Basic Search #

The basic search is the simplest form of search in SemaDB covering the inverted indices you can create. These commonly include integers and strings.

Here is an example of a basic search query, see overview for other request level parameters:

{
    "query": {
        "property": "price",
        "float": {
            "value": 100,
            "operator": "inRange",
            // endValue is only used with inRange operator
            "endValue": 200
        }
    },
    "limit": 10
}

Inverted Index #

It is important to recall how inverted indices work to get a better understanding of the what the basic search can do. An inverted index is a data structure that maps the values of a field to the documents that contain them. This allows for fast lookups and filtering of documents based on the values of a field.

---
title: Price Inverted Index
---
graph LR
    V100["100$"] --> D1["Doc 1"]
    D1 --> D2["Doc 2"]
    V200["200$"] --> D3["Doc 3"]
    D3 --> D4["Doc 4"]

So when we search for all the documents with price 200$, we can quickly find that it is in Doc 3 and Doc 4. This is the basic idea behind the basic search.

There really isn’t too much magic and just a simple lookup in the inverted index. The real power of SemaDB comes from the ability to combine these simple lookups with other types of searches like vector search and text search.

Operators #

The following index types can be used in a basic search query: integer, float and string. In all cases you provide a value and an operator. The available operators are:

• equals: The value must be equal to the provided value.
• notEquals: The value must not be equal to the provided value. This causes an index scan, so it is not recommended for large collections. To find all the values that are not equal, SemaDB scans the entire index.
• greaterThan: The value must be greater than the provided value.
• greaterThanOrEquals: The value must be greater than or equal to the provided value.
• lessThan: The value must be less than the provided value.
• lessThanOrEquals: The value must be less than or equal to the provided value.
• inRange: The value must be in the range of the provided value and endValue. With this operator you must provide both value and endValue.
• startsWith (string only): The string must start with the provided value.

String Array #

The array / list of strings uses different operators. This index type is commonly used for tags or categories. The operators available are:

• containsAll: The list must contain all the provided values.
• containsAny: The list must contain at least one of the provided values.

A common examples when searching or filtering for tags is:

{
    "query": {
        "property": "tags",
        "stringArray": {
            "value": ["tag1", "tag2"],
            "operator": "containsAll"
        }
    },
    "limit": 10
}