1NOTMUCH-SEXP-QUERIES(7) notmuch NOTMUCH-SEXP-QUERIES(7)
2
6 notmuch-sexp-queries - s-expression syntax for notmuch queries
7
9 notmuch subcommand --query=sexp [option ...] -- '(and (to santa) (date
10 december))'
11
13 Notmuch supports an alternative query syntax based on S-expressions .
14 It can be selected with the command line --query=sexp or with the ap‐
15 propriate option to the library function notmuch_query_create_with_syn‐
16 tax(). Support for this syntax is currently optional, you can test if
17 your build of notmuch supports it with
18 $ notmuch config get built_with.sexp_queries
20 S-EXPRESSIONS
22 An s-expression is either an atom, or list of whitespace delimited
23 s-expressions inside parentheses. Atoms are either
24 basic value
26 A basic value is an unquoted string containing no whitespace, double
27 quotes, or parentheses.
28 quoted string
30 Double quotes (") delimit strings possibly containing whitespace or
31 parentheses. These can contain double quote characters by escaping
32 with backslash. E.g. "this is a quote \"".
33 S-EXPRESSION QUERIES
35 An s-expression query is either an atom, the empty list, or a compound
36 query consisting of a prefix atom (first element) defining a field,
37 logical operation, or modifier, and 0 or more subqueries.
38 *
40 "*" matches any non-empty string in the current field.
41 ()
43 The empty list matches all messages
44 term
46 Match all messages containing term, possibly after stemming or
47 phrase splitting. For discussion of stemming in notmuch see not‐
48 much-search-terms(7). Stemming only applies to unquoted terms (basic
49 values) in s-expression queries. For information on phrase split‐
50 ting see FIELDS.
51 ( field q1 q2 ... qn )
53 Restrict the queries q1 to qn to field, and combine with and (for
54 most fields) or or. See FIELDS for more information.
55 ( operator q1 q2 ... qn )
57 Combine queries q1 to qn. Currently supported operators are and, or,
58 and not. (not q1 ... qn ) is equivalent to (and (not q1 ) ... (not
59 qn )).
60 ( modifier q1 q2 ... qn )
62 Combine queries q1 to qn, and reinterpret the result (e.g. as a reg‐
63 ular expression). See MODIFIERS for more information.
64 (macro ( p1 ... pn ) body)
66 Define saved query with parameter substitution. The syntax is recog‐
67 nized only in saved s-expression queries (see squery.* in not‐
68 much-config(1)). Parameter names in body must be prefixed with , to
69 be expanded (see MACRO EXAMPLES). Macros may refer to other macros,
70 but only to their own parameters [1].
71 FIELDS
73 Fields [2] correspond to attributes of mail messages. Some are inherent
74 (and immutable) like subject, while others tag and property are set‐
75 table by the user. Each concrete field in the table below is discussed
76 further under "Search prefixes" in notmuch-search-terms(7). The row
77 user refers to user defined fields, described in notmuch-config(1).
78 Most fields are either phrase fields [3] (which match sequences of
80 words), or term fields [4] (which match exact strings). Phrase split‐
81 ting breaks the term (basic value or quoted string) into words, ignore
82 punctuation. Phrase splitting is applied to terms in phrase (proba‐
83 bilistic) fields. Both phrase splitting and stemming apply only in
84 phrase fields.
85 Each term or phrase field has an associated combining operator (and or
87 or) used to combine the queries from each element of the tail of the
88 list. This is generally or for those fields where a message has one
89 such attribute, and and otherwise.
90 Term or phrase fields can contain arbitrarily complex queries made up
92 from terms, operators, and modifiers, but not other fields.
93 Fields with supported modifiers
95 ┌───────────┬─────────┬────────┬────────┬──────────┬───────┐
96 │field │ combine │ type │ expand │ wildcard │ regex │
97 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
98 │none │ and │ │ no │ yes │ no │
99 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
100 │user │ and │ phrase │ no │ yes │ no │
101 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
102 │attachment │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ no │
103 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
104 │body │ and │ phrase │ no │ no │ no │
105 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
106 │date │ │ range │ no │ no │ no │
107 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
108 │folder │ or │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ yes │
109 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
110 │from │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ yes │
111 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
112 │id │ or │ term │ no │ yes │ yes │
113 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
114 │is │ and │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
115 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
116 │lastmod │ │ range │ no │ no │ no │
117 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
118 │mid │ or │ term │ no │ yes │ yes │
119 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
120 │mimetype │ or │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ no │
121 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
122 │path │ or │ term │ no │ yes │ yes │
123 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
124 │property │ and │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
125 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
126 │subject │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ yes │
127 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
128 │tag │ and │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
129 ├───────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────┤
130 │thread │ or │ term │ yes │ yes │ yes │
131 └───────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┴──────────┴───────┘
132 │to │ and │ phrase │ yes │ yes │ no │
134 └───────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┴──────────┴───────┘
135 MODIFIERS
137 Modifiers refer to any prefixes (first elements of compound queries)
138 that are neither operators nor fields.
