<p>A query is a file search based on file attributes and can be performed within Tracker or in Terminal. Queries are saved in <spanclass="path">/boot/home/queries/</span> and by default last seven days before being purged. Note, that these aren't static result lists of your search, but are the query formulas which trigger a new search whenever you open them.</p>
<p>You start a query by invoking the <spanclass="menu">Find...</span> menu either from the Deskbar menu or any Tracker window or the Desktop (which is actually a fullscreen Tracker window). The shortcut is <spanclass="key">ALT</span> <spanclass="key">F</span>. You're presented with the Find window:</p>
<p>If you simply want to find all files on your mounted disks that match a certain pattern, simply leave the search method at "<spanclass="menu">by Name</span>", enter the search term into the text box and press <spanclass="key">ENTER</span>.</p>
<p>You can create more advanced queries by searching within the attributes of specific file types. For that to work, these attributes have to be <ahref="index.html">indexed</a>.</p>
<p>You start by setting the filetype from "<spanclass="menu">All files and folders</span>" to "<spanclass="menu">text | E-mail</span>" and change the search method to "<spanclass="menu">by Attribute</span>".</p>
<p>This adds a drop-down menu to the left of the textbox and the buttons "<spanclass="button">Add</span> and <spanclass="button">Remove</span> under that. From the menu you choose which attribute to query. With <spanclass="button">Add</span> and <spanclass="button">Remove</span> you can query additional attributes or remove them again. These attributes can be logically linked with AND/OR.</p>
<p>This is your Find window when you're looking for all emails Clara Botters has sent to you in the last two months that had in the subject "vibraphone" or "skepticality".</p>
<p>Take the above query by attribute of Clara's mails concerning vibraphones etc. If you have all the attributes and their search terms set, try switching to "<spanclass="menu">by Formula</span>" mode and be overwhelmed by this one line query string:</p>
<li><p>You could copy and paste the string into an email, forum or IRC for others to use or debug.</p></li>
<li><p>You can use this method to construct a query in <spanclass="menu">Attribute</span> mode and then switch to <spanclass="menu">Formula</span> mode, to comfortably generate a search string to use for a query in Terminal or a script.</p></li>
<li><p>You can fine tune your query by inserting parenthesis where needed, make parts case-sensitive or negate logical combinations by changing. e.g. "<tt>==</tt>" to "<tt>!=</tt>" for a NOT AND. All you need is a basic understanding of <ahref="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression"class='external free'title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular expression">regular expressions</a> and maybe some scripting basics.</p></li>
<li><p>You can open the folder a file resides in by double clicking on its path attribute.</p></li>
<li><p>With <spanclass="menu">File | Edit Query</span> or <spanclass="key">ALT</span> <spanclass="key">G</span> you get back to your Find window to refine your query.</p></li>
<li><p>A query is live, i.e. if a file that matches your search criteria appears or disappears from your system, this change is reflected in your results in real-time.</p></li>
<p>You can assign a sensible attribute layout for query results of a specific filetype. Open a folder containing files of the filetype you'd like to create a template for and arrange the attributes how you'd like to have query results presented. Copy this layout with <spanclass="menu">Attributes | Copy Attributes</span>.</p>
<p>Open <spanclass="path">/boot/home/config/settings/Tracker/DefaultQueryTemplates</span>, create a new folder and rename it to <i>group/filetype</i>, replacing slashes with underscores, e.g."audio_x-mp3". Open the new folder and paste in the layout with <spanclass="menu">Attributes | Paste Attributes</span>.</p>
