Trilium/docs/User Guide/User Guide/Advanced Usage/Search/Advanced-Search-Expressions.md

Advanced-Search-Expressions

Advanced Search Expressions

This guide covers complex search expressions that combine multiple criteria, use advanced operators, and leverage Trilium's relationship system for sophisticated queries.

Complex Query Construction

Boolean Logic with Parentheses

Use parentheses to group expressions and control evaluation order:

(#book OR #article) AND #author=Tolkien

Finds notes that are either books or articles, written by Tolkien.

#project AND (#status=active OR #status=pending)

Finds active or pending projects.

meeting AND (#priority=high OR #urgent) AND note.dateCreated >= TODAY-7

Finds recent high-priority or urgent meetings.

Negation Patterns

Use NOT or the not() function to exclude certain criteria:

#book AND not(#genre=fiction)

Finds non-fiction books.

project AND not(note.isArchived=true)

Finds non-archived notes containing "project".

#!completed

Short syntax for notes without the "completed" label.

Mixed Search Types

Combine full-text, attribute, and property searches:

development #category=work note.type=text note.dateModified >= TODAY-30

Finds text notes about development, categorized as work, modified in the last 30 days.

Advanced Attribute Searches

Fuzzy Attribute Matching

When fuzzy attribute search is enabled, you can use partial matches:

#lang

Matches labels like "language", "languages", "programming-lang", etc.

#category=prog

Matches categories like "programming", "progress", "program", etc.

Multiple Attribute Conditions

#book #author=Tolkien #publicationYear>=1950 #publicationYear<1960

Finds Tolkien's books published in the 1950s.

#task #priority=high #status!=completed

Finds high-priority incomplete tasks.

Complex Label Value Patterns

Use various operators for sophisticated label matching:

#isbn %= '978-[0-9-]+' 

Finds notes with ISBN labels matching the pattern (regex).

#email *=* @company.com

Finds notes with email labels containing "@company.com".

#version >= 2.0

Finds notes with version labels of 2.0 or higher (numeric comparison).

Relationship Traversal

Basic Relation Queries

~author.title *=* Tolkien

Finds notes with an "author" relation to notes containing "Tolkien" in the title.

~project.labels.status = active

Finds notes related to projects with active status.

Multi-Level Relationships

~author.relations.publisher.title = "Penguin Books"

Finds notes authored by someone published by Penguin Books.

~project.children.title *=* documentation

Finds notes related to projects that have child notes about documentation.

Relationship Direction

note.children.title = "Chapter 1"

Finds parent notes that have a child titled "Chapter 1".

note.parents.labels.category = book

Finds notes whose parents are categorized as books.

note.ancestors.title = "Literature"

Finds notes with "Literature" anywhere in their ancestor chain.

Property-Based Searches

Note Metadata Queries

note.type=code note.mime=text/javascript note.dateCreated >= MONTH

Finds JavaScript code notes created this month.

note.isProtected=true note.contentSize > 1000

Finds large protected notes.

note.childrenCount >= 10 note.type=text

Finds text notes with many children.

Advanced Property Combinations

note.parentCount > 1 #template

Finds template notes that are cloned in multiple places.

note.attributeCount > 5 note.type=text note.contentSize < 500

Finds small text notes with many attributes (heavily tagged short notes).

note.revisionCount > 10 note.dateModified >= TODAY-7

Finds frequently edited notes modified recently.

Date and Time Expressions

Relative Date Calculations

#dueDate <= TODAY+7 #dueDate >= TODAY

Finds tasks due in the next week.

note.dateCreated >= MONTH-2 note.dateCreated < MONTH

Finds notes created in the past two months.

#eventDate = YEAR note.dateCreated >= YEAR-1

Finds events scheduled for this year that were planned last year.

Complex Date Logic

(#startDate <= TODAY AND #endDate >= TODAY) OR #status=ongoing

Finds current events or ongoing items.

