Query language — Scour docs

The query language is not there to be learned; it is there to be lengthened. Type one word and it is looked for in file names, which is usually enough. Add a filter when you want one.

The window and the browser page show you what your query means in plain words beside it — type ext:rs kind:code dm:7d and you read “extension is .rs and type is code and modified >= 2026-08-19”. When you get it wrong you find out from the sentence, not from an empty result.

The basics

Written	Means
`report`	anything with that in its name
`report draft`	a space is and: both must appear
`report\|draft`	a bar is or
`!draft`	a bang is not
`"two words"`	quotes: an exact phrase, wildcards inside are literal
`*.rs`	wildcards — `*` and `?`
`Projects/Scour`	a term with a slash looks at the path

The structure is one level deep: a query is a sequence of and-ed groups, and each group is a set of or-ed alternatives. (a|b) (c|d) works; there are no nested parentheses.

Filters

Field	Example	What it does
`ext:`	`ext:pdf`, `ext:rs;toml`	extension — several, separated by semicolons
`kind:`	`kind:code`, `kind:image`	what it is: code, doc, image, audio, video, archive, data…
`size:`	`size:>10mb`, `size:=0`	a size comparison
`dm:`	`dm:7d`, `dm:2026-01-01`	when it was last modified
`folder:` / `file:`	`folder:`	folders only / files only
`under:`	`under:/etc`	below this tree
`depth:`	`depth:3`	how many slashes from the root
`regex:`	`regex:^lib`	a regular expression against the folded name

What the filesystem knows

These were already stored in columns; they became part of the language.

Field	Example	What it does
`node:`	`node:l`	node type: f file, d directory, l symlink, s socket…
`perm:`	`perm:644`, `perm:/222`	permission bits — `/` means “any of these bits”
`user:` / `group:`	`user:root`	owner; names resolved from `/etc/passwd`
`suid:` `sgid:` `sticky:` `ww:`	`ww:`	the special bits; `ww:` is world-writable
`items:`	`items:>100`	how many entries a folder holds

Everything’s spellings

A handful of spellings from voidtools Everything are supported by rewriting text to text, without growing the syntax tree:

Written	Becomes
`size:1mb..2mb`	`size:>=1mb size:<=2mb`
`<a\|b>`	`(a\|b)`
`pic:` `audio:` `video:` `doc:` `exe:` `zip:`	the matching `kind:`
`empty:`	`file: size:=0`
`startwith:X` / `endwith:X`	`X` / `X`

The whole list

scour syntax

That command prints the language in full, and its output is the single source of truth in the source tree: a new field is written there first.