a *field*, *logical operation*, or *modifier*, and 0 or more
subqueries.
-``*``
-``()``
- The empty list matches all messages
+``*`` ``()``
+ Match all messages.
*term*
- Match all messages containing *term*, possibly after
- stemming or phase splitting. For discussion of stemming in
- notmuch see :any:`notmuch-search-terms(7)`. Stemming only applies
- to unquoted terms (basic values) in s-expression queries.
+
+ Match all messages containing *term*, possibly after stemming or
+ phrase splitting. For discussion of stemming in notmuch see
+ :any:`notmuch-search-terms(7)`. Stemming only applies to unquoted
+ terms (basic values) in s-expression queries. For information on
+ phrase splitting see :any:`fields`.
``(`` *field* |q1| |q2| ... |qn| ``)``
Restrict the queries |q1| to |qn| to *field*, and combine with *and*
(for most fields) or *or*. See :any:`fields` for more information.
``(`` *operator* |q1| |q2| ... |qn| ``)``
- Combine queries |q1| to |qn|. See :any:`operators` for more information.
+ Combine queries |q1| to |qn|. Currently supported operators are
+ ``and``, ``or``, and ``not``. ``(not`` |q1| ... |qn| ``)`` is equivalent
+ to ``(and (not`` |q1| ``) ... (not`` |qn| ``))``.
``(`` *modifier* |q1| |q2| ... |qn| ``)``
Combine queries |q1| to |qn|, and reinterpret the result (e.g. as a regular expression).
FIELDS
``````
-.. _operators:
-
-OPERATORS
-`````````
+*Fields* [#aka-pref]_
+correspond to attributes of mail messages. Some are inherent (and
+immutable) like ``subject``, while others ``tag`` and ``property`` are
+settable by the user. Each concrete field in
+:any:`the table below <field-table>`
+is discussed further under "Search prefixes" in
+:any:`notmuch-search-terms(7)`. The row *user* refers to user defined
+fields, described in :any:`notmuch-config(1)`.
+
+Most fields are either *phrase fields* [#aka-prob]_ (which match
+sequences of words), or *term fields* [#aka-bool]_ (which match exact
+strings). *Phrase splitting* breaks the term (basic value or quoted
+string) into words, ignore punctuation. Phrase splitting is applied to
+terms in phrase (probabilistic) fields. Both phrase splitting and
+stemming apply only in phrase fields.
+
+.. _field-table:
+
+.. table:: Fields with supported modifiers
+
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | field | combine | type | expand | wildcard | regex |
+ +============+===========+===========+===========+===========+==========+
+ | *none* | and | | no | yes | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | *user* | and | phrase | no | yes | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | attachment | and | phrase | yes | yes | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | body | and | phrase | no | no | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | date | | range | no | no | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | folder | or | phrase | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | from | and | phrase | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | id | or | term | no | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | is | and | term | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | lastmod | | range | no | no | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | mid | or | term | no | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | mimetype | or | phrase | yes | yes | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | path | or | term | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | property | and | term | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | subject | and | phrase | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | tag | and | term | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | thread | or | term | yes | yes | yes |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+ | to | and | phrase | yes | yes | no |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+
.. _modifiers:
Match all messages containing "added", but also those containing "add", "additional",
"Additional", "adds", etc... via stemming.
+``(and Bob Marley)``
+ Match messages containing words "Bob" and "Marley", or their stems
+ The words need not be adjacent.
+
+``(not Bob Marley)``
+ Match messages containing neither "Bob" nor "Marley", nor their stems,
+
+``"quick fox"`` ``quick-fox`` ``quick@fox``
+ Match the *phrase* "quick" followed by "fox" in phrase fields (or
+ outside a field). Match the literal string in a term field.
+
+``(subject quick "brown fox")``
+ Match messages whose subject contains "quick" (anywhere, stemmed) and
+ the phrase "brown fox".
+
+NOTES
+=====
+
+.. [#aka-pref] a.k.a. prefixes
+
+.. [#aka-prob] a.k.a. probabilistic prefixes
+
+.. [#aka-bool] a.k.a. boolean prefixes
+
.. |q1| replace:: :math:`q_1`
.. |q2| replace:: :math:`q_2`
.. |qn| replace:: :math:`q_n`