Run a search

A setting that does two separate checks on the index expression. If false, the request returns an error (1) if any wildcard expression (including _all and *) resolves to zero matching indices or (2) if the complete set of resolved indices, aliases or data streams is empty after all expressions are evaluated. If true, index expressions that resolve to no indices are allowed and the request returns an empty result.

If true and there are shard request timeouts or shard failures, the request returns partial results. If false, it returns an error with no partial results.

To override the default behavior, you can set the search.default_allow_partial_results cluster setting to false.

The analyzer to use for the query string. This parameter can be used only when the q query string parameter is specified.

If true, wildcard and prefix queries are analyzed. This parameter can be used only when the q query string parameter is specified.

The number of shard results that should be reduced at once on the coordinating node. If the potential number of shards in the request can be large, this value should be used as a protection mechanism to reduce the memory overhead per search request.

If true, network round-trips between the coordinating node and the remote clusters are minimized when running cross-cluster search (CCS) requests.

The default operator for the query string query: and or or. This parameter can be used only when the q query string parameter is specified.

The field to use as a default when no field prefix is given in the query string. This parameter can be used only when the q query string parameter is specified.

A comma-separated list of fields to return as the docvalue representation of a field for each hit.

The type of index that wildcard patterns can match. If the request can target data streams, this argument determines whether wildcard expressions match hidden data streams. It supports comma-separated values such as open,hidden.

Supported values include:

• all: Match any data stream or index, including hidden ones.
• open: Match open, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream.
• closed: Match closed, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream. Data streams cannot be closed.
• hidden: Match hidden data streams and hidden indices. Must be combined with open, closed, or both.
• none: Wildcard expressions are not accepted.

If true, the request returns detailed information about score computation as part of a hit.

If false, the request returns an error if it targets a concrete (non-wildcarded) index, alias, or data stream that is missing, closed, or otherwise unavailable. If true, unavailable concrete targets are silently ignored.

If true, the response includes the score contribution from any named queries.

This functionality reruns each named query on every hit in a search response. Typically, this adds a small overhead to a request. However, using computationally expensive named queries on a large number of hits may add significant overhead.

If true, format-based query failures (such as providing text to a numeric field) in the query string will be ignored. This parameter can be used only when the q query string parameter is specified.

The number of concurrent shard requests per node that the search runs 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.

The nodes and shards used for the search. By default, Elasticsearch selects from eligible nodes and shards using adaptive replica selection, accounting for allocation awareness. Valid values are:

• _only_local to run the search only on shards on the local node.
• _local to, if possible, run the search on shards on the local node, or if not, select shards using the default method.
• _only_nodes:<node-id>,<node-id> to run the search on only the specified nodes IDs. If suitable shards exist on more than one selected node, use shards on those nodes using the default method. If none of the specified nodes are available, select shards from any available node using the default method.
• _prefer_nodes:<node-id>,<node-id> to if possible, run the search on the specified nodes IDs. If not, select shards using the default method.
• _shards:<shard>,<shard> to run the search only on the specified shards. You can combine this value with other preference values. However, the _shards value must come first. For example: _shards:2,3|_local.
• <custom-string> (any string that does not start with _) to route searches with the same <custom-string> to the same shards in the same order.

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 its rewrite method (if date filters are mandatory to match but the shard bounds and the query are disjoint). When unspecified, the pre-filter phase is executed if any of these conditions is met:

• The request targets more than 128 shards.
• The request targets one or more read-only index.
• The primary sort of the query targets an indexed field.

If true, the caching of search results is enabled for requests where size is 0. It defaults to index level settings.

A custom value that is used to route operations to a specific shard. Not allowed when index.slice.enabled is true for the target index; use _slice instead.

The period to retain the search context for scrolling. By default, this value cannot exceed 1d (24 hours). You can change this limit by using the search.max_keep_alive cluster-level setting.

Indicates how distributed term frequencies are calculated for relevance scoring.

Supported values include:

• query_then_fetch: Documents are scored using local term and document frequencies for the shard. This is usually faster but less accurate.
• dfs_query_then_fetch: Documents are scored using global term and document frequencies across all shards. This is usually slower but more accurate.

Specific tag of the request for logging and statistical purposes.

A comma-separated list of stored fields to return as part of a hit. If no fields are specified, no stored fields are included in the response. If this field is specified, the _source parameter defaults to false. You can pass _source: true to return both source fields and stored fields in the search response.

The field to use for suggestions.

