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):
-
-- from:<name-or-address>
-
-- from:/<regex>/
-
-- to:<name-or-address>
-
-- subject:<word-or-quoted-phrase>
-
-- subject:/<regex>/
-
-- attachment:<word>
-
-- mimetype:<word>
-
-- tag:<tag> (or is:<tag>)
-
-- id:<message-id>
-
-- thread:<thread-id>
-
-- folder:<maildir-folder>
-
-- path:<directory-path> or path:<directory-path>/**
-
-- date:<since>..<until>
-
-- lastmod:<initial-revision>..<final-revision>
-
-- query:<name>
-
-- property:<key>=<value>
-
-The **from:** prefix is used to match the name or address of the sender
-of an email message.
-
-The **to:** prefix is used to match the names or addresses of any
-recipient of an email message, (whether To, Cc, or Bcc).
-
-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:**.
-
-If notmuch is built with **Xapian Field Processors** (see below) the
-**from:** and **subject** prefix can be also used to restrict the
-results to those whose from/subject value matches a regular expression
-(see **regex(7)**) delimited with //.
-
-::
-
- notmuch search 'from:/bob@.*[.]example[.]com/'
-
-The **attachment:** prefix can be used to search for specific filenames
-(or extensions) of attachments to email messages.
-
-The **mimetype:** prefix will be used to match text from the
-content-types of MIME parts within email messages (as specified by the
-sender).
-
-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.
-
-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**
-
-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.
-
-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**.
-
-Both **path:** and **folder:** will find a message if *any* copy of
-that message is in the specific directory/folder.
-
-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:
-
-date:<since>..<until>
-
-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 with 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.
-
-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.
-
-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).
-
-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.
+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/"'
+
+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 **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 column
+ 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>**;
+ 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). 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.
Operators
---------
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
====================
could describe (the end of yesterday). Similarly, date:january..february
matches from the beginning of January to the end of February.
+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
- 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-insert(1)**,
**notmuch-new(1)**,
**notmuch-reindex(1)**,
+**notmuch-properties(1)**,
***notmuch-reply(1)**,
**notmuch-restore(1)**,
**notmuch-search(1)**,
projects / notmuch / blobdiff