> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.paradedb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Boolean

<Danger>
  **Legacy Docs:** This page describes our legacy API. It will be deprecated in
  a future version. Please use the [v2 API](/) where possible.
</Danger>

## Basic Usage

Boolean queries filter documents based on the logical relationships defined by their subqueries, considering:

* Documents that satisfy all `must` conditions.
* Documents that satisfy none of the `must_not` conditions.
* Documents that satisfy at least one condition from either `must` or `should`.

Boolean queries are a powerful way to combine the results of several different queries.

Here's the code wrapped in a CodeGroup with both SQL function and JSON syntax:

<CodeGroup>
  ```sql Function Syntax theme={null}
  SELECT description, rating, category
  FROM mock_items
  WHERE id @@@ paradedb.boolean(
      should => ARRAY[
        paradedb.term('description', 'headphones')
      ],
      must => ARRAY[
        paradedb.term('category', 'electronics'),
        paradedb.fuzzy_term('description', 'bluetooht')
      ],
      must_not => ARRAY[
        paradedb.range('rating', int4range(NULL, 2, '()'))
      ]
  );
  ```

  ```sql JSON Syntax theme={null}
  SELECT description, rating, category
  FROM mock_items
  WHERE id @@@
  '{
      "boolean": {
        "should": [
            {"term": {"field": "description", "value": "headphones"}}
        ],
        "must": [
            {
              "term": {
               "field": "category",
               "value": "electronics"
              }
            },
            {"fuzzy_term": {"field": "description", "value": "bluetooht"}}
        ],
        "must_not": [
          {
            "range": {
              "field": "rating",
              "from": null,
              "to": 2,
              "bounds": "()"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
  }'::jsonb;
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<div className="mt-8" />

<ParamField body="must">
  A query object or an `ARRAY` of query objects as conditions which must be
  matched.
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="must_not">
  A query object or an `ARRAY` of query objects as conditions which must not be
  matched.
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="should">
  A query object or an `ARRAY` of query objects as conditions of which at least
  one must be matched.
</ParamField>

In order for a boolean query to return a result, one of `must` or `should` must be provided.
`must_not` acts as a mask and does not produce a result set.