X-Git-Url: https://git.cworth.org/git?a=blobdiff_plain;f=manpages%2Fnotmuch-search-terms-7.mdwn;h=e46c6b5e9d024f942e882bb74d8b954da719a911;hb=716bcefd296e3ee39ff65e8ef89e671c9828191d;hp=ee5c1b2205455da5eccd42d6f365e327393bba3e;hpb=cf2df983cb6d13042694366be4aba76d4a98048b;p=notmuch-wiki
diff --git a/manpages/notmuch-search-terms-7.mdwn b/manpages/notmuch-search-terms-7.mdwn
index ee5c1b2..e46c6b5 100644
--- a/manpages/notmuch-search-terms-7.mdwn
+++ b/manpages/notmuch-search-terms-7.mdwn
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@
notmuch count [option ...] <search-term> ...
- notmuch dump [--format=(batch-tag|sup)] [--] [--output=<file>] [--]
+ notmuch dump [--gzip] [--format=(batch-tag|sup)] [--output=<file>] [--]
[<search-term> ...]
+ notmuch reindex [option ...] <search-term> ...
+
notmuch search [option ...] <search-term> ...
notmuch show [option ...] <search-term> ...
@@ -30,113 +32,281 @@
As a special case, a search string consisting of exactly a single
asterisk ("*") will match all messages.
+
+ Search prefixes
+
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):
+ indicate user-supplied values).
+
+ If notmuch is built with Xapian Field Processors (see below) some of
+ the prefixes with <regex> forms can be also used to restrict the
+ results to those whose value matches a regular expression (see
+ regex(7)) delimited with //, for example:
+
+ notmuch search 'from:"/bob@.*[.]example[.]com/"'
+
+ body:<word-or-quoted-phrase>
+ Match terms in the body of messages.
+
+ from:<name-or-address> or from:/<regex>/
+ The from: prefix is used to match the name or address of the
+ sender of an email message.
+
+ to:<name-or-address>
+ The to: prefix is used to match the names or addresses of any
+ recipient of an email message, (whether To, Cc, or Bcc).
+
+ subject:<word-or-quoted-phrase> or subject:/<regex>/
+ Any term prefixed with subject: will match only text from the
+ subject of an email. Searching for a phrase in the subject is
+ supported by including quotation marks around the phrase, immeâ
+ diately following subject:.
+
+ attachment:<word>
+ The attachment: prefix can be used to search for specific fileâ
+ names (or extensions) of attachments to email messages.
+
+ mimetype:<word>
+ The mimetype: prefix will be used to match text from the conâ
+ tent-types of MIME parts within email messages (as specified by
+ the sender).
+
+ tag:<tag> or tag:/<regex>/ or is:<tag> or is:/<regex>/
+ For tag: and is: valid tag values include inbox and unread by
+ default for new messages added by notmuch new as well as any
+ other tag values added manually with notmuch tag.
+
+ id:<message-id> or mid:<message-id> or mid:/<regex>/
+ For id: and mid:, message ID values are the literal contents of
+ the Message-ID: header of email messages, but without the '<',
+ '>' delimiters.
+
+ thread:<thread-id>
+ The thread: prefix can be used with the thread ID values that
+ are generated internally by notmuch (and do not appear in email
+ messages). These thread ID values can be seen in the first colâ
+ umn of output from notmuch search
+
+ thread:{<notmuch query>}
+ If notmuch is built with Xapian Field Processors (see below),
+ threads may be searched for indirectly by providing an arbitrary
+ notmuch query in {}. For example, the following returns threads
+ containing a message from mallory and one (not necessarily the
+ same message) with Subject containing the word "crypto".
+
+ % notmuch search 'thread:"{from:mallory}" and thread:"{subject:crypto}"'
+
+ The performance of such queries can vary wildly. To understand
+ this, the user should think of the query thread:{<something>} as
+ expanding to all of the thread IDs which match <something>; notâ
+ much then performs a second search using the expanded query.
+
+ path:<directory-path> or path:<directory-path>/** or path:/<regex>/
+ The path: prefix searches for email messages that are in particâ
+ ular directories within the mail store. The directory must be
+ specified relative to the top-level maildir (and without the
+ leading slash). By default, path: matches messages in the speciâ
+ fied directory only. The "/**" suffix can be used to match mesâ
+ sages in the specified directory and all its subdirectories
+ recursively. path:"" matches messages in the root of the mail
+ store and, likewise, path:** matches all messages.
+
+ path: will find a message if any copy of that message is in the
+ specific directory.