139 (infix atom )
141 Interpret atom as an infix notmuch query (see not‐
142 much-search-terms(7)). Not supported inside fields.
143 (matching q1 q2 ... qn ) (of q1 q2 ... qn )
145 Match all messages have the same values of the current field as
146 those matching all of q1 ... qn. Supported in most term [7] or
147 phrase fields. Most commonly used in the thread field.
148 (query atom )
150 Expand to the saved query named by atom. See notmuch-config(1) for
151 more. Note that the saved query must be in infix syntax (not‐
152 much-search-terms(7)). Not supported inside fields.
153 (regex atom ) (rx atom )
155 Interpret atom as a POSIX.2 regular expression (see regex(7)). This
156 applies in term fields and a subset [5] of phrase fields (see Fields
157 with supported modifiers).
158 (starts-with subword )
160 Matches any term starting with subword. This applies in either
161 phrase or term fields, or outside of fields [6]. Note that a
162 starts-with query cannot be part of a phrase. The atom * is a syn‐
163 onym for (starts-with "").
164
166 Wizard
167 Match all messages containing the word "wizard", ignoring case.
168 added
170 Match all messages containing "added", but also those containing
171 "add", "additional", "Additional", "adds", etc... via stemming.
172 (and Bob Marley)
174 Match messages containing words "Bob" and "Marley", or their stems
175 The words need not be adjacent.
176 (not Bob Marley)
178 Match messages containing neither "Bob" nor "Marley", nor their
179 stems,
180 "quick fox" quick-fox quick@fox
182 Match the phrase "quick" followed by "fox" in phrase fields (or out‐
183 side a field). Match the literal string in a term field.
184 (folder (of (id 1234@invalid)))
186 Match any message in the same folder as the one with Message-Id "‐
187 1234@invalid"
188 (id 1234@invalid blah@test)
190 Matches Message-Id "1234@invalid" or Message-Id "blah@test"
191 (and (infix "date:2009-11-18..2009-11-18") (tag unread))
193 Match messages in the given date range with tag unread.
194 (starts-with prelim)
196 Match any words starting with "prelim".
197 (subject quick "brown fox")
199 Match messages whose subject contains "quick" (anywhere, stemmed)
200 and the phrase "brown fox".
201 (subject (starts-with prelim))
203 Matches any word starting with "prelim", inside a message subject.
204 (subject (starts-wih quick) "brown fox")
206 Match messages whose subject contains "quick brown fox", but also
207 "brown fox quicksand".
208 (thread (of (id 1234@invalid)))
210 Match any message in the same thread as the one with Message-Id "‐
211 1234@invalid"
212 (thread (matching (from bob@example.com) (to bob@example.com)))
214 Match any (messages in) a thread containing a message from "‐
215 bob@example.com" and a (possibly distinct) message to "bob at exam‐
216 ple.com")
217 (to (or bob@example.com mallory@example.org)) (or (to bob@example.com)
219 (to mallory@example.org))
220 Match in the "To" or "Cc" headers, "bob@example.com", "‐
221 mallory@example.org", and also "bob@example.com.au" since it con‐
222 tains the adjacent triple "bob", "example", "com".
223 (not (to *))
225 Match messages with an empty or invalid 'To' and 'Cc' field.
226 (List *)
228 Match messages with a non-empty List-Id header, assuming configura‐
229 tion index.header.List=List-Id
230 MACRO EXAMPLES
232 A macro that takes two parameters and applies different fields to them.
233 $ notmuch config set squery.TagSubject '(macro (tagname subj) (and (tag ,tagname) (subject ,subj)))'
235 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(TagSubject inbox maildir)'
236 Nested macros are allowed.
238 $ notmuch config set squery.Inner '(macro (x) (subject ,x))'
240 $ notmuch config set squery.Outer '(macro (x y) (and (tag ,x) (Inner ,y)))'
241 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(Outer inbox maildir)'
242 Parameters can be re-used to reduce boilerplate. Any field, including
244 user defined fields is permitted within a macro.
245 $ notmuch config set squery.About '(macro (name) (or (subject ,name) (List ,name)))'
247 $ notmuch search --query=sexp '(About notmuch)'
248
250 [1] Technically macros impliment lazy evaluation and lexical scope.
251 There is one top level scope containing all macro definitions, but
252 all parameter definitions are local to a given macro.
253 [2] a.k.a. prefixes
255 [3] a.k.a. probabilistic prefixes
257 [4] a.k.a. boolean prefixes
259 [5] Due to the implemention of phrase fields in Xapian, regex queries
261 could only match individual words.
262 [6] Due the the way body is implemented in notmuch, this modifier is
264 not supported in the body field.
265 [7] Due to the way recursive path queries are implemented in notmuch,
267 this modifier is not supported in the path field.
268
270 Carl Worth and many others
271
273 2009-2022, Carl Worth and many others
2740.36 Jun 25, 2022 NOTMUCH-SEXP-QUERIES(7)