ":")
numeric-or-mode = "mode" "=" DQUOTE "OR" DQUOTE
token-distance = unsigned-integer-value
internal-property-name = property-name "." property-name
property-name = 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT)
multiple-fql-params = fql-expression 1*("," fql-expression)

See Also

Concepts

FAST Search Query Integration Overview

FAST Query Language (FQL) Syntax Reference

The FQL Property Specification

FQL Token Expressions

FAST Query Language (FQL) Operators

FQL Simple Query Language