+
+ folder:<maildir-folder> or folder:/<regex>/
+ The folder: prefix searches for email messages by maildir or MH
+ folder. For MH-style folders, this is equivalent to path:. For
+ maildir, this includes messages in the "new" and "cur" subdirecâ
+ tories. The exact syntax for maildir folders depends on your
+ mail configuration. For maildir++, folder:"" matches the inbox
+ folder (which is the root in maildir++), other folder names
+ always start with ".", and nested folders are separated by "."s,
+ such as folder:.classes.topology. For "file system" maildir, the
+ inbox is typically folder:INBOX and nested folders are separated
+ by slashes, such as folder:classes/topology.
+
+ folder: will find a message if any copy of that message is in
+ the specific folder.
+
+ date:<since>..<until> or date:<date>
+ The date: prefix can be used to restrict the results to only
+ messages within a particular time range (based on the Date:
+ header).
+
+ See DATE AND TIME SEARCH below for details on the range expresâ
+ sion, and supported syntax for <since> and <until> date and time
+ expressions.
+
+ The time range can also be specified using timestamps without
+ including the date prefix using a syntax of:
+
+ <initial-timestamp>..<final-timestamp>
+
+ Each timestamp is a number representing the number of seconds
+ since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. Specifying a time range this way
+ is considered legacy and predates the date prefix.
+
+ lastmod:<initial-revision>..<final-revision>
+ The lastmod: prefix can be used to restrict the result by the
+ database revision number of when messages were last modified
+ (tags were added/removed or filenames changed). This is usually
+ used in conjunction with the --uuid argument to notmuch search
+ to find messages that have changed since an earlier query.
+
+ query:<name>
+ The query: prefix allows queries to refer to previously saved
+ queries added with notmuch-config(1). Named queries are only
+ available if notmuch is built with Xapian Field Processors (see
+ below).
+
+ property:<key>=<value>
+ The property: prefix searches for messages with a particular
+ <key>=<value> property pair. Properties are used internally by
+ notmuch (and extensions) to add metadata to messages. A given
+ key can be present on a given message with several different
+ values. See notmuch-properties(7) for more details.
+
+ User defined prefixes are also supported, see notmuch-config(1) for
+ details.
+
- · from:<name-or-address>
+ Operators
+
+ In addition to individual terms, multiple terms can be combined with
+ Boolean operators (and, or, not, and xor). Each term in the query will
+ be implicitly connected by a logical AND if no explicit operator is
+ provided (except that terms with a common prefix will be implicitly
+ combined with OR). The shorthand '-<term>' can be used for 'not
+ <term>' but unfortunately this does not work at the start of an expresâ
+ sion. Parentheses can also be used to control the combination of the
+ Boolean operators, but will have to be protected from interpretation by
+ the shell, (such as by putting quotation marks around any parenthesized
+ expression).
- · to:<name-or-address>
+ In addition to the standard boolean operators, Xapian provides several
+ operators specific to text searching.
- · subject:<word-or-quoted-phrase>
+ notmuch search term1 NEAR term2
- · attachment:<word>
+ will return results where term1 is within 10 words of term2. The
+ threshold can be set like this:
- · tag:<tag> (or is:<tag>)
+ notmuch search term1 NEAR/2 term2
- · id:<message-id>
+ The search
- · thread:<thread-id>
+ notmuch search term1 ADJ term2
- · folder:<maildir-folder>
+ will return results where term1 is within 10 words of term2, but in the
+ same order as in the query. The threshold can be set the same as with
+ NEAR:
- · path:<directory-path> or path:<directory-path>/**
+ notmuch search term1 ADJ/7 term2
+
- · date:<since>..<until>
+ Stemming
+
+ Stemming in notmuch means that these searches
- The from: prefix is used to match the name or address of the sender of
- an email message.
+ notmuch search detailed
+ notmuch search details
+ notmuch search detail
- The to: prefix is used to match the names or addresses of any recipient
- of an email message, (whether To, Cc, or Bcc).
+ will all return identical results, because Xapian first "reduces" the
+ term to the common stem (here 'detail') and then performs the search.
- Any term prefixed with subject: will match only text from the subject
- of an email. Searching for a phrase in the subject is supported by
- including quotation marks around the phrase, immediately following sub-
- ject:.
+ There are two ways to turn this off: a search for a capitalized word
+ will be performed unstemmed, so that one can search for "John" and not
+ get results for "Johnson"; phrase searches are also unstemmed (see
+ below for details). Stemming is currently only supported for English.
+ Searches for words in other languages will be performed unstemmed.
+
- The attachment: prefix can be used to search for specific filenames (or
- extensions) of attachments to email messages.
