X-Git-Url: https://git.cworth.org/git?p=notmuch-wiki;a=blobdiff_plain;f=faq.mdwn;h=652d33015b4afe427bec0784d36a43c6a3b1b306;hp=9d47f1bad6c8e242c31bfce7b248b21889e18f77;hb=219490b75a85ca18d449168575a0c7538e71612e;hpb=c695c61351a3232113d4f95cb88c3ea76d0a9bcf

diff --git a/faq.mdwn b/faq.mdwn
index 9d47f1b..652d330 100644
--- a/faq.mdwn
+++ b/faq.mdwn
@@ -12,6 +12,19 @@ with the same message (i.e. the files have identical Message-ID). A
 `folder:` search will match the folder of any of the files. The
 `--output=files` option outputs all the files of all matching messages.
 
+## How come this query does not list all the emails on the file system? `notmuch search --output=files -- folder:inbox`
+
+You may have emails that only have some of the excluded tags.
+
+Notmuch can be configured to exclude some tags while searching. You can list excluded tags with
+
+	$ notmuch config get search.exclude_tags
+	deleted
+
+To verify this is the reason of the discrepancy, add the excluded tags explicitly to your query.
+
+	$ notmuch search --output=files -- folder:inbox tag:deleted
+
 ## Shouldn't notmuch support inline PGP?
 
 [Why it might not be a good idea](https://dkg.fifthhorseman.net/notes/inline-pgp-harmful/)
@@ -27,11 +40,26 @@ See [[excluding]].
 
 See help for `message-citation-line-format` for details.
 
+## What are sexp queries?
+
+For the syntax of sexp queries, see [the manual
+page](https://notmuchmail.org/doc/latest/man7/notmuch-sexp-queries.html).
+
+To see if your version of notmuch supports them, run
+
+        $ notmuch config get built_with.sexp_queries
+
 ## How do I search for messages that have no tags?
 
-Unfortunately, there is no way to do this directly.
+To do this directly, you need a recent notmuch compiled with sexp
+queries (see above). You can then run
 
-However, it's possible to accomplish this using two searches in shell. First,
+        $ notmuch search --query=sexp --output=messages '(not (tag *))'
+
+The same style of query should work for any prefix, even user defined
+prefixes like `List` (see below).
+
+Otherwise, it's possible to accomplish this using two searches in shell. First,
 you need to query all tags in the database, and transform the result into a
 query that matches messages that have none of those tags:
 
@@ -44,8 +72,8 @@ Next, use that to query the messages:
 
 ## How do I search for punctuation, specific special characters, or regexp?
 
-Please see the [[notmuch-search-terms manual
-page|manpages/notmuch-search-terms-7]] first.
+Please see the [notmuch-search-terms manual
+page](https://notmuchmail.org/doc/latest/man7/notmuch-search-terms.html) first.
 
 The main thing to understand is that Xapian, and therefore Notmuch, searches are
 closer to natural language searches than regular expression
@@ -54,6 +82,17 @@ searches. Punctuation is mostly ignored.
 The boolean prefix searches (see Boolean and Probabilistic Prefixes in the man
 page), such as tag: or path: searches, need an exact match.
 
+For [specific
+fields](https://notmuchmail.org/doc/latest/man7/notmuch-search-terms.html#search-prefixes)
+it is possible to use regex searches (although these are often
+noticeably slower than native Xapian queries). The limited set of
+fields is a quirk of implementation which requires a Xapian "value
+slot" in the database schema. Adding regex support for more fields to
+would require of adding more value slots to the schema. The
+performance impact of that needs to be experimentally evaluated, and
+assuming it is not too bad, some database upgrade code would need to
+be written.
+
 ## How do I search for folders or paths with spaces?
 
 The spaces in the names must be escaped. For example if you use bash or zsh,
@@ -80,8 +119,8 @@ This is required in order to run the `pre-new` and `post-new` hooks.
 No. Tagging is message based.
 
 It is possible, however, to make tags propagate to all messages in a thread
-using a little bit of scripting in the [[post-new
-hook|manpages/notmuch-hooks-5]]. For example, to add the muted tag to all
+using a little bit of scripting in the [post-new
+hook](https://notmuchmail.org/doc/latest/man5/notmuch-hooks.html). For example, to add the muted tag to all
 messages in threads that have at least one message with the muted tag:
 
         THREAD_TAGS="muted"