Highlighting

Highlighting allows you to get highlighted text fragments (called snippets) from documents that contain matching keywords.

SQL’s HIGHLIGHT() function, "highlight" property in json queries via HTTP and highlight() function in the PHP client all use built-in document storage for retrieving original field contents (enabled by default).

• SQL
• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

SQL JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

SELECT HIGHLIGHT() FROM books WHERE MATCH('try');

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query":  {  "match": { "*" : "try" }  },
  "highlight": {}
}

$results = $index->search('try')->highlight()->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId();
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.': '.$value;
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo "- ".$snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"try"}},"highlight":{}})

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"try"}},"highlight":{}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","try|gets|down|said");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| highlight()                                              |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, said Bliss. |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

{
  "took":1,
  "timed_out":false,
  "hits":
  {
    "total":1,
    "hits":
    [
      {
        "_id":"4",
        "_score":1704,
        "_source":
        {
          "title":"Book four",
          "content":"Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss."
        },
        "highlight":
        {
          "title": ["Book four"],
          "content": ["Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, said Bliss."]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Document: 14
title: Book four
content: Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss.
Highlight for title:
- Book four
Highlight for content:
- Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, said Bliss.

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'4',
                    u'_score': 1695,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss.',
                                 u'title': u'Book four'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u'Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, said Bliss.'],
                                   u'title': [u'Book four']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":1,"hits":[{"_id":"4","_score":1695,"_source":{"title":"Book four","content":"Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss."},"highlight":{"title":["Book four"],"content":["Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, said Bliss."]}}]}}

class SearchResponse {
    took: 0
    timedOut: false
    hits: class SearchResponseHits {
        total: 3
        maxScore: null
        hits: [{_id=3, _score=1597, _source={title=Book three, content=Trevize whispered, "It gets infantile pleasure out of display. I`d love to knock it down."}, highlight={title=[Book three], content=[, "It <strong>gets</strong> infantile pleasure ,  to knock it <strong>down</strong>."]}}, {_id=4, _score=1563, _source={title=Book four, content=Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss.}, highlight={title=[Book four], content=[Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, <strong>said</strong> Bliss.]}}, {_id=5, _score=1514, _source={title=Books two, content=A door opened before them, revealing a small room. Bander said, "Come, half-humans, I want to show you how we live."}, highlight={title=[Books two], content=[ a small room. Bander <strong>said</strong>, "Come, half-humans, I]}}]
        aggregations: null
    }
    profile: null
}

When using SQL to highlight search results, you get different snippets from different fields concatenated as a single string. It is a limitation of mysql protocol. You can fine-tune concatenation separators with field_separator and snippet_separator options, see below.

When running json queries via HTTP or using the PHP client, there are no such limitations and the result set contains an array of fields which contains arrays of snippets (without the separators).

Note that snippet generation options such as limit, limit_words, limit_snippets are applied to each field separately (by default). You can change this behavior using the limits_per_field option, but it may lead to undesirable results. I.e. one of the fields has matching keywords, but no snippets from this field are included in the result set because they didn’t rank as high as the snippets from the other fields in the highlighting engine.

Highlighting algorithm currently favors better snippets (with closer phrase matches), and then snippets with keywords not yet included in the result. Generally, it will try to highlight the best match with the query, and it will also try to highlight all the query keywords, as made possible by the limits. If there are no matches in the current field, the beginning of the document trimmed down according to the limits will be return by default. You can also return an empty string instead by setting allow_empty option to 1.

Highlighting is performed on a so-called post limit stage, meaning that snippet generation is postponed not just until the entire final result set is ready, but even after the LIMIT clause is applied. For example, with a LIMIT 20,10 clause, HIGHLIGHT() function will be called at most 10 times.

Highlighting options

There are several additional optional highlighting options that can be used to fine-tune snippet generation. Most of them are common to SQL, HTTP and PHP client.

before_match

A string to insert before a keyword match. A %SNIPPET_ID% macro can be used in this string. The first match of the macro is replaced with an incrementing snippet number within a current snippet. Numbering starts at 1 by default but can be overridden with start_snippet_id option. %SNIPPET_ID% restarts at the start of every new document. Default is <strong>.

after_match

A string to insert after a keyword match. Default is </strong>.

limit

Maximum snippet size, in symbols (codepoints). Default is 256. Per-field by default, see limits_per_field.

