1 <h1>NOTMUCH-SEXP-QUERIES(7)</h1>
5 notmuch-sexp-queries - s-expression syntax for notmuch queries
10 <b>notmuch</b> <u>subcommand</u> <b>--query=sexp</b> [option ...] <b>--</b> '(and (to santa) (date
16 Notmuch supports an alternative query syntax based on <u>S-expressions</u> .
17 It can be selected with the command line <b>--query=sexp</b> or with the ap‐
18 propriate option to the library function <b>notmuch</b>_<b>query</b>_<b>create</b>_<b>with</b>_<b>syn-</b>
19 <b>tax()</b>. Support for this syntax is currently optional, you can test if
20 your build of notmuch supports it with
22 $ notmuch config get built_with.sexp_queries
25 <h3> S-EXPRESSIONS</h3>
27 An <u>s-expression</u> is either an atom, or list of whitespace delimited
28 s-expressions inside parentheses. Atoms are either
30 <u>basic</u> <u>value</u>
31 A basic value is an unquoted string containing no whitespace, double
32 quotes, or parentheses.
34 <u>quoted</u> <u>string</u>
35 Double quotes (") delimit strings possibly containing whitespace or
36 parentheses. These can contain double quote characters by escaping
37 with backslash. E.g. <b>"this</b> <b>is</b> <b>a</b> <b>quote</b> <b>\""</b>.
40 <h3> S-EXPRESSION QUERIES</h3>
42 An s-expression query is either an atom, the empty list, or a <u>compound</u>
43 <u>query</u> consisting of a prefix atom (first element) defining a <u>field</u>,
44 <u>logical</u> <u>operation</u>, or <u>modifier</u>, and 0 or more subqueries.
47 "*" matches any non-empty string in the current field.
50 The empty list matches all messages
53 Match all messages containing <u>term</u>, possibly after stemming or
54 phrase splitting. For discussion of stemming in notmuch see <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>not‐</a>
55 <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>much-search-terms</a>(7). Stemming only applies to unquoted terms (basic
56 values) in s-expression queries. For information on phrase split‐
57 ting see <u>FIELDS</u>.
59 <b>(</b> <u>field</u> <u>q</u>1 <u>q</u>2 ... <u>q</u>n <b>)</b>
60 Restrict the queries <u>q</u>1 to <u>q</u>n to <u>field</u>, and combine with <u>and</u> (for
61 most fields) or <u>or</u>. See <u>FIELDS</u> for more information.
63 <b>(</b> <u>operator</u> <u>q</u>1 <u>q</u>2 ... <u>q</u>n <b>)</b>
64 Combine queries <u>q</u>1 to <u>q</u>n. Currently supported operators are <b>and</b>, <b>or</b>,
65 and <b>not</b>. <b>(not</b> <u>q</u>1 ... <u>q</u>n <b>)</b> is equivalent to <b>(and</b> <b>(not</b> <u>q</u>1 <b>)</b> <b>...</b> <b>(not</b>
68 <b>(</b> <u>modifier</u> <u>q</u>1 <u>q</u>2 ... <u>q</u>n <b>)</b>
69 Combine queries <u>q</u>1 to <u>q</u>n, and reinterpret the result (e.g. as a reg‐
70 ular expression). See <u>MODIFIERS</u> for more information.
72 <b>(macro</b> <b>(</b> <u>p</u>1 ... <u>p</u>n <b>)</b> <b>body)</b>
73 Define saved query with parameter substitution. The syntax is recog‐
74 nized only in saved s-expression queries (see <b>squery.*</b> in <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>not‐</a>
75 <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>much-config</a>(1)). Parameter names in <b>body</b> must be prefixed with <b>,</b> to
76 be expanded (see <u>MACRO</u> <u>EXAMPLES</u>). Macros may refer to other macros,
77 but only to their own parameters [1].
80 <h3> FIELDS</h3>
82 <u>Fields</u> [2] correspond to attributes of mail messages. Some are inherent
83 (and immutable) like <b>subject</b>, while others <b>tag</b> and <b>property</b> are set‐
84 table by the user. Each concrete field in <u>the</u> <u>table</u> <u>below</u> is discussed
85 further under "Search prefixes" in <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>notmuch-search-terms</a>(7). The row
86 <u>user</u> refers to user defined fields, described in <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>notmuch-config</a>(1).
