cfsearch

Last updated on Feb 25, 2025 | Also applies to ColdFusion

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ColdFusion functions

ColdFusion functions by category
Functions a-b
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Functions-c-d
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1. Tan
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34. XmlFormat
35. XmlGetNodeType
36. XmlNew
37. XmlParse
38. XmlSearch
39. XmlTransform
40. XmlValidate
41. Year
42. YesNoFormat

ColdFusion tags

ColdFusion tag summary
ColdFusion tags by category
1. Application framework tags
  1. cfapplication
  2. cfassociate
  3. cferror
  4. cfimport
  5. cfinterface
  6. cflock
  7. cfscript
  8. cfthread
2. Communications tags
3. Database manipulation tags
4. Data output tags
  1. cfchart
5. Debugging tags
  1. cfdump
  2. cftimer
  3. cftrace
6. Exception handling tags
  1. cfcatch
  2. cferror
  3. cffinally
  4. cfrethrow
  5. cfthrow
  6. cftry
7. Extensibility tags
  1. cfchart
  2. cfchartdata
  3. cfchartseries
  4. cfcollection
  5. cfcomponent
  6. cfexecute
  7. cfftp
  8. function
  9. cfindex
  10. cfinterface
  11. cfinvoke
  12. cfinvokeargument
  13. cfobject
  14. cfproperty
  15. cfreport
  16. cfreportparam
  17. cfreturn
  18. cfsearch
  19. cfsharepoint
  20. cfspreadsheet
  21. cfwddx
  22. cfxml
8. File management tags
  1. cfdirectory
  2. cffile
  3. cffileupload
  4. cfftp
  5. cfzip
  6. cfzipparam
9. Flow-control tags
  1. cfabort
  2. cfbreak
  3. cfcase
  4. cfcontinue
  5. cfdefaultcase
  6. cfelse
  7. cfelseif
  8. cfexecute
  9. cfexit
  10. cfif
  11. cfinclude
  12. cflocation
  13. cfloop
  14. cfrethrow
  15. cfswitch
  16. cfthrow
  17. cftry
10. Forms tags
  1. cfapplet
  2. cfcalendar
  3. cffileupload
  4. cfform
  5. cfformgroup
  6. cfformitem
  7. cfgrid
  8. cfgridcolumn
  9. cfgridrow
  10. cfgridupdate
  11. cfinput
  12. cfpdf
  13. cfpdfform
  14. cfpdfformparam
  15. cfpdfparam
  16. cfpdfsubform
  17. cfselect
  18. cfslider
  19. cftextarea
  20. cftree
  21. cftreeitem
11. Internet Protocol tags
  1. cfajaximport
  2. cfajaxproxy
  3. cfftp
  4. cffeed
  5. cfimap
  6. cfhttp
  7. cfhttpparam
  8. cfldap
  9. cfmail
  10. cfmailparam
  11. cfmailpart
  12. cfpop
  13. cfsprydataset
12. Page processing tags
  1. cfcache
  2. cfcontent
  3. cfflush
  4. cfheader
  5. cfhtmlhead
  6. cfinclude
  7. cfprocessingdirective
  8. cfsetting
  9. cfsilent
13. Security tags
14. Variable manipulation tags
  1. cfcookie
  2. cfdump
  3. cfparam
  4. cfregistry
  5. cfsavecontent
  6. cfschedule
  7. cfset
  8. cfsetting
15. Other tags
  1. cfimage
  2. cflog
  3. cfregistry
Tags a-b
Tags c
Tags f
Tags g-h
1. cfgraph
2. cfgraphdata
3. cfgrid
4. cfgridcolumn
5. cfgridrow
6. cfgridupdate
7. cfheader
8. cfhtmlhead
9. cfhtmltopdf
10. cfhtmltopdfitem
11. cfhttp
12. cfhttpparam
Tags i
1. cfif
2. cfimage
3. cfimap
4. cfimapfilter
5. cfimpersonate
6. cfimport
7. cfinclude
8. cfindex
9. cfinput
10. cfinsert
11. cfinterface
12. cfinvoke
13. cfinvokeargument
Tags j-l
Tags m-o
Tags p-q
1. cfparam
2. cfpdf
3. cfpdfform
4. cfpdfformparam
5. cfpdfparam
6. cfpdfsubform
7. cfpod
8. cfpop
9. cfpresentation
10. cfpresentationslide
11. cfpresenter
12. cfprint
13. cfprocessingdirective
14. cfprocparam
15. cfprocresult
16. cfprogressbar
17. cfproperty
18. cfquery
19. cfqueryparam
Tags r-s
1. cfregistry
2. cfreport
3. cfreportparam
4. cfrethrow
5. cfreturn
6. cfsavecontent
7. cfschedule
8. cfscript
9. cfsearch
10. cfselect
11. cfservlet
12. cfservletparam
13. cfset
14. cfsetting
15. cfsharepoint
16. cfsilent
17. cfslider
18. cfspreadsheet
19. cfsprydataset
20. cfstoredproc
21. cfswitch
Tags t
1. cftable
2. cftextarea
3. cftextinput
4. cfthread
5. cfthrow
6. cftimer
7. cftooltip
8. cftrace
9. cftransaction
10. cftree
11. cftreeitem
12. cftry
Tags u-z
1. cfupdate
2. cfwddx
3. cfwebsocket
4. cfwindow
5. cfxml
6. cfzip
7. cfzipparam

