title: Exclude keywords from an empty query in Sphinx
body: <p><strong>Is it possible to exclude certain keywords from an empty query through Sphinx?</strong></p>
  
  <p>What I had in mind is to use the Extended2 match mode, and in order to exclude keywords, I'll be using the <code>-</code> or <code>!</code> operator. I only need to fetch data through Sphinx without using any query (except for the exclusion operators).</p>
  
  <p>In Sphinx, I fetch data using the following method:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$data = $sphinx-&gt;query('');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This query returns data which doesn't have to match anything (it means it'll return all data, and of course limited to the query limit). The problem is, if I add a keyword with the ! or - operator, it doesn't return anything. For instance:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$data = $sphinx-&gt;query('-google');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><code>$data</code> is returned as <code>false</code></p>
  
  <p>Maybe there is another method for this to work. Please help.
  Thank you.</p>