88 Most fields are either <u>phrase</u> <u>fields</u> [3] (which match sequences of
89 words), or <u>term</u> <u>fields</u> [4] (which match exact strings). <u>Phrase</u> <u>split‐</u>
90 <u>ting</u> breaks the term (basic value or quoted string) into words, ignore
91 punctuation. Phrase splitting is applied to terms in phrase (proba‐
92 bilistic) fields. Both phrase splitting and stemming apply only in
95 Each term or phrase field has an associated combining operator (<b>and</b> or
96 <b>or</b>) used to combine the queries from each element of the tail of the
97 list. This is generally <b>or</b> for those fields where a message has one
98 such attribute, and <b>and</b> otherwise.
100 Term or phrase fields can contain arbitrarily complex queries made up
101 from terms, operators, and modifiers, but not other fields.
104 <h3> Fields with supported modifiers</h3>
106 ┌───────────┬─────────┬────────┬────────┬──────────┬───────┐
107 │field │ combine │ type │ expand │ wildcard │ regex │
108 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
109 │<u>none</u> │ and │ │ no │ yes │ no │
110 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
111 │<u>user</u> │ and │ phrase │ no │ yes │ no │
112 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
113 │attachment │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ no │
114 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
115 │body │ and │ phrase │ no │ no │ no │
116 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
117 │date │ │ range │ no │ no │ no │
118 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
119 │folder │ or │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ yes │
120 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
121 │from │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ yes │
122 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
123 │id │ or │ term │ no │ yes │ yes │
124 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
125 │is │ and │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
126 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
127 │lastmod │ │ range │ no │ no │ no │
128 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
129 │mid │ or │ term │ no │ yes │ yes │
130 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
131 │mimetype │ or │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ no │
132 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
133 │path │ or │ term │ no │ yes │ yes │
134 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
135 │property │ and │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
136 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
137 │subject │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ yes │
138 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
139 │tag │ and │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
140 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
141 │thread │ or │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
142 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
143 │to │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ no │
144 └───────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┴──────────┴───────┘
147 <h3> MODIFIERS</h3>
149 <u>Modifiers</u> refer to any prefixes (first elements of compound queries)
150 that are neither operators nor fields.
152 <b>(infix</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b>
153 Interpret <u>atom</u> as an infix notmuch query (see <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>not‐</a>
154 <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>much-search-terms</a>(7)). Not supported inside fields.
156 <b>(matching</b> <u>q</u>1 <u>q</u>2 ... <u>q</u>n <b>)</b> <b>(of</b> <u>q</u>1 <u>q</u>2 ... <u>q</u>n <b>)</b>
157 Match all messages have the same values of the current field as
158 those matching all of <u>q</u>1 ... <u>q</u>n. Supported in most term [7] or
159 phrase fields. Most commonly used in the <b>thread</b> field.
161 <b>(query</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b>
162 Expand to the saved query named by <u>atom</u>. See <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>notmuch-config</a>(1) for
163 more. Note that the saved query must be in infix syntax (<a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>not‐</a>
164 <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>much-search-terms</a>(7)). Not supported inside fields.
166 <b>(regex</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b> <b>(rx</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b>
167 Interpret <u>atom</u> as a POSIX.2 regular expression (see <b>regex</b>(7)). This
168 applies in term fields and a subset [5] of phrase fields (see <u>Fields</u>
169 <u>with</u> <u>supported</u> <u>modifiers</u>).
171 <b>(starts-with</b> <u>subword</u> <b>)</b>
172 Matches any term starting with <u>subword</u>. This applies in either
173 phrase or term <u>fields</u>, or outside of fields [6]. Note that a
174 <b>starts-with</b> query cannot be part of a phrase. The atom <b>*</b> is a syn‐
175 onym for <b>(starts-with</b> <b>"")</b>.
181 Match all messages containing the word "wizard", ignoring case.
184 Match all messages containing "added", but also those containing
185 "add", "additional", "Additional", "adds", etc... via stemming.
187 <b>(and</b> <b>Bob</b> <b>Marley)</b>
188 Match messages containing words "Bob" and "Marley", or their stems
189 The words need not be adjacent.
191 <b>(not</b> <b>Bob</b> <b>Marley)</b>
192 Match messages containing neither "Bob" nor "Marley", nor their
195 <b>"quick</b> <b>fox"</b> <b>quick-fox</b> <b>quick@fox</b>
196 Match the <u>phrase</u> "quick" followed by "fox" in phrase fields (or out‐
197 side a field). Match the literal string in a term field.
