doveadm-search-query - Man Page

Several doveadm(1) commands use a search_query in order to act only on matching messages. This manual page describes all Search Keys, which can be used in a search_query. The query is mostly compatible with the IMAP SEARCH command parameters, although there are some differences.

Each search_query consists at least of one SEARCH KEY. Most of the Search Keys require an argument. All Search Keys are case-insensitive. The shortest valid search_query is ALL. For example:

doveadm search ALL

Multiple search query expressions will be combined with the AND operator by default. To find all messages that are new and greater than 50 kilobyte, one can use:

doveadm search NEW LARGER 50k

OR-ed Search Keys have to be written in parenthesis, when mixing ANDs and ORs. Shells commonly require escaping for parentheses. To find messages that were saved on the "13th of April  2007" AND have the \Seen and/or \Flagged flag set, one can use for example:

doveadm search SAVEDON 2007-04-13 \( SEEN OR FLAGGED \)

It's also possible to specify the mailbox, in which should be searched. Use either the keyword mailbox and the name of the mailbox or the keyword mailbox-guid and the mailbox's globally unique identifier in the search_query. To find all messages in the mailbox with the GUID "44f68b13ce97044b837f000035ca9452" use:

doveadm search mailbox-guid 44f68b13ce97044b837f000035ca9452 ALL

To list all deleted messages in the "Trash" folder use:

doveadm search mailbox Trash DELETED

The following search keys from the specification of IMAP version 4 revision 1 (see: RFC 3501, section 6.4.4) are supported:

sequence-set

Matches messages with the given sequence numbers. The sequence-set may be a single UID. Can be a sequence range, written as from:to, e.g. 100:125. As comma separated list of sequences, e.g. 11,50,4. It's also possible to combine multiple sequences, e.g. 1,3,5,7,10:20. Using * selects the last mail in the mailbox.
For example 1:100 matches the first 100 mails and 101:200 the next second hundred mails. 1,5,* matches the first, the fifth and the last email.

ALL

Matches all messages.

ANSWERED

Matches messages with the IMAP flag \Answered set.

BCC string

Matches messages, which contain string in the BCC field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.

BEFORE date specification

Matches messages with an internal date before date specification.

BODY string

Matches messages, which contain string in the body part.

CC string

Matches messages, which contain string in the CC field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.

DELETED

Matches messages with the IMAP flag \Deleted set.

DRAFT

Matches messages with the IMAP flag \Draft set.

FLAGGED

Matches messages with the IMAP flag \Flagged set.

FROM string

Matches messages, which contain string in the FROM field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.

HEADER field string

Matches messages, which either have the named header field, when empty string was given. Or messages, where the given header field's value contains the specified string.

KEYWORD keyword

Matches messages with the given IMAP keyword (e.g. $Forwarded) flag set.

LARGER size

Matches messages that are larger than the specified size.

MAILBOX name

Matches messages in the mailbox with the specified name.

MAILBOX-GUID guid

Matches messages in the mailbox with the specified guid.

NEW

Matches messages, which have the IMAP flag \Recent set but not the IMAP flag \Seen.

NOT search key

Inverse matching - matches massages, where the search doesn't match the specified search key or its value.

OLD

Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \Recent set.

ON date specification

Matches messages whose internal date matches the given date specification.

search key OR search key

Matches messages where one of the OR-ed search keys matches.
Note: IMAP4rev1 uses the syntax: OR search key search key

RECENT

Matches messages with the IMAP flag \Recent set.

SEEN

Matches messages with the IMAP flag \Seen set.

SENTBEFORE date specification

Matches messages with a Date: header before date specification.

SENTON date specification

Matches messages with a Date: header matching the given date specification.

SENTSINCE date specification

Matches messages with a Date: header matching or after the given date specification.

SINCE date specification

Matches messages whose internal date is within or after the given date specification.

SMALLER size

Matches messages with a size smaller than the given size.

SUBJECT string

Matches messages, which contain string in the SUBJECT field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.

TEXT string

Matches messages, which contain string in the message headers or body.

TO string

Matches messages, which contain string in the TO field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.

UID sequence-set

Matches messages with the given IMAP UID(s). See the sequence-set description for details on it. For example 1:10,100:200,* matches the UIDs from 1 to 10, 100 to 200 and also the last mail.

UNANSWERED

Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \Answered set.

UNDELETED

Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \Deleted set.

UNDRAFT

Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \Draft set.

UNFLAGGED

Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \Flagged set.

UNKEYWORD keyword

Matches messages, which do not have the given IMAP keyword flag set

UNSEEN

Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \Seen set.

doveadm(1) supports a few additional date specification formats. They can be used anywhere, where a date specification value is obligatory.

day-month-year

Default IMAP4rev1 date format.
day, the day of month: 1-31.
month, the abbreviated month name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov or Dec.
year, four digits of year, e.g. 2007.
For example the "13th of April 2007" will be represented as 13-Apr-2007.

interval

Combination of a positive integer number and a time unit.
Available time units are: weeks (abbr: w), days (abbr: d), hours (abbr: h), mins (abbr: m) and secs (abbr: s).
To match messages from last week, you may specify for example: since 1w, since 1weeks or since 7days.

Unix timestamp

A 10 digit Unix timestamp, seconds since the 1st of January 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. For example the "13th of April 2007" will be represented as 1176418800.

YYYY-MM-DD

Extended ISO-8601 calendar date format. For example the "13th of April 2007" will be represented as 2007-04-13.

doveadm(1) provides also an additional size representation format. The following formats can be used anywhere, where a size value is obligatory.

octets

The message size in octets, as specified in the IMAP4rev1 specification.

size

The message size in B (byte), k (kilobyte), M (megabyte), G (gigabyte) or T (terabyte).
To match messages, bigger than 1 megabyte, you may specify for example: larger 1M or larger 1024k.

doveadm(1), doveadm-search(1)

doveadm(1), doveadm-altmove(1), doveadm-deduplicate(1), doveadm-expunge(1), doveadm-fetch(1), doveadm-flags(1), doveadm-import(1), doveadm-mailbox(1), doveadm-move(1), doveadm-rebuild(1), doveadm-save(1), doveadm-search(1).