Use text search

Use text search features in Cloud Firestore to search for specific strings within documents.

Edition requirements

Text search requires a Firestore Enterprise edition database.

Before you begin

To perform a text search, you must first create text indexes for the fields you need to search through.

Run a text search

To perform a text search, use the documentMatches expression within the query parameter of the search(...) stage.

The operation searches only in the fields indexed with a text index. If multiple indexes are available, Cloud Firestore selects one index to use for the operation.

Web

const result = await execute(db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('waffles')
  }));
test.firestore.js
iOS
let snapshot = try await db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
  .search(query: DocumentMatches("waffles"))
  .execute()
PipelineSnippets.swift

Kotlin

val pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
    .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles")))
DocSnippets.kt

Java

Pipeline pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles")));
DocSnippets.java
Node.js
await db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('waffles')
  })
  .execute();
test.firestore.js
Python
from google.cloud.firestore_v1.pipeline_expressions import DocumentMatches

results = (
    client.pipeline()
    .collection("restaurants")
    .search(DocumentMatches("waffles"))
    .execute()
)
firestore_pipelines.py
Java
Pipeline.Snapshot results1 =
    firestore.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(Search.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles")))
        .execute().get();
PipelineSnippets.java
Go
snapshot := client.Pipeline().
	Collection("restaurants").
	Search(firestore.WithSearchQuery(firestore.DocumentMatches("waffles"))).
	Execute(ctx)
pipeline_snippets_search.go

Search for an exact term

To search for an exact term, enclose the term in quotes ("):

Web

const result = await execute(db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('"belgian waffles"')
  }));
test.firestore.js
iOS
let snapshot = try await db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
  .search(query: DocumentMatches("\"belgian waffles\""))
  .execute()
PipelineSnippets.swift

Kotlin

val pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
    .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("\"belgian waffles\"")))
DocSnippets.kt

Java

Pipeline pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("\"belgian waffles\"")));
DocSnippets.java
Node.js
await db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('"belgian waffles"')
  })
  .execute();
test.firestore.js
Python
from google.cloud.firestore_v1.pipeline_expressions import DocumentMatches

results = (
    client.pipeline()
    .collection("restaurants")
    .search(DocumentMatches('"belgian waffles"'))
    .execute()
)
firestore_pipelines.py
Java
Pipeline.Snapshot results2 =
    firestore.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(Search.withQuery(documentMatches("\"belgian waffles\"")))
        .execute().get();
PipelineSnippets.java
Go
snapshot := client.Pipeline().
	Collection("restaurants").
	Search(firestore.WithSearchQuery(firestore.DocumentMatches("\"belgian waffles\""))).
	Execute(ctx)
pipeline_snippets_search.go

Search for a term combination

To search for combination for terms (logical AND), separate the terms with spaces:

Web

const result = await execute(db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('waffles eggs')
  }));
test.firestore.js
iOS
let snapshot = try await db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
  .search(query: DocumentMatches("waffles eggs"))
  .execute()
PipelineSnippets.swift

Kotlin

val pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
    .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles eggs")))
DocSnippets.kt

Java

Pipeline pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles eggs")));
DocSnippets.java
Node.js
await db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('waffles eggs')
  })
  .execute();
test.firestore.js
Python
from google.cloud.firestore_v1.pipeline_expressions import DocumentMatches

results = (
    client.pipeline()
    .collection("restaurants")
    .search(DocumentMatches("waffles eggs"))
    .execute()
)
firestore_pipelines.py
Java
firestore.collection("restaurants").add(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
  put("name", "Morning Diner");
  put("description", "Start your day with waffles and eggs.");
}});
Pipeline.Snapshot results3 =
    firestore.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(Search.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles eggs")))
        .execute().get();
PipelineSnippets.java
Go
snapshot := client.Pipeline().
	Collection("restaurants").
	Search(firestore.WithSearchQuery(firestore.DocumentMatches("waffles eggs"))).
	Execute(ctx)
pipeline_snippets_search.go

Exclude a term

To exclude a term, prefix the term with a hyphen (-):

