NAME

       aerc-search - search and filter patterns and options for aerc(1)

SYNTAX

       This syntax is common to all backends.

       :filter  [-ruba]  [-x  <flag>]  [-X  <flag>]  [-H  Header:  Value]  [-f  <from>]  [-t <to>] [-c <cc>] [-d
       <start[,end]>] [<terms>...]
       :search [-ruba] [-x <flag>] [-X  <flag>]  [-H  Header:  Value]  [-f  <from>]  [-t  <to>]  [-c  <cc>]  [-d
       <start[,end]>] [<terms>...]
           Searches the current folder for messages matching the given set of conditions.

           :filter restricts the displayed messages to only the search results.

           Each space separated term of <terms>, if provided, is searched case-insensitively among subject lines
           unless -b or -a are provided.

           -r: Search for read messages

           -u: Search for unread messages

           -x <flag>, -X <flag>: Restrict search to messages with or without <flag>
               Use  -x  to search for messages with the flag set. Use -X to search for messages without the flag
               set.

               Possible values are:
                   Seen
                       Read messages
                   Answered
                       Replied messages
                   Flagged
                       Flagged messages
                   Draft
                       Draft messages

           -H: Search in the headers of the messages, for a specific header
               Syntax: Header: Value If the space between : and the value is omitted, aerc will not  search  for
               the Header.

           -b: Search in the body of the messages

           -a: Search in the entire text of the messages

           -f <from>: Search for messages from <from>

           -t <to>: Search for messages to <to>

           -c <cc>: Search for messages cc'ed to <cc>

           -d <start[..end]>:
               Search for messages within a particular date range defined as [start, end).

               Spaces and underscores are allowed in relative dates to improve readability.

               YYYY-MM-DD

               today, yesterday

               (this|last) (year|month|week)

               Weekdays, Monthnames
                   Can  also  be  abbreviate,  so Monday..Tuesday can written as Mon..Tue and February..March as
                   Feb..Mar.

               <N> (y[ear]|m[onth]|w[eek]|d[ay])
                   <N> is a positive integer that represents the number of the time units in the past.  Multiple
                   relative  terms can will be accumulated. The units can also be abbreviated by a single letter
                   such that yesterday would correspond to 1d (equivalent to 1 day or  1_day)  and  8  days  ago
                   would be either 1w1d or 8d.

NOTMUCH

       For notmuch, it is possible to avoid using the above flags and only rely on notmuch search syntax.

       :filter query...
       :search query...
           You can use the full notmuch query language as described in notmuch-search-terms(7).

           The query will only apply on top of the active folder query.

           Example, jump to next unread:

               :search tag:unread

SEE ALSO

       aerc(1) aerc-config(5)

AUTHORS

       Originally  created  by  Drew  DeVault and maintained by Robin Jarry who is assisted by other open source
       contributors. For more information about aerc development, see https://sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc/.

                                                   2025-06-19                                     AERC-SEARCH(1)