query-syntax.md

Search query syntax

The search query is a sequence of text terms and search operators.

You can put the minus sign (-) right before the text term or operator to exclude it from search results: cat -mouse will return documents with the "cat" word but without the "mouse" word.

Text terms

The text term is a word without white spaces (like cat, or #mouse or even http://freefeed.net/) or a double-quoted string that can include spaces: "cat mouse". Putting text in double quotes tells search engine to search these words in the specific order and in exact word forms. It is also possible to search words by prefix (not in double quotes): cat*.

By default all text terms in query will be searched (AND is implied). You can use the "pipe" symbol (|) to search any of them: cat | mouse will find documents with "cat" OR with "mouse". To search words in the specific order use the "plus" symbol (+): cat + mouse means these two words standing next to each other in that order.

Two important rules about the + and | symbols:

1. The | symbol has the highest priority: cat mouse | dog means 'the documents with "cat" AND ("mouse" OR "dog")'; cat + mouse | dog means 'the documents with "cat" FOLLOWED_BY ("mouse" OR "dog")'.
2. The AND symbol has the lowest priority: cat + mouse dog means 'the documents with ("cat" FOLLOWED_BY "mouse") AND "dog"'.
3. You can use the | and + symbols only between the text terms, not with the other operators.

Operators

General rule: in any operator you can omit dash symbol (if present) and the 's suffix of the plural word form. For example the in-comments: operator can also be written as incomments: or incomment:.

Some operators takes user name as an arguments. In such operators you can use a special user name, me that means you, the current signed in user. The cat from:me query will find the "cat" word in all posts and comments of the current user.

Full operators list

• in-body:
• in-comments:
• from:
• author: / by:
• in:
• in-my:
• commented-by:
• liked-by:
• cliked-by:
• to:
• has:
• is:
• comments: (interval)
• likes: (interval)
• clikes: (interval)
• date: (interval)
• post-date: (interval)

Global search scope

⚠ Warning: you can not use minus modifier with global search scope operators.

By default, the search is performed both in post and comment bodies. The following operators changes this behavior.

in-body: — starting from this operator the search will be performed only in the post bodies.

Example: cat in-body: mouse — the "cat" will be searched in posts and comments but the "mouse" will be searched only in post bodies. Note that there's a space after a colon because "in-body:" is a separate operator here.

in-comments: — starting from this operator the search will be performed only in the comment bodies.

Example: in-comments: mouse — the "mouse" will be searched only in comment bodies.

The global search scope operators switches search scope from itself to the end of the query or to the other global scope operator.

Interval operators

Some operators allow to specify the interval of the values. The interval syntax is common for all such operators, see the comments: syntax below.

• comments:N means exactly N comments
• comments:=N is the same as comments:N
• comments:<N means less than N comments
• comments:>N means more than N comments
• comments:<=N means less than or equal to N comments
• comments:>=N means more than or equal to N comments
• comments:N1..N2 means at least N1 and at most N2 comments
• comments:N1..* is the same as comments:>=N1
• comments:*..N2 is the same as comments:<=N2

Local search scope

Local search scope operator are like global ones but without switching the global search scope.

in-body:word1,word2 or in-body:"quoted text" will search any of word1, word2 or the "quoted text" in post body but will not change the global query scope. Note that there is no space after a colon.

in-comments:word1,word2 or in-comments:"quoted text" do the same for comments.

Example: cat in-body:mouse dog — the "cat" and "dog" will be searched in post and comments but the "mouse" will be searched only in posts.

Content filtering

from:user1,user2 limits search to posts authored by user1 or user2. The from:alice cat query will search "cat" in posts authored by Alice and in any their comments (not only in Alice's comments').

in:user1,group2 limits search to posts published in user1 or group2 feeds.

cat in:cats will find all post with the "cat" word in the @cats group.

cat in:cats from:alice will find all post with the "cat" word authored by Alice in the @cats group.

cat in:cats,alice will find all post with the "cat" word posted to the Alice's own feed OR to the @cats group.

cat in:cats in:alice will find all post with the "cat" word posted to the Alice's own feed AND to the @cats group.

The "in:" operator has the "group:" alias, it left for compatibility.

in-my:feed1,feed2 limit search to the current user's personal feeds. The personal feed names are: "saves", "directs", "discussions" and "friends". You can omit the 's suffix in these names. The "friends" feed means all feeds of users and groups current user subscribed to.

cat in-my:saves will find all post with the "cat" word in my Saves feed.

commented-by:user1,user2 limits search to posts commented by user1 or user2.

cat commented-by:alice will find all posts with the "cat" word (in body or in any comments) among the posts commented by Alice.

liked-by:user1,user2 limits search to posts liked by user1 or user2.

cat liked-by:alice will find all posts liked by Alice with the "cat" word.

to:user1,group2 limits search to posts published in group2 feed or written to user1 as a direct message. This operator acts like in: for the groups but also allows to search in direct messages with the specific addressee.

cliked-by:user1,user2 limits search to comments liked by user1 or user2.

cat cliked-by:alice will find all comments liked by Alice with the "cat" word.

Since cliked-by: makes sense only for comments, it switches the search scope to comments. So the query cat cliked-by:alice is equal to in-comments: cat cliked-by:alice. Being used in post body scope (like in-body: cliked-by:...), cliked-by: is ignored.

is:private,protected limits search to posts with the specified visibility. These are private, protected and public.

has:images,audio limits search to posts with files of the specified type. You can specify the concrete file type (only images or audio for now), or search for any files using the has:files form. You can also specify the file extension, for example has:mp3 will search for files with the mp3 extension.

comments:(interval) limits search to posts with the specified number of comments.

likes:(interval) limits search to posts with the specified number of likes.

clikes:(interval)) limits search to comments with the specified number of likes.

Since clikes: makes sense only for comments, it switches the search scope to comments. So the query cat clikes:1 is equal to in-comments: cat clikes:1. Being used in post body scope (like in-body: clikes:...), clikes: is ignored.

date:(interval) and post-date:(interval) limits search to content published on the specified date.

Dates should be in the format YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM or just YYYY. A date with a year only matches any time in that year. A date with a month and year matches any time in that month and year. A date with a day, month, and year matches any time at that specific date.

The date: operator defines the date of the content being searched. The foo date:2020-01-01 will search the "foo" word in posts published on 2020-01-01 or in comments published on 2020-01-01 (even if the post date is different).

The post-date: always sets the post date. The in-comments: foo post-date:2020-01-01 will search the "foo" word in comments to posts published on 2020-01-01.

Content authorship

author:user1,user2 performs search only in content from user1 or user2. It has a by: alias.

The "content" is defined by the current search scope. By default it is a post and comment bodies: cat author:alice will search the "cat" word in all Alice's posts and comments bodies.

in-body: author:alice cat will search the "cat" word only in Alice's posts bodies. In this context the 'author:' works in same way as 'from:'.

in-comments: author:alice cat will search the "cat" word only in Alice's comments bodies.