CFML Reference

Cloud services

CFML Reference User Guide
ColdFusion functions
ColdFusion tags
1. ColdFusion tag summary
2. ColdFusion tags by category
  1. Application framework tags
    1. cfapplication
    2. cfassociate
    3. cferror
    4. cfimport
    5. cfinterface
    6. cflock
    7. cfscript
    8. cfthread
  2. Communications tags
  3. Database manipulation tags
  4. Data output tags
    1. cfchart
  5. Debugging tags
    1. cfdump
    2. cftimer
    3. cftrace
  6. Exception handling tags
    1. cfcatch
    2. cferror
    3. cffinally
    4. cfrethrow
    5. cfthrow
    6. cftry
  7. Extensibility tags
    1. cfchart
    2. cfchartdata
    3. cfchartseries
    4. cfcollection
    5. cfcomponent
    6. cfexecute
    7. cfftp
    8. function
    9. cfindex
    10. cfinterface
    11. cfinvoke
    12. cfinvokeargument
    13. cfobject
    14. cfproperty
    15. cfreport
    16. cfreportparam
    17. cfreturn
    18. cfsearch
    19. cfsharepoint
    20. cfspreadsheet
    21. cfwddx
    22. cfxml
  8. File management tags
    1. cfdirectory
    2. cffile
    3. cffileupload
    4. cfftp
    5. cfzip
    6. cfzipparam
  9. Flow-control tags
    1. cfabort
    2. cfbreak
    3. cfcase
    4. cfcontinue
    5. cfdefaultcase
    6. cfelse
    7. cfelseif
    8. cfexecute
    9. cfexit
    10. cfif
    11. cfinclude
    12. cflocation
    13. cfloop
    14. cfrethrow
    15. cfswitch
    16. cfthrow
    17. cftry
  10. Forms tags
    1. cfapplet
    2. cfcalendar
    3. cffileupload
    4. cfform
    5. cfformgroup
    6. cfformitem
    7. cfgrid
    8. cfgridcolumn
    9. cfgridrow
    10. cfgridupdate
    11. cfinput
    12. cfpdf
    13. cfpdfform
    14. cfpdfformparam
    15. cfpdfparam
    16. cfpdfsubform
    17. cfselect
    18. cfslider
    19. cftextarea
    20. cftree
    21. cftreeitem
  11. Internet Protocol tags
    1. cfajaximport
    2. cfajaxproxy
    3. cfftp
    4. cffeed
    5. cfimap
    6. cfhttp
    7. cfhttpparam
    8. cfldap
    9. cfmail
    10. cfmailparam
    11. cfmailpart
    12. cfpop
    13. cfsprydataset
  12. Page processing tags
    1. cfcache
    2. cfcontent
    3. cfflush
    4. cfheader
    5. cfhtmlhead
    6. cfinclude
    7. cfprocessingdirective
    8. cfsetting
    9. cfsilent
  13. Security tags
  14. Variable manipulation tags
    1. cfcookie
    2. cfdump
    3. cfparam
    4. cfregistry
    5. cfsavecontent
    6. cfschedule
    7. cfset
    8. cfsetting
  15. Other tags
    1. cfimage
    2. cflog
    3. cfregistry
3. Tags a-b
4. Tags c
5. Tags f
6. Tags g-h
  1. cfgraph
  2. cfgraphdata
  3. cfgrid
  4. cfgridcolumn
  5. cfgridrow
  6. cfgridupdate
  7. cfheader
  8. cfhtmlhead
  9. cfhtmltopdf
  10. cfhtmltopdfitem
  11. cfhttp
  12. cfhttpparam
7. Tags i
  1. cfif
  2. cfimage
  3. cfimap
  4. cfimapfilter
  5. cfimpersonate
  6. cfimport
  7. cfinclude
  8. cfindex
  9. cfinput
  10. cfinsert
  11. cfinterface
  12. cfinvoke
  13. cfinvokeargument
8. Tags j-l
9. Tags m-o
10. Tags p-q
  1. cfparam
  2. cfpdf
  3. cfpdfform
  4. cfpdfformparam
  5. cfpdfparam
  6. cfpdfsubform
  7. cfpod
  8. cfpop
  9. cfpresentation
  10. cfpresentationslide
  11. cfpresenter
  12. cfprint
  13. cfprocessingdirective
  14. cfprocparam
  15. cfprocresult
  16. cfprogressbar
  17. cfproperty
  18. cfquery
  19. cfqueryparam
11. Tags r-s
  1. cfregistry
  2. cfreport
  3. cfreportparam
  4. cfrethrow
  5. cfreturn
  6. cfsavecontent
  7. cfschedule
  8. cfscript
  9. cfsearch
  10. cfselect
  11. cfservlet
  12. cfservletparam
  13. cfset
  14. cfsetting
  15. cfsharepoint
  16. cfsilent
  17. cfslider
  18. cfspreadsheet
  19. cfsprydataset
  20. cfstoredproc
  21. cfswitch
12. Tags t
  1. cftable
  2. cftextarea
  3. cftextinput
  4. cfthread
  5. cfthrow
  6. cftimer
  7. cftooltip
  8. cftrace
  9. cftransaction
  10. cftree
  11. cftreeitem
  12. cftry
13. Tags u-z
  1. cfupdate
  2. cfwddx
  3. cfwebsocket
  4. cfwindow
  5. cfxml
  6. cfzip
  7. cfzipparam
CFML Reference
1. Reserved words and variables
2. Ajax JavaScript functions
3. ColdFusion ActionScript functions
4. ColdFusion mobile functions
5. Application.cfc reference
6. Script functions implemented as CFCs
7. ColdFusion Flash Form style reference
8. ColdFusion event gateway reference
9. ColdFusion C++ CFX Reference
10. ColdFusion Java CFX reference
11. WDDX JavaScript Objects
Cloud services

