A search apparatus, comprising: N pipeline stages, wherein N>1; and each pipeline stage comprises a search unit, and the search units are respectively the 0 th -stage to the (N-1) th -stage search units according to an execution sequence of the N pipeline stages, wherein the search unit of each stage comprises a prefix node, configured to store a prefix and a next hop corresponding to the prefix, wherein: the (i+1) th -stage search unit is configured with a first prefix node, the i th -stage search unit is configured with a second prefix node, wherein 0≤i≤(N-2), a next hop corresponding to a prefix stored on the second prefix node points to the first prefix node, and the second prefix node is obtained by dividing, into sub-trees, a first multi-bit Trie tree formed by an associated prefix of the first prefix node; and the obtaining the second prefix node by dividing, into sub-trees, a first multi-bit Trie tree formed by an associated prefix of the first prefix node comprises: dividing the first multi-bit Trie tree into M sub-trees, wherein M≥1, and each sub-tree comprises a Trie node of the first multi-bit Trie tree and K branches of the Trie node; and obtaining the second prefix node according to the M sub-trees, wherein 0≤K≤stride, and the stride is a stride of the first multi-bit Trie tree. N pipeline stages, wherein N>1; and each pipeline stage comprises a search unit, and the search units are respectively the 0 th -stage to the (N-1) th -stage search units according to an execution sequence of the N pipeline stages, wherein the search unit of each stage comprises a prefix node, configured to store a prefix and a next hop corresponding to the prefix, wherein: the (i+1) th -stage search unit is configured with a first prefix node, the i th -stage search unit is configured with a second prefix node, wherein 0≤i≤(N-2), a next hop corresponding to a prefix stored on the second prefix node points to the first prefix node, and the second prefix node is obtained by dividing, into sub-trees, a first multi-bit Trie tree formed by an associated prefix of the first prefix node; and the obtaining the second prefix node by dividing, into sub-trees, a first multi-bit Trie tree formed by an associated prefix of the first prefix node comprises: dividing the first multi-bit Trie tree into M sub-trees, wherein M≥1, and each sub-tree comprises a Trie node of the first multi-bit Trie tree and K branches of the Trie node; and obtaining the second prefix node according to the M sub-trees, wherein 0≤K≤stride, and the stride is a stride of the first multi-bit Trie tree. the (i+1) th -stage search unit is configured with a first prefix node, the i th -stage search unit is configured with a second prefix node, wherein 0≤i≤(N-2), a next hop corresponding to a prefix stored on the second prefix node points to the first prefix node, and the second prefix node is obtained by dividing, into sub-trees, a first multi-bit Trie tree formed by an associated prefix of the first prefix node; and the obtaining the second prefix node by dividing, into sub-trees, a first multi-bit Trie tree formed by an associated prefix of the first prefix node comprises: dividing the first multi-bit Trie tree into M sub-trees, wherein M≥1, and each sub-tree comprises a Trie node of the first multi-bit Trie tree and K branches of the Trie node; and obtaining the second prefix node according to the M sub-trees, wherein 0≤K≤stride, and the stride is a stride of the first multi-bit Trie tree. <EOS>