The suggest mode. This parameter can be used only when the suggest_field and suggest_text query string parameters are specified.

Supported values include:

• missing: Only generate suggestions for terms that are not in the shard.
• popular: Only suggest terms that occur in more docs on the shard than the original term.
• always: Suggest any matching suggestions based on terms in the suggest text.

The number of suggestions to return. This parameter can be used only when the suggest_field and suggest_text query string parameters are specified.

The source text for which the suggestions should be returned. This parameter can be used only when the suggest_field and suggest_text query string parameters are specified.

The maximum number of documents to collect for each shard. If a query reaches this limit, Elasticsearch terminates the query early. Elasticsearch collects documents before sorting.

The period of time to wait for a response from each shard. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error. It defaults to no timeout.

The number of hits matching the query to count accurately. If true, the exact number of hits is returned at the cost of some performance. If false, the response does not include the total number of hits matching the query.

If true, the request calculates and returns document scores, even if the scores are not used for sorting.

If true, aggregation and suggester names are be prefixed by their respective types in the response.

Indicates whether hits.total should be rendered as an integer or an object in the rest search response.

If true, the request returns the document version as part of a hit.

The source fields that are returned for matching documents. These fields are returned in the hits._source property of the search response. Valid values are:

• true to return the entire document source.
• false to not return the document source.
• <string> to return the source fields that are specified as a comma-separated list that supports wildcard (*) patterns.

A comma-separated list of source fields to exclude from the response. You can also use this parameter to exclude fields from the subset specified in _source_includes query parameter. If the _source parameter is false, this parameter is ignored.

Whether vectors should be excluded from _source

A comma-separated list of source fields to include in the response. If this parameter is specified, only these source fields are returned. You can exclude fields from this subset using the _source_excludes query parameter. If the _source parameter is false, this parameter is ignored.

If true, the request returns the sequence number and primary term of the last modification of each hit.

A query in the Lucene query string syntax. Query parameter searches do not support the full Elasticsearch Query DSL but are handy for testing.

The number of hits to return. By default, you cannot page through more than 10,000 hits using the from and size parameters. To page through more hits, use the search_after parameter.

The starting document offset, which must be non-negative. By default, you cannot page through more than 10,000 hits using the from and size parameters. To page through more hits, use the search_after parameter.

Defines the aggregations that are run as part of the search request.

If true, the request returns detailed information about score computation as part of a hit.

Configuration of search extensions defined by Elasticsearch plugins.

The starting document offset, which must be non-negative. By default, you cannot page through more than 10,000 hits using the from and size parameters. To page through more hits, use the search_after parameter.

Specifies the highlighter to use for retrieving highlighted snippets from one or more fields in your search results.

Number of hits matching the query to count accurately. If true, the exact number of hits is returned at the cost of some performance. If false, the response does not include the total number of hits matching the query.

Boost the _score of documents from specified indices. The boost value is the factor by which scores are multiplied. A boost value greater than 1.0 increases the score. A boost value between 0 and 1.0 decreases the score.

The minimum _score for matching documents. Documents with a lower _score are not included in search results and results collected by aggregations.

Use the post_filter parameter to filter search results. The search hits are filtered after the aggregations are calculated. A post filter has no impact on the aggregation results.

Set to true to return detailed timing information about the execution of individual components in a search request. NOTE: This is a debugging tool and adds significant overhead to search execution.

The search definition using the Query DSL.

Used to retrieve the next page of hits using a set of sort values from the previous page.

The number of hits to return, which must not be negative. By default, you cannot page through more than 10,000 hits using the from and size parameters. To page through more hits, use the search_after property.

A comma-separated list of

The source fields that are returned for matching documents. These fields are returned in the hits._source property of the search response. If the stored_fields property is specified, the _source property defaults to false. Otherwise, it defaults to true.

The maximum number of documents to collect for each shard. If a query reaches this limit, Elasticsearch terminates the query early. Elasticsearch collects documents before sorting.

If set to 0 (default), the query does not terminate early.

The period of time to wait for a response from each shard. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error. Defaults to no timeout.

If true, calculate and return document scores, even if the scores are not used for sorting.

If true, the request returns the document version as part of a hit.

If true, the request returns sequence number and primary term of the last modification of each hit.

A comma-separated list of stored fields to return as part of a hit. If no fields are specified, no stored fields are included in the response. If this field is specified, the _source property defaults to false. You can pass _source: true to return both source fields and stored fields in the search response.

One or more runtime fields in the search request. These fields take precedence over mapped fields with the same name.