# Limit number of documents returned by each clause in Search query
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limit-number-of-documents-returned-by-each-clause-in-search-query/198801
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [September 9, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limit-number-of-documents-returned-by-each-clause-in-search-query/198801 "2019-09-09T22:54:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@indiekid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/indiekid)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limit-number-of-documents-returned-by-each-clause-in-search-query/198801/1 "2019-09-09T22:54:29Z")
I have a category field in my documents, which is mapped as a keyword. I am trying to run a search query that fetches the latest _n_ documents for each category specified in the query.
I am able to achieve this using a multi-search, with each term search looking for the latest _n_ documents for a particular category, but I was wondering if it possible to achieve using a single search query.
I have drafted a bool query that illustrates this problem:
```
curl -X GET "http://localhost:9200/my_index_2019-09-08,my_index_2019-09-07/_search?pretty" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '
{
"_source": ["category", "field1", "field2", "field3"],
"query": {
"bool": {
"should": [
{"term": {"category": "green"}},
{"term": {"category": "blue"}}
],
"minimum_should_match" : 1
}
},
"sort": [{"field3": "desc"}],
"from": 0,
"size": 10
}
'
```
This query fetches the latest 10 documents that match either category. Ideally, I would like to be able to limit the number of matches for each category, if possible.
Elasticsearch version: 6.5.4
---
### Author:  [@wangqinghuan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wangqinghuan)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2019, 5:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limit-number-of-documents-returned-by-each-clause-in-search-query/198801/2 "2019-09-10T05:04:53Z")
See [Top Hits Aggs](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.4/search-aggregations-metrics-top-hits-aggregation.html)
---
### Author:  [@indiekid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/indiekid)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2019, 7:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limit-number-of-documents-returned-by-each-clause-in-search-query/198801/3 "2019-09-10T07:55:42Z")
It worked really well, thanks! I was able to rewrite my query in the following manner:
```
curl -X POST "http://localhost:9200/my_index_2019-09-08,my_index_2019-09-07/_search?size=0&pretty" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
"aggs": {
"top_tags": {
"terms": {
"field": "category",
"include": ["green", "blue"]
},
"aggs": {
"category": {
"top_hits": {
"sort": [{"field3": "desc"}],
"_source": {
"includes": [
"field1", "field2", "field3", "category"
]
},
"size" : 1
}
}
}
}
}
}
'
```
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2019, 7:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limit-number-of-documents-returned-by-each-clause-in-search-query/198801/4 "2019-10-08T07:55:43Z")
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