---
layout: default
title: Search
nav_order: 7
---

# Search
{: .no_toc }

## Table of contents
{: .no_toc .text-delta }

1. TOC
{:toc}

---

Just the Docs uses [lunr.js](http://lunrjs.com) to add a client-side search interface powered by a JSON index that Jekyll generates.
All search results are shown in an auto-complete style interface (there is no search results page).
By default, all generated HTML pages are indexed using the following data points:

- Page title
- Page content
- Page URL

## Enable search in configuration

In your site's `_config.yml`, enable search:

```yaml
# Enable or disable the site search
# Supports true (default) or false
search_enabled: true
```

### Search granularity

Pages are split into sections that can be searched individually.
The sections are defined by the headings on the page.
Each section is displayed in a separate search result.

```yaml
# Split pages into sections that can be searched individually
# Supports 1 - 6, default: 2
search.heading_level: 2
```

### Search previews

A search result can contain previews that show where the search words are found in the specific section.

```yaml
# Maximum amount of previews per search result
# Default: 3
search.previews: 3

# Maximum amount of words to display before a matched word in the preview
# Default: 5
search.preview_words_before: 5

# Maximum amount of words to display after a matched word in the preview
# Default: 10
search.preview_words_after: 10
```

### Search tokenizer

The default is for hyphens to separate tokens in search terms:
`gem-based` is equivalent to `gem based`, matching either word.
To allow search for hyphenated words:

```yaml
# Set the search token separator
# Default: /[\s\-/]+/
# Example: enable support for hyphenated search words
search.tokenizer_separator: /[\s/]+/
```

### Display URL in search results

```yaml
# Display the relative url in search results
# Supports true (default) or false
search.rel_url: false
```

### Display search button

The search button displays in the bottom right corner of the screen and triggers the search input when clicked.

```yaml
# Enable or disable the search button that appears in the bottom right corner of every page
# Supports true or false (default)
search.button: true
```

## Hiding pages from search

Sometimes you might have a page that you don't want to be indexed for the search nor to show up in search results, e.g, a 404 page.
To exclude a page from search, add the `search_exclude: true` parameter to the page's YAML front matter:

#### Example

{: .no_toc }

```yaml
---
layout: default
title: Page not found
nav_exclude: true
search_exclude: true
---

```

## Generate search index when used as a gem

If you use Just the Docs as a remote theme, you do not need the following steps.

If you use the theme as a gem, you must initialize the search by running this `rake` command that comes with `just-the-docs`:

```bash
$ bundle exec just-the-docs rake search:init
```

This command creates the `assets/js/zzzz-search-data.json` file that Jekyll uses to create your search index.
Alternatively, you can create the file manually with [this content]({{ site.github.repository_url }}/blob/main/assets/js/zzzz-search-data.json).

## Custom content for search index

By default, the search feature indexes a page's `.content`, `.title`, and *some* headers within the `.content`.
Other data (ex front matter, files in `_data`, `assets`) is not indexed. To index additional data, users can customize what `lunr` indexes.

{: .warning }
> Customizing search indices is an advanced feature that requires Javascript and Liquid knowledge.

1. First, ensure that `assets/js/zzzz-search-data.json` is up-to-date; it can be regenerated with `rake` or manually (see:  ["Generate search index when used as a gem"](#generate-search-index-when-used-as-a-gem)).
2. To add Liquid/Jekyll-based data: create a new include at the path `_includes/lunr/custom-data.json`. Insert custom Liquid code that reads various data (ex: `include.page`, `site.data`, `site.static_files`) that then generates valid [JSON](https://www.json.org/json-en.html) to add to the index.  Verify the fields in the generated `assets/js/search-data.json`.
3. For all custom data (Liquid, JavaScript, or external): create a new include at the path `_includes/lunr/custom-index.js` to your site. Add valid JavaScript that creates relevant fields to add to the index. You may want to inspect `assets/js/just-the-docs.js` to better understand the code structure. **This is necessary to render any relevant custom index code.**

#### Example

`_includes/lunr/custom-data.json`: this example adds each page's `usage` and `examples` front matter fields, normalizes the text, and writes the text to custom Javascript `myusage` and `myexamples` fields.

{% raw %}
```liquid
{%- capture newline %}
{% endcapture -%}
"myusage": {{ include.page.usage | markdownify | replace:newline,' ' | strip_html | normalize_whitespace | strip | jsonify }},
"myexamples": {{ include.page.examples | markdownify | replace:newline,' ' | strip_html | normalize_whitespace | strip | jsonify }},
```
{% endraw %}

`_includes/lunr/custom-index.js` custom code is within a Javascript loop. All custom
Javascript fields are accessed as fields of `docs[i]` such as `docs[i].myusage`.
Finally, append your custom fields on to the already existing `docs[i].content`.

```javascript
const content_to_merge = [docs[i].content, docs[i].myusage, docs[i].myexamples];
docs[i].content = content_to_merge.join(' ');
```