limit_words

Limits the maximum number of words that can be included in the result. Note the limit applies to any words, and not just the matched keywords to highlight. For example, if we are highlighting Mary and a snippet Mary had a little lamb is selected, then it contributes 5 words to this limit, not just 1. Default is 0 (no limit). Per-field by default, see limits_per_field.

limit_snippets

Limits the maximum number of snippets that can be included in the result. Default is 0 (no limit). Per-field by default, see limits_per_field.

limits_per_field

Selects whether limit, limit_words and limit_snippets work as individual limits in every field of the document being highlighted or as global limits for the whole document. Setting this option to 0 means that all combined highlighting results for one document must be within the specified limits. The downside is that you may get several snippets highlighted in one field and none in another if the highlighting engine decides that they are more relevant. Default is 1 (use per-field limits).

around

How much words to pick around each matching keywords block. Default is 5.

use_boundaries

Whether to additionally break snippets by phrase boundary characters, as configured in table settings with phrase_boundary directive. Default is 0 (don’t use boundaries).

weight_order

Whether to sort the extracted snippets in order of relevance (decreasing weight), or in order of appearance in the document (increasing position). Default is 0 (don’t use weight order).

force_all_words

Ignores length limit until the result includes all the keywords. Default is 0 (don’t force all keywords).

start_snippet_id

Specifies the starting value of %SNIPPET_ID% macro (that gets detected and expanded in before_match, after_match strings). Default is 1.

html_strip_mode

HTML stripping mode setting. Defaults to index, which means that table settings will be used. The other values are none and strip, that forcibly skip or apply stripping irregardless of table settings; and retain, that retains HTML markup and protects it from highlighting. The retain mode can only be used when highlighting full documents and thus requires that no snippet size limits are set. String, allowed values are none, strip, index, and retain.

allow_empty

Allows empty string to be returned as highlighting result when no snippets could be generated in the current field (no keywords match, or no snippets fit the limit). By default, the beginning of original text would be returned instead of an empty string. Default is 0 (don’t allow empty result).

snippet_boundary

Ensures that snippets do not cross a sentence, paragraph, or zone boundary (when used with a table that has the respective indexing settings enabled). String, allowed values are sentence, paragraph, and zone.

emit_zones

Emits an HTML tag with an enclosing zone name before each snippet. Default is 0 (don’t emit zone names).

force_snippets

Whether to force snippet generation even if limits allow to highlight whole text. Default is 0 (don’t force snippet generation).

• SQL
• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

SQL JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

SELECT HIGHLIGHT({limit=50}) FROM books WHERE MATCH('try|gets|down|said');

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": {"query_string": "try|gets|down|said"},
  "highlight": { "limit":50 }
}

$results = $index->search('try|gets|down|said')->highlight([],['limit'=>50])->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId();
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.': '.$value;
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo  $snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"try"}},"highlight":{"limit":50}})

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"query_string":"try|gets|down|said"},"highlight":{"limit":50}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","try|gets|down|said");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("limit",50);
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| highlight({limit=50})                                                     |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  ... , "It <strong>gets</strong> infantile pleasure  ...  to knock it <strong>down</strong>." |
| Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, <strong>said</strong> Bliss.           |
|  ...  a small room. Bander <strong>said</strong>, "Come, half-humans, I ...         |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

{
  "took":2,
  "timed_out":false,
  "hits":
  {
    "total":3,
    "hits":
    [
      {
        "_id":"3",
        "_score":1602,
        "_source":
        {
          "title":"Book three",
          "content":"Trevize whispered, \"It gets infantile pleasure out of display. I`d love to knock it down.\""
        },
        "highlight":
        {
          "title":
          [
            "Book three"
          ],
          "content":
          [
            ", \"It <strong>gets</strong> infantile pleasure ",
            " to knock it <strong>down</strong>.\""
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "_id":"4",
        "_score":1573,
        "_source":
        {
          "title":"Book four",
          "content":"Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss."
        },
        "highlight":
        {
          "title":
          [
            "Book four"
          ],
          "content":
          [
            "Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, <strong>said</strong> Bliss."
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "_id":"2",
        "_score":1521,
        "_source":
        {
          "title":"Book two",
          "content":"A door opened before them, revealing a small room. Bander said, \"Come, half-humans, I want to show you how we live.\""
        },
        "highlight":
        {
          "title":
          [
            "Book two"
          ],
          "content":
          [
            " a small room. Bander <strong>said</strong>, \"Come, half-humans, I"
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Document: 3
title: Book three
content: Trevize whispered, "It gets infantile pleasure out of display. I`d love to knock it down."
Highlight for title:
- Book four
Highlight for content:
, "It <strong>gets</strong> infantile pleasure
to knock it <strong>down</strong>."
Document: 4
title: Book four
content: Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss.
Highlight for title:
- Book four
Highlight for content:
Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, <strong>said</strong> Bliss.
Document: 2
title: Book two
content: A door opened before them, revealing a small room. Bander said, "Come, half-humans, I want to show you how we live.
Highlight for title:
- Book two
Highlight for content:
 a small room. Bander <strong>said</strong>, \"Come, half-humans, I

