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12a - Lucene query quick reference

Updated

Info: This article is work in progress and subject to change.

This appendix is a working reference for the Lucene query syntax used in every condition slot in the Workflow Assistant Configurator — Disable conditions, Required conditions, Display conditions on Notifications, and Query options on Query buttons.

For the conceptual material on conditions, see 02d — How conditions work.

The Workflow Assistant uses a Lucene-compatible parser called Liqe. Everything in this reference works in both standard Lucene and Liqe; the small number of cases where Liqe differs from full Lucene are flagged inline.

Basic field-value match

Query Reads as
status:Final The status field has the value Final
assetDomain:image The assetDomain field has the value image
cf_clearanceLevel:approved The custom field cf_clearanceLevel has the value approved

The pattern is field:value — field name on the left, colon, value on the right. The field name is case-sensitive.

Multi-word values

Wrap multi-word values in double quotes:

Query Reads as
status:"Awaiting publish" The status is the multi-word value “Awaiting publish”
creatorName:"Jane Smith" The creator’s name is “Jane Smith”

Without quotes, Lucene treats each word as a separate term:

Query (without quotes) What it actually means
status:Awaiting publish status:Awaiting AND publish — almost always wrong

Boolean operators

Combine clauses with AND, OR, NOT. Always in capitals.

Query Reads as
status:Final AND assetDomain:image Both conditions are true
status:Draft OR status:Review Either condition is true
status:Final AND NOT cf_archived:true Final, and not archived
NOT status:Approved The status is not Approved

Group with parentheses when combining:

Query Reads as
(status:Draft OR status:Review) AND assetDomain:image The asset is an image, and the status is Draft or Review

Tip: Always parenthesise mixed AND/OR queries. A AND B OR C is ambiguous to readers (and to some parsers); (A AND B) OR C is unambiguous.

Existence and emptiness

Query Reads as
credit:* The credit field has any value (it is set)

NOT credit:* 

or
credit:""

 The credit field is empty
_exists_:credit The credit field exists in the metadata schema (rarely needed)

The field:* pattern is the most common existence test. Use field:"" for empty-field conditions, especially in Notifications.

Ranges

Use square brackets for inclusive ranges, curly braces for exclusive:

Query Reads as
cf_priority:[1 TO 5] Priority is between 1 and 5 inclusive
cf_priority:{1 TO 5} Priority is strictly between 1 and 5 (so 2, 3, 4)
created:[2024-01-01 TO 2024-12-31] Created in 2024

Note: Date range syntax in Liqe expects ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD). If your date metadata is stored in a different format, check the Configurator’s reference for your version before assuming a range query works.

Wildcards

Query Reads as
creatorName:Jane* Creator name starts with “Jane”
cf_skuCode:*1234 SKU code ends with “1234”
title:?at Three-letter title ending in “at” — ? matches one character

Use wildcards sparingly in conditions — they are slower than exact matches and harder to read.

Path-based queries

Asset folder paths are queryable via the ancestorPaths field:

Query Reads as
ancestorPaths:"/Projects/WIP and Final" The asset is in this folder or a subfolder of it
ancestorPaths:"/Approved" AND assetDomain:image Approved-folder images

Multivalue fields

For fields that hold multiple values (Tags, multi-select Dropdowns):

Query Reads as
tags:marketing The tags field contains the value marketing (among any others)
tags:marketing AND tags:europe The tags field contains both marketing and europe
tags:(marketing OR europe) The tags field contains at least one of marketing or europe

The single-clause form (tags:marketing) is the most common.

Substitution from the selected asset

In Query button queries and in some Lucene contexts, {fieldName} is replaced with the value from the currently selected asset’s metadata at runtime:

Query Reads as
cf_wbsCode:{cf_projectCode} Match assets whose WBS code equals the WBS code of the currently selected asset
ancestorPaths:"/Projects" AND isbn:{isbn} Match briefs in /Projects with the same ISBN as the current selection
creatorName:"{creatorName}" Match assets with the same creator name (quoted to handle multi-word names)

Note: Substitution applies only to Query buttons and similar runtime evaluations — it is not supported in Notification text. See 05c — Notifications reference for the workaround.

Escaping special characters

Lucene’s special characters are: + - && || ! ( ) { } [ ] ^ " ~ * ? : \

To use any of these literally in a value, escape with a backslash:

Query Reads as
creatorName:"O\\'Connor" Creator name O'Connor, apostrophe escaped
description:"two \\(2\\) items" Description contains two (2) items

Common pitfalls

Pitfall Symptom Fix
Lowercase boolean (and, or, not) The query parses, but the boolean operator is treated as a search term Use capitals: AND, OR, NOT
Field-name typo or wrong case Condition never fires, or always fires false Use the autocomplete in the Configurator to confirm exact casing
Multi-word value without quotes Only the first word is matched as the value Quote multi-word values
Missing AND between clauses Two clauses are treated as OR (default operator) Add AND explicitly
Wildcard at the start of a value (*Final) Slow query; some versions reject it Avoid leading wildcards. Use a different field or refactor

Test queries in Assets first

The most reliable verification is to paste the query into Assets’ search bar in another browser tab. If Assets returns the assets you expect, the query is well-formed. If it returns the wrong assets — or none — fix the query in Assets before pasting it back into the Configurator.

Cross-references

Revisions

  • 7 May 2026: First publication of the manual

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