<link href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.0/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" id="bootstrap-css"> <script src="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.0/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script> <script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.1.min.js"></script> <!------ Include the above in your HEAD tag ----------> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <h2>Data table search placeholder</h2> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6"> <div id="table-data_filter" class="dataTables_filter"> <input class="form-control input-sm" type="search"> </div> </div> </div> </div>

$(document).ready(function() { $('.dataTables_filter input').attr("placeholder", "enter seach terms here"); });