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Advanced Search Guide

Hackorum's search supports powerful query syntax that lets you find exactly what you're looking for in the PostgreSQL Hackers mailing list archive. This guide covers all available search operators and shows you how to combine them for precise results.

Quick Start

The simplest search is just typing keywords:

vacuum performance

This finds topics containing both "vacuum" AND "performance" in the title or message body.

For phrases, use quotes:

"query planning"

Search Selectors

Selectors let you search specific fields. The format is selector:value.

Content Selectors

Selector Description Example
title: Search in topic titles only title:vacuum
body: Search in message bodies only body:"shared buffers"

Without a selector, plain text searches both title and body.

Author Selectors

Selector Description Example
from: Topics with messages from author from:andres
starter: Topics started by author starter:heikki
last_from: Topics where author sent last message last_from:robert

Special Author Values

  • me - Your own messages (requires sign-in)
  • Team names - Messages from any team member (e.g., from:core-reviewers)
  • Contributor types - Messages from PostgreSQL contributors:
    • contributor - Any contributor
    • committer - PostgreSQL committers
    • core_team - Core team members
    • major_contributor - Major contributors
    • significant_contributor - Significant contributors
from:me                    # Your messages
from:committer             # Messages from any committer
starter:core_team          # Topics started by core team members

Email vs Name Search

If your search value contains @, it searches email addresses only:

from:peter@example.org     # Partial email match (finds any email containing this)
from:peter                 # Searches both name and email (partial match)

Use quotes for exact matches:

from:"peter@example.org"   # Exact email match
from:"Peter Eisentraut"    # Exact name match

Date Selectors

Selector Description Example
first_after: Topics created after date first_after:2024-01-01
first_before: Topics created before date first_before:2023
messages_after: Topics with messages after date messages_after:1w
messages_before: Topics with messages before date messages_before:2024-06
last_after: Topics with last activity after date last_after:today
last_before: Topics with last activity before date last_before:yesterday

Date Formats

Absolute dates:

  • Full date: 2024-01-15
  • Month: 2024-01 (first day of month)
  • Year: 2024 (January 1st)
  • ISO timestamp: 2024-01-15T10:30:00

Relative dates:

  • today - Today
  • yesterday - Yesterday
  • 7d - 7 days ago
  • 2w - 2 weeks ago
  • 3m - 3 months ago (approximately 90 days)
  • 1y - 1 year ago (approximately 365 days)
first_after:2024           # Topics started in 2024 or later
last_after:1w              # Topics with activity in the last week
messages_before:yesterday  # Messages sent before yesterday

Commitfest Selectors

Search for topics by commitfest.

Selector Description Example
commitfest:name Topics from commitfest with this name commitfest:PG19-Final
commitfest:[name:name] Topics from commitfest with this name commitfest:[name:PG19-Draft]
commitfest:[status:status] Topics from commitfest with this status commitfest:[status:commited]
commitfest:[tag:tag] Topics from commitfest with this tag commitfest:[tag:bugfix]

Count Selectors

Selector Description Example
messages: Filter by message count messages:>10
participants: Filter by participant count participants:>=5
contributors: Filter by contributor count contributors:>0

Count Operators

  • messages:10 - Exactly 10 messages
  • messages:>10 - More than 10 messages
  • messages:<10 - Fewer than 10 messages
  • messages:>=10 - 10 or more messages
  • messages:<=10 - 10 or fewer messages
messages:>50 participants:>10    # Large, active discussions
messages:1 has:patch             # Single-message patch submissions

Presence Selectors

The has: selector checks for the presence of specific attributes:

Value Description
has:attachment Topics with any attachments
has:patch Topics with .patch or .diff files
has:contributor Topics with PostgreSQL contributor activity
has:committer Topics with committer activity
has:core_team Topics with core team activity 
has:patch first_after:1m         # Recent topics with patches
has:contributor messages:>5      # Active discussions with contributor input

Personal State Selectors

These require being signed in and filter based on your reading state:

Selector Description
unread:me Topics with unread messages
read:me Topics you've fully read
reading:me Topics you've partially read
new:me Topics you've never seen
starred:me Topics you've starred
notes:me Topics where you've added notes

Team State Selectors

Replace me with a team name to filter by team state (you must be a team member):

unread:core-reviewers      # Topics unread by anyone on the team
starred:review-team        # Topics starred by any team member

Tag Selectors

Search for topics by tags added to notes. Tags are private to the note author and mentioned users/teams.

