---
title: searchPublicChat
description: Searches public chat by its username. Currently only private and channel chats can be public. Returns chat if found, otherwise some error is returned
---
## Method: searchPublicChat  
[Back to methods index](index.md)


YOU CANNOT USE THIS METHOD IN MADELINEPROTO


Searches public chat by its username. Currently only private and channel chats can be public. Returns chat if found, otherwise some error is returned

### Params:

| Name     |    Type       | Required | Description |
|----------|:-------------:|:--------:|------------:|
|username|[string](../types/string.md) | Yes|Username to be resolved|


### Return type: [Chat](../types/Chat.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);
}

$Chat = $MadelineProto->searchPublicChat(['username' => '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 - searchPublicChat
* params - `{"username": "string", }`



### As a user:

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

Parameters:

username - Json encoded string



Or, if you're into Lua:

```
Chat = searchPublicChat({username='string', })
```