LEI-Q(1)

NAME
lei-q - search for messages matching terms

SYNOPSIS
lei q [OPTIONS] TERM [TERM...]

lei q [OPTIONS] (--stdin|-)

DESCRIPTION
Search for messages across the lei/store and externals.

OPTIONS

--stdin
    Read search terms from stdin.

--no-save
    Do not save the search for lei-up(1).

--output=MFOLDER
-o MFOLDER
--mfolder=MFOLDER
    Warning: this clobbers and overwrites the output destination unless "--augment" is specified.

    Destination for results (e.g., "/tmp/results-Maildir", "imaps://user@mail.example.com/INBOX.test", or "mboxcl2:/tmp/results-mboxcl2"). The prefix may be a supported protocol: "imap://" or "imaps://". URLs requiring authentication use git-credential(1) to fill in the username and password.

    A prefix can specify the format of the output: "maildir", "mboxrd", "mboxcl2", "mboxcl", "mboxo". For a description of mail formats, see lei-mail-formats(5).

    "maildir" is the default for an existing directory or non-existing path.

    Default: "-" (stdout)

--format=FORMAT
-f FORMAT
    Format of results to stdout. This option exists as a convenient way to specify the format for the default stdout destination. "reply", "text", "json", "jsonl", or "concatjson" are all supported, as are the various mbox variants described in "--output".

    When a format isn't specified, it's chosen based on the "--output" destination or prefix. "json" is used for the default destination (stdout).

    Using a "format:" prefix with the "--output" destination is preferred when not writing to stdout.

--no-color
    Disable color (for "-f reply" and "-f text").

--pretty
    Pretty print "json" or "concatjson" output. If stdout is opened to a tty and used as the "--output" destination, "--pretty" is enabled by default.

--mua=COMMAND
    A command to run on "--output" Maildir or mbox (e.g., "mutt -f %f"). For a subset of MUAs known to accept a mailbox via "-f", COMMAND can be abbreviated to the name of the program: "mutt", "mailx", "mail", or "neomutt".

--alert=COMMAND[,COMMAND...]
    Run "COMMAND" after writing to output. ":WINCH" indicates to send "SIGWINCH" to the "--mua" process. ":bell" indicates to print a bell code. Any other value is interpreted as a command to execute as is.

    This option may be given multiple times.

    Default: ":WINCH,:bell" when "--mua" is specified and "--output" doesn't point to stdout, nothing otherwise.

--augment
-a  Augment output destination instead of clobbering it.

--no-import-before
    Do not import keywords before writing to an existing output destination.

--threads
-t  Return all messages in the same thread as the actual match(es).

    Using this twice ("-tt") sets the "flagged" (AKA "important") on messages which were actual matches. This is useful to distinguish messages which were direct hits from messages which were merely part of the same thread.

    TODO: Warning: this flag may become persistent and saved in lei/store unless an MUA unflags it! (Behavior undecided)

--dedupe=STRATEGY
-d STRATEGY
    Strategy for deduplicating messages: "content", "oid", "mid", or "none".

    Default: "content"

--[no-]remote
    Whether to include results requiring network access. When local externals are configured, "--remote" must be explicitly passed to enable reporting of results from remote externals.

--no-local
    Limit operations to those requiring network access.

--no-external
    Don't include results from externals.

--include=LOCATION
-I LOCATION
    Include specified external in search. This option may be given multiple times.

--exclude=LOCATION
    Exclude specified external from search. This option may be given multiple times.

--only=LOCATION
-O LOCATION
    Use only the specified external for search. This option may be given multiple times, in which case the search uses only the specified set.

--globoff
-g  Do not match locations using "*?" wildcards and "[]" ranges. This option applies to "--include", "--exclude", and "--only".

--no-import-remote
    Disable the default behavior of memoizing remote messages into the local store.

--lock=METHOD
    mbox(5) locking method(s) to use: "dotlock", "fcntl", "flock" or "none".

    Default: fcntl,dotlock

--limit=NUMBER
-NUMBER
-n NUMBER
    Fuzzy limit the number of matches per-local external and lei/store. Messages added by the --threads switch do not count towards this limit, and there is no limit on remote externals.

    Default: 10000

--offset=NUMBER
    Shift start of search results.

    Default: 0

--reverse
-r  Reverse the results. Note that this applies before "--limit".

--sort=KEY
-s KEY
    Order the results by KEY. Valid keys are "received", "relevance", and "docid".

    Default: "received"

--verbose
-v  Provide more feedback on stderr.

--quiet
-q  Suppress feedback messages.

--torsocks=auto|no|yes
--no-torsocks
    Whether to wrap git(1) and curl(1) commands with torsocks(1).

    Default: "auto"

--proxy=PROTO://HOST[:PORT]

SEARCH TERMS
"lei q" supports the same search prefixes used by HTTP(S) public-inbox instances:

  s:       match within Subject  e.g. s:"a quick brown fox"
  d:       match date-time range, git "approxidate" formats supported
           Open-ended ranges such as `d:last.week..' and
           `d:..2.days.ago' are supported
  b:       match within message body, including text attachments
  nq:      match non-quoted text within message body
  q:       match quoted text within message body
  n:       match filename of attachment(s)
  t:       match within the To header
  c:       match within the Cc header
  f:       match within the From header
  a:       match within the To, Cc, and From headers
  tc:      match within the To and Cc headers
  l:       match contents of the List-Id header
  bs:      match within the Subject and body
  dfn:     match filename from diff
  dfa:     match diff removed (-) lines
  dfb:     match diff added (+) lines
  dfhh:    match diff hunk header context (usually a function name)
  dfctx:   match diff context lines
  dfpre:   match pre-image git blob ID
  dfpost:  match post-image git blob ID
  dfblob:  match either pre or post-image git blob ID
  rt:      match received time, like `d:' if sender's clock was correct

Additional search prefixes which only affect the local lei/store:

  L:       match the given label
  kw:      match the given keywords

See lei-tag(1) for more info on labels and keywords.

Most prefixes are probabilistic, meaning they support stemming and wildcards ("*"). Ranges (such as "d:") and boolean prefixes do not support stemming or wildcards. The upstream Xapian query parser documentation fully explains the query syntax: <https://xapian.org/docs/queryparser.html>

TIPS
"-f reply" is intended to aid in turning a cover letter into a reply (since using "git format-patch --in-reply-to=..." is tedious). Results (including "From " lines) should be edited and trimmed in your favorite $EDITOR before sending.

CONTACT
Feedback welcome via plain-text mail to <mailto:meta@public-inbox.org>

The mail archives are hosted at <https://public-inbox.org/meta/> and <http://4uok3hntl7oi7b4uf4rtfwefqeexfzil2w6kgk2jn5z2f764irre7byd.onion/meta/>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright all contributors <mailto:meta@public-inbox.org>

License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>

SEE ALSO
lei-add-external(1), lei-lcat(1), lei-up(1), Xapian::QueryParser Syntax <https://xapian.org/docs/queryparser.html>