.. _es-guide-reference-query-dsl-span-near-query:

===============
Span Near Query
===============

Matches spans which are near one another. One can specify _slop_, the maximum number of intervening unmatched positions, as well as whether matches are required to be in-order. The span near query maps to Lucene **SpanNearQuery**. Here is an example:


.. code-block:: js


    {
        "span_near" : {
            "clauses" : [
                { "span_term" : { "field" : "value1" } },
                { "span_term" : { "field" : "value2" } },
                { "span_term" : { "field" : "value3" } }
            ],
            "slop" : 12,
            "in_order" : false,
            "collect_payloads" : false
        }
    }


The **clauses** element is a list of one or more other span type queries and the **slop** controls the maximum number of intervening unmatched positions permitted.

