---
title: searchPublicChats
description: Searches public chats by prefix of their username. Currently only private and channel (including supergroup) chats can be public. Returns meaningful number of results. Returns nothing if length of the searched username prefix is less than 5. Excludes private chats with contacts from the results
---
## Method: searchPublicChats  
[Back to methods index](index.md)


YOU CANNOT USE THIS METHOD IN MADELINEPROTO


Searches public chats by prefix of their username. Currently only private and channel (including supergroup) chats can be public. Returns meaningful number of results. Returns nothing if length of the searched username prefix is less than 5. Excludes private chats with contacts from the results

### Params:

| Name     |    Type       | Required | Description |
|----------|---------------|----------|-------------|
|username\_prefix|[string](../types/string.md) | Yes|Prefix of the username to search|


### Return type: [Chats](../types/Chats.md)

### Example:


```
$MadelineProto = new \danog\MadelineProto\API();
if (isset($token)) { // Login as a bot
    $MadelineProto->bot_login($token);
}
if (isset($number)) { // Login as a user
    $sentCode = $MadelineProto->phone_login($number);
    echo 'Enter the code you received: ';
    $code = '';
    for ($x = 0; $x < $sentCode['type']['length']; $x++) {
        $code .= fgetc(STDIN);
    }
    $MadelineProto->complete_phone_login($code);
}

$Chats = $MadelineProto->searchPublicChats(['username_prefix' => 'string', ]);
```

Or, if you're using the [PWRTelegram HTTP API](https://pwrtelegram.xyz):

### As a bot:

POST/GET to `https://api.pwrtelegram.xyz/botTOKEN/madeline`

Parameters:

* method - searchPublicChats
* params - `{"username_prefix": "string", }`



### As a user:

POST/GET to `https://api.pwrtelegram.xyz/userTOKEN/searchPublicChats`

Parameters:

username_prefix - Json encoded string



Or, if you're into Lua:

```
Chats = searchPublicChats({username_prefix='string', })
```