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<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><title>5.5. Searching for Bugs</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../style.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.75.2"><meta name="keywords" content="Bugzilla, Guide, installation, FAQ, administration, integration, MySQL, Mozilla, webtools"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Bugzilla Guide - 4.4rc2 Development Release"><link rel="up" href="using.html" title="Chapter 5. Using Bugzilla"><link rel="prev" href="lifecycle.html" title="5.4. Life Cycle of a Bug"><link rel="next" href="bugreports.html" title="5.6. Filing Bugs"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">5.5. Searching for Bugs</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="lifecycle.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 5. Using Bugzilla</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="bugreports.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="section" title="5.5. Searching for Bugs"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="query"></a>5.5. Searching for Bugs</h2></div></div></div><p>The Bugzilla Search page is the interface where you can find
any bug report, comment, or patch currently in the Bugzilla system. You
can play with it here:
<a class="ulink" href="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/query.cgi" target="_top">http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/query.cgi</a>.</p><p>The Search page has controls for selecting different possible
values for all of the fields in a bug, as described above. For some
fields, multiple values can be selected. In those cases, Bugzilla
returns bugs where the content of the field matches any one of the selected
values. If none is selected, then the field can take any value.</p><p>
After a search is run, you can save it as a Saved Search, which
will appear in the page footer. If you are in the group defined
by the "querysharegroup" parameter, you may share your queries
with other users, see <a class="xref" href="userpreferences.html#savedsearches" title="5.10.3. Saved Searches">Saved Searches</a> for more details.
</p><div class="section" title="5.5.1. Boolean Charts"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="boolean"></a>5.5.1. Boolean Charts</h3></div></div></div><p>
Highly advanced querying is done using Boolean Charts.
</p><p>
The boolean charts further restrict the set of results
returned by a query. It is possible to search for bugs
based on elaborate combinations of criteria.
</p><p>
The simplest boolean searches have only one term. These searches
permit the selected left <span class="emphasis"><em>field</em></span>
to be compared using a
selectable <span class="emphasis"><em>operator</em></span> to a
specified <span class="emphasis"><em>value.</em></span>
Using the "And," "Or," and "Add Another Boolean Chart" buttons,
additional terms can be included in the query, further
altering the list of bugs returned by the query.
</p><p>
There are three fields in each row of a boolean search.
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc"><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="emphasis"><em>Field:</em></span>
the items being searched
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="emphasis"><em>Operator:</em></span>
the comparison operator
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
<span class="emphasis"><em>Value:</em></span>
the value to which the field is being compared
</p></li></ul></div><div class="section" title="5.5.1.1. Pronoun Substitution"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a name="pronouns"></a>5.5.1.1. Pronoun Substitution</h4></div></div></div><p>
Sometimes, a query needs to compare a user-related field
(such as ReportedBy) with a role-specific user (such as the
user running the query or the user to whom each bug is assigned).
When the operator is either "equals" or "notequals", the value
can be "%reporter%", "%assignee%", "%qacontact%", or "%user%".
The user pronoun
refers to the user who is executing the query or, in the case
of whining reports, the user who will be the recipient
of the report. The reporter, assignee, and qacontact
pronouns refer to the corresponding fields in the bug.
</p><p>
Boolean charts also let you type a group name in any user-related
field if the operator is either "equals", "notequals" or "anyexact".
This will let you query for any member belonging (or not) to the
specified group. The group name must be entered following the
"%group.foo%" syntax, where "foo" is the group name.
So if you are looking for bugs reported by any user being in the
"editbugs" group, then you can type "%group.editbugs%".
</p></div><div class="section" title="5.5.1.2. Negation"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a name="negation"></a>5.5.1.2. Negation</h4></div></div></div><p>
At first glance, negation seems redundant. Rather than
searching for
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
NOT("summary" "contains the string" "foo"),
</p></blockquote></div><p>
one could search for
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
("summary" "does not contain the string" "foo").
</p></blockquote></div><p>
However, the search
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
("CC" "does not contain the string" "@mozilla.org")
</p></blockquote></div><p>
would find every bug where anyone on the CC list did not contain
"@mozilla.org" while
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
NOT("CC" "contains the string" "@mozilla.org")
</p></blockquote></div><p>
would find every bug where there was nobody on the CC list who
did contain the string. Similarly, the use of negation also permits
complex expressions to be built using terms OR'd together and then
negated. Negation permits queries such as
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
NOT(("product" "equals" "update") OR
("component" "equals" "Documentation"))
</p></blockquote></div><p>
to find bugs that are neither
in the update product or in the documentation component or
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
NOT(("commenter" "equals" "%assignee%") OR
("component" "equals" "Documentation"))
</p></blockquote></div><p>
to find non-documentation
bugs on which the assignee has never commented.