Description

Searches one or more Solr collections.A collection must be created and indexed before this tag can return search results.A collection can be created in these ways:

With the cfcollection tag
In the ColdFusion Administrator
A collection can be indexed in the following ways:
In ColdFusion, with the cfindex tag
In the ColdFusion Administrator, which calls the cfindex tag
For more information, see Building a Search Interface in the Developing ColdFusion Applications.

Syntax

cfsearch supports script style syntax:

cfsearch(name="<search_name>", collection="<collection_name>");

<cfsearch

collection = "collection name"

name = "search name"

category = "category[,category2,...]"

categoryTree = "tree location"

contextBytes = "number of bytes"

contextHighlightBegin = "HTML string"

contextHighlightEnd = "HTML string"

contextPassages = "number of passages"

criteria = "search expression"

maxRows = "number"

orderBy = "rank_order"

previousCriteria = "criteria"

startRow = "row number"

status = ""

suggestions = "suggestion option"

type = "criteria">

cfsearch supports script style syntax: cfsearch(name="<search_name>", collection="<collection_name>"); <cfsearch collection = "collection name" name = "search name" category = "category[,category2,...]" categoryTree = "tree location" contextBytes = "number of bytes" contextHighlightBegin = "HTML string" contextHighlightEnd = "HTML string" contextPassages = "number of passages" criteria = "search expression" maxRows = "number" orderBy = "rank_order" previousCriteria = "criteria" startRow = "row number" status = "" suggestions = "suggestion option" type = "criteria">

cfsearch supports script style syntax: 

cfsearch(name="<search_name>", collection="<collection_name>"); 

<cfsearch 
collection = "collection name" 
name = "search name" 
category = "category[,category2,...]" 
categoryTree = "tree location" 
contextBytes = "number of bytes" 
contextHighlightBegin = "HTML string" 
contextHighlightEnd = "HTML string" 
contextPassages = "number of passages" 
criteria = "search expression" 
maxRows = "number" 
orderBy = "rank_order" 
previousCriteria = "criteria" 
startRow = "row number" 
status = "" 
suggestions = "suggestion option" 
type = "criteria">

Note:

You can specify this tag's attributes in an attributeCollection attribute whose value is a structure. Specify the structure name in the attributeCollection attribute and use the tag's attribute names as structure keys.

