man: clarify search --exclude documentation

[notmuch] / man / man1 / notmuch-search.1

diff --git a/man/man1/notmuch-search.1 b/man/man1/notmuch-search.1
index 5c771fa6e8da8a1a952aad2665dc4133ab99641b..59e8f3416e0d0bb55abfb1abe621c5da4273ff1b 100644 (file)
--- a/man/man1/notmuch-search.1
+++ b/man/man1/notmuch-search.1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH NOTMUCH-SEARCH 1 2012-08-20 "Notmuch 0.14"
+.TH NOTMUCH-SEARCH 1 2013-02-17 "Notmuch 0.15.2"
 .SH NAME
 notmuch-search \- search for messages matching the given search terms
 .SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -25,9 +25,11 @@ Supported options for
 include
 .RS 4
 .TP 4
-.BR \-\-format= ( json | sexp | text )
+.BR \-\-format= ( json | sexp | text | text0 )
 
-Presents the results in either JSON, S-Expressions or plain-text (default).
+Presents the results in either JSON, S-Expressions, newline character
+separated plain-text (default), or null character separated plain-text
+(compatible with \fBxargs\fR(1) -0 option where available).
 .RE
 
 .RS 4
@@ -57,32 +59,36 @@ the authors of the thread and the subject.
 .B threads
 
 Output the thread IDs of all threads with any message matching the
-search terms, either one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array
-(\-\-format=json) or an S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
+search terms, either one per line (\-\-format=text), separated by null
+characters (\-\-format=text0), as a JSON array (\-\-format=json), or
+an S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
 .RE
 .RS 4
 .TP 4
 .B messages
 
 Output the message IDs of all messages matching the search terms,
-either one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array
-(\-\-format=json) or as an S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
+either one per line (\-\-format=text), separated by null characters
+(\-\-format=text0), as a JSON array (\-\-format=json), or as an
+S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
 .RE
 .RS 4
 .TP 4
 .B files
 
 Output the filenames of all messages matching the search terms, either
-one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array (\-\-format=json) or
-as an S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
+one per line (\-\-format=text), separated by null characters
+(\-\-format=text0), as a JSON array (\-\-format=json), or as an
+S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
 .RE
 .RS 4
 .TP 4
 .B tags
 
 Output all tags that appear on any message matching the search terms,
-either one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array (\-\-format=json)
-or as an S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
+either one per line (\-\-format=text), separated by null characters
+(\-\-format=text0), as a JSON array (\-\-format=json), or as an
+S-Expression list (\-\-format=sexp).
 .RE
 .RE
 
@@ -126,8 +132,19 @@ Limit the number of displayed results to N.
 .TP 4
 .BR \-\-exclude=(true|false|flag)
 
-Specify whether to omit messages matching search.tag_exclude from the
-search results (the default) or not. The extra option
+A message is called "excluded" if it matches at least one tag in
+search.tag_exclude that does not appear explicitly in the search terms.
+This option specifies whether to omit excluded messages in the search
+process.
+
+The default value,
+.BR true ,
+prevents excluded messages from matching the search terms.
+
+.B false
+allows excluded messages to match search terms and appear in displayed
+results. Excluded messages are still marked in the relevant outputs.
+
 .B flag
 only has an effect when
 .B --output=summary