199 <b>(folder</b> <b>(of</b> <b>(id</b> <b>1234@invalid)))</b>
200 Match any message in the same folder as the one with Message-Id "‐
201 <u>1234@invalid</u>"
203 <b>(id</b> <b>1234@invalid</b> <b>blah@test)</b>
204 Matches Message-Id "<u>1234@invalid</u>" <u>or</u> Message-Id "<u>blah@test</u>"
206 <b>(and</b> <b>(infix</b> <b>"date:2009-11-18..2009-11-18")</b> <b>(tag</b> <b>unread))</b>
207 Match messages in the given date range with tag unread.
209 <b>(starts-with</b> <b>prelim)</b>
210 Match any words starting with "prelim".
212 <b>(subject</b> <b>quick</b> <b>"brown</b> <b>fox")</b>
213 Match messages whose subject contains "quick" (anywhere, stemmed)
214 and the phrase "brown fox".
216 <b>(subject</b> <b>(starts-with</b> <b>prelim))</b>
217 Matches any word starting with "prelim", inside a message subject.
219 <b>(subject</b> <b>(starts-wih</b> <b>quick)</b> <b>"brown</b> <b>fox")</b>
220 Match messages whose subject contains "quick brown fox", but also
221 "brown fox quicksand".
223 <b>(thread</b> <b>(of</b> <b>(id</b> <b>1234@invalid)))</b>
224 Match any message in the same thread as the one with Message-Id "‐
225 <u>1234@invalid</u>"
227 <b>(thread</b> <b>(matching</b> <b>(from</b> <b>bob@example.com)</b> <b>(to</b> <b>bob@example.com)))</b>
228 Match any (messages in) a thread containing a message from "‐
229 <u>bob@example.com</u>" and a (possibly distinct) message to "bob at exam‐
232 <b>(to</b> <b>(or</b> <b>bob@example.com</b> <b>mallory@example.org))</b> <b>(or</b> <b>(to</b> <b>bob@example.com)</b>
233 <b>(to</b> <b>mallory@example.org))</b>
234 Match in the "To" or "Cc" headers, "<u>bob@example.com</u>", "‐
235 <u>mallory@example.org</u>", and also "<u>bob@example.com.au</u>" since it con‐
236 tains the adjacent triple "bob", "example", "com".
238 <b>(not</b> <b>(to</b> <b>*))</b>
239 Match messages with an empty or invalid 'To' and 'Cc' field.
241 <b>(List</b> <b>*)</b>
242 Match messages with a non-empty List-Id header, assuming configura‐
243 tion <b>index.header.List=List-Id</b>
246 <h3> MACRO EXAMPLES</h3>
248 A macro that takes two parameters and applies different fields to them.
250 $ notmuch config set squery.TagSubject '(macro (tagname subj) (and (tag ,tagname) (subject ,subj)))'
251 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(TagSubject inbox maildir)'
253 Nested macros are allowed.
255 $ notmuch config set squery.Inner '(macro (x) (subject ,x))'
256 $ notmuch config set squery.Outer '(macro (x y) (and (tag ,x) (Inner ,y)))'
257 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(Outer inbox maildir)'
259 Parameters can be re-used to reduce boilerplate. Any field, including
260 user defined fields is permitted within a macro.
262 $ notmuch config set squery.About '(macro (name) (or (subject ,name) (List ,name)))'
263 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(About notmuch)'
268 [1] Technically macros implement lazy evaluation and lexical scope.
269 There is one top level scope containing all macro definitions, but
270 all parameter definitions are local to a given macro.
274 [3] a.k.a. probabilistic prefixes
276 [4] a.k.a. boolean prefixes
278 [5] Due to the implementation of phrase fields in Xapian, regex queries
279 could only match individual words.
281 [6] Due the the way <b>body</b> is implemented in notmuch, this modifier is
282 not supported in the <b>body</b> field.
284 [7] Due to the way recursive <b>path</b> queries are implemented in notmuch,
285 this modifier is not supported in the <b>path</b> field.
290 Carl Worth and many others
295 2009-2022, Carl Worth and many others