Note:

The attributes contextHighlightBegin, contextHighlightEnd, and contextBytes should be used only if Term Highlighting is enabled for the collection in the ColdFusion Administrator.

Enable Term Highlighting using Data & Services > ColdFusion Collections > Manage Collection.

History

ColdFusion (2025 release): Removed the attribute external.

ColdFusion 11: Removed the attributes language.

ColdFusion 10: New attribute orderBy

ColdFusion 9: Added support for Solr search engine.

ColdFusion MX 7:

Added category, categoryTree, status, suggestions, contextPassages, contextBytes,
contextHighlightBegin, contextHighlightEnd, and previousCriteria attributes.
Added author, category, categoryTree, context, rank, size, recordsSearched, and type result columns.
Added information on the status structure and its associated keys.
Removed references to a separate K2 server and k2server.ini file.
Removed references to unregistered collections.
Removed references to external collections. ColdFusion MX now manages all collections through the Verity Search service.
Changed cflock recommendation. It is no longer a best practice to surround the cfsearch tag with a cflock tag.
ColdFusion MX:
Deprecated the external attribute. It might not work, and might cause an error, in later releases. (ColdFusion stores this information about each collection; it automatically detects whether a collection is internal or external.) This tag supports absolute (also known as fully qualified) collection pathnames and mapped collection names.
Changed query result behavior: the cfindex tag can index the query results from a cfsearch operation.
Changed Verity operations behavior: ColdFusion supports Verity operations on Acrobat PDF files.
Changed multiple collection behavior: this tag can search multiple collections. In a multiple collection search, you cannot combine collections that are registered with K2Server and registered in another way.
Changed acceptable collection naming: this tag accepts collection names that include spaces.
Changed the following support: this tag supports Verity 2.6.1 and the LinguistX and ICU locales.
Changed thrown exceptions: this tag can throw the SEARCHENGINE exception.

Attributes

Attribute	Req/Opt	Default	Description
name	Required		Name of the search query.
collection	Required		One or more collection names. You can specify more than one collection unless you are performing a category search (that is, specifying category or categoryTree).
category	Optional		A list of categories, separated by commas, to which the search is limited. If specified, and the collection does not have categories enabled, ColdFusion throws an exception.
categoryTree	Optional		The location in a hierarchical category tree at which to start the search. ColdFusion searches at and below this level. If specified, and the collection does not have categories enabled, ColdFusion throws an exception. Can be used in addition to the category attribute.
criteria	Optional		Search criteria. Follows the syntax rules of the type attribute. The search is case-insensitive. Follow Solr syntax and delimiter character rules; see Solr search support in the Developing ColdFusion Applications.
contextBytes	OptionalSolr	300	The maximum number of bytes returned in the context summary.
contextHighlightBegin	OptionalSolr	<b>	The HTML to prepend to search terms in the context summary. Use this attribute in conjunction with contextHighlightEnd to highlight search terms in the context summary.
contextHighlightEnd	OptionalSolr	</b>	The HTML to append to search terms in the context summary. Use this attribute in conjunction with contextHighlightBegin to highlight search terms in the context summary.
contextPassages	OptionalSolr	0	The number of passages/sentences Solr returns in the context summary (that is, the context column of the results). The default is 0, which disables context summary.
language	Optional	english	Deprecated. This attribute is now ignored and the language of the collection is used to perform the search.
maxRows	Optional	all	Maximum number of rows to return in query results.
orderBy	Optional		Sorts the custom field column rank order. By default, it sorts in ascending order.
previousCriteria	Optional		The name of a result set from an existing set of search results. The search engine searches the result set for criteria without regard to the previous search score or rank. Use this attribute to implement searching within result sets.
startRow	Optional	1	Row number of the first row to get.
status	Optional		Specifies the name of the structure variable into which ColdFusion places search information, including alternative criteria suggestions (spelling corrections). For a list of keys in this structure, see the section Status structure keys.
suggestions	Optional	never	Specifies whether the search engine returns spelling suggestions for possibly misspelled words. Use one of the following options: Always: Always return spelling suggestions. Never: Never return spelling suggestions. positive integer: Return spelling suggestions if the number of documents retrieved by the search is less than or equal to the number specified. There is a small performance penalty for retrieving suggestion data.
type	Optional	standard	Specifies the parser that the engine uses to process the criteria. Standard DisMax

Usage

The cfsearch tag returns a query object whose columns you can reference in a cfoutput tag. For example, the following code specifies a search for the exact terms "filming" or "filmed":

<cfsearch

name = "mySearch"

collection = "myCollection"

criteria = '<WILDCARD>`film{ing,ed}`'

type="standard"

startrow=1

maxrows = "100">

<cfsearch name = "mySearch" collection = "myCollection" criteria = '<WILDCARD>`film{ing,ed}`' type="standard" startrow=1 maxrows = "100"> <cfdump var = "#mySearch#>

<cfsearch 
name = "mySearch" 
collection = "myCollection" 
criteria = '<WILDCARD>`film{ing,ed}`' 
type="standard" 
startrow=1 
maxrows = "100"> 
<cfdump var = "#mySearch#>

In this example, the single-quotation mark (') and backtick (`) characters are used as delimiters.

