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Search for mail content with Mutt

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;

21

3

Is it possible in Mutt to search for specific mail content using built-in functionality? Or, as a last resort, how can I configure grep to be used in Mutt?

The documentation only mentions the search and limit functions, which only search headers.

email search mutt

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

Matthias Braun

2,20421424

asked Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

alex_readeralex_reader

3372411

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Additional to the answers below you should note that searching using mutt is very slow, regardless if you use a cache or not. If you frequently need to search I would strongly recommend an indexer such as notmuch. It's by magnitudes faster than mutt's built-in search.
  
  – Marco
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:48
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Also in addition to the answers, consider looking closely at the configuration variable thorough_search. If you don't work exclusively with US-ASCII e-mail with no message-encoding, you probably want it set for searching to work the way you'd normally expect. (Took me forever to figure that out...)
  
  – a CVn
  Sep 17 '13 at 14:07
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

21

3

Is it possible in Mutt to search for specific mail content using built-in functionality? Or, as a last resort, how can I configure grep to be used in Mutt?

The documentation only mentions the search and limit functions, which only search headers.

email search mutt

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

Matthias Braun

2,20421424

asked Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

alex_readeralex_reader

3372411

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Additional to the answers below you should note that searching using mutt is very slow, regardless if you use a cache or not. If you frequently need to search I would strongly recommend an indexer such as notmuch. It's by magnitudes faster than mutt's built-in search.
  
  – Marco
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:48
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Also in addition to the answers, consider looking closely at the configuration variable thorough_search. If you don't work exclusively with US-ASCII e-mail with no message-encoding, you probably want it set for searching to work the way you'd normally expect. (Took me forever to figure that out...)
  
  – a CVn
  Sep 17 '13 at 14:07
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Is it possible in Mutt to search for specific mail content using built-in functionality? Or, as a last resort, how can I configure grep to be used in Mutt?

The documentation only mentions the search and limit functions, which only search headers.

email search mutt

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

Matthias Braun

2,20421424

asked Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

alex_readeralex_reader

3372411

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

Matthias Braun

2,20421424

asked Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

alex_readeralex_reader

3372411

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

Matthias Braun

2,20421424

asked Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

alex_readeralex_reader

3372411

edited yesterday

Matthias Braun

2,20421424

edited yesterday

Matthias Braun

2,20421424

asked Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

alex_readeralex_reader

3372411

asked Sep 17 '13 at 12:19

alex_readeralex_reader

3372411

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

27

search and limit can also actually search inside messages, depending on the search patterns you give. From the Patterns subsection of the Mutt reference:

~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body
~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message

That is, ~b only searches in the body, whereas ~B also searches in the headers.

Note that this can be quite slow, since it may have to download each message one by one if they are not already cached. If you have a mutt version greater or equal to 1.5.12, you can cache the ones you are downloading for later use by setting message_cachedir to a directory where you want to store message bodies, which can significantly speed up searching them (and the same for headers with header_cache).

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:08

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Chris DownChris Down

81.8k15190204

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Exactly what I searched for, thanks. Does message_cachedir put all messages in the cache, or only new ones ?
  
  – alex_reader
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:40
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @alex_reader Only ones which you downloaded since it was set. If you do a search that includes the body across an entire folder, it should cache that entire folder as collateral.
  
  – Chris Down
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:40
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

6

You can add flags to the search command, to search the body use the search function with
the ~b modifier. So to search for cheesecake inside your mail bodies:

/~b cheesecake

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Drav SloanDrav Sloan

10.1k23339

add a comment | 

6

Put ~b in front of your search pattern to search only in the body of mails. For searching additionally in the headers, use ~B

There are plenty of other patterns described in the mutt manual.

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:09

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:27

jofeljofel

20.8k34980

add a comment | 

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27

search and limit can also actually search inside messages, depending on the search patterns you give. From the Patterns subsection of the Mutt reference:

~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body
~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message

That is, ~b only searches in the body, whereas ~B also searches in the headers.

