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

# removeStopWords

> Whether to remove common stop words from the query

export const Setting = ({type, default: defaultValue, defaultNote, scope, min, max, formerly}) => {
  const renderedDefault = defaultValue === '' ? '""' : defaultValue;
  const renderedNote = defaultNote ? `(${defaultNote})` : '';
  return <ul>
      <li><strong>Type:</strong> <code>{type}</code></li>
      <li><strong>Default:</strong> <code>{renderedDefault}</code>{renderedNote}</li>
      {min && <li><strong>Min:</strong> <code>{min}</code></li>}
      {max && <li><strong>Max:</strong> <code>{max}</code></li>}
      <li><strong>Scope:</strong> <a href="/doc/api-reference/api-parameters"><code>{scope}</code></a></li>
      {formerly && <li>
          <strong>Deprecated name:</strong> <code>{formerly}</code>
        </li>}
    </ul>;
};

<Setting type="boolean | list<enum<string>>" default="false" scope="settings,search" />

The `removeStopWords` parameter removes common, low-value words from queries to improve relevance.
This is useful for natural language queries where words like "what", "is", or "the" don't contribute to the search intent.

For example, a query like `"what is a record"` becomes `"record"`, which helps avoid irrelevant matches.

To learn more, see [Removing stop words](/doc/guides/managing-results/optimize-search-results/handling-natural-languages-nlp/in-depth/language-specific-configurations#remove-stop-words).

## Options

<ParamField path="true">
  Removes stop words for all supported languages.
  If [`queryLanguages`](/doc/api-reference/api-parameters/queryLanguages) is set,
  only those languages are affected.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="false">
  No stop words will be removed from the query.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="list<enum<string>>">
  Languages (as ISO 639-1 codes) for which to remove stopwords.
  Overrides any language(s) set in [`queryLanguages`](/doc/api-reference/api-parameters/queryLanguages).
  See the list of [supported languages](/doc/guides/managing-results/optimize-search-results/handling-natural-languages-nlp/in-depth/supported-languages).
</ParamField>

## Usage

* This setting is used in conjunction with [`queryLanguages`](/doc/api-reference/api-parameters/queryLanguages).
* Works best for full-sentence or voice queries.
  For keyword searches, it's usually best to leave this off.
* Stop words aren't removed from words interpreted as prefixes.
  To control prefix behavior, use [`queryType`](/doc/api-reference/api-parameters/queryType).
  In particular, [`queryType: prefixAll`](/doc/api-reference/api-parameters/queryType) treats every word as a prefix, so no stop words are removed.

## Example

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Current API clients" defaultOpen="true">
    <CodeGroup>
      ```cs C# theme={"system"}
      var response = await client.SetSettingsAsync(
        "INDEX_NAME",
        new IndexSettings { RemoveStopWords = new RemoveStopWords(true) },
        true
      );
      ```

      ```dart Dart theme={"system"}
      final response = await client.setSettings(
        indexName: "INDEX_NAME",
        indexSettings: IndexSettings(
          removeStopWords: true,
        ),
        forwardToReplicas: true,
      );
      ```

      ```go Go theme={"system"}
      response, err := client.SetSettings(client.NewApiSetSettingsRequest(
        "INDEX_NAME",
        search.NewEmptyIndexSettings().SetRemoveStopWords(search.BoolAsRemoveStopWords(true))).WithForwardToReplicas(true))
      if err != nil {
        // handle the eventual error
        panic(err)
      }
      ```

      ```java Java theme={"system"}
      UpdatedAtResponse response = client.setSettings(
        "INDEX_NAME",
        new IndexSettings().setRemoveStopWords(RemoveStopWords.of(true)),
        true
      );
      ```

      ```js JavaScript theme={"system"}
      const response = await client.setSettings({
        indexName: 'theIndexName',
        indexSettings: { removeStopWords: true },
        forwardToReplicas: true,
      });
      ```

      ```kotlin Kotlin theme={"system"}
      var response =
        client.setSettings(
          indexName = "INDEX_NAME",
          indexSettings = IndexSettings(removeStopWords = RemoveStopWords.of(true)),
          forwardToReplicas = true,
        )
      ```

      ```php PHP theme={"system"}
      $response = $client->setSettings(
          'INDEX_NAME',
          ['removeStopWords' => true,
          ],
          true,
      );
      ```

      ```python Python theme={"system"}
      response = client.set_settings(
          index_name="INDEX_NAME",
          index_settings={
              "removeStopWords": True,
          },
          forward_to_replicas=True,
      )
      ```

      ```ruby Ruby theme={"system"}
      response = client.set_settings("INDEX_NAME", Algolia::Search::IndexSettings.new(remove_stop_words: true), true)
      ```

      ```scala Scala theme={"system"}
      val response = Await.result(
        client.setSettings(
          indexName = "INDEX_NAME",
          indexSettings = IndexSettings(
            removeStopWords = Some(RemoveStopWords(true))
          ),
          forwardToReplicas = Some(true)
        ),
        Duration(100, "sec")
      )
      ```

      ```swift Swift theme={"system"}
      let response = try await client.setSettings(
          indexName: "INDEX_NAME",
          indexSettings: IndexSettings(removeStopWords: SearchRemoveStopWords.bool(true)),
          forwardToReplicas: true
      )
      ```
    </CodeGroup>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Legacy API clients">
    <CodeGroup>
      ```cs C# theme={"system"}
      IndexSettings settings = new IndexSettings();
      settings.QueryLanguages = new List { "es" };
      settings.RemoveStopWords = true;
      index.SetSettings(settings);
      ```

      ```go Go theme={"system"}
      res, err := index.SetSettings(search.Settings{
      	QueryLanguages:  opt.QueryLanguages("es"),
      	RemoveStopWords: opt.RemoveStopWords(true),
      })
      ```

      ```java Java theme={"system"}
      index.setSettings(
              new IndexSettings()
                      .setQueryLanguages(Collections.singletonList("es"))
                      .setRemoveStopWords(RemoveStopWords.of(true))
      );
      ```

      ```js JavaScript theme={"system"}
      index
        .setSettings({
          queryLanguages: ["es"],
          removeStopWords: true,
        })
        .then(() => {
          // done
        });
      ```

      ```kotlin Kotlin theme={"system"}
      val settings = settings {
          queryLanguages {
              +English
          }
          removeStopWords = RemoveStopWords.True
      }

      index.setSettings(settings)
      ```

      ```php PHP theme={"system"}
      $index->setSettings([
        'queryLanguages' => ['es'],
        'removeStopWords' => true
      ]);
      ```

      ```python Python theme={"system"}
      index.set_settings({"queryLanguages": ["es"], "removeStopWords": True})
      ```

      ```ruby Ruby theme={"system"}
      index.set_settings(
        {
          queryLanguages: ["es"],
          removeStopWords: true
        }
      )
      ```

      ```scala Scala theme={"system"}
      client.execute {
        setSettings of "myIndex" `with` IndexSettings(
          queryLanguages = Some(QueryLanguages.list(Seq("es")),
          removeStopWords = Some(RemoveStopWords.`true`)
        )
      }
      ```

      ```swift Swift theme={"system"}
      let settings = Settings()
        .set(\.queryLanguages, to: [.spanish])
        .set(\.removeStopWords, to: true)

      index.setSettings(settings) { result in
        if case .success(let response) = result {
          print("Response: \(response)")
        }
      }
      ```
    </CodeGroup>
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>