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'4',
                    u'_score': 1695,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss.',
                                 u'title': u'Book four'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u'Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, said Bliss.'],
                                   u'title': [u'Book four']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":3,"hits":[{"_id":"3","_score":1597,"_source":{"title":"Book three","content":"Trevize whispered, \"It gets infantile pleasure out of display. I`d love to knock it down.\""},"highlight":{"title":["Book three"],"content":[", \"It <strong>gets</strong> infantile pleasure "," to knock it <strong>down</strong>.\""]}},{"_id":"4","_score":1563,"_source":{"title":"Book four","content":"Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss."},"highlight":{"title":["Book four"],"content":["Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, <strong>said</strong> Bliss."]}},{"_id":"5","_score":1514,"_source":{"title":"Books two","content":"A door opened before them, revealing a small room. Bander said, \"Come, half-humans, I want to show you how we live.\""},"highlight":{"title":["Books two"],"content":[" a small room. Bander <strong>said</strong>, \"Come, half-humans, I"]}}]}}

class SearchResponse {
    took: 0
    timedOut: false
    hits: class SearchResponseHits {
        total: 3
        maxScore: null
        hits: [{_id=3, _score=1597, _source={title=Book three, content=Trevize whispered, "It gets infantile pleasure out of display. I`d love to knock it down."}, highlight={title=[Book three], content=[, "It <strong>gets</strong> infantile pleasure ,  to knock it <strong>down</strong>."]}}, {_id=4, _score=1563, _source={title=Book four, content=Don`t try to compete in childishness, said Bliss.}, highlight={title=[Book four], content=[Don`t <strong>try</strong> to compete in childishness, <strong>said</strong> Bliss.]}}, {_id=5, _score=1514, _source={title=Books two, content=A door opened before them, revealing a small room. Bander said, "Come, half-humans, I want to show you how we live."}, highlight={title=[Books two], content=[ a small room. Bander <strong>said</strong>, "Come, half-humans, I]}}]
        aggregations: null
    }
    profile: null
}

Highlighting via SQL

HIGHLIGHT() function can be used to highlight search results. Here’s the syntax:

HIGHLIGHT([options], [field_list], [query] )

By default, it works with no arguments.

• SQL

SQL

SELECT HIGHLIGHT() FROM books WHERE MATCH('before');

Response

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| highlight()                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| A door opened <strong>before</strong> them, revealing a small room. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

HIGHLIGHT() fetches all available full-text fields from document storage and highlights them against the given query. It supports field syntax in queries. Field text is separated by field_separator, which can be changed in the options.

• SQL

SQL

SELECT HIGHLIGHT() FROM books WHERE MATCH('@title one');

Response

+-----------------+
| highlight()     |
+-----------------+
| Book <strong>one</strong> |
+-----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Optional first argument in HIGHLIGHT() is the list of options.

• SQL

SQL

SELECT HIGHLIGHT({before_match='[match]',after_match='[/match]'}) FROM books WHERE MATCH('@title one');

Response

+------------------------------------------------------------+
| highlight({before_match='[match]',after_match='[/match]'}) |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Book [match]one[/match]                                    |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Optional second argument is a string containing a field or a comma-separated list of fields. If this argument is present, only the specified fields will be fetched from document storage and highlighted. An empty string as a second argument means “fetch all available fields”.

• SQL

SQL

SELECT HIGHLIGHT({},'title,content') FROM books WHERE MATCH('one|robots');

Response

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| highlight({},'title,content')                                                                                                                                                         |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Book <strong>one</strong> | They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat.                                             |
| Bander ushered all three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Another way to use the second argument is to specify string attribute or field name without quotes. This way the supplied string will be highlighted against the provided query, however, field syntax will be ignored.

• SQL

SQL

SELECT HIGHLIGHT({}, title) FROM books WHERE MATCH('one');

Response

+---------------------+
| highlight({},title) |
+---------------------+
| Book <strong>one</strong>     |
| Book five           |
+---------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Optional third argument is the query. It is used to highlight search results against a query different than the one used for searching.

