a *field*, *logical operation*, or *modifier*, and 0 or more
subqueries.
-``*`` ``()``
- Match all messages.
+``*``
+ "*" matches any non-empty string in the current field.
+
+``()``
+ The empty list matches all messages
*term*
MODIFIERS
`````````
+*Modifiers* refer to any prefixes (first elements of compound queries)
+that are neither operators nor fields.
+
+``(regex`` *atom* ``)`` ``(rx`` *atom* ``)``
+ Interpret *atom* as a POSIX.2 regular expression (see
+ :manpage:`regex(7)`). This applies in term fields and a subset [#not-phrase]_ of
+ phrase fields (see :any:`field-table`).
+
+``(starts-with`` *subword* ``)``
+ Matches any term starting with *subword*. This applies in either
+ phrase or term :any:`fields <fields>`, or outside of fields [#not-body]_. Note that
+ a ``starts-with`` query cannot be part of a phrase. The
+ atom ``*`` is a synonym for ``(starts-with "")``.
+
EXAMPLES
========
"mallory@example.org", and also "bob@example.com.au" since it
contains the adjacent triple "bob", "example", "com".
+``(not (to *))``
+ Match messages with an empty or invalid 'To' and 'Cc' field.
+
NOTES
=====
.. [#aka-bool] a.k.a. boolean prefixes
+.. [#not-phrase] Due to the implemention of phrase fields in Xapian,
+ regex queries could only match individual words.
+
.. [#not-body] Due the the way ``body`` is implemented in notmuch,
this modifier is not supported in the ``body`` field.