To optimize search performance, always specify the maxrows attribute, setting it to a value that matches your application's needs. A value less than 300 helps to ensure optimal performance.Adobe does not recommend using the cflock tag with this tag; Solr provides the locking function. Using the cflock tag slows search performance.

The cfsearch tag result columns

Variable	Description
context	A context summary containing the search terms, highlighted in bold (by default). This is enabled if you set the contextpassages attribute to a number greater than zero.
url	Value of URLpath attribute in the cfindex tag used to populate a collection.
key	Value of the key attribute in the cfindex tag used to populate a collection.
title	Value of title attribute in cfindex tag used to populate the collection, including PDF and Office document titles. If a title is not extracted from the document, the tag uses the cfindex title attribute value for each row.
score	Relevancy score of document based on search criteria
custom1, custom2, custom3, custom4	Value of custom fields in cfindex tag used to populate a collection.
size	The number of bytes in the index document.
rank	The rank of this document in the search results.
author	Extracted from the HTML, Office, and PDF documents when available.
type	The MIME type of the document.
category	A list of the categories that were specified for this document when it was indexed.
categoryTree	A hierarchical category tree, or serial list of categories, that was specified for this document when it was indexed. Only a single tree is returned.
summary	Contents of automatic summary generated by cfindex.
recordCount	Number of records returned in record set
currentRow	Current row that cfoutput is processing.
columnList	List of column names within record set.
recordsSearched	Number of records searched. This is the same value for each row in the record set. Corresponds to the searched key in the status structure.

Status structure keys

Variable	Description
found	The number of documents that contain the search criteria.
searched	The number of documents searched. Corresponds to the recordsSearched column in the search results.
time	The number of milliseconds the search took.
suggestedQuery	An alternative query that might produce better results. This often contains corrected spellings of search terms. Present only when the suggestions tag attribute criteria is met.
keyword	A struct of structs that consists of keys corresponding to the terms specified in the search criteria. Each struct key maps to a struct containing key-value pairs where each key is a suggested keyword and the corresponding value is the number of times the keyword appears in the index data. Keywords appear only if the search criteria is not met. An empty struct is returned otherwise.

Example

<cfsearch

name = "book"

collection = "custom_book"

criteria = "cf_key=bookid2"

maxrows = "100">

url=#book.url#

key=#book.key#

title=#book.titleE#

score=#book.score#

custom1=#book.custom1#

custom2=#book.custom2#

summary=#book.summary#

recordcount=#book.recordcount#

currentrow=#book.currentrow#

columnlist=#book.columnlist#

recordssearched=#book.recordssearched#

</cfoutput>

<cfsearch name = "book" collection = "custom_book" criteria = "cf_key=bookid2" maxrows = "100"> <cfoutput> url=#book.url# key=#book.key# title=#book.titleE# score=#book.score# custom1=#book.custom1# custom2=#book.custom2# summary=#book.summary# recordcount=#book.recordcount# currentrow=#book.currentrow# columnlist=#book.columnlist# recordssearched=#book.recordssearched# </cfoutput> <cfdump var = #book#>

<!--- #3 (search by CF key) -----------------------------> 
<cfsearch 
name = "book" 
collection = "custom_book" 
criteria = "cf_key=bookid2" 
maxrows = "100"> 
<cfoutput> 
url=#book.url#<br> 
key=#book.key#<br> 
title=#book.titleE#<br> 
score=#book.score#<br> 
custom1=#book.custom1#<br> 
custom2=#book.custom2#<br> 
summary=#book.summary#<br> 
recordcount=#book.recordcount#<br> 
currentrow=#book.currentrow#<br> 
columnlist=#book.columnlist#<br> 
recordssearched=#book.recordssearched#<br> 
</cfoutput> 
<cfdump var = #book#>

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cfsearch

Description

Category

Syntax

See also

History

Attributes

Usage

The cfsearch tag result columns

Status structure keys

Example

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