# What is fuzziness?

### As a search operator

In the main search bar, you can write a query with the search operator tilde (\~) with a number, at the end of each word of your query. You can set fuzziness to 1 or 2. It corresponds to the maximum number of operations (insertions, deletions, substitutions and transpositions) on **characters** needed to make one **term** match the other.

> kitten -> sitten (1 substitution (k turned into s) = fuzziness is 1)

> kitten -> sittin (2 substitutions (k turned into s and e turned into i) = fuzziness is 2)

If you search for similar terms (**to catch typos for example**), use fuzziness. Use the [tilde symbol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilde) at the end of the word to set the fuzziness to 1 or 2.

"*The default edit distance is 2, but an edit distance of 1 should be sufficient to catch 80% of all human misspellings. It can be specified as: quikc\~1*" (source: [Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.0/query-dsl-query-string-query.html#_fuzziness)).

> Example: quikc\~ brwn\~ foks\~ (as the default edit distance is 2, this query will catch all quick, quack, quock, uqikc, etc. as well as brown, folks, etc.)
>
> Example: Datashare\~1 (this query will catch Datasahre, Dqtashare, etc.)

### In batch searches

When you run a [batch search](https://icij.gitbook.io/datashare/usage/batch-search-documents), you can set the fuzziness to 0, 1 or 2. It is the same as explained above, it will apply to each word in a query and corresponds to the maximum number of operations (insertions, deletions, substitutions and transpositions) on **characters** needed to make one **term** match the other.

> kitten -> sitten (1 substitution (k turned into s) = fuzziness is 1)

> kitten -> sittin (2 substitutions (k turned into s and e turned into i) = fuzziness is 2)

If you search for similar terms (**to catch typos for example**), use fuzziness. Use the [tilde symbol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilde) at the end of the word to set the fuzziness to 1 or 2.

"*The default edit distance is 2, but an edit distance of 1 should be sufficient to catch 80% of all human misspellings. It can be specified as: quikc\~1*" (source: [Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.0/query-dsl-query-string-query.html#_fuzziness)).

> Example: quikc\~ brwn\~ foks\~ (as the default edit distance is 2, this query will catch all quick, quack, quock, uqikc, etc. as well as brown, folks, etc.)
>
> Example: Datashare\~1 (this query will catch Datasahre, Dqtashare, etc.)


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://icij.gitbook.io/datashare/usage/faq/definitions/what-is-fuzziness.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.