Gazelle Wiki | SubscriberCommands / SearchCommand

The following search commands must be put in the body of an e-mail message, and the message must be sent to the server address for the list:

  LISTNAME-commands@hades.listmoms.net

For a specific list, replace the word LISTNAME with the name of the list. The domain shown is “hades.listmoms.net”; if your list is hosted in a different domain, then you will need to replace “hades.listmoms.net” with the domain for your list.

Like all server commands, the word “Gazelle” must appear somewhere in the Subject line. In addition, the commands (shown below) go into the body of the message, and the e-mail message must be sent to the server address for the list.

Upon completion of the specified search, Gazelle will return an e-mail with a summary of the search results — including instructions with links to retrieve full messages.

There are four different versions of the search command. Each one gets progressively more powerful; they also get progressively more complex.

(a) Simple search, where TEXT is any free-formatted search string:

       search TEXT

    NOTE: If TEXT is all lowercase, Gazelle will perform a case-independent search.
          If TEXT contains one or more capital letters, Gazelle will perform a case-
          sensitive search.

(b) Regex (grep) search, where REGEX is any regular expression:

       grep REGEX

    NOTE: If typed in the format shown above, Gazelle will compile the regex string
          as a  case-independent search — regardless of capitalization.
          If the “-i” switch is used, Gazelle will compile the regex string as a
          case-sensitive search — regardless of capitalization. Syntax for this
          case is:

       grep -i REGEX

    NOTE: Regex searches implement extended regex (i.e., “grep -E”).

       search from = Katrina

       search subject = TCP Error on Mail Check

       search body = When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary

(d) Advanced search: This allows you to construct a single, fairly complex search. The full set of search commands available with the Advanced Search is shown below; you do not need to use all of them to construct a search -- however, you must have at least a "from," "subject," or "body" command. (If you are trying to retrieve all messages within a certain date range, then use the "retrieve" command, shown in section "e" below.)

        search
        from = Thomas Jefferson
        subject = Declaration of Independence
        body = When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
        date start = 20120424
        date end = 20141130
        end

    NOTES:

1. As noted above, it is not necessary to use all of the search parameters. That is, you can specify just “from” and “body,” or a start date with no end date, etc. You craft the search parameters based on the search you want to perform. All specified search parameters are ANDed together; to achieve a logical OR, submit multiple searches.

2. For the advanced search, the “search” statement must appear on a line by itself, and must be the first line in the search specification. Obviously, the “end” statement must be the last statement in the search specification. All other lines may appear in any order. Lines may be repeated (e.g., multiple “from” lines may be specified), but only the last one will be retained.

3. For the “from,” “subject,” and “body” searches, any uppercase letters in the search string denote a case-sensitive search for that specific string. Any search string that is composed of all lowercase letters generates a case-independent search for that string.

4. The dates are shown in yyyymmdd format -- but the date parser is written to be pretty flexible, and accepts a wide range of date formats. Feel free to specify the date in any standard format; chances are, the parser will understand it. The dates specified are inclusive.

5. The “end" statement is optional.

6. At this time, it is not possible to use regex (“grep” searches) in the advanced search.

(e) Retrieving all messages from a specific date range: If you want to retrieve ALL messages from a specific date range (e.g., if you had used a vacation hold to suspend messages from the server while you were away), then use the "retrieve" command:

        retrieve START_DATE thru END_DATE

    For example, to retrieve all messages from 01 March 2016 through 15 March 2016:

        retrieve 20160301 thru 20160315

    NOTES:

1. The dates are shown in yyyymmdd format -- but the date parser is written to be pretty flexible, and accepts a wide array of date formats. Feel free to specify the date in any standard format; chances are, the parser will understand it. The dates specified are inclusive.

2. The "retrieve" command is issued on a single line, as shown above. There are no other parts, lines, or components to the retrieve command.

3. It is necessary to spell "retrieve" correctly. :-)

Happy searching!