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