When you take the Search action, you devote your attention to finding something. Depending on the nature of your search, the GM might have you make a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.
From experience, most players and DMs interpret this wildly differently, although I can't exactly blame them because in 5th edition the rules for perception, hiding, invisibility, and searching are all split up and located in different parts of the book.
it sounds like something a D&D character can do once per turn
From experience, most players and DMs interpret this wildly differently, although I can't exactly blame them because in 5th edition the rules for perception, hiding, invisibility, and searching are all split up and located in different parts of the book.