# How to Search Tweets by Exact Phrase

To search tweets by exact phrase on X, put the words in double quotes, for example "customer service", so X returns only posts with those words together and in that order.

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**7 October 2026** Published

**3 min** Read

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**To search tweets by exact phrase on X, put the words in double quotes, for example `"customer service"`, so X returns only posts with those words together and in that order.** Quotes also stop X from correcting your spelling. Add `from:username` or dates to narrow the results.

Exact phrases are the most precise keyword filter in the [Twitter advanced search operators](/blog/twitter-search/advanced-search-operators/) reference. The broader keyword method is in [how to search tweets by keyword](/blog/twitter-search/search-tweets-by-keyword/).

## How Do You Search an Exact Phrase on X?

**You search an exact phrase by wrapping it in straight double quotes in the search bar, or by entering it in the This exact phrase field of the Advanced search form.** X’s advanced search supports posts containing exact phrases ([X Help Center](https://help.x.com/en/using-x/x-advanced-search)). Listed below are the 3 steps.

1.  **Type** the phrase in quotes: `"state of the art"`.
2.  **Press** Enter.
3.  **Open** **Latest** for every match in time order.

## How Does X Match an Exact Phrase?

**X matches a quoted phrase word for word, treats hyphens as spaces, and turns off spelling correction for the words inside.** So `"state of the art"` also matches `state-of-the-art` ([twitter-advanced-search reference](https://github.com/igorbrigadir/twitter-advanced-search)). Case doesn’t matter.

Quotes also stop signal words from changing your search: `photo` alone is read as a request for posts with photos, while `"photo"` finds posts containing the word.

## Exact Phrase Search Examples

**These exact phrase searches combine quotes with the filters people use most.** Replace the phrase, handle and dates.

| Goal | Query |
| --- | --- |
| A phrase | "customer service" |
| A phrase from one account | from:username "customer service" |
| A phrase in a date range | "customer service" since:2025-01-01 until:2025-07-01 |
| Either of two phrases | "customer service" OR "customer support" |
| A phrase, without another | "customer service" -"call center" |
| A phrase with one unknown word | "worst * ever" |
| A phrase in popular posts | "customer service" min_faves:100 |
| A phrase, no reposts | "customer service" -filter:retweets |

## How Do You Use a Wildcard in an Exact Phrase?

**Put an asterisk inside the quotes where one word is unknown: `"this is the * time"`.** The wildcard works only inside a quoted phrase and only with spaces around it (twitter-advanced-search reference).

## How Do You Search Several Exact Phrases?

**To search several exact phrases, join them with uppercase OR and group them in parentheses when you add other filters.** `("customer service" OR "customer support") from:username` returns that account’s posts with either phrase. OR searches are covered in [how to search multiple keywords on X with OR](/blog/twitter-search/search-multiple-keywords-or/).

## Why Does an Exact Phrase Search Return Nothing?

**An exact phrase search returns nothing when the phrase in the post differs by one word, when curly quotes replaced straight quotes, or when the post is outside the search index.** Listed below are the 3 fixes.

1.  **Shorten** the phrase to its most distinctive 2 or 3 words.
2.  **Retype** the quotes as straight quotes; phones often insert curly ones.
3.  **Replace** an uncertain word with `*`.

## How to Collect Exact Phrase Matches With apidojo

**apidojo’s [Tweet Scraper V2](https://apify.com/apidojo/tweet-scraper) on Apify runs quoted-phrase queries exactly as X does and exports every match as JSON, CSV or Excel.** Escape the quotes inside JSON with a backslash.

```
{
  "searchTerms": ["\"customer service\" -filter:retweets lang:en"],
  "sort": "Latest"
}
```

It costs $0.40 per 1,000 tweets (Apify). See [how to scrape tweets by keyword](/blog/twitter-scraping/scrape-tweets-by-keyword/) and the [apidojo Twitter Scraper](/scrapers/twitter-scraper/).

## The scrapers behind this

-   [Tweet Scraper V2 Tweets from searches, profiles, Lists and URLs; 49–64 tweets/sec; minimum 50 per query $0.40 / 1K tweets](/scrapers/twitter-scraper/)

## Questions people ask

### Is Twitter exact phrase search case-sensitive?

No, `'Customer Service'` and `'customer service'` return the same posts.

### Does exact phrase search match hashtags?

No, a hashtag is one token; search `#customerservice` separately or add it with OR.

### Can you exclude an exact phrase?

Yes, put a minus sign before the quotes: `-'call center'`. More in [how to exclude words from Twitter search](/blog/twitter-search/exclude-words/).

## More on keyword search

-   [How to Search Tweets by Keyword on X (2026) How X matches keywords, and the operators for exact phrases, OR, exclusions, hashtags, cashtags, domains and languages.](/blog/twitter-search/search-tweets-by-keyword/)
-   [How to Search Multiple Keywords on X With OR Use uppercase OR and parentheses to search several keywords, synonyms, hashtags or accounts at once on X, with examples.](/blog/twitter-search/search-multiple-keywords-or/)
-   [How to Exclude Words From Twitter Search Remove words, phrases, hashtags, accounts, replies and reposts from X search with the minus sign, and fix exclusions that fail.](/blog/twitter-search/exclude-words/)
-   [How to Search Tweets by Hashtag on X Search any hashtag on X by date, account, language or popularity, find hashtag-only posts and collect hashtag data.](/blog/twitter-search/search-by-hashtag/)
-   [How to Search Tweets by Cashtag ($TSLA, $BTC) Search stock and crypto tickers on X with cashtags, filter out promotional spam and collect ticker posts for analysis.](/blog/twitter-search/search-by-cashtag/)
-   [How to Search Tweets Linking to a Website Use url: to find every post that links to a domain or article, see who shares your content and track competitor links.](/blog/twitter-search/search-by-url-domain/)
-   [How to Search Tweets by Language on X Filter X search by language with lang: codes, use X's special codes for hashtag-only or media-only posts, and search several languages.](/blog/twitter-search/search-by-language/)
-   [Search Tweets by Likes, Reposts and Replies (min\_faves) Use min\_faves:, min\_retweets: and min\_replies: to find tweets above or below any engagement level, with worked examples.](/blog/twitter-search/search-by-engagement/)
-   [How to Find Viral Tweets About Any Topic Find viral tweets on any topic with like floors, repost filters and date windows, plus recipes for videos, threads and links.](/blog/twitter-search/find-viral-tweets/)
-   [Search Only Tweets With Images, Videos or Links The 9 X media filters for images, videos, links and news, how to combine them, and how to remove media from search results.](/blog/twitter-search/media-filters/)

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