[[search-search]]
=== Search

Returns search hits that match the query defined in the request.

[source,console]
----
GET /twitter/_search?q=tag:wow
----
// TEST[setup:twitter]


[[search-search-api-request]]
==== {api-request-title}

`GET /<index>/_search`

`POST /<index>/_search`

`GET /_search`

`POST /_search`


[[search-search-api-desc]]
==== {api-description-title}

Allows you to execute a search query and get back search hits that match the 
query. The query can either be provided using a simple
<<search-uri-request,query string as a parameter>>, or using a
<<search-request-body,request body>>.

[[search-partial-responses]]
===== Partial responses

To ensure fast responses, the search API will respond with partial results if 
one or more shards fail. See <<shard-failures, Shard failures>> for more 
information.

[[search-search-api-path-params]]
==== {api-path-parms-title}

include::{docdir}/rest-api/common-parms.asciidoc[tag=index]


[[search-search-api-query-params]]
==== {api-query-parms-title}

include::{docdir}/rest-api/common-parms.asciidoc[tag=allow-no-indices]
  
`allow_partial_search_results`::
  (Optional, boolean) Indicates if an error should be returned if there is a 
  partial search failure or timeout. Defaults to `true`.

`analyzer`::
  (Optional, string) Defines the analyzer to use for the query string.
  
`analyze_wildcard`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, wildcard and prefix queries will also be 
  analyzed. Defaults to `false`.
  
`batched_reduce_size`::
  (Optional, integer) The number of shard results that should be reduced at once 
  on the coordinating node. This value should be used as a protection mechanism 
  to reduce the memory overhead per search request if the potential number of 
  shards in the request can be large. Defaults to `512`.
  
`ccs_minimize_roundtrips`::
  (Optional, boolean) Indicates whether network round-trips should be minimized 
  as part of cross-cluster search requests execution. Defaults to `true`.
  
`default_operator`::
  (Optional, string) The default operator for query string query (AND or OR). 
  Defaults to `OR`.
  
`df`::
  (Optional, string) Defines the field to use as default where no field prefix 
  is given in the query string.
  
`docvalue_fields`::
  (Optional, string) A comma-separated list of fields to return as the docvalue 
  representation of a field for each hit.
  
include::{docdir}/rest-api/common-parms.asciidoc[tag=expand-wildcards]
+
Defaults to `open`.
  
`explain`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, returns detailed information about score 
  computation as part of a hit. Defaults to `false`.
  
`from`::
  (Optional, integer) Defines the starting offset. Defaults to `0`.

`ignore_throttled`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, concrete, expanded or aliased indices will be 
  ignored when throttled. Defaults to `false`.

include::{docdir}/rest-api/common-parms.asciidoc[tag=index-ignore-unavailable]
  
`lenient`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, format-based query failures (such as 
  providing text to a numeric field) will be ignored. Defaults to `false`.
  
`max_concurrent_shard_requests`::
  (Optional, integer) Defines the number of concurrent shard requests per node 
  this search executes concurrently. This value should be used to limit the 
  impact of the search on the cluster in order to limit the number of concurrent 
  shard requests. Defaults to `5`.
  
`pre_filter_shard_size`::
  (Optional, integer) Defines a threshold that enforces a pre-filter roundtrip 
  to prefilter search shards based on query rewriting if the number of shards 
  the search request expands to exceeds the threshold. This filter roundtrip can 
  limit the number of shards significantly if for instance a shard can not match 
  any documents based on it's rewrite method ie. if date filters are mandatory 
  to match but the shard bounds and the query are disjoint. Defaults to `128`.

`preference`::
  (Optional, string) Specifies the node or shard the operation should be 
  performed on. Random by default.
  
`q`::
  (Optional, string) Query in the Lucene query string syntax.

`request_cache`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, request cache will be used for this request. 
  Defaults to index level settings.
  
`rest_total_hits_as_int`::
  (Optional, boolean) Indicates whether hits.total should be rendered as an 
  integer or an object in the rest search response. Defaults to `false`.

`routing`::
  (Optional, <<time-units, time units>>) Specifies how long a consistent view of 
  the index should be maintained for scrolled search.
  
`search_type`::
  (Optional, string) Defines the type of the search operation. Available 
  options:
  * `query_then_fetch`
  * `dfs_query_then_fetch`

`seq_no_primary_term`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, returns sequence number and primary term of the 
  last modification of each hit.

`size`::
  (Optional, integer) Defines the number of hits to return. Defaults to `10`.
  
`sort`::
  (Optional, string) A comma-separated list of <field>:<direction> pairs.
  
`_source`::
  (Optional, string) True or false to return the `_source` field or not, or a 
  list of fields to return.
  
`_source_excludes`::
  (Optional, string) A list of fields to exclude from the returned `_source` 
  field.
  
`_source_includes`::
  (Optional, string) A list of fields to extract and return from the `_source` 
  field.
  
`stats`::
  (Optional, string) Specific `tag` of the request for logging and statistical 
  purposes.

`stored_fields`::
  (Optional, string) A comma-separated list of stored fields to return as part 
  of a hit.
  
`suggest_field`::
  (Optional, string) Specifies which field to use for suggestions.
  
