how tokenizers are expected to work and the public API that needs to be
implemented when creating a new tokenizer. For information on how to configure
a specific tokenizer for a database see the
-[tokenizer chapter in the administration guide](../admin/Tokenizers.md).
+[tokenizer chapter in the Customization Guide](../customize/Tokenizers.md).
## Generic Architecture
the specific place. This list is later needed in the PL/pgSQL part where the
indexer needs to add the token IDs to the appropriate search tables. To be
able to communicate the list between the Python part and the pl/pgSQL trigger,
-the placex table contains a special JSONB column `token_info` which is there
+the `placex` table contains a special JSONB column `token_info` which is there
for the exclusive use of the tokenizer.
The Python part of the tokenizer returns a structured information about the
### Querying
-The tokenizer is responsible for the initial parsing of the query. It needs
-to split the query into appropriate words and terms and match them against
-the saved tokens in the database. It then returns the list of possibly matching
-tokens and the list of possible splits to the query parser. The parser uses
-this information to compute all possible interpretations of the query and
-rank them accordingly.
+At query time, Nominatim builds up multiple _interpretations_ of the search
+query. Each of these interpretations is tried against the database in order
+of the likelihood with which they match to the search query. The first
+interpretation that yields results wins.
+
+The interpretations are encapsulated in the `SearchDescription` class. An
+instance of this class is created by applying a sequence of
+_search tokens_ to an initially empty SearchDescription. It is the
+responsibility of the tokenizer to parse the search query and derive all
+possible sequences of search tokens. To that end the tokenizer needs to parse
+the search query and look up matching words in its own data structures.
## Tokenizer API
house numbers.
```sql
-FUNCTION token_addr_street_match_tokens(info JSONB) RETURNS INTEGER[]
+FUNCTION token_matches_street(info JSONB, street_tokens INTEGER[]) RETURNS BOOLEAN
```
-Return the match token IDs by which to search a matching street from the
-`addr:street` tag. These IDs will be matched against the IDs supplied by
-`token_get_name_match_tokens`. Must be NULL when the place has no `addr:street`
-tag.
+Check if the given tokens (previously saved from `token_get_name_match_tokens()`)
+match against the `addr:street` tag name. Must return either NULL or FALSE
+when the place has no `addr:street` tag.
```sql
-FUNCTION token_addr_place_match_tokens(info JSONB) RETURNS INTEGER[]
+FUNCTION token_matches_place(info JSONB, place_tokens INTEGER[]) RETURNS BOOLEAN
```
-Return the match token IDs by which to search a matching place from the
-`addr:place` tag. These IDs will be matched against the IDs supplied by
-`token_get_name_match_tokens`. Must be NULL when the place has no `addr:place`
-tag.
+Check if the given tokens (previously saved from `token_get_name_match_tokens()`)
+match against the `addr:place` tag name. Must return either NULL or FALSE
+when the place has no `addr:place` tag.
+
```sql
FUNCTION token_addr_place_search_tokens(info JSONB) RETURNS INTEGER[]
database. Must be NULL when the place has no `addr:place` tag.
```sql
-CREATE TYPE token_addresstoken AS (
- key TEXT,
- match_tokens INT[],
- search_tokens INT[]
-);
+FUNCTION token_get_address_keys(info JSONB) RETURNS SETOF TEXT
+```
+
+Return the set of keys for which address information is provided. This
+should correspond to the list of (relevant) `addr:*` tags with the `addr:`
+prefix removed or the keys used in the `address` dictionary of the place info.
+
+```sql
+FUNCTION token_get_address_search_tokens(info JSONB, key TEXT) RETURNS INTEGER[]
+```
+
+Return the array of search tokens for the given address part. `key` can be
+expected to be one of those returned with `token_get_address_keys()`. The
+search tokens are added to the address search vector of the place, when no
+corresponding OSM object could be found for the given address part from which
+to copy the name information.
-FUNCTION token_get_address_tokens(info JSONB) RETURNS SETOF token_addresstoken
+```sql
+FUNCTION token_matches_address(info JSONB, key TEXT, tokens INTEGER[])
```
-Return the match and search token IDs for explicit `addr:*` tags for the place
-other than `addr:street` and `addr:place`. For each address item there are
-three pieces of information returned:
+Check if the given tokens match against the address part `key`.
- * _key_ contains the type of address item (city, county, etc.). This is the
- key handed in with the `address` dictionary.
- * *match_tokens* is the list of token IDs used to find the corresponding
- place object for the address part. The list is matched against the IDs
- from `token_get_name_match_tokens`.
- * *search_tokens* is the list of token IDs under which to search the address
- item. It is used when no corresponding place object was found.
+__Warning:__ the tokens that are handed in are the lists previously saved
+from `token_get_name_search_tokens()`, _not_ from the match token list. This
+is an historical oddity which will be fixed at some point in the future.
+Currently, tokenizers are encouraged to make sure that matching works against
+both the search token list and the match token list.
```sql
FUNCTION token_normalized_postcode(postcode TEXT) RETURNS TEXT
Parse the given phrases, splitting them into word lists and retrieve the
matching tokens.
+The phrase array may take on two forms. In unstructured searches (using `q=`
+parameter) the search query is split at the commas and the elements are
+put into a sorted list. For structured searches the phrase array is an
+associative array where the key designates the type of the term (street, city,
+county etc.) The tokenizer may ignore the phrase type at this stage in parsing.
+Matching phrase type and appropriate search token type will be done later
+when the SearchDescription is built.
+
For each phrase in the list of phrases, the function must analyse the phrase
string and then call `setWordSets()` to communicate the result of the analysis.
A word set is a list of strings, where each string refers to a search token.