SmartSearchFilter

(Anticipated npm library name: "smart-search-filter")

Standalone ES6 search/filter using simple Google-style search strings to perform complex filter operations.

Features:

• Filter arrays using simple yet powerful search strings. (ie: filtering JSON API results)
• Match fields containing individual words or exact phrases.
• AND/OR/NOT search combinations.
• Wildcard patterns allowed. (glob style "*" & "?")
• Search across multiple default fields/properties or specify exact field(s) to match.
• Case insensitive.

Example:

import {smartSearchFilter} from SmartSearchFilter

let pets = [                                    // the array to filter
<pre>
  { id:0, name:'Jemma',  type:'Cat',     breed:'Tabby',           owner:'Joe Blogs' },
  { id:1, name:'Jimmy',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
  { id:2, name:'Jazzy',  type:'Chicken', breed:'Isa Brown',       owner:'Oscar Black' },
  { id:3, name:'Fitch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Coolie',   owner:'Mildred Gutierrez' },
  { id:4, name:'Butch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'Poodle',          owner:'Gabija Jim' },
  { id:5, name:'Bagel',  type:'Cat',     breed:'German Rex',      owner:'Abdullah Floyd' },
</pre>
];

let search = 'dog german';                      // the search phrase
let defaultFields = 'name|type|breed|owner';    // CSV format also accepted - ie: 'name,type,breed,owner'

let results = smartSearchFilter(pets, search, defaultFields);

results.forEach(pet => console.log(pet))

Will display:

  { id:1, name:'Jaz',    type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
  { id:3, name:'Fitch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Coolie',   owner:'Mildred Gutierrez' },

More Example Search Filters:

Example 1: 'dog german'

• Simple "AND" search containing both words.
• Each word can be found in any of the default search fields.

  { id:1, name:'Jaz',    type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
  { id:3, name:'Fitch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Coolie',   owner:'Mildred Gutierrez' },

Example 2: 'dog german | "joe blogs" cat'

• AND/OR search combination.
• "Exact phrase" (vs single word) specified in double quotes.

  { id:0, name:'Jemma',  type:'Cat',     breed:'Tabby',           owner:'Joe Blogs' },
  { id:1, name:'Jaz',    type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
  { id:3, name:'Fitch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Coolie',   owner:'Mildred Gutierrez' },

Example 3: 'dog -german'

• Exclude results containing a specific search term by preceeding it with a "-".
• (Can also exclude "exact phrases" by inserting "-" before the quotation marks.)

  { id:4, name:'Butch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'Poodle',          owner:'Gabija Jim' },
BUT NOT:
  { id:1, name:'Jaz',    type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
  { id:3, name:'Fitch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Coolie',   owner:'Mildred Gutierrez' },

Example 4: 'j???y | o*bl

• Wildcard searches (glob-style)
• Wildcards can be combined with other operations such as this "OR" search combination shown here.
• (Wildcards can also be used in "exact phrases" - ie: '"one two * nine ten"')

  { id:0, name:'Jemma',  type:'Cat',     breed:'Tabby',           owner:'Joe Blogs' },
  { id:1, name:'Jimmy',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
  { id:2, name:'Jazzy',  type:'Chicken', breed:'Isa Brown',       owner:'Oscar Black' },

Example 5: 'jim*'

• Special search with "wildcard at end of word/phrase" requires the field to start with (vs contain) the specified search string.
• All other searches match fields containing the search term (which is like searching for the wildcard pattern '*jim*'). (This special syntax effectively removes the leading wildcard.)

  { id:1, name:'Jimmy',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
BUT NOT:
  { id:4, name:'Butch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'Poodle',          owner:'Gabija Jim' },

Example 6: 'type|owner:og -name:ch'

• Searches terms are normally matched in all default search fields, and these examples have assumed searching the name|type|breed|owner default search fields.
• However specific field(s) can be specified as in this example.
• This example matches "og" but only in the type or owner field. It excludes entries containing "ch", but only if found in the name field.

  { id:0, name:'Jemma',  type:'Cat',     breed:'Tabby',           owner:'Joe Blogs' },
  { id:1, name:'Jimmy',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Shepherd', owner:'Sara Hartman' },
BUT NOT
  { id:3, name:'Fitch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'German Coolie',   owner:'Mildred Gutierrez' },
  { id:4, name:'Butch',  type:'Dog',     breed:'Poodle',          owner:'Gabija Jim' },

Search Phrase Specification:

TBA

Future Development:

• The original intention was to create an NPM library, however I got scared by the complexity as well as the wide variety of javascript library formats... so I decided to simply release the JS file in the hope it will be of benefit to others. Pull requests and forks are welcome.

• The code has intentionally been segregated into a two-step process to firstly interpret then apply the required filter operations. This was intended to lend itself very well to allowing creation of database queries (ie: mysql "where clause") to allow consistent filtering of a database back-end. (BUT need to think carefuly through SQL-injection issues - maybe better to pass the filter-ops to the back-end which then creates the SQL either directly or using a safer alternative like Laravel's Query Builder interface).

• Insert an animation at top of README file to give people a quick visual - ie: like npm:fuzzy library.