[[search-request-source-filtering]]
=== Source filtering


Allows to control how the `_source` field is returned with every hit.

By default operations return the contents of the `_source` field unless
you have used the `fields` parameter or if the `_source` field is disabled.

You can turn off `_source` retrieval by using the `_source` parameter:

To disable `_source` retrieval set to `false`:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
    "_source": false,
    "query" : {
        "term" : { "user" : "kimchy" }
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------

The `_source` also accepts one or more wildcard patterns to control what parts of the `_source` should be returned:

For example:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
    "_source": "obj.*",
    "query" : {
        "term" : { "user" : "kimchy" }
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------

Or

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
    "_source": [ "obj1.*", "obj2.*" ],
    "query" : {
        "term" : { "user" : "kimchy" }
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------

Finally, for complete control, you can specify both include and exclude patterns:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
    "_source": {
        "include": [ "obj1.*", "obj2.*" ],
        "exclude": [ "*.description" ]
    },
    "query" : {
        "term" : { "user" : "kimchy" }
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------