+ Wildcards
+
+ It is possible to use a trailing '*' as a wildcard. A search for
+ 'wildc*' will match 'wildcard', 'wildcat', etc.
+
- For tag: and is: valid tag values include inbox and unread by default
- for new messages added by notmuch new as well as any other tag values
- added manually with notmuch tag.
+ Boolean and Probabilistic Prefixes
+
+ Xapian (and hence notmuch) prefixes are either boolean, supporting
+ exact matches like "tag:inbox" or probabilistic, supporting a more
+ flexible term based searching. Certain special prefixes are processed
+ by notmuch in a way not strictly fitting either of Xapian's built in
+ styles. The prefixes currently supported by notmuch are as follows.
- For id:, message ID values are the literal contents of the Message-ID:
- header of email messages, but without the '<', '>' delimiters.
+ Boolean
+ tag:, id:, thread:, folder:, path:, property:
- The thread: prefix can be used with the thread ID values that are genâ
- erated internally by notmuch (and do not appear in email messages).
- These thread ID values can be seen in the first column of output from
- notmuch search
+ Probabilistic
+ body:, to:, attachment:, mimetype:
- The path: prefix searches for email messages that are in particular
- directories within the mail store. The directory must be specified relâ
- ative to the top-level maildir (and without the leading slash). By
- default, path: matches messages in the specified directory only. The
- "/**" suffix can be used to match messages in the specified directory
- and all its subdirectories recursively. path:"" matches messages in
- the root of the mail store and, likewise, path:** matches all messages.
+ Special
+ from:, query:, subject:
+
- The folder: prefix searches for email messages by maildir or MH folder.
- For MH-style folders, this is equivalent to path:. For maildir, this
- includes messages in the "new" and "cur" subdirectories. The exact synâ
- tax for maildir folders depends on your mail configuration. For
- maildir++, folder:"" matches the inbox folder (which is the root in
- maildir++), other folder names always start with ".", and nested foldâ
- ers are separated by "."s, such as folder:.classes.topology. For "file
- system" maildir, the inbox is typically folder:INBOX and nested folders
- are separated by slashes, such as folder:classes/topology.
+ Terms and phrases
+
+ In general Xapian distinguishes between lists of terms and phrases.
+ Phrases are indicated by double quotes (but beware you probably need to
+ protect those from your shell) and insist that those unstemmed words
+ occur in that order. One useful, but initially surprising feature is
+ that the following are equivalent ways to write the same phrase.
- Both path: and folder: will find a message if any copy of that message
- is in the specific directory/folder.
+ · "a list of words"
- The date: prefix can be used to restrict the results to only messages
- within a particular time range (based on the Date: header) with a range
- syntax of:
+ · a-list-of-words
- date:<since>..<until>
+ · a/list/of/words
- See DATE AND TIME SEARCH below for details on the range expression, and
- supported syntax for <since> and <until> date and time expressions.
+ · a.list.of.words
- The time range can also be specified using timestamps with a syntax of:
+ Both parenthesised lists of terms and quoted phrases are ok with probaâ
+ bilistic prefixes such as to:, from:, and subject:. In particular
- <initial-timestamp>..<final-timestamp>
+ subject:(pizza free)
- Each timestamp is a number representing the number of seconds since
- 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.
+ is equivalent to
- In addition to individual terms, multiple terms can be combined with
- Boolean operators ( and, or, not , etc.). Each term in the query will
- be implicitly connected by a logical AND if no explicit operator is
- provided, (except that terms with a common prefix will be implicitly
- combined with OR until we get Xapian defect #402 fixed).
+ subject:pizza and subject:free
- Parentheses can also be used to control the combination of the Boolean
- operators, but will have to be protected from interpretation by the
- shell, (such as by putting quotation marks around any parenthesized
- expression).
+ Both of these will match a subject "Free Delicious Pizza" while
+
+ subject:"pizza free"
+
+ will not.
+
+
+ Quoting
+
+ Double quotes are also used by the notmuch query parser to protect
+ boolean terms, regular expressions, or subqueries containing spaces or
+ other special characters, e.g.
+
+ tag:"a tag"
+
+ folder:"/^.*/(Junk|Spam)$/"
+
+ thread:"{from:mallory and date:2009}"
+
+ As with phrases, you need to protect the double quotes from the shell
+ e.g.
