feat(quick_search): also allow for the equals operator in note title's quick search (#6769)

Author: eliandoran

apps/server/src/services/search/services/lex.spec.ts

@@ -59,6 +59,34 @@ describe("Lexer fulltext", () => {
     it("escaping special characters", () => {
         expect(lex("hello \\#\\~\\'").fulltextTokens.map((t) => t.token)).toEqual(["hello", "#~'"]);
     });
+
+    it("recognizes leading = operator for exact match", () => {
+        const result1 = lex("=example");
+        expect(result1.fulltextTokens.map((t) => t.token)).toEqual(["example"]);
+        expect(result1.leadingOperator).toBe("=");
+
+        const result2 = lex("=hello world");
+        expect(result2.fulltextTokens.map((t) => t.token)).toEqual(["hello", "world"]);
+        expect(result2.leadingOperator).toBe("=");
+
+        const result3 = lex("='hello world'");
+        expect(result3.fulltextTokens.map((t) => t.token)).toEqual(["hello world"]);
+        expect(result3.leadingOperator).toBe("=");
+    });
+
+    it("doesn't treat = as leading operator in other contexts", () => {
+        const result1 = lex("==example");
+        expect(result1.fulltextTokens.map((t) => t.token)).toEqual(["==example"]);
+        expect(result1.leadingOperator).toBe("");
+
+        const result2 = lex("= example");
+        expect(result2.fulltextTokens.map((t) => t.token)).toEqual(["=", "example"]);
+        expect(result2.leadingOperator).toBe("");
+
+        const result3 = lex("example");
+        expect(result3.fulltextTokens.map((t) => t.token)).toEqual(["example"]);
+        expect(result3.leadingOperator).toBe("");
+    });
 });
 
 describe("Lexer expression", () => {

apps/server/src/services/search/services/lex.ts

@@ -10,10 +10,18 @@ function lex(str: string) {
     let quotes: boolean | string = false; // otherwise contains used quote - ', " or `
     let fulltextEnded = false;
     let currentWord = "";
+    let leadingOperator = "";
 
     function isSymbolAnOperator(chr: string) {
         return ["=", "*", ">", "<", "!", "-", "+", "%", ","].includes(chr);
     }
+    
+    // Check if the string starts with an exact match operator
+    // This allows users to use "=searchterm" for exact matching
+    if (str.startsWith("=") && str.length > 1 && str[1] !== "=" && str[1] !== " ") {
+        leadingOperator = "=";
+        str = str.substring(1); // Remove the leading operator from the string
+    }
 
     function isPreviousSymbolAnOperator() {
         if (currentWord.length === 0) {
@@ -128,7 +136,8 @@ function lex(str: string) {
     return {
         fulltextQuery,
         fulltextTokens,
-        expressionTokens
+        expressionTokens,
+        leadingOperator
     };
 }
 

apps/server/src/services/search/services/parse.ts

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import type SearchContext from "../search_context.js";
 import type { TokenData, TokenStructure } from "./types.js";
 import type Expression from "../expressions/expression.js";
 
-function getFulltext(_tokens: TokenData[], searchContext: SearchContext) {
+function getFulltext(_tokens: TokenData[], searchContext: SearchContext, leadingOperator?: string) {
     const tokens: string[] = _tokens.map((t) => removeDiacritic(t.token));
 
     searchContext.highlightedTokens.push(...tokens);
@@ -33,8 +33,19 @@ function getFulltext(_tokens: TokenData[], searchContext: SearchContext) {
         return null;
     }
 
+    // If user specified "=" at the beginning, they want exact match
+    const operator = leadingOperator === "=" ? "=" : "*=*";
+
     if (!searchContext.fastSearch) {
-        return new OrExp([new NoteFlatTextExp(tokens), new NoteContentFulltextExp("*=*", { tokens, flatText: true })]);
+        // For exact match with "=", we need different behavior
+        if (leadingOperator === "=" && tokens.length === 1) {
+            // Exact match on title OR exact match on content
+            return new OrExp([
+                new PropertyComparisonExp(searchContext, "title", "=", tokens[0]),
+                new NoteContentFulltextExp("=", { tokens, flatText: false })
+            ]);
+        }
+        return new OrExp([new NoteFlatTextExp(tokens), new NoteContentFulltextExp(operator, { tokens, flatText: true })]);
     } else {
         return new NoteFlatTextExp(tokens);
     }
@@ -428,9 +439,10 @@ export interface ParseOpts {
     expressionTokens: TokenStructure;
     searchContext: SearchContext;
     originalQuery?: string;
+    leadingOperator?: string;
 }
 
-function parse({ fulltextTokens, expressionTokens, searchContext }: ParseOpts) {
+function parse({ fulltextTokens, expressionTokens, searchContext, leadingOperator }: ParseOpts) {
     let expression: Expression | undefined | null;
 
     try {
@@ -444,7 +456,7 @@ function parse({ fulltextTokens, expressionTokens, searchContext }: ParseOpts) {
     let exp = AndExp.of([
         searchContext.includeArchivedNotes ? null : new PropertyComparisonExp(searchContext, "isarchived", "=", "false"),
         getAncestorExp(searchContext),
-        getFulltext(fulltextTokens, searchContext),
+        getFulltext(fulltextTokens, searchContext, leadingOperator),
         expression
     ]);
 

apps/server/src/services/search/services/search.spec.ts

@@ -234,6 +234,28 @@ describe("Search", () => {
         expect(findNoteByTitle(searchResults, "Austria")).toBeTruthy();
     });
 
