[[query-dsl-prefix-query]]
=== Prefix query
++++
<titleabbrev>Prefix</titleabbrev>
++++

Matches documents that have fields containing terms with a specified
prefix (*not analyzed*). The prefix query maps to Lucene `PrefixQuery`.
The following matches documents where the user field contains a term
that starts with `ki`:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
GET /_search
{ "query": {
    "prefix" : { "user" : "ki" }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

A boost can also be associated with the query:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
GET /_search
{ "query": {
    "prefix" : { "user" :  { "value" : "ki", "boost" : 2.0 } }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

This multi term query allows you to control how it gets rewritten using the
<<query-dsl-multi-term-rewrite,rewrite>>
parameter.