> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.meilisearch.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Your first search

> Perform your first full-text search query in Meilisearch and understand the response format.

Full-text search is the core feature of Meilisearch. Once you have documents in an index, you can search them with a simple query and get relevant results in milliseconds.

If you haven't added documents yet, follow the [indexing getting started guide](/capabilities/indexing/getting_started) first.

## Perform a search

Send a search request to your index with the `q` parameter:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash theme={null}
  curl -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/movies/search' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer MEILISEARCH_KEY' \
    --data-binary '{
      "q": "galaxy"
    }'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Meilisearch returns a JSON response with matching documents:

<CodeGroup>
  ```json theme={null}
  {
    "hits": [
      {
        "id": 24,
        "title": "Guardians of the Galaxy",
        "overview": "A group of intergalactic criminals are forced to work together...",
        "genres": ["Action", "Science Fiction"]
      },
      {
        "id": 25,
        "title": "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy",
        "overview": "Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished...",
        "genres": ["Adventure", "Comedy", "Science Fiction"]
      }
    ],
    "query": "galaxy",
    "processingTimeMs": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "offset": 0,
    "estimatedTotalHits": 2
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Understanding the response

| Field                | Description                                       |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| `hits`               | Array of matching documents, ordered by relevance |
| `query`              | The search query you sent                         |
| `processingTimeMs`   | How long the search took in milliseconds          |
| `limit`              | Maximum number of results returned (default: 20)  |
| `offset`             | Number of results skipped (for pagination)        |
| `estimatedTotalHits` | Estimated total number of matching documents      |

## Search with typos

Meilisearch handles typos automatically. A search for "galxy" or "galaxi" still returns results for "galaxy":

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash theme={null}
  curl -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/movies/search' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer MEILISEARCH_KEY' \
    --data-binary '{
      "q": "galxy"
    }'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

This works because Meilisearch uses [typo tolerance](/capabilities/full_text_search/relevancy/typo_tolerance_settings) to match words even when they contain spelling mistakes.

## Search with multiple words

When you search with multiple words, Meilisearch finds documents containing any of those words and ranks them by how many words match:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash theme={null}
  curl -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/movies/search' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer MEILISEARCH_KEY' \
    --data-binary '{
      "q": "dark knight"
    }'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Documents containing both "dark" and "knight" rank higher than documents containing only one of those words. You can control this behavior with the [matching strategy](/capabilities/full_text_search/how_to/use_matching_strategy).

## Limit and paginate results

Control how many results you get back with `limit` and `offset`:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash theme={null}
  curl -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/movies/search' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer MEILISEARCH_KEY' \
    --data-binary '{
      "q": "action",
      "limit": 5,
      "offset": 10
    }'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

This returns 5 results starting from the 11th match.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Highlight results" href="/capabilities/full_text_search/how_to/highlight_search_results">
    Show users where their query matched in each result
  </Card>

  <Card title="Phrase search" href="/capabilities/full_text_search/getting_started/phrase_search">
    Search for exact phrases with quotes
  </Card>

  <Card title="Add filters" href="/capabilities/filtering_sorting_faceting/getting_started">
    Narrow results with filters and sorting
  </Card>

  <Card title="Relevancy" href="/capabilities/full_text_search/relevancy/relevancy">
    Understand and customize how results are ranked
  </Card>
</CardGroup>