+    it("leading = operator for exact match", () => {
+        rootNote
+            .child(note("Example Note").label("type", "document"))
+            .child(note("Examples of Usage").label("type", "tutorial"))
+            .child(note("Sample").label("type", "example"));
+
+        const searchContext = new SearchContext();
+
+        // Using leading = for exact title match
+        let searchResults = searchService.findResultsWithQuery("=Example Note", searchContext);
+        expect(searchResults.length).toEqual(1);
+        expect(findNoteByTitle(searchResults, "Example Note")).toBeTruthy();
+
+        // Without =, it should find all notes containing "example"
+        searchResults = searchService.findResultsWithQuery("example", searchContext);
+        expect(searchResults.length).toEqual(3);
+
+        // = operator should not match partial words
+        searchResults = searchService.findResultsWithQuery("=Example", searchContext);
+        expect(searchResults.length).toEqual(0);
+    });
+
     it("fuzzy attribute search", () => {
         rootNote.child(note("Europe")
                 .label("country", "", true)

apps/server/src/services/search/services/search.ts

@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ function mergeExactAndFuzzyResults(exactResults: SearchResult[], fuzzyResults: S
 }
 
 function parseQueryToExpression(query: string, searchContext: SearchContext) {
-    const { fulltextQuery, fulltextTokens, expressionTokens } = lex(query);
+    const { fulltextQuery, fulltextTokens, expressionTokens, leadingOperator } = lex(query);
     searchContext.fulltextQuery = fulltextQuery;
 
     let structuredExpressionTokens: TokenStructure;
@@ -383,7 +383,8 @@ function parseQueryToExpression(query: string, searchContext: SearchContext) {
         fulltextTokens,
         expressionTokens: structuredExpressionTokens,
         searchContext,
-        originalQuery: query
+        originalQuery: query,
+        leadingOperator
     });
 
     if (searchContext.debug) {

apps/server/test_search_integration.js

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import lex from "./apps/server/dist/services/search/services/lex.js";
+import parse from "./apps/server/dist/services/search/services/parse.js";
+import SearchContext from "./apps/server/dist/services/search/search_context.js";
+
+// Test the integration of the lexer and parser
+const testCases = [
+    "=example",
+    "example",
+    "=hello world"
+];
+
+for (const query of testCases) {
+    console.log(`\n=== Testing: "${query}" ===`);
+    
+    const lexResult = lex(query);
+    console.log("Lex result:");
+    console.log("  Fulltext tokens:", lexResult.fulltextTokens.map(t => t.token));
+    console.log("  Leading operator:", lexResult.leadingOperator || "(none)");
+    
+    const searchContext = new SearchContext.default({ fastSearch: false });
+    
+    try {
+        const expression = parse.default({
+            fulltextTokens: lexResult.fulltextTokens,
+            expressionTokens: [],
+            searchContext,
+            originalQuery: query,
+            leadingOperator: lexResult.leadingOperator
+        });
+        
+        console.log("Parse result: Success");
+        console.log("  Expression type:", expression.constructor.name);
+    } catch (e) {
+        console.log("Parse result: Error -", e.message);
+    }
+}

docs/User Guide/User Guide/Basic Concepts and Features/Navigation/Quick search - Exact Match.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# Quick Search - Exact Match Operator
+
+## Overview
+
+Quick Search now supports the exact match operator (`=`) at the beginning of your search query. This allows you to search for notes where the title or content exactly matches your search term, rather than just containing it.
+
+## Usage
+
+To use exact match in Quick Search:
+
+1. Start your search query with the `=` operator
+2. Follow it immediately with your search term (no space after `=`)
+
+### Examples
+
+- `=example` - Finds notes with title exactly "example" or content exactly "example"
+- `=Project Plan` - Finds notes with title exactly "Project Plan" or content exactly "Project Plan"
+- `='hello world'` - Use quotes for multi-word exact matches
+
+### Comparison with Regular Search
+
+| Query | Behavior |
+|-------|----------|
+| `example` | Finds all notes containing "example" anywhere in title or content |
+| `=example` | Finds only notes where the title equals "example" or content equals "example" exactly |
+
+## Technical Details
+
+When you use the `=` operator:
+- The search performs an exact match on note titles
+- For note content, it looks for exact matches of the entire content
+- Partial word matches are excluded
+- The search is case-insensitive
+
+## Limitations
+
+- The `=` operator must be at the very beginning of the search query
+- Spaces after `=` will treat it as a regular search
+- Multiple `=` operators (like `==example`) are treated as regular text search
+
+## Use Cases
+
+This feature is particularly useful when:
+- You know the exact title of a note
+- You want to find notes with specific, complete content
+- You need to distinguish between notes with similar but not identical titles
+- You want to avoid false positives from partial matches
+
+## Related Features
+
+- For more complex exact matching queries, use the full [Search](Search.md) functionality
+- For fuzzy matching (finding results despite typos), use the `~=` operator in the full search
+- For partial matches with wildcards, use operators like `*=*`, `=*`, or `*=` in the full search