+
+ % notmuch search 'folder:"/^.*/(Junk|Spam)$/"'
+ % notmuch search 'thread:"{from:mallory and date:2009}" and thread:{to:mallory}'
DATE AND TIME SEARCH
- notmuch understands a variety of standard and natural ways of expressâ
+ notmuch understands a variety of standard and natural ways of expressâ
ing dates and times, both in absolute terms ("2012-10-24") and in relaâ
- tive terms ("yesterday"). Any number of relative terms can be combined
- ("1 hour 25 minutes") and an absolute date/time can be combined with
- relative terms to further adjust it. A non-exhaustive description of
+ tive terms ("yesterday"). Any number of relative terms can be combined
+ ("1 hour 25 minutes") and an absolute date/time can be combined with
+ relative terms to further adjust it. A non-exhaustive description of
the syntax supported for absolute and relative terms is given below.
@@ -144,29 +314,37 @@
date:<since>..<until>
- The above expression restricts the results to only messages from
+ The above expression restricts the results to only messages from
<since> to <until>, based on the Date: header.
- <since> and <until> can describe imprecise times, such as "yesterday".
- In this case, <since> is taken as the earliest time it could describe
+ <since> and <until> can describe imprecise times, such as "yesterday".
+ In this case, <since> is taken as the earliest time it could describe
(the beginning of yesterday) and <until> is taken as the latest time it
- could describe (the end of yesterday). Similarly, date:january..februâ
+ could describe (the end of yesterday). Similarly, date:january..februâ
ary matches from the beginning of January to the end of February.
- Currently, we do not support spaces in range expressions. You can
+ If specifying a time range using timestamps in conjunction with the
+ date prefix, each timestamp must be preceded by @ (ASCII hex 40). As
+ above, each timestamp is a number representing the number of seconds
+ since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. For example:
+ date:@<initial-timestamp>..@<final-timestamp>
+
+ date:<expr>..! can be used as a shorthand for date:<expr>..<expr>. The
+ expansion takes place before interpretation, and thus, for example,
+ date:monday..! matches from the beginning of Monday until the end of
+ Monday. With Xapian Field Processor support (see below), non-range
+ date queries such as date:yesterday will work, but otherwise will give
+ unexpected results; if in doubt use date:yesterday..!
+
+ Currently, we do not support spaces in range expressions. You can
replace the spaces with '_', or (in most cases) '-', or (in some cases)
- leave the spaces out altogether. Examples in this man page use spaces
+ leave the spaces out altogether. Examples in this man page use spaces
for clarity.
- Open-ended ranges are supported (since Xapian 1.2.1), i.e. it's possiâ
- ble to specify date:..<until> or date:<since>.. to not limit the start
+ Open-ended ranges are supported (since Xapian 1.2.1), i.e. it's possiâ
+ ble to specify date:..<until> or date:<since>.. to not limit the start
or end time, respectively. Pre-1.2.1 Xapian does not report an error on
open ended ranges, but it does not work as expected either.
-
- Entering date:expr without ".." (for example date:yesterday) won't
- work, as it's not interpreted as a range expression at all. You can
- achieve the expected result by duplicating the expr both sides of ".."
- (for example date:yesterday..yesterday).
Relative date and time
@@ -243,11 +421,32 @@
Some time zone codes, e.g. UTC, EET.
+XAPIAN FIELD PROCESSORS
+
+ Certain optional features of the notmuch query processor rely on the
+ presence of the Xapian field processor API. You can determine if your
+ notmuch was built against a sufficiently recent version of Xapian by
+ running
+
+ % notmuch config get built_with.field_processor
+
+ Currently the following features require field processor support:
+
+ · non-range date queries, e.g. "date:today"
+
+ · named queries e.g. "query:my_special_query"
+
+ · regular expression searches, e.g. "subject:/^\[SPAM\]/"
+
+ · thread subqueries, e.g. "thread:{from:bob}"
+
+
SEE ALSO
- notmuch(1), notmuch-config(1), notmuch-count(1), notmuch-dump(1), notâ
- much-hooks(5), notmuch-insert(1), notmuch-new(1), notmuch-reply(1),
- notmuch-restore(1), notmuch-search(1), notmuch-show(1), notmuch-tag(1)
+ notmuch(1), notmuch-config(1), notmuch-count(1), notmuch-dump(1), notâ
+ much-hooks(5), notmuch-insert(1), notmuch-new(1), notmuch-reindex(1),
+ notmuch-properties(1), *notmuch-reply(1), notmuch-restore(1), notâ
+ much-search(1), *notmuch-show(1), notmuch-tag(1)
AUTHOR
@@ -257,7 +456,7 @@
COPYRIGHT
- 2014, Carl Worth and many others
+ 2009-2019, Carl Worth and many others
-0.19
+0.29