Filtering with "-" seems to break search?

[er...@sonicbloomgames.com]

With the main Freesound.org website search, we can configure the query to apply to Tags only. This allows us to make use of the '+' and '-' characters to filter results that have/don't have specific tags. Here is an example that shows this in action:

http://freesound.org/search/?q=piano+-cat&f=duration%3A%5B0+TO+*%5D&s=score+desc&advanced=1&a_tag=1&g=1

However, attempting to approximate that using the search parameters described in the Resources page returns an HTTP 400 Bad Request response. Here is the example search used:

http://www.freesound.org/apiv2/search/text/?&page=1&page_size=150&filter=tag%3Apiano%20tag%3A%20-cat%20duration%3A%5B0%20TO%20*%5D&query=%20

In the main Freesound.org page, it appears that there's a way to specify "Search by Tag" using the "advanced=1" and "a_tag=1" options. Is there some equivalent in APIv2?

[Frederic Font]

Hi Eric,

Yes you can do that, but you are using wrong syntax.

You can specify complex filters using expressions as shown in the examples of the “filter” parameter documentation (http://www.freesound.org/docs/api/resources_apiv2.html#text-search). For your specific case you should do something like:

tag:(piano -cat)

See the url:

http://www.freesound.org/apiv2/search/text/?&page=1&page_size=150&filter=tag:(piano%20-cat)%20duration%3A%5B0%20TO%20*%5D&query=%20

Cheers,

frederic

---

Frederic Font

Music Technology Group

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

freder...@upf.edu

Freesound | www.freesound.org

Audio Commons | www.audiocommons.org

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[er...@sonicbloomgames.com]

Hi Frederic,

Thanks for the explanation! I looked over that documentation a number of times and didn't notice any specific instructions on using parenthesis for multiple terms. Indeed, the only place I was able to see the syntax you showed was in the section showing logic operators. Specifically:

Simple logic operators can also be used in filters: 

 

filter=type:(wav OR aiff)
filter=description:(piano AND note)

Beyond this, the syntax that I'm using for tag inclusion/exclusion is actually described in the query field description. Perhaps it would be useful to have an explicit section to describe the difference/equality between the logic operators (OR/AND/NOT[?]) and mandatory/prohibited operators (+/-)? Further, a section describing searching for multiple tags or multiple terms would be useful (or at least an example, as you provided above).

Thanks so much for the response! Very helpful!

- Eric