Gmail Search Special Syntax

Gmail offers a rich search syntax for searching throufgh your archived mails.

From:
Searches through the headers of your email messages archive in search of mail sent by someone matching the keyword you provide:
from:amanjain59@gmail.com

To:
Searches all messages sent to someone matching a provided keyword.
To:cooldude@yahoo.com

Subject:
Matches messages with a particular subject:
Subject:”meeting notes”

Label:
Looks for messages with a particular label applied:
Label:knitting

has:attachment
The has:attachment in a query returns only messages having one or more attachments
has:attachment

filename:
Finds messages with a attachment filename that matches a provided pattern.Used with just a file extension(eg. pdf or txt ), filename: searches all messages with attachments of a particular type.

filename:meeting_notes.txt
filename:pdf

in:
Searches a list of messages in a particular collection (folder).Acceptable values for in: are inbox,trash,spam,and anywhere .Oddly enough , sent is not a usable value for in:

eg.
in:inbox
in:anywhere

is:
Acceptable values for is: are starred,unread, and read which return starred , unread, and read messages.
Is:read

cc:
Searches messages carbon copied to particular recipients:
cc:help@yahoo.com

bcc:
Finds outgoing messages blind carbon copied to particular recipients.Note that bcc: does not work on incoming mail because there is no way to tell who's on the bcc line:
bcc:help@gmail.com

before:
Matches messages sent or received before a particular date , specified in yyyy/mm/dd format.

Before:2009/10/02

after:
Matches messages sent or recieved on or after a particular date , specified in yyyy/mm//dd format
after:2009/11/21

Special Syntax for Google Search

Google offers some rather extensive special syntax for narrowing your searches.

Google special syntax comes useful when you are searching more than eight billion web pages for specific types of information.

Intitle:
intitle: restricts your search to the titles of webpages .The variation allintitle: finds pages in which all the specified words appear in the title of the web page.Using allintitle: is basically the same as using intitle: before each keyword.

Intitle:”george bush”
allintitle:”money supply” economics in text:

Intext: searches only body text While its uses are limited


Site:
Site: allows you to narrow your search by a site or by a top level domain.

Site: http://crossaffairs.blogspot.com


Inurl:
Inurl: restricts your search to the URL's of webpages .This syntax usually works well for finding search and help pages because they tend to be regular in composition.

Inurl:help
Using inurl: query instead of the site: query has one immediate advantage . You can use it to search sub-directories.


Link:
Link: returns a list of pages that link to a specified URL.Enter link:www.google.com and you'll gety a list of pages that link to the Google home page, http://www.google.com.Link: works well with “deep” level URL's as with the top level URLs

cache:
cache: finds a copy of the page that Google indexed even if that page is no longer available at its original URL has since changed its content completely.

Cache:www.yahoo.com.
The google cache is particularly useful for retrieving a previous version os a page that changes often.

Related:
Related: as you might expect, finds pages that related to the specified page.This is a good way to find categories of pages .a search for Related:www.google.com returns a variety of search engines , including Lycos, Yahoo! .

related:www.yahoo.com
related:www.cnn.com

info:
info: provides a page of links to mor information about a specied URL.This information includes a link to the URL's cache , a list of pages that link to the URL, pages that are rerlated to the URL, and pages that contain URL.
Info:http://crosaffairs.blogspot.com

phonebook:
phonebook: as you might expect looks up phone numbers.
Phonebook:John Doe CA
Phonebook:(510) 555-1212

movie:
Use the movie: syntax to find reviews of movies on the web
movie:matrix

You can also use a zip code or a city and state combination to find local theatre listings and movie showtimes:
movie:201002
movie:california

music:
music: explicitly searches for music related information:
music:coldplay
You are given a page that splits results into matching artists , albums and lyrics and you can choose any of these areas in depth.