Selector Description Example
tag:tagname Topics with this tag (from any accessible note) tag:needs-review
tag:tagname[from:me] Topics with this tag from your own notes tag:important[from:me]
tag:tagname[from:team] Topics with this tag from team member notes tag:follow-up[from:reviewers]
tag:[from:me] Topics with any tag from your notes tag:[from:me]
tag:[from:team] Topics with any tag from team's notes tag:[from:reviewers]

Use the [from:] condition to filter by who created the tag:

  • from:me - Your own tags
  • from:teamname - Tags from any team member (you must be a team member)
  • from:username - Tags from a specific user
tag:blocked                       # Topics tagged "blocked" by anyone you can see
tag:review-needed[from:me]        # Topics I tagged "review-needed"
tag:priority[from:core_team]      # Topics tagged "priority" by core_team members
tag:[from:me]                     # Any topics I've tagged
-tag:done                         # Exclude topics tagged "done"
tag:important[from:me] unread:me  # My important tags that are unread

Dependent Conditions (Advanced)

Some selectors support dependent conditions using bracket notation. These sub-conditions apply specifically to the entity matched by the parent selector, rather than to the topic globally.

Understanding the Difference

Without dependent conditions:

from:andres messages:>=10

This finds topics where Andres posted AND the topic has 10+ total messages (from anyone).

With dependent conditions:

from:andres[messages:>=10]

This finds topics where Andres specifically posted 10 or more messages.

Syntax

Dependent conditions use brackets after the selector value, with comma-separated conditions inside:

selector:value[condition1:value1, condition2:value2]

from: Conditions

Filter by the author's specific activity within a topic:

Condition Description Example
messages: Author's message count from:andres[messages:>=10]
last_before: Author's last message before date from:heikki[last_before:1m]
last_after: Author's last message after date from:magnus[last_after:1w]
first_before: Author's first message before date from:michael[first_before:2024]
first_after: Author's first message after date from:amit[first_after:2024-01-01]
body: Author posted content matching from:alvaro[body:"patch"]

Examples

from:andres[messages:>=10]             # Andres posted 10+ messages
from:heikki[last_before:1m]            # Heikki hasn't posted in 1 month
from:thomas[body:"LGTM"]               # Thomas posted containing "LGTM"
from:core_team[messages:>=5]           # Team posted 5+ combined messages
from:magnus[messages:>=3, last_after:1w]  # Magnus: 3+ msgs and recent activity

Team Behavior

When using a team name with dependent conditions:

  • Message counts are aggregated: from:team[messages:>=10] matches if team members combined posted 10+ messages
  • Date conditions apply per-member: from:team[last_before:1m] matches topics where team members who posted have been inactive for 1 month

has:attachment Conditions

Filter attachments by author or count:

Condition Description Example
from: Attachments from author has:attachment[from:nathan]
count: Number of attachments has:attachment[count:>=3]
name: Attachment filename contains has:attachment[name:v2]

Examples

has:attachment[from:nathan]            # Attachments from Nathan
has:attachment[count:>=5]              # 5+ attachments total
has:attachment[from:peter,count:>=3]   # 3+ attachments from Peter
has:attachment[name:patch]             # Attachments with "patch" in name

has:patch Conditions

Filter patch files by author or count:

Condition Description Example
from: Patches from author has:patch[from:michael]
count: Number of patches has:patch[count:>=2]

Examples

has:patch[from:michael]                # Patches from Michael
has:patch[count:>=3]                   # 3+ patch files
has:patch[from:committer]              # Patches from any committer

tag: Conditions

Filter tags by author or when added:

Condition Description Example
from: Tag added by source tag:review[from:me]
added_before: Tag added before date tag:important[added_before:1w]
added_after: Tag added after date tag:urgent[added_after:yesterday]