Web

const result = await execute(db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('coffee -waffles')
  }));
test.firestore.js
iOS
let snapshot = try await db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
  .search(query: DocumentMatches("coffee -waffles"))
  .execute()
PipelineSnippets.swift

Kotlin

val pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
    .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles eggs")))
DocSnippets.kt

Java

Pipeline pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("coffee -waffles")));
DocSnippets.java
Node.js
await db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('-waffles')
  })
  .execute();
test.firestore.js
Python
from google.cloud.firestore_v1.pipeline_expressions import DocumentMatches

results = (
    client.pipeline()
    .collection("restaurants")
    .search(DocumentMatches("-waffles"))
    .execute()
)
firestore_pipelines.py
Java
firestore.collection("restaurants").add(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
  put("name", "City Coffee");
  put("description", "Premium coffee and pastries.");
}});
Pipeline.Snapshot results4 =
    firestore.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(Search.withQuery(documentMatches("-waffles")))
        .execute().get();
PipelineSnippets.java
Go
snapshot := client.Pipeline().
	Collection("restaurants").
	Search(firestore.WithSearchQuery(firestore.DocumentMatches("-waffles"))).
	Execute(ctx)
pipeline_snippets_search.go

You can also exclude a phrase, for example, pizza -"New York".

Sort results

By default, Cloud Firestore sorts results by document creation time, newest to oldest. You can sort by search score instead, but this requires more computation to calculate and compare the exact score of each document:

To sort results by search score:

Web

const result = await execute(db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('waffles'),
    sort: score().descending()
  }));
iOS
let snapshot = try await db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
  .search(
      query: DocumentMatches("waffles"),
      sort: [Score().descending()]
      )
  .execute()

Kotlin

val pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
    .search(SearchStage
              .withQuery(documentMatches("waffles"))
              .withSort(score().descending())
              )
Node.js
await db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: documentMatches('waffles'),
    sort: score().descending()
  })
  .execute();

Add fields to documents returned by the search stage

You can use addFields to add fields to the documents returned by the search stage. Expressions returning values computed by the search stage, like score(), can be used within addFields in the search stage to write those `values to the output documents.

The following example adds the score field to the documents returned by the search stage:

Web

const result = await execute(db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: 'menu:waffles',
    addFields: [
        score().as('score'),
    ]
  }));
test.firestore.js
iOS
let snapshot = try await db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
  .search(
    query: DocumentMatches("waffles"),
    addFields: [
      Score().as("score")
    ]
  )
  .execute()
PipelineSnippets.swift

Kotlin

val pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
    .search(SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("waffles eggs")))
DocSnippets.kt

Java

Pipeline pipeline = db.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(
                SearchStage.withQuery(documentMatches("menu:waffles"))
                        .withAddFields(score().alias("score")));
DocSnippets.java
Node.js
await db.pipeline().collection('restaurants')
  .search({
    query: field('menu').matches('waffles'),
    addFields: [
        score().as('score'),
    ]
  }).execute();
test.firestore.js
Python
from google.cloud.firestore_v1.pipeline_expressions import DocumentMatches, Score
from google.cloud.firestore_v1.pipeline_stages import SearchOptions

results = (
    client.pipeline()
    .collection("restaurants")
    .search(
        SearchOptions(
            query=DocumentMatches("menu:waffles"),
            add_fields=[Score().as_("score")],
        )
    )
    .execute()
)
firestore_pipelines.py
Java
Pipeline.Snapshot results5 =
    firestore.pipeline().collection("restaurants")
        .search(Search.withQuery(field("menu").regexMatch("waffles"))
            .withAddFields(score().as("score")))
        .execute().get();
PipelineSnippets.java
Go
snapshot := client.Pipeline().
	Collection("restaurants").
	Search(
		firestore.WithSearchQuery(firestore.FieldOf("menu").RegexMatch("waffles")),
		firestore.WithSearchAddFields(firestore.Score().As("score")),
	).
	Execute(ctx)
pipeline_snippets_search.go