</p></div><div class="section" title="5.5.1.3. Multiple Charts"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a name="multiplecharts"></a>5.5.1.3. Multiple Charts</h4></div></div></div><p>
The terms within a single row of a boolean chart are all
constraints on a single piece of data. If you are looking for
a bug that has two different people cc'd on it, then you need
to use two boolean charts. A search for
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
("cc" "contains the string" "foo@") AND
("cc" "contains the string" "@mozilla.org")
</p></blockquote></div><p>
would return only bugs with "foo@mozilla.org" on the cc list.
If you wanted bugs where there is someone on the cc list
containing "foo@" and someone else containing "@mozilla.org",
then you would need two boolean charts.
</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
First chart: ("cc" "contains the string" "foo@")
</p><p>
Second chart: ("cc" "contains the string" "@mozilla.org")
</p></blockquote></div><p>
The bugs listed will be only the bugs where ALL the charts are true.
</p></div></div><div class="section" title="5.5.2. Quicksearch"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="quicksearch"></a>5.5.2. Quicksearch</h3></div></div></div><p>
Quicksearch is a single-text-box query tool which uses
metacharacters to indicate what is to be searched. For example, typing
"<code class="literal">foo|bar</code>"
into Quicksearch would search for "foo" or "bar" in the
summary and status whiteboard of a bug; adding
"<code class="literal">:BazProduct</code>" would
search only in that product.
You can use it to find a bug by its number or its alias, too.
</p><p>
You'll find the Quicksearch box in Bugzilla's footer area.
On Bugzilla's front page, there is an additional
<a class="ulink" href="../../page.cgi?id=quicksearch.html" target="_top">Help</a>
link which details how to use it.
</p></div><div class="section" title="5.5.3. Case Sensitivity in Searches"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="casesensitivity"></a>5.5.3. Case Sensitivity in Searches</h3></div></div></div><p>
Bugzilla queries are case-insensitive and accent-insensitive, when
used with either MySQL or Oracle databases. When using Bugzilla with
PostgreSQL, however, some queries are case-sensitive. This is due to
the way PostgreSQL handles case and accent sensitivity.
</p></div><div class="section" title="5.5.4. Bug Lists"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="list"></a>5.5.4. Bug Lists</h3></div></div></div><p>If you run a search, a list of matching bugs will be returned.
</p><p>The format of the list is configurable. For example, it can be
sorted by clicking the column headings. Other useful features can be
accessed using the links at the bottom of the list:
</p><div class="variablelist"><dl><dt><span class="term">Long Format:</span></dt><dd><p>
this gives you a large page with a non-editable summary of the fields
of each bug.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">XML:</span></dt><dd><p>
get the buglist in the XML format.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">CSV:</span></dt><dd><p>
get the buglist as comma-separated values, for import into e.g.
a spreadsheet.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">Feed:</span></dt><dd><p>
get the buglist as an Atom feed. Copy this link into your
favorite feed reader. If you are using Firefox, you can also
save the list as a live bookmark by clicking the live bookmark
icon in the status bar. To limit the number of bugs in the feed,
add a limit=n parameter to the URL.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">iCalendar:</span></dt><dd><p>
Get the buglist as an iCalendar file. Each bug is represented as a
to-do item in the imported calendar.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">Change Columns:</span></dt><dd><p>
change the bug attributes which appear in the list.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">Change several bugs at once:</span></dt><dd><p>
If your account is sufficiently empowered, and more than one bug
appear in the bug list, this link is displayed which lets you make
the same change to all the bugs in the list - for example, changing
their assignee.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">Send mail to bug assignees:</span></dt><dd><p>
If more than one bug appear in the bug list and there are at least
two distinct bug assignees, this links is displayed which lets you
easily send a mail to the assignees of all bugs on the list.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">Edit Search:</span></dt><dd><p>
If you didn't get exactly the results you were looking for, you can
return to the Query page through this link and make small revisions
to the query you just made so you get more accurate results.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">Remember Search As:</span></dt><dd><p>
You can give a search a name and remember it; a link will appear
in your page footer giving you quick access to run it again later.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
</p></div><div class="section" title="5.5.5. Adding/removing tags to/from bugs"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="individual-buglists"></a>5.5.5. Adding/removing tags to/from bugs</h3></div></div></div><p>
You can add and remove tags from individual bugs, which let you find and
manage bugs more easily. Tags are per-user and so are only visible and editable
by the user who created them. You can then run queries using tags as a criteria,
either by using the Advanced Search form, or simply by typing "tag:my_tag_name"
in the QuickSearch box at the top (or bottom) of the page. Tags can also be
displayed in buglists.
</p><p>
This feature is useful when you want to keep track of several bugs, but
for different reasons. Instead of adding yourself to the CC list of all
these bugs and mixing all these reasons, you can now store these bugs in
separate lists, e.g. <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Keep in mind</span>”</span>, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Interesting bugs</span>”</span>,
or <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Triage</span>”</span>. One big advantage of this way to manage bugs
is that you can easily add or remove tags from bugs one by one.
</p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="lifecycle.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="using.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="bugreports.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">5.4. Life Cycle of a Bug </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 5.6. Filing Bugs</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
