fix: ensure exact:true matches entire property value, not tokens

[luffy-orf]

PR Description

• Fixes exact search behavior:

  • Ensures that exact: true matches only when the entire property value (not just a token/word) matches the search term, case-insensitively.
  • This prevents partial/token matches (e.g., "First Note.md" will not match "first" with exact: true).

• Distinguishes between property-value and token-level exactness:

  • exact: true → matches the whole property value.
  • exactToken: true → matches individual tokens/words exactly.

• Adds/clarifies documentation and code comments:

  • Clearly explains the difference between exact and exactToken in both code and types.

• How this solves the issue:

  • Users searching with exact: true now get results only when the property value is an exact match, as expected.
  • No more false positives from partial/token matches.

Solves - #866
/claim #866

[vercel]

@luffy-orf is attempting to deploy a commit to the OramaSearch Team on Vercel.

A member of the Team first needs to authorize it.

[luffy-orf]

@zeroliu @micheleriva ,
Could you please review the PR and let me know if any changes are needed?

Also, just wanted to mention that this is my first time contributing here — happy to be part of the project!

Thanks!

[zeroliu]

Do you know what the best way is to test these changes on my end? Can some unit tests be included? I only used Orama as a user and not very familiar with the process either

[zeroliu]

is this props used?

[vachmara]

Hi @luffy-orf,

I wanted to clarify the context between PR #941 (my submission) and PR #942.
PR #942 appears to be a direct copy of my code from #941, with only a comment added, so it doesn’t address the full scope, including test coverage and refactoring, that I provided.

Regarding the renaming of exact to exactToken @zeroliu :
I introduced this breaking change to avoid removing a feature that existing Orama users may rely on. By making the distinction explicit, we can support both behaviors more clearly. All related tests have been updated to reflect this.

I do recognize that introducing a breaking change isn’t ideal for everyone, and I’m open to suggestions, such as creating a new search option like strictlyExact to maintain full backward compatibility if that’s preferred.

If you’d like to test the changes locally, I recommend:

git clone https://github.com/vachmara/orama.git
cd packages/orama
pnpm i 
pnpm run test

You can experiment further in the search.test.ts file.

Happy to iterate on this based on the maintainers’ and community’s feedback!

Thanks!