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DOVEAD-SEARC-QUERY

Section: Dovecot (7)
Updated: May 2026
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NAME

dovead-searc-query- Overview of search queries for doveadm mailbox commands

DESCRIPTION

Several doveadm(1) commands use a search_query in order to act only on matching messages. This manual page describes all SEARCH KEYS, which can be used in a search_query. The query is mostly compatible with the IMAP SEARCH command parameters, although there are some differences. Each search_query consists at least of one SEARCH KEY. Most of the SEARCH KEYS require an argument. All SEARCH KEYS are cas-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 [rs]Seen and/or [rs]Flagged flag set, one can use for example:

doveadm search SAVEDON 200-0-13 [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 mailbo-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 mailbo-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 revision 1 (see: RFC 3501) are supported: sequenc-set

: Matches messages with the given sequence numbers. The sequenc-set may be a single sequence number. 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. Use UID (see below) to search by unique ID.

ALL

: Matches all messages.

ANSWERED

: Matches messages with the IMAP flag [rs]Answered set.

BCC string

: Matches messages, which contain string in the BCC field of the message'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 message's IMAP envelope structure.

DELETED

: Matches messages with the IMAP flag [rs]Deleted set.

DRAFT

: Matches messages with the IMAP flag [rs]Draft set.

FLAGGED

: Matches messages with the IMAP flag [rs]Flagged set.

FROM string

: Matches messages, which contain string in the FROM field of the message'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.

MAILBO-GUID guid

: Matches messages in the mailbox with the specified guid.

NEW

: Matches messages, which have the IMAP flag [rs]Recent set but not the IMAP flag [rs]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 [rs]Recent set.

ON date specification

: Matches messages whose internal date matches the given date specification.

search key OR search key

: Matches messages where one of the O-ed search keys matches. Note: IMAP4rev1 uses the syntax: OR search key search key

RECENT

: Matches messages with the IMAP flag [rs]Recent set.

SEEN

: Matches messages with the IMAP flag [rs]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 specification.

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 message's IMAP envelope structure.

UID sequenc-set

: Matches messages with the given IMAP UID(s). See the sequenc-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 [rs]Answered set.

UNDELETED

: Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag [rs]Deleted set.

UNDRAFT

: Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag [rs]Draft set.

UNFLAGGED

: Matches messages, which do not have the IMAP flag [rs]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 [rs]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 specification.

SAVEDSINCE date specification

: Matches messages with a save date matching or after the given date specification.

DATE SPECIFICATION

doveadm(1) supports a few additional date specification formats. They can be used anywhere, where a date specification value is obligatory. d-mo-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 1-Ap-2007.

d-mo-yyyy hh:mm:ss [lB]-[rB]zzzz

Default IMAP4rev1 dat-time format. See d-mo-yyyy above for the date format. Time format components:

: hh : the hour

: mm : the minute

: ss : the second

: [lB]-[rB]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 represented as 1176418800.

YYY-M-DD

: Extended IS-8601 calendar date format. For example the "13th of April 2007" will be represented as 200-0-13.

SIZE

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: larger 1M or larger 1024k.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs, including doveconf-n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List ladovecot@dovecot.orgra. Information about reporting bugs is available at: lahttps://dovecot.org/bugreport.htmlra