StringFilter Operators

The StringFilter type provides some convenient search syntaxes, and the best part is that they're built in, so you wont have to write any custom code to support them.

Just prefix your value with an operator and an underscore '_'

shoes?brand=$sw_ree

This will return all shoes with brand names starting with the letters "ree" (like Reebok). All StringFilter searches are case-INsensitive.

You can invoke these behaviors by applying the following operators to your value * StartsWith: $sw_ or startswith_ * EndsWith: $ew_ or endswith_ * Contains: $cn_ or contains_ * In List: $in_ or in_ * RegEx Pattern: $pn_ or pattern_ * Equals: $eq_ or equals_

AND

All of these operators can also be inversed with the NOT operator: !

The StartsWith Operator

To search on string properties that start with a given value (eg: "N" to find "Nike" and "New Balance"), prefix your value with $sw_ or startswith_:

shoes?brand=$sw_N
or
shoes?brand=startswith_N

NOTE: All StringFilter prefixes such as these are NOT case-sensitive, so ?StartsWiTH_N will work just as well as ?startswith_N or ?$SW_N.

You can also invoke the Not operator: !$sw_ or !startsWith_

The EndsWith Operator

To search on string properties that end with a given value (eg: "e" to find "Nike" and "New Balance"), prefix your value with $ew_ or endsswith_:

shoes?brand=$ew_e
or
shoes?brand=endswith_e

You can also invoke the Not operator: !$ew_ or !endsWith_

The Contains Operator

To find strings that contain a given value (eg: "ok" to find "Brooks" and "Reebok") prefix your value with $cn_ or contains_:

shoes?brand=$cn_ok
or
shoes?brand=contains_ok

You can also invoke the Not operator: !$cn_ or !contains_

The In Operator

Whereas a simple equals operator limits results to those matching a single value, the $in operator allows you to limit results to those matching one of several values.
That is, if you want not only Nike shoes but Brooks and Asics too, pass all three brands as your value (separated by commas) and prefix the whole thing with $in_ or in_:

shoes?brand=$in_Nike,Brooks,Asics
or
shoes?brand=in_Nike,Brooks,Asics

This syntax employs "OR" logic: where brand equals "Nike" OR "Brooks" OR "Asics"

You can also invoke the Not operator: !$in_ or !in_

The Pattern Operator

RegExes anyone? (aka: Regular Expressions, aka: string patterns) If you want to search on values that conform to a more complex set of rules, you can pass in a regular expression as your value and prefix it with the pattern operator or $pn:

let's say we want shoes whose brands have two words in their name:

/\w+\s\w+/   

Url-encoded:  %2F%5Cw%2B%5Cs%5Cw%2B%2Fi

NOTE: Obviously special characters could be trouble here, so always be sure to Url-encode your values before adding them to the querystring

shoes?brand=$pn_%2F%5Cw%2B%5Cs%5Cw%2B%2Fi
or
shoes?brand=pattern_%2F%5Cw%2B%5Cs%5Cw%2B%2Fi

NOTE: Yes, we url-encoded before prefixing instead of url-encoding the whole value, but it's legal to do so because the prefixes are made up of legal URL characters that do not need encoding (via RFC3986 and RFC1738).

You can also invoke the Not operator: !$pn_ or !pattern_

The Equals Operator

You may never use this because it's already the default behavior of a search string that is not prefixed with an operator.

shoes?brand=nike

But if you felt the need to explicitly call it out, you can instead prefix your value with $eq_ or equals_:

shoes?brand=$eq_nike
or
shoes?brand=equals_nike

You can also invoke the Not operator: !$eq_ or !equals_

The Not Operator

The Not operator (!) exists as an optional prefix that you can apply to the other operators, which inverts their logic to include anything NOT MATCHING their logic.

For example, If you want all shoes other than "Nike", you can prefix the Equals operator with the Not operator:

shoes?brand=!$eq_nike
or
shoes?brand=!equals_Nike

And in case you were wondering, there is NO NEED to url-encode the ! exclamation point. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) clearly defined it as a safe character in: * RFC3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax * RFC1738: Uniform Resource Locators (URL)