Search syntax issue

[CaledoniaProject]

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I'm trying to use API to search keywords, I found this works:

"a" OR "b" OR "c"

But this fails

("a" OR "b" OR "c")

So was parenthesis supported or not?

[dharanidharansr]

Parentheses are not supported in GitHub’s search syntax (both in the web UI and the API). The query parser already groups operators by precedence:

AND (or just a space) is evaluated first.

OR is evaluated last.

That’s why wrapping terms in parentheses causes the query to fail.

Examples:

✅ "a" OR "b" OR "c" → works

❌ ("a" OR "b" OR "c") → invalid

If you want more complex queries, you’ll need to:

Chain multiple OR conditions directly (without parentheses).

Narrow results using other filters like repo:, in:, or language:.

For true grouped logic, split queries into multiple API calls and combine results on your side.

👉 In short: Parentheses aren’t supported — you must flatten OR conditions or use multiple queries.

[CaledoniaProject]

Understood, another problem is the number of keywords, I got inconsistent search results given different number of keywords provided. I didn't actually use "a" or "b" in here, just providing an example:

1. "a" OR "b" OR "c" OR "d" OR "e" -> this fails with empty results
2. "a" OR "b" OR "c" -> this one works

I had to group the keywords and query multiple times, is that expected behavior?

[CaledoniaProject]

@davidstaheli Can you take a look at this too?

[karantaragi07]

Hey!
Parentheses aren’t supported in GitHub’s search syntax.

When you try something like: ("a" OR "b" OR "c")
it doesn’t work because GitHub’s search doesn’t recognize parentheses for grouping terms.

You can just write it without them, like this: "a" OR "b" OR "c"

That’s the correct and only supported way to combine multiple keywords using OR.

[CaledoniaProject]

Can you take a look at my second question too?

[karantaragi07]

Yes, that’s expected — GitHub search has limits on query length and complexity. Too many OR keywords can exceed those limits and return no results. Try breaking the query into smaller groups (like (a OR b OR c) then (d OR e)), or use the GitHub Search API for larger searches.