search_iterator()

This operation returns a Python iterator for you to iterate over the search results. It is useful especially when the search result contains a large volume of data.

Request Syntax

search_iterator(
    data: list[list[float]], 
    anns_field: str, 
    param: dict, 
    batch_size: int, 
    limit: int, 
    expr: str | None, 
    partition_names: list[str] | None, 
    output_fields: list[str] | None, 
    timeout: float | None, 
    round_decimal: int,
)

PARAMETERS:

data (list[list[float]]) -

[REQUIRED]

A list of vector embeddings.

Milvus searches for the most similar vector embeddings to the specified ones.
anns_field (str) -

[REQUIRED]

The name of the vector field in the current collection.
param (dict) -

[REQUIRED]

The parameter settings specific to this operation.
- metric_type (str) -
  
  The metric type applied to this operation. This should be the same as the one used when you index the vector field specified above.
  
  Possible values are L2, IP, and COSINE.
- params (dict) -
  
  Additional parameters
  - radius (float) -
    
    Determines the threshold of least similarity. When setting metric_type to L2, ensure that this value is greater than that of range_filter. Otherwise, this value should be lower than that of range_filter.
  - range_filter (float) -
    
    Refines the search to vectors within a specific similarity range. When setting metric_type to IP or COSINE, ensure that this value is greater than that of radius. Otherwise, this value should be lower than that of radius.
For details on other applicable search parameters, refer to In-memory Index and On-disk Index.
batch_size (int) -

The number of entities to return each time you call next() on the current iterator.

The value defaults to 1000. Set it to a proper value to control the number of entities to return per iteration.
limit (int) -

The total number of entities to return.

The value defaults to -1, indicating all matching entities will be in return.
expr (str) -

A scalar filtering condition to filter matching entities.

The value defaults to None, indicating that scalar filtering is ignored. To build a scalar filtering condition, refer to Boolean Expression Rules.
output_fields (list) -

A list of field names to include in each entity in return.

The value defaults to None. If left unspecified, only the primary field is included.
partition_names (list) -

A list of partition names.

The value defaults to None. If specified, only the specified partitions are involved in queries.
timeout (float) -

The timeout duration for this operation. Setting this to None indicates that this operation timeouts when any response arrives or any error occurs.
round_decimal (int) -

The number of decimal places that Milvus rounds the calculated distances to.

The value defaults to -1, indicating that Milvus skips rounding the calculated distances and returns the raw value.

RETURN TYPE:

SearchIterator

RETURNS:

A SearchIterator for you to iterate over the search result.

EXCEPTIONS:

MilvusException

This exception will be raised when any error occurs during this operation.

Examples

from pymilvus import Collection, CollectionSchema, FieldSchema, DataType

schema = CollectionSchema([
    FieldSchema("id", DataType.INT64, is_primary=True),
    FieldSchema("vector", DataType.FLOAT_VECTOR, dim=5)
])

# Create a collection
collection = Collection(
    name="test_collection",
    schema=schema
)

# Insert a list of columns
res = collection.insert(
    data=[
        [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9],               # id
        [                                    # vector
            [0.1,0.2,-0.3,-0.4,0.5],
            [0.3,-0.1,-0.2,-0.6,0.7],
            [-0.6,-0.3,0.2,0.8,0.7],
            [0.6,0.2,-0.3,-0.8,0.5],
            [0.3,0.1,-0.2,-0.6,-0.7],
            [0.1,0.2,-0.3,-0.4,0.5],
            [0.3,-0.1,-0.2,-0.6,0.7],
            [-0.6,-0.3,0.2,0.8,0.7],
            [0.6,0.2,-0.3,-0.8,0.5],
            [0.3,0.1,-0.2,-0.6,-0.7],
        ],
    ]
)

BATCH_SIZE = 2
LIMIT = 10

param = {
    "metric_type": "COSINE",
    "params": {
        "nprobe": 1024,
        "radius": 0.2,
        "range_filter": 1.0
    }
}

# Create a search iterator
iterator = collection.search_iterator(
    data=[[0.1,0.2,-0.3,-0.4,0.5]],
    anns_field="vector",
    param=param,
    batch_size=BATCH_SIZE,
    limit=LIMIT,
    expr="id > 3",
    output_fields=["id", "vector"]
)

while True:
    res = iterator.next()
    
    # Get distances
    res.distances()
    
    # Get ids
    res.ids()
    
    if not res.ids():
        iterator.close()
        break

Related operations

The following operations are related to search_iterator():