`suggest_mode`::
  (Optional, string) Specifies suggest mode. Defaults to `missing`. Available 
  options:
  * `always`
  * `missing`
  * `popular`
  
`suggest_size`::
  (Optional, integer) Defines how many suggestions to return in response.
  
`suggest_text`::
  (Optional, string) The source text for which the suggestions should be 
  returned.
  
`terminate_after`::
  (Optional, integer) The maximum number of documents to collect for each shard, 
  upon reaching which the query execution will terminate early.
  
include::{docdir}/rest-api/common-parms.asciidoc[tag=timeout]

`track_scores`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, then calculates and returns scores even if they 
  are not used for sorting.
  
`track_total_hits`::
  (Optional, boolean) Indicates if the number of documents that match the query 
  should be tracked.
  
`typed_keys`::
  (Optional, boolean) Specifies whether aggregation and suggester names should 
  be prefixed by their respective types in the response.
  
`version`::
  (Optional, boolean) If `true`, returns document version as part of a hit.


[[search-search-api-request-body]]
==== {api-request-body-title}

`query`::
  (Optional, <<query-dsl,query object>>) Defines the search definition using the 
  <<query-dsl,Query DSL>>.


[[search-api-response-body]]
==== {api-response-body-title}

`took`::
+
--
(Integer)
Milliseconds it took {es} to execute the request.

This value is calculated by measuring the time elapsed
between receipt of a request on the coordinating node
and the time at which the coordinating node is ready to send the response.

Took time includes:

* Communication time between the coordinating node and data nodes
* Time the request spends in the `search` <<modules-threadpool,thread pool>>,
  queued for execution
* Actual execution time

Took time does *not* include:

* Time needed to send the request to {es}
* Time needed to serialize the JSON response
* Time needed to send the response to a client
--


`timed_out`::
+
--
(Boolean)
If `true`,
the request timed out before completion;
returned results may be partial or empty.
--

`_shards`::
+
--
(Object)
Object containing a count of shards used for the request.
Returned parameters include:

`total`::
(Integer)
Total number of shards that require querying,
including unallocated shards.

`successful`::
(Integer)
Number of shards that executed the request successfully.

`skipped`::
(Integer)
Number of shards that skipped the request because a lightweight check
helped realize that no documents could possibly match on this shard. This
typically happens when a search request includes a range filter and the
shard only has values that fall outside of that range.

`failed`::
(Integer)
Number of shards that failed to execute the request. Note that shards
that are not allocated will be considered neither successful nor failed.
Having `failed+successful` less than `total` is thus an indication that
some of the shards were not allocated.

--

`hits`::
+
--
(Object)
Contains returned documents and metadata.
Returned parameters include:

`total`::
(Object)
Metadata about the number of returned documents.
Returned parameters include:
+
* `value`: Total number of returned documents.
* `relation`: Indicates whether the number of documents returned.
Returned values are:
** `eq`: Accurate
** `gte`: Lower bound, including returned documents

`max_score`::
(Float)
Highest returned document `_score`.
+
The `_score` parameter is a 32-bit floating point number
used to determine the relevance of the returned document.
+
This parameter value is `null` for requests
that do not sort by `_score`.

`hits`::
(Array of objects)
Array of returned document objects.
Returned parameters include:
+
* `_index`: Name of the index containing the returned document.
* `_type`: Document type.
  deprecated:[7.0.0, Types are deprecated and are in the process of being removed.  See <<removal-of-types>>.]
* `_id`: Unique identifier for the returned document.
  This ID is only unique within the returned index.
* `_score`: Positive 32-bit floating point number used to determine the
  relevance of the returned document.
* `_source`: Object containing the original JSON body
  passed for the document at index time.
--


[[search-search-api-example]]
==== {api-examples-title}

[[search-api-specific-ex]]
===== Search a specific index

[source,console]
----
GET /twitter/_search?q=user:kimchy
----
// TEST[continued]

The API returns the following response:

[source,console-result]
----
{
  "took" : 5,
  "timed_out" : false,
  "_shards" : {
    "total" : 1,
    "successful" : 1,
    "skipped" : 0,
    "failed" : 0
  },
  "hits" : {
    "total" : {
      "value" : 1,
      "relation" : "eq"
    },
    "max_score" : 1.3862944,
    "hits" : [
      {
        "_index" : "twitter",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "0",
        "_score" : 1.3862944,
        "_source" : {
          "date" : "2009-11-15T14:12:12",
          "likes" : 0,
          "message" : "trying out Elasticsearch",
          "user" : "kimchy"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
----
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"took" : 5/"took": $body.took/]

[[search-multi-index]]
===== Search several indices

[source,console]
----
GET /kimchy,elasticsearch/_search?q=user:kimchy
----
// TEST[s/^/PUT kimchy\nPUT elasticsearch\n/]

[[search-api-all-ex]]
===== Search all indices

To search all indices in a cluster,
omit the `<index>` parameter.

[source,console]
----
GET /_search?q=user:kimchy
----
// TEST[continued]

Alternatively,
you can use the `_all` or `*` value in the `<index>` parameter.

[source,console]
----
GET /_all/_search?q=user:kimchy
----
// TEST[continued]

[source,console]
----
GET /*/_search?q=user:kimchy
----
// TEST[continued]