• SQL

SQL

SELECT HIGHLIGHT({},'title', 'five') FROM books WHERE MATCH('one');

Response

+-------------------------------+
| highlight({},'title', 'five') |
+-------------------------------+
| Book one                      |
| Book <strong>five</strong>              |
+-------------------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

While HIGHLIGHT() is designed to work with stored full-text fields and string attributes, it can also be used to highlight arbitrary text. Note that if the query has any field search operators (@title hello @body world), the field part of them is ignored in this case.

• SQL

SQL

SELECT HIGHLIGHT({},TO_STRING('some text to highlight'), 'highlight') FROM books WHERE MATCH('@title one');

Response

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| highlight({},TO_STRING('some text to highlight'), 'highlight') |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| some text to <strong>highlight</strong>                                  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Several options make sense only when generating a single string as a result (not an array of snippets). This only applies to SQL’s HIGHLIGHT() function:

snippet_separator

A string to insert between snippets. Default is ....

field_separator

A string to insert between fields. Default is |.

Another way to highlight text is to use the CALL SNIPPETS statement. It mostly duplicates HIGHLIGHT() functionality, but it can’t use built-in document storage. It can, however, load source text from files.

Highlighting via HTTP

To highlight full-text search results in JSON queries via HTTP, field contents has to be stored in document storage (enabled by default). In the example full-text fields content and title are fetched from document storage and highlighted against the query specified in query clause.

Highlighted snippets are returned in the highlight property of the hits array.

• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": { "match": { "*": "one|robots" } },
  "highlight":
  {
    "fields": ["content"]
  }
}

$index->setName('books');
$results = $index->search('one|robots')->highlight(['content'])->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId()."\n";
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.' : '.$value."\n";
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo "- ".$snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content"]}}))

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content"]}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","one|robots");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("fields",new String[] {"content"});
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

{
  "took": 0,
  "timed_out": false,
  "hits": {
    "total": 1,
    "hits": [
      {
        "_id": "1",
        "_score": 2788,
        "_source": {
          "title": "Books one",
          "content": "They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "
        },
        "highlight": {
          "content": [
            "They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, ",
            " three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander",
            " gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The"
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Document: 1
title : Books one
content : They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it.
Highlight for content:
- They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance,
-  three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander
-  gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'1',
                    u'_score': 2788,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. ',
                                 u'title': u'Books one'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u'They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, ',
                                                u' three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander',
                                                u' gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":1,"hits":[{"_id":"1","_score":2788,"_source":{"title":"Books one","content":"They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "},"highlight":{"content":["They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, "," three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander"," gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The"]}}]}}

class SearchResponse {
    took: 0
    timedOut: false
    hits: class SearchResponseHits {
        total: 1
        maxScore: null
        hits: [{_id=1, _score=2788, _source={title=Books one, content=They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. }, highlight={title=[Books <strong>one</strong>], content=[They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, ,  three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander,  gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The]}}]
        aggregations: null
    }
    profile: null
}

To highlight all possible fields, pass an empty object as highlight propery.

• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": { "match": { "*": "one|robots" } },
  "highlight": {}
}

$index->setName('books');
$results = $index->search('one|robots')->highlight()->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId()."\n";
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.' : '.$value."\n";
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo "- ".$snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{}})

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","one|robots");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

{
  "took": 0,
  "timed_out": false,
  "hits": {
    "total": 1,
    "hits": [
      {
        "_id": "1",
        "_score": 2788,
        "_source": {
          "title": "Books one",
          "content": "They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "
        },
        "highlight": {
          "title": [
            "Books <strong>one</strong>"
          ],
          "content": [
            "They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, ",
            " three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander",
            " gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The"
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Document: 1
title : Books one
content : They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it.
Highlight for title:
- Books <strong>one</strong>
Highlight for content:
- They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance,
-  three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander
-  gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'1',
                    u'_score': 2788,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. ',
                                 u'title': u'Books one'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u'They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, ',
                                                u' three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander',
                                                u' gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The'],
                                   u'title': [u'Books <strong>one</strong>']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":1,"hits":[{"_id":"1","_score":2788,"_source":{"title":"Books one","content":"They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "},"highlight":{"title":["Books <strong>one</strong>"],"content":["They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, "," three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander"," gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The"]}}]}}

class SearchResponse {
    took: 0
    timedOut: false
    hits: class SearchResponseHits {
        total: 1
        maxScore: null
        hits: [{_id=1, _score=2788, _source={title=Books one, content=They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. }, highlight={title=[Books <strong>one</strong>], content=[They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, ,  three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander,  gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The]}}]
        aggregations: null
    }
    profile: null
}

In addition to common highlighting options, several synonyms are available for JSON queries via HTTP:

fields

fields object contains attribute names with options. It can also be an array of field names (without any options).

Note, by default the highlighting works the way it tries to highlight the results following the full-text query. I.e. in a general case when you don’t specify fields to highlight the highlight is based on your full-text query, but if you specify the fields to highlight it highlights only if the full-text query matches the selected fields.

encoder

encoder can be set to default or html. When set to html, retains html markup when highlighting. Works similar to html_strip_mode=retain option.

highlight_query

highlight_query makes it possible to highlight against a query other than our search query. Syntax is the same as in the main query.

• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": { "match": { "content": "one|robots" } },
  "highlight":
  {
    "fields": [ "content"],
    "highlight_query": { "match": { "*":"polite distance" } }
   }
}

$index->setName('books');
$bool = new \Manticoresearch\Query\BoolQuery();
$bool->must(new \Manticoresearch\Query\Match(['query' => 'one|robots'], 'content'));
$results = $index->search($bool)->highlight(['content'],['highlight_query'=>['match'=>['*'=>'polite distance']]])->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId()."\n";
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.' : '.$value."\n";
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo "- ".$snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"content":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content"],"highlight_query":{"match":{"*":"polite distance"}}}})

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"content":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content"],"highlight_query":{"match":{"*":"polite distance"}}}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","one|robots");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
put("fields",new String[] {"content","title"});
put("highlight_query",
    new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
        put("match", new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
            put("*","polite distance");
        }});
    }});
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'1',
                    u'_score': 1788,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. ',
                                 u'title': u'Books one'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u'. The robots remained at a <strong>polite distance</strong>, but their presence was a']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":1,"hits":[{"_id":"1","_score":1788,"_source":{"title":"Books one","content":"They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "},"highlight":{"content":[". The robots remained at a <strong>polite distance</strong>, but their presence was a"]}}]}}

pre_tags and post_tags

pre_tags and post_tags set opening and closing tags for highlighted text snippets. They work similar to before_match and after_match options. Optional, defaults are <strong> and </strong>.

• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": { "match": { "*": "one|robots" } },
  "highlight":
  {
    "fields": [ "content", "title" ],
    "pre_tags": "before_",
    "post_tags": "_after"
   }
}

$index->setName('books');
$bool = new \Manticoresearch\Query\BoolQuery();
$bool->must(new \Manticoresearch\Query\Match(['query' => 'one|robots'], '*'));
$results = $index->search($bool)->highlight(['content','title'],['pre_tags'=>'before_','post_tags'=>'_after'])->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId()."\n";
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.' : '.$value."\n";
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo "- ".$snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content","title"],"pre_tags":"before_","post_tags":"_after"}})

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content","title"],"pre_tags":"before_","post_tags":"_after"}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","one|robots");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("fields",new String[] {"content","title"});
    put("pre_tags","before_");
    put("post_tags","_after");
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

Document: 1
title : Books one
content : They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it.
Highlight for content:
- They followed Bander. The before_robots_after remained at a polite distance,
-  three into the room. before_One_after of the before_robots_after followed as well. Bander
-  gestured the other before_robots_after away and entered itself. The
Highlight for title:
- Books before_one_after

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'1',
                    u'_score': 2788,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. ',
                                 u'title': u'Books one'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u'They followed Bander. The before_robots_after remained at a polite distance, ',
                                                u' three into the room. before_One_after of the before_robots_after followed as well. Bander',
                                                u' gestured the other before_robots_after away and entered itself. The'],
                                   u'title': [u'Books before_one_after']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":1,"hits":[{"_id":"1","_score":2788,"_source":{"title":"Books one","content":"They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "},"highlight":{"content":["They followed Bander. The before_robots_after remained at a polite distance, "," three into the room. before_One_after of the before_robots_after followed as well. Bander"," gestured the other before_robots_after away and entered itself. The"],"title":["Books before_one_after"]}}]}}

no_match_size

no_match_size works similar to the allow_empty option. If set to 0, acts as allow_empty=1, i.e. allows empty string to be returned as highlighting result when a snippet could not be generated. Otherwise, the beginning of the field will be returned. Optional, default is 1.

• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": { "match": { "*": "one|robots" } },
  "highlight":
  {
    "fields": [ "content", "title" ],
    "no_match_size": 0
  }
}

$index->setName('books');
$bool = new \Manticoresearch\Query\BoolQuery();
$bool->must(new \Manticoresearch\Query\Match(['query' => 'one|robots'], '*'));
$results = $index->search($bool)->highlight(['content','title'],['no_match_size'=>0])->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId()."\n";
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.' : '.$value."\n";
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo "- ".$snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content","title"],"no_match_size":0}})

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content","title"],"no_match_size":0}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","one|robots");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("fields",new String[] {"content","title"});
    put("no_match_size",0);
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

Document: 1
title : Books one
content : They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it.
Highlight for content:
- They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance,
-  three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander
-  gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The
Highlight for title:
- Books <strong>one</strong>

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'1',
                    u'_score': 2788,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. ',
                                 u'title': u'Books one'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u'They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, ',
                                                u' three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander',
                                                u' gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The'],
                                   u'title': [u'Books <strong>one</strong>']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":1,"hits":[{"_id":"1","_score":2788,"_source":{"title":"Books one","content":"They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "},"highlight":{"content":["They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, "," three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander"," gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The"],"title":["Books <strong>one</strong>"]}}]}}

order

order sets the sorting order of extracted snippets. If set to "score", sorts the extracted snippets in order of relevance. Optional. Works similar to weight_order option.

• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": { "match": { "*": "one|robots" } },
  "highlight":
  {
    "fields": [ "content", "title" ],
    "order": "score"
  }
}

$index->setName('books');
$bool = new \Manticoresearch\Query\BoolQuery();
$bool->must(new \Manticoresearch\Query\Match(['query' => 'one|robots'], '*'));
$results = $index->search($bool)->highlight(['content','title'],['order'=>"score"])->get();
foreach($results as $doc)
{
    echo 'Document: '.$doc->getId()."\n";
    foreach($doc->getData() as $field=>$value)
    {
        echo $field.' : '.$value."\n";
    }
    foreach($doc->getHighlight() as $field=>$snippets)
    {
        echo "Highlight for ".$field.":\n";
        foreach($snippets as $snippet)
        {
            echo "- ".$snippet."\n";
        }
    }
}

res = searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content","title"],"order":"score"}})

res =  await searchApi.search({"index":"books","query":{"match":{"*":"one|robots"}},"highlight":{"fields":["content","title"],"order":"score"}});

searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
searchRequest.setIndex("books");
query = new HashMap<String,Object>();
query.put("match",new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("*","one|robots");
}});        
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
highlight = new HashMap<String,Object>(){{
    put("fields",new String[] {"content","title"});
    put("order","score");
}};
searchRequest.setHighlight(highlight);
searchResponse = searchApi.search(searchRequest);

Response

Document: 1
title : Books one
content : They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it.
Highlight for content:
-  three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander
-  gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The
- They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance,
Highlight for title:
- Books <strong>one</strong>

{'aggregations': None,
 'hits': {'hits': [{u'_id': u'1',
                    u'_score': 2788,
                    u'_source': {u'content': u'They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. ',
                                 u'title': u'Books one'},
                    u'highlight': {u'content': [u' three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander',
                                                u' gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The',
                                                u'They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, '],
                                   u'title': [u'Books <strong>one</strong>']}}],
          'max_score': None,
          'total': 1},
 'profile': None,
 'timed_out': False,
 'took': 0}

{"took":0,"timed_out":false,"hits":{"total":1,"hits":[{"_id":"1","_score":2788,"_source":{"title":"Books one","content":"They followed Bander. The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat. Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it. "},"highlight":{"content":[" three into the room. <strong>One</strong> of the <strong>robots</strong> followed as well. Bander"," gestured the other <strong>robots</strong> away and entered itself. The","They followed Bander. The <strong>robots</strong> remained at a polite distance, "],"title":["Books <strong>one</strong>"]}}]}}

fragment_size

fragment_size sets maximum snippet size in symbols. Can be global or per-field. Per-field options override global options. Optional, default is 256. Works similar to limit option.

• JSON
• PHP
• Python
• Javascript
• Java

JSON PHP Python Javascript Java

POST /search
{
  "index": "books",
  "query": { "match": { "*": "one|robots" } },
  "highlight":
  {
    "fields": [ "content", "title" ],
    "fragment_size": 100
  }
}