section below for more details on the supported syntax.
The
-.BR search " and "show
+.BR search ", " show " and " count
commands are used to query the email database.
.RS 4
.TP 4
.B "SEARCH SYNTAX"
section below for details of the supported syntax for <search-terms>.
.RE
+.TP
+.BR count " <search-term>..."
+
+Count messages matching the search terms.
+
+The number of matching messages is output to stdout.
+
+With no search terms, a count of all messages in the database will be
+displayed.
+.RE
.RE
The
terms/phrases in the body, the subject, or any of the sender or
recipient headers.
+As a special case, a search string consisting of exactly a single
+asterisk ("*") will match all messages.
+
In addition to free text, the following prefixes can be used to force
terms to match against specific portions of an email, (where
<brackets> indicate user-supplied values):