Overview of search queries for doveadm mailbox commands
Several doveadm(1) commands use a search_query in order to act only on matching messages. This manual page describes all SEARCHKEYS, which can be used in a search_query.
Each search_query consists at least of one SEARCHKEY. 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 \(rsSeen and/or \(rsFlagged flag set, one can use for example:
doveadm search SAVEDON 2007-04-13 \(rs( SEEN OR FLAGGED \(rs)
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:
ALL
Matches all messages.
ANSWERED
Matches messages with the IMAP flag \(rsAnswered set.
BCCpattern
Matches messages, which contain pattern in the BCC field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.
BEFOREdatespecification
Matches messages with an internal date before datespecification.
BODYpattern
Matches messages, which contain pattern in the body part.
CCpattern
Matches messages, which contain pattern in the CC field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.
DELETED
Matches messages with the IMAP flag \(rsDeleted set.
DRAFT
Matches messages with the IMAP flag \(rsDraft set.
FLAGGED
Matches messages with the IMAP flag \(rsFlagged set.
FROMpattern
Matches messages, which contain pattern in the FROM field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.
HEADER field pattern
Matches messages, which either have the named header field, when empty pattern was given. Or messages, where the given header field's value contains the specified pattern.
KEYWORDkeyword
Matches messages with the given IMAP keyword (e.g. \(DoForwarded) flag set.
LARGERsize
Matches messages that are larger than the specified size.
MAILBOXname
Matches messages in the mailbox with the specified name.
MAILBOX-GUIDguid
Matches messages in the mailbox with the specified guid.
NEW
Matches messages, which have the IMAP flag \(rsRecent set but not the IMAP flag \(rsSeen.
NOTsearchkey
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 \(rsRecent set.
ONdatespecification
Matches messages whose internal date matches the given datespecification.
searchkeyORsearchkey
Matches messages where one of the OR-ed search keys matches.
Note: IMAP4rev1 uses the syntax: ORsearchkeysearchkey
RECENT
Matches messages with the IMAP flag \(rsRecent set.
SEEN
Matches messages with the IMAP flag \(rsSeen set.
SENTBEFOREdatespecification
Matches messages with a Date: header before datespecification.
SENTONdatespecification
Matches messages with a Date: header matching the given datespecification.
SENTSINCEdatespecification
Matches messages with a Date: header matching or after the given datespecification.
SINCEdatespecification
Matches messages whose internal date is within or after the given datespecification.
SMALLERsize
Matches messages with a size smaller than the given size.
SUBJECTpattern
Matches messages, which contain pattern in the SUBJECT field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.
TEXTpattern
Matches messages, which contain pattern in the message body.
TOpattern
Matches messages, which contain pattern in the TO field of the message's IMAP envelope structure.
UIDsequence
Matches messages with the given UID(s). A sequence may be a single UID. Can be a sequence range, written as from:to, e.g.100:125. As comma separated list of UIDs, e.g. 11,50,4. It's also possible to combine multiple sequences, e.g. 1,3,5,7,10:20.
UNANSWERED
Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \(rsAnswered set.
UNDELETED
Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \(rsDeleted set.
UNDRAFT
Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \(rsDraft set.
UNFLAGGED
Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \(rsFlagged set.
UNKEYWORDkeyword
Matches messages, which do not have the given IMAP keyword flag set
UNSEEN
Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag \(rsSeen set.
Additional search keys, provided by doveadm(1).
SAVEDBEFOREdatespecification
Matches messages, which were saved before datespecification.
SAVEDONdatespecification
Matches messages whose save date matches the given datespecification.
SAVEDSINCEdatespecification
Matches messages with a save date matching or after the given datespecification.
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, Novor 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 timeunit.
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: since1w, since1weeksor since7days.
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: larger1Mor larger1024k.