Examples

tag:review[from:me]                    # "review" tag from me
tag:[from:me]                          # Any tag from me
tag:important[added_after:1w]          # "important" tags added this week
tag:blocked[from:core_team]            # "blocked" by core team
tag:review[from:me, added_after:1m]    # My recent "review" tags

Combining with Other Selectors

Dependent conditions work with all other search features:

from:andres[messages:>=10] has:patch   # Andres posted 10+ msgs AND has patches
has:attachment[from:amit] unread:me    # Amit's attachments I haven't read
from:committer[last_before:1m] -has:contributor  # Inactive committers
(from:alvaro[body:patch] OR has:patch[from:alvaro]) first_after:1m

Negation

You can negate selectors with dependent conditions:

-from:heikki[messages:>=10]            # Topics where Heikki did NOT post 10+ msgs
-has:attachment[from:bot]              # No attachments from bot

Boolean Operators

AND (Implicit and Explicit)

Terms separated by spaces are combined with AND:

vacuum autovacuum          # Both terms must match

You can also use explicit AND:

vacuum AND autovacuum      # Same as above

OR

Use OR to match either term:

vacuum OR autovacuum       # Either term matches
from:robert OR from:thomas # Messages from either author

Operator Precedence

AND binds more tightly than OR. This query:

from:robert unread:me OR from:thomas

Is interpreted as:

(from:robert AND unread:me) OR from:thomas

Grouping with Parentheses

Use parentheses to control grouping:

(from:robert OR from:thomas) unread:me

This finds unread topics from either Robert or Thomas.

More complex example:

(has:patch OR has:attachment) first_after:1m -has:contributor

This finds recent topics with patches or attachments that haven't received contributor attention.

Negation

Prefix any term or selector with - to exclude matches:

-from:bot                  # Exclude bot messages
vacuum -autovacuum         # Vacuum but not autovacuum
-has:contributor           # No contributor activity

Negate grouped expressions:

-(from:tom OR from:bruce)  # Exclude both authors

Full-Text Search

Text searches use PostgreSQL's full-text search with English stemming:

  • running matches "run", "runs", "running"
  • databases matches "database", "databases"
  • Common words (stop words) like "the", "a", "is" are ignored

For exact phrase matching, use quotes:

"shared buffers"           # Exact phrase
title:"query planning"     # Exact phrase in title

Example Queries

Finding Unanswered Patch Submissions

has:patch messages:1 first_after:1m

Single-message topics with patches submitted in the last month.

Your Team's Reading Queue

unread:my-team has:contributor first_after:2w

Recent topics with contributor activity that no team member has read.

Researching a Topic

"logical replication" from:committer first_after:2023

Discussions about logical replication from committers since 2023.

Finding Your Contributions

from:me first_after:1y

Topics where you've participated in the last year.

Active Discussions Without Resolution

messages:>20 last_after:1w -has:committer

Long discussions with recent activity but no committer involvement.

Patch Reviews Needed

has:patch -has:contributor first_after:2w participants:<3

Recent patches that haven't received contributor attention and have few participants.

Active Contributors Who've Gone Quiet

from:committer[last_before:1m, messages:>=5]

Topics where a committer was actively participating (5+ messages) but hasn't posted in over a month.

Patches from Specific Author

has:patch[from:nathan,count:>=2] first_after:1m

Recent topics with multiple patches submitted by Nathan.

Finding Your Tagged Reviews

tag:needs-review[from:me, added_after:1w] -read:me

Topics you tagged "needs-review" in the last week that you haven't fully read.

Selector Reference

Category Selectors
Content title:, body:
Author from:*, starter:, last_from:
Dates first_after:, first_before:, messages_after:, messages_before:, last_after:, last_before:
Counts messages:, participants:, contributors:
Presence has:attachment, has:patch, has:contributor, has:committer, has:core_team
State unread:, read:, reading:, new:, starred:, notes:
Tags tag:tagname*, tag:[from:source]

*Supports dependent conditions

Dependent Condition Reference

Parent Selector Available Conditions
from: messages:, last_before:, last_after:, first_before:, first_after:, body:
has:attachment from:, count:, name:
has:patch from:, count:
tag: from:, added_before:, added_after: