elasticsearch/docs/reference/search/explain.asciidoc

[[search-explain]]
== Explain API

The explain api computes a score explanation for a query and a specific
document. This can give useful feedback whether a document matches or
didn't match a specific query. 

[float]
=== Usage

Full query example:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XGET 'localhost:9200/twitter/tweet/1/_explain' -d '{
      "query" : {
        "term" : { "message" : "search" }
      }
}'
--------------------------------------------------

This will yield the following result:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "ok" : true,
  "matches" : true,
  "explanation" : {
    "value" : 0.15342641,
    "description" : "fieldWeight(message:search in 0), product of:",
    "details" : [ {
      "value" : 1.0,
      "description" : "tf(termFreq(message:search)=1)"
    }, {
      "value" : 0.30685282,
      "description" : "idf(docFreq=1, maxDocs=1)"
    }, {
      "value" : 0.5,
      "description" : "fieldNorm(field=message, doc=0)"
    } ]
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------

There is also a simpler way of specifying the query via the `q`
parameter. The specified `q` parameter value is then parsed as if the
`query_string` query was used. Example usage of the `q` parameter in the
explain api:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XGET 'localhost:9200/twitter/tweet/1/_explain?q=message:search'
--------------------------------------------------

This will yield the same result as the previous request.

[float]
=== All parameters:

[horizontal]
`fields`::
    Allows to control which fields to return as part of the
    document explained (support `_source` for the full document). 

`routing`:: 
    Controls the routing in the case the routing was used
    during indexing.

`parent`:: 
    Same effect as setting the routing parameter. 

`preference`:: 
    Controls on which shard the explain is executed. 

`source`:: 
    Allows the data of the request to be put in the query
    string of the url. 

`q`:: 
    The query string (maps to the query_string query). 

`df`:: 
    The default field to use when no field prefix is defined within
    the query. Defaults to _all field. 

`analyzer`:: 
    The analyzer name to be used when analyzing the query
    string. Defaults to the analyzer of the _all field. 

`analyze_wildcard`:: 
    Should wildcard and prefix queries be analyzed or
    not. Defaults to false. 

`lowercase_expanded_terms`:: 
    Should terms be automatically lowercased
    or not. Defaults to true. 

`lenient`:: 
    If set to true will cause format based failures (like
    providing text to a numeric field) to be ignored. Defaults to false. 

`default_operator`:: 
    The default operator to be used, can be AND or
    OR. Defaults to OR.