DOVEADM-SEARCH-QUERY(7) Dovecot DOVEADM-SEARCH-QUERY(7)
NAME
doveadm-search-query - Overview of search queries for doveadm mailbox
commands
DESCRIPTION
Several doveadm(1) commands use a
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 kilo-
byte, 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 mes-
sages 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 key-
word 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
SEARCH KEYS
The following search keys from the specification of IMAP version 4 revi-
sion 1 (see: RFC 3501) 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 mes-
sage'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 mes-
sage'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 mes-
sage'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 specifi-
cation.
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 speci-
fication.
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 mes-
sage'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 SEARCH KEYS
Additional search keys, provided by doveadm(1).
SAVEDBEFORE date specification
Matches messages, which were saved before date specification.
SAVEDON date specification
Matches messages whose save date matches the given date specifica-
tion.
SAVEDSINCE date specification
Matches messages with a save date matching or after the given date
specification.
DATE SPECIFICATION
doveadm(1) supports a few additional
dd-mon-yyyy
Default IMAP4rev1 date format.
Date components:
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.
dd-mon-yyyy hh:mm:ss [+-]zzzz
Default IMAP4rev1 date-time format. See dd-mon-yyyy above for the
date format.
Time format components:
hh : the hour
mm : the minute
ss : the second
[+-]zzzz : the timezone as hhmm, e.g. +0530, -0700
interval
Combination of a positive integer number and a time unit.
Available time units are:
weeks : abbreviated: w
days : abbreviated: d
hours : abbreviated: h
mins : abbreviated: m
secs : abbreviated: 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 repre-
sented 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.
SIZE
doveadm(1) provides also an additional
octets
The message size in octets, as specified in the IMAP4rev1 specifica-
tion.
size
The message size in B (byte), k (kilobyte), M (megabyte), G (giga-
byte) or T (terabyte). To match messages, bigger than 1 megabyte,
you may specify for example: larger 1M or larger 1024k.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List
⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. Information about reporting bugs is available at:
https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html
SEE ALSO
doveadm(1)
78ffb79 March 2025 DOVEADM-SEARCH-QUERY(7)
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