Note that this can be quite slow, since it may have to download each message one by one if they are not already cached. If you have a mutt version greater or equal to 1.5.12, you can cache the ones you are downloading for later use by setting message_cachedir to a directory where you want to store message bodies, which can significantly speed up searching them (and the same for headers with header_cache).

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:08

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Chris DownChris Down

81.8k15190204

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Exactly what I searched for, thanks. Does message_cachedir put all messages in the cache, or only new ones ?
  
  – alex_reader
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:40
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @alex_reader Only ones which you downloaded since it was set. If you do a search that includes the body across an entire folder, it should cache that entire folder as collateral.
  
  – Chris Down
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:40
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

27

search and limit can also actually search inside messages, depending on the search patterns you give. From the Patterns subsection of the Mutt reference:

~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body
~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message

That is, ~b only searches in the body, whereas ~B also searches in the headers.

Note that this can be quite slow, since it may have to download each message one by one if they are not already cached. If you have a mutt version greater or equal to 1.5.12, you can cache the ones you are downloading for later use by setting message_cachedir to a directory where you want to store message bodies, which can significantly speed up searching them (and the same for headers with header_cache).

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:08

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Chris DownChris Down

81.8k15190204

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Exactly what I searched for, thanks. Does message_cachedir put all messages in the cache, or only new ones ?
  
  – alex_reader
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:40
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @alex_reader Only ones which you downloaded since it was set. If you do a search that includes the body across an entire folder, it should cache that entire folder as collateral.
  
  – Chris Down
  Sep 17 '13 at 12:40
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

search and limit can also actually search inside messages, depending on the search patterns you give. From the Patterns subsection of the Mutt reference:

~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body
~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message

That is, ~b only searches in the body, whereas ~B also searches in the headers.

Note that this can be quite slow, since it may have to download each message one by one if they are not already cached. If you have a mutt version greater or equal to 1.5.12, you can cache the ones you are downloading for later use by setting message_cachedir to a directory where you want to store message bodies, which can significantly speed up searching them (and the same for headers with header_cache).

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:08

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Chris DownChris Down

81.8k15190204

~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body
~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:08

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Chris DownChris Down

81.8k15190204

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:08

nickie

105115

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:08

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Chris DownChris Down

81.8k15190204

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Chris DownChris Down

81.8k15190204

6

You can add flags to the search command, to search the body use the search function with
the ~b modifier. So to search for cheesecake inside your mail bodies:

/~b cheesecake

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Drav SloanDrav Sloan

10.1k23339

add a comment | 

6

You can add flags to the search command, to search the body use the search function with
the ~b modifier. So to search for cheesecake inside your mail bodies:

/~b cheesecake

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Drav SloanDrav Sloan

10.1k23339

add a comment | 

You can add flags to the search command, to search the body use the search function with
the ~b modifier. So to search for cheesecake inside your mail bodies:

/~b cheesecake

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Drav SloanDrav Sloan

10.1k23339

/~b cheesecake

share|improve this answer

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Drav SloanDrav Sloan

10.1k23339

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Drav SloanDrav Sloan

10.1k23339

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:26

Drav SloanDrav Sloan

10.1k23339

6

Put ~b in front of your search pattern to search only in the body of mails. For searching additionally in the headers, use ~B

There are plenty of other patterns described in the mutt manual.

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:09

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:27

jofeljofel

20.8k34980

add a comment | 

6

Put ~b in front of your search pattern to search only in the body of mails. For searching additionally in the headers, use ~B

There are plenty of other patterns described in the mutt manual.

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:09

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:27

jofeljofel

20.8k34980

add a comment | 

Put ~b in front of your search pattern to search only in the body of mails. For searching additionally in the headers, use ~B

There are plenty of other patterns described in the mutt manual.

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:09

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:27

jofeljofel

20.8k34980

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:09

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:27

jofeljofel

20.8k34980

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:09

nickie

105115

edited Jun 14 '16 at 15:09

nickie

105115

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:27

jofeljofel

20.8k34980

answered Sep 17 '13 at 12:27

jofeljofel

20.8k34980