[[analysis-common-grams-tokenfilter]]
=== Common grams token filter
++++
<titleabbrev>Common grams</titleabbrev>
++++

Generates {wikipedia}/Bigram[bigrams] for a specified set of
common words.

For example, you can specify `is` and `the` as common words. This filter then
converts the tokens `[the, quick, fox, is, brown]` to `[the, the_quick, quick,
fox, fox_is, is, is_brown, brown]`.

You can use the `common_grams` filter in place of the
<<analysis-stop-tokenfilter,stop token filter>> when you don't want to
completely ignore common words.

This filter uses Lucene's
{lucene-analysis-docs}/commongrams/CommonGramsFilter.html[CommonGramsFilter].

[[analysis-common-grams-analyze-ex]]
==== Example

The following <<indices-analyze,analyze API>> request creates bigrams for `is`
and `the`:

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
GET /_analyze
{
  "tokenizer" : "whitespace",
  "filter" : [
    {
      "type": "common_grams",
      "common_words": ["is", "the"]
    }
  ],
  "text" : "the quick fox is brown"
}
--------------------------------------------------

The filter produces the following tokens:

[source,text]
--------------------------------------------------
[ the, the_quick, quick, fox, fox_is, is, is_brown, brown ]
--------------------------------------------------

/////////////////////
[source,console-result]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "tokens" : [
    {
      "token" : "the",
      "start_offset" : 0,
      "end_offset" : 3,
      "type" : "word",
      "position" : 0
    },
    {
      "token" : "the_quick",
      "start_offset" : 0,
      "end_offset" : 9,
      "type" : "gram",
      "position" : 0,
      "positionLength" : 2
    },
    {
      "token" : "quick",
      "start_offset" : 4,
      "end_offset" : 9,
      "type" : "word",
      "position" : 1
    },
    {
      "token" : "fox",
      "start_offset" : 10,
      "end_offset" : 13,
      "type" : "word",
      "position" : 2
    },
    {
      "token" : "fox_is",
      "start_offset" : 10,
      "end_offset" : 16,
      "type" : "gram",
      "position" : 2,
      "positionLength" : 2
    },
    {
      "token" : "is",
      "start_offset" : 14,
      "end_offset" : 16,
      "type" : "word",
      "position" : 3
    },
    {
      "token" : "is_brown",
      "start_offset" : 14,
      "end_offset" : 22,
      "type" : "gram",
      "position" : 3,
      "positionLength" : 2
    },
    {
      "token" : "brown",
      "start_offset" : 17,
      "end_offset" : 22,
      "type" : "word",
      "position" : 4
    }
  ]
}
--------------------------------------------------
/////////////////////

[[analysis-common-grams-tokenfilter-analyzer-ex]]
==== Add to an analyzer

The following <<indices-create-index,create index API>> request uses the
`common_grams` filter to configure a new 
<<analysis-custom-analyzer,custom analyzer>>:

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT /common_grams_example
{
  "settings": {
    "analysis": {
      "analyzer": {
        "index_grams": {
          "tokenizer": "whitespace",
          "filter": [ "common_grams" ]
        }
      },
      "filter": {
        "common_grams": {
          "type": "common_grams",
          "common_words": [ "a", "is", "the" ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------

[[analysis-common-grams-tokenfilter-configure-parms]]
==== Configurable parameters

`common_words`::
+
--
(Required+++*+++, array of strings)
A list of tokens. The filter generates bigrams for these tokens.

Either this or the `common_words_path` parameter is required.
--

`common_words_path`::
+
--
(Required+++*+++, string)
Path to a file containing a list of tokens. The filter generates bigrams for
these tokens.

This path must be absolute or relative to the `config` location. The file must
be UTF-8 encoded. Each token in the file must be separated by a line break.

Either this or the `common_words` parameter is required.
--

`ignore_case`::
(Optional, Boolean)
If `true`, matches for common words matching are case-insensitive.
Defaults to `false`.

`query_mode`::
+
--
(Optional, Boolean)
If `true`, the filter excludes the following tokens from the output:

* Unigrams for common words
* Unigrams for terms followed by common words

Defaults to `false`. We recommend enabling this parameter for
<<search-analyzer,search analyzers>>.

For example, you can enable this parameter and specify `is` and `the` as
common words. This filter converts the tokens `[the, quick, fox, is, brown]` to
`[the_quick, quick, fox_is, is_brown,]`.
--

[[analysis-common-grams-tokenfilter-customize]]
==== Customize

To customize the `common_grams` filter, duplicate it to create the basis
for a new custom token filter. You can modify the filter using its configurable
parameters.

For example, the following request creates a custom `common_grams` filter with
`ignore_case` and `query_mode` set to `true`:

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT /common_grams_example
{
  "settings": {
    "analysis": {
      "analyzer": {
        "index_grams": {
          "tokenizer": "whitespace",
          "filter": [ "common_grams_query" ]
        }
      },
      "filter": {
        "common_grams_query": {
          "type": "common_grams",
          "common_words": [ "a", "is", "the" ],
          "ignore_case": true,
          "query_mode": true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
