[[search-shards]]
== Search Shards API

The search shards api returns the indices and shards that a search request would
be executed against. This can give useful feedback for working out issues or
planning optimizations with routing and shard preferences.

The `index` and `type` parameters may be single values, or comma-separated.

[float]
=== Usage

Full example:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XGET 'localhost:9200/twitter/_search_shards'
--------------------------------------------------

This will yield the following result:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "nodes": {
    "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg": {
      "name": "Rl'nnd",
      "transport_address": "inet[/192.168.1.113:9300]"
    }
  },
  "shards": [
    [
      {
        "index": "twitter",
        "node": "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg",
        "primary": true,
        "relocating_node": null,
        "shard": 3,
        "state": "STARTED"
      }
    ],
    [
      {
        "index": "twitter",
        "node": "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg",
        "primary": true,
        "relocating_node": null,
        "shard": 4,
        "state": "STARTED"
      }
    ],
    [
      {
        "index": "twitter",
        "node": "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg",
        "primary": true,
        "relocating_node": null,
        "shard": 0,
        "state": "STARTED"
      }
    ],
    [
      {
        "index": "twitter",
        "node": "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg",
        "primary": true,
        "relocating_node": null,
        "shard": 2,
        "state": "STARTED"
      }
    ],
    [
      {
        "index": "twitter",
        "node": "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg",
        "primary": true,
        "relocating_node": null,
        "shard": 1,
        "state": "STARTED"
      }
    ]
  ]
}
--------------------------------------------------

And specifying the same request, this time with a routing value:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XGET 'localhost:9200/twitter/_search_shards?routing=foo,baz'
--------------------------------------------------

This will yield the following result:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "nodes": {
    "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg": {
      "name": "Rl'nnd",
      "transport_address": "inet[/192.168.1.113:9300]"
    }
  },
  "shards": [
    [
      {
        "index": "twitter",
        "node": "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg",
        "primary": true,
        "relocating_node": null,
        "shard": 2,
        "state": "STARTED"
      }
    ],
    [
      {
        "index": "twitter",
        "node": "JklnKbD7Tyqi9TP3_Q_tBg",
        "primary": true,
        "relocating_node": null,
        "shard": 4,
        "state": "STARTED"
      }
    ]
  ]
}
--------------------------------------------------

This time the search will only be executed against two of the shards, because
routing values have been specified.

[float]
=== All parameters:

[horizontal]
`routing`::
    A comma-separated list of routing values to take into account when
    determining which shards a request would be executed against.

`preference`::
    Controls a `preference` of which shard replicas to execute the search
    request on. By default, the operation is randomized between the shard
    replicas. See the link:search-request-preference.html[preference]
    documentation for a list of all acceptable values.

`local`::
    A boolean value whether to read the cluster state locally in order to
    determine where shards are allocated instead of using the Master node's
    cluster state.