RSQL operators

RSQL operators

Background

The MOLGENIS REST query API makes use of RSQL. RSQL is a query language for parametrized filtering of entries in RESTful APIs. It’s based on FIQL (Feed Item Query Language), that was originally specified by Mark Nottingham as a language for querying Atom feeds. However the simplicity of RSQL and its capability to express complex queries in a compact and HTTP URI-friendly way makes it a good candidate for becoming a generic query language for searching REST endpoints.

Supported RSQL operators

MOLGENIS supports the following operators:

Operator	Example	Description
==	columnA==queryValue	Performs an equals query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA exactly equal queryValue
=q=	columnA=q='search string'	Performs a search query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA match search string
=sq=	columnA=sq='search query'	Performs a query string query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA match search query
=like=	columnA=like=queryValue	Performs a like query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA contain queryValue
=in=	columnA=in=(valueA, valueB)	Performs an in query. Returns all rows from myTable where columnA contains valueA OR valueB
!=	columnA!=queryValue	Performs a not equals query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA do not equal queryValue
=notlike=	columnA=notlike=queryValue	Performs a not like query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA are not like queryValue
< & =lt=	columnA<queryValue, columnA=lt=queryValue	Performs a lesser than query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA are lesser than queryValue
=le= & <=	columnA<=queryValue, columnA=le=queryValue	Performs a lesser than or equal to query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA are lesser than or equal to queryValue
< & =gt=	columnA>queryValue, columnA=gt=queryValue	Performs a greater than query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA are greater than queryValue
>= & =ge=	columnA>=queryValue, columnA=ge=queryValue	Performs a equal to or greater than query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA are equal to or greater than queryValue
=rng=	columnA=rng=(fromValue,toValue)	Performs a from to query. Returns all rows from myTable where values in columnA are equal or greater than the fromValue, and lesser than or equal to the toValue
=should=	N/A	Not supported
=dismax=	N/A	Not supported
=fuzzy=	N/A	Not supported

Api calls

The query can be entered as value for the q query param in an API call, e.g. /api/data/myTable?q=columnA==queryValue Use escaping where needed, i.e. both on the rsql level and using url encoding.

Indexing depth

You can also query fields of referenced entities, using a dot to separate the attribute names: columnA.columnB==queryValue. The maximum allowed depth of this search can be set in the "indexing depth" attribute of the entity type, in the Data Explorer.

Search (=q=)

Search is used to search text values for a query string. Search is case-insensitive. Search uses a tokenizer algorithm to split the text block and the search string into tokens and then looks for matching token sequences.

Search query (=sq=)

Same as search, except this uses the ElasticSearch simple query string syntax. version=sq='1.2.* | 1.3.*'. The syntax is intended to be simple enough that you can let the user type queries into a search box.

Search across all fields (*=q= and *=sq=)

You can perform a search across all fields of a document by specifying * as column name: *=q='search string'.

Token tag

Attributes of type ENUM, STRING, HYPERLINK, EMAIL are often not really text blocks that should be split into pieces but rather single keyword tokens. If you tag your attribute with the token tag, a search on that attribute becomes a case-insensitive equals. If you also tag your attribute with the case-sensitive tag, the search becomes an equals. The search across all fields is not affected by the token tag on the attribute.

Like (=like=)

Like is used to find substrings in a text value. Like is case-insensitive. If you tag your attribute with the case-sensitive tag, like becomes case-sensitive.

Tagging attributes

You can tag an attribute in EMX by adding the tags to the tags column of your attributes sheet, e.g.

name	dataType	enumOptions	tags	...
id	string		token
label	string
type	enum	AA,Aa,BB,Bb	token, case-sensitive

The token and case-sensitive tags are created for you.