+.. _notmuch-search-terms(7):
+
====================
notmuch-search-terms
====================
**notmuch** **count** [option ...] <*search-term*> ...
-**notmuch** **dump** [--format=(batch-tag|sup)] [--] [--output=<*file*>] [--] [<*search-term*> ...]
+**notmuch** **dump** [--gzip] [--format=(batch-tag|sup)] [--output=<*file*>] [--] [<*search-term*> ...]
+
+**notmuch** **reindex** [option ...] <*search-term*> ...
**notmuch** **search** [option ...] <*search-term*> ...
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).
+
+Some of the prefixes with <regex> forms can be also used to restrict
+the results to those whose value matches a regular expression (see
+:manpage:`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,
+ immediately following **subject:**.
+
+attachment:<word>
+ The **attachment:** prefix can be used to search for specific
+ filenames (or extensions) of attachments to email messages.
+
+mimetype:<word>
+ The **mimetype:** prefix will be used to match text from the
+ content-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
+ :any:`notmuch-new(1)` as well as any other tag values added
+ manually with :any:`notmuch-tag(1)`.
+
+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 column
+ of output from :any:`notmuch-search(1)`
+
+thread:{<notmuch query>}
+ 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>**;
+ notmuch 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
+ particular 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
+ 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.
+
+ **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" subdirectories. 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
+ expression, 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). Negative revisions are
+ interpreted relative to the most recent database revision (see
+ :option:`count --lastmod`). This is usually used in conjunction
+ with the ``--uuid`` argument to :any:`notmuch-search(1)` 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 :any:`notmuch-config(1)`.
+
+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 :any:`notmuch-properties(7)` for more details.
+
+sexp:<subquery>
+ The **sexp:** prefix allows subqueries in the format
+ documented in :any:`notmuch-sexp-queries(7)`. Note that subqueries containing
+ spaces must be quoted, and any embedded double quotes must be escaped
+ (see :any:`quoting`).
+
+User defined prefixes are also supported, see :any:`notmuch-config(1)` for
+details.
+
+Operators
+---------
-- from:<name-or-address>
+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 expression. 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>
+::
-- attachment:<word>
+ notmuch search term1 NEAR term2
-- tag:<tag> (or is:<tag>)
+will return results where term1 is within 10 words of term2. The
+threshold can be set like this:
-- id:<message-id>
+::
-- thread:<thread-id>
+ notmuch search term1 NEAR/2 term2
-- folder:<directory-path>
+The search
-- date:<since>..<until>
+::
-The **from:** prefix is used to match the name or address of the sender
-of an email message.
+ notmuch search term1 ADJ term2
-The **to:** prefix is used to match the names or addresses of any
-recipient of an email message, (whether To, Cc, or Bcc).
+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:
-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
-**subject:**.
+::
-The **attachment:** prefix can be used to search for specific filenames
-(or extensions) of attachments to email messages.
+ notmuch search term1 ADJ/7 term2
-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**.
-For **id:**, message ID values are the literal contents of the
-Message-ID: header of email messages, but without the '<', '>'
-delimiters.
+Stemming
+--------
-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 column of output from
-**notmuch search**
+**Stemming** in notmuch means that these searches
-The **folder:** prefix can be used to search for email message files
-that are contained within particular directories within the mail store.
-If the same email message has multiple message files associated with it,
-it's sufficient for a match that at least one of the files is contained
-within a matching directory. Only the directory components below the
-top-level mail database path are available to be searched.
+::
-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:
+ notmuch search detailed
+ notmuch search details
+ notmuch search detail
-date:<since>..<until>
+will all return identical results, because Xapian first "reduces" the
+term to the common stem (here 'detail') and then performs the search.
-See **DATE AND TIME SEARCH** below for details on the range expression,
-and supported syntax for <since> and <until> date and time expressions.
+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 time range can also be specified using timestamps with a syntax of:
+Wildcards
+---------
-<initial-timestamp>..<final-timestamp>
+It is possible to use a trailing '\*' as a wildcard. A search for
+'wildc\*' will match 'wildcard', 'wildcat', etc.
-Each timestamp is a number representing the number of seconds since
-1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.
-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).
+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.
+
+Boolean
+ **tag:**, **id:**, **thread:**, **folder:**, **path:**, **property:**
+Probabilistic
+ **body:**, **to:**, **attachment:**, **mimetype:**
+Special
+ **from:**, **query:**, **subject:**, **sexp:**
+
+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.
+
+- "a list of words"
+- a-list-of-words
+- a/list/of/words
+- a.list.of.words
+
+Both parenthesised lists of terms and quoted phrases are ok with
+probabilistic prefixes such as **to:**, **from:**, and **subject:**.
+For prefixes supporting regex search, the parenthesised list should be
+quoted. In particular
+
+::
+
+ subject:"(pizza free)"
+
+is equivalent to
+
+::
+
+ subject:pizza and subject:free
+
+Both of these will match a subject "Free Delicious Pizza" while
+
+::
-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).
+ subject:"pizza free"
+
+will not.
+
+.. _quoting:
+
+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}'
+
+Double quotes within query strings need to be doubled to escape them.
+
+::
+
+ % notmuch search 'tag:"""quoted tag"""'
+ % notmuch search 'sexp:"(or ""wizard"" ""php"")"'
DATE AND TIME SEARCH
====================
could describe (the end of yesterday). Similarly, date:january..february
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>
+
+Currently, spaces in range expressions are not supported. 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
for clarity.
-Open-ended ranges are supported (since Xapian 1.2.1), i.e. it's possible
-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.
+Open-ended ranges are supported. I.e. it's possible to specify
+date:..<until> or date:<since>.. to not limit the start or
+end time, respectively.
+
+Single expression
+-----------------
-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).
+date:<expr> works as a shorthand for date:<expr>..<expr>.
+For example, date:monday matches from the beginning of Monday until
+the end of Monday.
Relative date and time
----------------------
SEE ALSO
========
-**notmuch(1)**, **notmuch-config(1)**, **notmuch-count(1)**,
-**notmuch-dump(1)**, **notmuch-hooks(5)**, **notmuch-insert(1)**,
-**notmuch-new(1)**, **notmuch-reply(1)**, **notmuch-restore(1)**,
-**notmuch-search(1)**, **notmuch-show(1)**, **notmuch-tag(1)**
+:any:`notmuch(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-config(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-count(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-dump(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-hooks(5)`,
+:any:`notmuch-insert(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-new(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-properties(7)`,
+:any:`notmuch-reindex(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-reply(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-restore(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-search(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-show(1)`,
+:any:`notmuch-tag(1)`
projects / notmuch / blobdiff