#reminderDate <= NOW+3600 #reminderDate > NOW

Finds reminders due in the next hour (using seconds offset).

Fuzzy Search Techniques

Fuzzy Exact Matching

#title ~= managment

Finds notes with titles like "management" even with typos.

~category.title ~= progaming

Finds notes related to categories like "programming" with misspellings.

Fuzzy Contains Matching

note.content ~* algoritm

Finds notes containing words like "algorithm" with spelling variations.

#description ~* recieve

Finds notes with descriptions containing "receive" despite the common misspelling.

Progressive Fuzzy Strategy

By default, Trilium uses exact matching first, then fuzzy as fallback:

development project

First finds exact matches for "development" and "project", then adds fuzzy matches if needed.

To force fuzzy behavior:

#title ~= development #category ~= projet

Ordering and Limiting

Multiple Sort Criteria

#book orderBy #publicationYear desc, note.title asc limit 20

Orders books by publication year (newest first), then by title alphabetically, limited to 20 results.

#task orderBy #priority desc, #dueDate asc

Orders tasks by priority (high first), then by due date (earliest first).

Dynamic Ordering

#meeting note.dateCreated >= TODAY-30 orderBy note.dateModified desc

Finds recent meetings ordered by last modification.

#project #status=active orderBy note.childrenCount desc limit 10

Finds the 10 most complex active projects (by number of sub-notes).

Performance Optimization Patterns

Efficient Query Structure

Start with the most selective criteria:

#book #author=Tolkien note.dateCreated >= 1950-01-01

Better than:

note.dateCreated >= 1950-01-01 #book #author=Tolkien

Fast Search for Large Datasets

#category=project #status=active

With fast search enabled, this searches only attributes, not content.

Limiting Expensive Operations

note.content *=* "complex search term" limit 50

Limits content search to prevent performance issues.

Error Handling and Debugging

Syntax Validation

Invalid syntax produces helpful error messages:

#book AND OR #author=Tolkien

Error: "Mixed usage of AND/OR - always use parentheses to group AND/OR expressions."

Debug Mode

Enable debug mode to see how queries are parsed:

#book #author=Tolkien

With debug enabled, shows the internal expression tree structure.

Common Pitfalls

• Unescaped special characters: Use quotes or backslashes
• Missing parentheses in complex boolean expressions
• Incorrect property names: Use note.title not title
• Case sensitivity assumptions: All searches are case-insensitive

Expression Shortcuts

Label Shortcuts

Full syntax:

note.labels.category = book

Shortcut:

#category = book

Relation Shortcuts

Full syntax:

note.relations.author.title *=* Tolkien

Shortcut:

~author.title *=* Tolkien

Property Shortcuts

Some properties have convenient shortcuts:

note.text *=* content

Searches both title and content for "content".

Real-World Complex Examples

Project Management

(#project OR #task) AND #status!=completed AND 
(#priority=high OR #dueDate <= TODAY+7) AND 
not(note.isArchived=true) 
orderBy #priority desc, #dueDate asc

Research Organization

(#paper OR #article OR #book) AND 
~author.title *=* smith AND 
#topic *=* "machine learning" AND 
note.dateCreated >= YEAR-2 
orderBy #citationCount desc limit 25

Content Management

note.type=text AND note.contentSize > 5000 AND 
#category=documentation AND note.childrenCount >= 3 AND 
note.dateModified >= MONTH-1 
orderBy note.dateModified desc

Knowledge Base Maintenance

note.attributeCount = 0 AND note.childrenCount = 0 AND 
note.parentCount = 1 AND note.contentSize < 100 AND 
note.dateModified < TODAY-90

Finds potential cleanup candidates: small, untagged, isolated notes not modified in 90 days.

Next Steps

• Search Examples and Use Cases - Practical applications
• Saved Searches - Creating reusable search configurations
• Technical Search Details - Implementation details and performance tuning