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`$search`

$search: The $search stage performs a full-text search on the specified field or fields. The field or fields must be covered by an MongoDB Search index.

Syntax

A $search pipeline stage has the following prototype form:

{
  $search: {
    "index": "<index-name>",
    "<operator-name>"|"<collector-name>": {
      <operator-specification>|<collector-specification>
    },
    "highlight": {
      <highlight-options>
    },
    "concurrent": true | false,
    "count": {
      <count-options>
    },
    "searchAfter"|"searchBefore": "<encoded-token>",
    "scoreDetails": true| false,
    "sort": {
      <fields-to-sort>: 1 | -1
    },
    "returnStoredSource": true | false,
    "tracking": {
      <tracking-option>
    }
   }
}

Fields

The $search stage takes a document with the following fields:

Field	Type	Necessity	Description
`<collector-name>`	object	Conditional	Name of the collector to use with the query. You can provide a document that contains the collector-specific options as the value for this field. Either this or `<operator-name>` is required.
`concurrent`	boolean	Optional	Parallelize search across segments on dedicated search nodes. If you don't have separate search nodes on your cluster, MongoDB Search ignores this flag. If omitted, defaults to `false`. To learn more, see Parallelize Query Execution Across Segments.
`count`	object	Optional	Document that specifies the count options for retrieving a count of the results. To learn more, see Count MongoDB Search Results.
`highlight`	object	Optional	Document that specifies the highlighting options for displaying search terms in their original context.
`index`	string	Optional	Name of the MongoDB Search index to use. If omitted, defaults to `default`. If you name your index `default`, you don't need to specify an `index` parameter in the `$search` pipeline stage. If you give a custom name to your index, you must specify this name in the `index` parameter. MongoDB Search doesn't return results if you misspell the index name or if the specified index doesn't already exist on the cluster.
`<operator-name>`	object	Conditional	Name of the operator to search with. You can provide a document that contains the operator-specific options as the value for this field. Either this or `<collector-name>` is required. Use the compound operator to run a compound query with multiple operators.
`returnStoredSource`	boolean	Optional	Flag that specifies whether to perform a full document lookup on the backend database or return only stored source fields directly from MongoDB Search. If omitted, defaults to `false`. To learn more, see Return Stored Source Fields.
`searchAfter`	string	Optional	Reference point for retrieving results. `searchAfter` returns documents starting immediately following the specified reference point. The reference point must be a Base64-encoded token generated by the `$meta` keyword `searchSequenceToken`. To learn more, see Paginate the Results. This field is mutually exclusive with the `searchBefore` field.
`searchBefore`	string	Optional	Reference point for retrieving results. `searchBefore` returns documents starting immediately before the specified reference point. The reference point must be a Base64-encoded token generated by the `$meta` keyword `searchSequenceToken`. To learn more, see Paginate the Results. This field is mutually exclusive with the `searchAfter` field.
`scoreDetails`	boolean	Optional	Flag that specifies whether to retrieve a detailed breakdown of the score for the documents in the results. If omitted, defaults to `false`. To view the details, you must use the $meta expression in the `$project` stage. To learn more, see Return the Score Details.
`sort`	object	Optional	Document that specifies the fields to sort the MongoDB Search results by in ascending or descending order. You can sort by date, number (integer, float, and double values), and string values. To learn more, see Sort MongoDB Search Results.
`tracking`	object	Optional	Document that specifies the tracking option to retrieve analytics information on the search terms. WARNING: This is now deprecated. The official end-of-life and complete removal of support will take effect on December 5, 2025. Therefore, Atlas will no longer collect query data for display in the Atlas UI starting on this date and the UI for this feature will be removed. If you have any questions or need further assistance, contact support or your Account Executive.

Behavior

$search must be the first stage of any pipeline it appears in. $search cannot be used in:

a view definition
a $facet pipeline stage

Aggregation Variable

$search returns only the results of your query. The metadata results of your $search query are saved in the $$SEARCH_META aggregation variable. You can use the $$SEARCH_META variable to view the metadata results for your $search query.

The $$SEARCH_META aggregation variable can be used anywhere after a $search stage in any pipeline, but it can't be used after the $lookup or $unionWith stage in any pipeline. The $$SEARCH_META aggregation variable can't be used in any subsequent stage after a $searchMeta stage.

Example

Suppose the following index on the sample_mflix.movies collection.

{
  "mappings": {
    "dynamic": false,
    "fields": {
      "released": {
        "type": "date"
      }
    }
  }
}

The following query searches for movies released near September 01, 2011 using the $search stage. The query includes a:

$project stage to exclude all fields in the documents except title and released.
$facet stage that outputs a:
- docs field with an array of the top 5 search results
- meta field with the value of $$SEARCH_META variable

db.movies.aggregate([
  {
    "$search": {
      "near": {
        "path": "released",
        "origin": ISODate("2011-09-01T00:00:00.000+00:00"),
        "pivot": 7776000000
      }
    }
  },
  {
    $project: {
      "_id": 0,
      "title": 1,
      "released": 1
    }
  },
  { "$limit": 5 },
  {
    "$facet": {
      "docs": [],
      "meta": [
        {"$replaceWith": "$$SEARCH_META"},
        {"$limit": 1}
      ]
    }
  }
])

{
  "docs" : [
    {
      "title" : "Submarino",
      "released" : ISODate("2011-09-01T00:00:00Z")
    },
    {
      "title" : "Devil's Playground",
      "released" : ISODate("2011-09-01T00:00:00Z")
    },
    {
      "title" : "Bag It",
      "released" : ISODate("2011-09-01T00:00:00Z")
    },
    {
      "title" : "Dos",
      "released" : ISODate("2011-09-01T00:00:00Z")
    },
    {
      "title" : "We Were Here",
      "released" : ISODate("2011-09-01T00:00:00Z")
    }
  ],
  "meta" : [
    { "count" : { "lowerBound" : NumberLong(17373) } }
  ]
}

To learn more about the $$SEARCH_META variable and its usage, see:

Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing issues with your MongoDB Search $search queries, see Troubleshoot Queries.

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Pipeline Stages

Metadata: $searchMeta