Query language

search (and delete) accept a small query language for narrowing which notes to work with. The fastest way to learn it is by example:

# What was I supposed to do for work that isn't done yet?
ntropy search tag:work and not status:done

# That meeting note where somebody said "deadline"...
ntropy search text:deadline and tag:meeting

# Everything still in progress, or anything that's on fire.
ntropy search 'status:"in progress" or tag:urgent'

# I know I wrote "borrow checker" somewhere in here.
ntropy search borrow checker

# Just show me the whole pile.
ntropy search

Terms

A bare word or quoted phrase that is not followed by : searches the note body, so ntropy search borrow checker looks for that text directly. For more precise matching, reach for a typed term:

• tag:x matches hierarchically. x and each note tag are split on /, and the term matches when x's segments appear as a contiguous run anywhere in the tag's segments. tag:programming therefore matches programming, programming/rust, and area/programming. Tag matching is case-insensitive.
• field:value checks frontmatter. The field's scalar value must equal value exactly, or, for a list-valued field, the list must contain value. This match is case-sensitive.
• text:pattern is a regex matched against the note body, compiled with smart case: an all-lowercase pattern matches regardless of case, but a pattern containing an uppercase letter only matches that case exactly.

Quote a value that contains spaces, such as status:"in progress". A quoted string may also contain regex metacharacters, and a literal quote or backslash inside one can be written as \" or \\.

Combining terms

Combine terms with and, or, and not. not binds tighter than and, which binds tighter than or, so add parentheses when that default order isn't what you mean:

ntropy search '(tag:work or tag:side-project) and not status:done'