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 └───────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┴──────────┴───────┘
144 │to │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ no │
145 └───────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┴──────────┴───────┘
148 <h3> MODIFIERS</h3>
150 <u>Modifiers</u> refer to any prefixes (first elements of compound queries)
151 that are neither operators nor fields.
153 <b>(infix</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b>
154 Interpret <u>atom</u> as an infix notmuch query (see <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>not‐</a>
155 <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>much-search-terms</a>(7)). Not supported inside fields.
157 <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>
158 Match all messages have the same values of the current field as
159 those matching all of <u>q</u>1 ... <u>q</u>n. Supported in most term [7] or
160 phrase fields. Most commonly used in the <b>thread</b> field.
162 <b>(query</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b>
163 Expand to the saved query named by <u>atom</u>. See <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>notmuch-config</a>(1) for
164 more. Note that the saved query must be in infix syntax (<a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>not‐</a>
165 <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>much-search-terms</a>(7)). Not supported inside fields.
167 <b>(regex</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b> <b>(rx</b> <u>atom</u> <b>)</b>
168 Interpret <u>atom</u> as a POSIX.2 regular expression (see <b>regex</b>(7)). This
169 applies in term fields and a subset [5] of phrase fields (see <u>Fields</u>
170 <u>with</u> <u>supported</u> <u>modifiers</u>).
172 <b>(starts-with</b> <u>subword</u> <b>)</b>
173 Matches any term starting with <u>subword</u>. This applies in either
174 phrase or term <u>fields</u>, or outside of fields [6]. Note that a
175 <b>starts-with</b> query cannot be part of a phrase. The atom <b>*</b> is a syn‐
176 onym for <b>(starts-with</b> <b>"")</b>.
182 Match all messages containing the word "wizard", ignoring case.
185 Match all messages containing "added", but also those containing
186 "add", "additional", "Additional", "adds", etc... via stemming.
188 <b>(and</b> <b>Bob</b> <b>Marley)</b>
189 Match messages containing words "Bob" and "Marley", or their stems
190 The words need not be adjacent.
192 <b>(not</b> <b>Bob</b> <b>Marley)</b>
193 Match messages containing neither "Bob" nor "Marley", nor their
196 <b>"quick</b> <b>fox"</b> <b>quick-fox</b> <b>quick@fox</b>
197 Match the <u>phrase</u> "quick" followed by "fox" in phrase fields (or out‐
198 side a field). Match the literal string in a term field.
200 <b>(folder</b> <b>(of</b> <b>(id</b> <b>1234@invalid)))</b>
201 Match any message in the same folder as the one with Message-Id "‐
202 <u>1234@invalid</u>"
204 <b>(id</b> <b>1234@invalid</b> <b>blah@test)</b>
205 Matches Message-Id "<u>1234@invalid</u>" <u>or</u> Message-Id "<u>blah@test</u>"
207 <b>(and</b> <b>(infix</b> <b>"date:2009-11-18..2009-11-18")</b> <b>(tag</b> <b>unread))</b>
208 Match messages in the given date range with tag unread.
210 <b>(starts-with</b> <b>prelim)</b>
211 Match any words starting with "prelim".
213 <b>(subject</b> <b>quick</b> <b>"brown</b> <b>fox")</b>
214 Match messages whose subject contains "quick" (anywhere, stemmed)
215 and the phrase "brown fox".
217 <b>(subject</b> <b>(starts-with</b> <b>prelim))</b>
218 Matches any word starting with "prelim", inside a message subject.
220 <b>(subject</b> <b>(starts-wih</b> <b>quick)</b> <b>"brown</b> <b>fox")</b>
221 Match messages whose subject contains "quick brown fox", but also
222 "brown fox quicksand".
224 <b>(thread</b> <b>(of</b> <b>(id</b> <b>1234@invalid)))</b>
225 Match any message in the same thread as the one with Message-Id "‐
226 <u>1234@invalid</u>"
228 <b>(thread</b> <b>(matching</b> <b>(from</b> <b>bob@example.com)</b> <b>(to</b> <b>bob@example.com)))</b>
229 Match any (messages in) a thread containing a message from "‐
230 <u>bob@example.com</u>" and a (possibly distinct) message to "bob at exam‐
233 <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>
234 <b>(to</b> <b>mallory@example.org))</b>
235 Match in the "To" or "Cc" headers, "<u>bob@example.com</u>", "‐
236 <u>mallory@example.org</u>", and also "<u>bob@example.com.au</u>" since it con‐
237 tains the adjacent triple "bob", "example", "com".
239 <b>(not</b> <b>(to</b> <b>*))</b>
240 Match messages with an empty or invalid 'To' and 'Cc' field.
242 <b>(List</b> <b>*)</b>
243 Match messages with a non-empty List-Id header, assuming configura‐
244 tion <b>index.header.List=List-Id</b>
247 <h3> MACRO EXAMPLES</h3>
249 A macro that takes two parameters and applies different fields to them.
251 $ notmuch config set squery.TagSubject '(macro (tagname subj) (and (tag ,tagname) (subject ,subj)))'
252 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(TagSubject inbox maildir)'
254 Nested macros are allowed.
256 $ notmuch config set squery.Inner '(macro (x) (subject ,x))'
257 $ notmuch config set squery.Outer '(macro (x y) (and (tag ,x) (Inner ,y)))'
258 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(Outer inbox maildir)'
260 Parameters can be re-used to reduce boilerplate. Any field, including
261 user defined fields is permitted within a macro.
263 $ notmuch config set squery.About '(macro (name) (or (subject ,name) (List ,name)))'
264 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(About notmuch)'
269 [1] Technically macros implement lazy evaluation and lexical scope.
270 There is one top level scope containing all macro definitions, but
271 all parameter definitions are local to a given macro.
275 [3] a.k.a. probabilistic prefixes
277 [4] a.k.a. boolean prefixes
279 [5] Due to the implementation of phrase fields in Xapian, regex queries
280 could only match individual words.
282 [6] Due the the way <b>body</b> is implemented in notmuch, this modifier is
283 not supported in the <b>body</b> field.
285 [7] Due to the way recursive <b>path</b> queries are implemented in notmuch,
286 this modifier is not supported in the <b>path</b> field.
291 Carl Worth and many others
296 2009-2022, Carl Worth and many others