Hello,
How to search substring in a string?
example:
note:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
I want to search and find ANY string contain string: “mno”
How to do this?
All the supported search requests are documented: https://joplinapp.org/#searching
Currently searching in the middle of a string is not possible due to the way indexing works.
1 Like
I believe this to be a big hole in Joplin, and am reviving an old topic in preference to starting a redundant one, hoping that is acceptable. I've been using Joplin for a few months, and like it pretty well, but am surprised and disappointed that substring search is unsupported.
Even more surprising was the argument in #1677 that that is behavior that non-technical users would expect. I am a technical user, and grew up on UNIX systems where of course substrng search is not only supported, but obviously "natural."
The absence of this feature is a mistake.
1 Like
@mike1010 welcome to the forum.
This thread is over two years old and I think that during the last GSoC the search functions had a thorough overhaul.
I have just looked at the queries section of the Joplin site and it mentions "Switch to basic search" which states:
... You switch to this mode by prefixing your search with a slash
/. This won't provide the benefits of FTS but it will allow searching exactly for what you need. Note that it can also be much slower, even extremely slow, depending on your query.
I have never used this before but I just searched my notes for /ebserv and it found all notes containing "webserver" (no highlighting of hits though). Is that the kind of search you are looking for?
4 Likes
That is a perfectly good work around, and thank you for it.
My browsing the website did not uncover that for whatever reason.
Hopefully someone smarter and better at Joplin than I will fill in here. But, at the top of my Joplin notes I have a notebook with a file inside it called "Cheatsheets". For cheatsheets I need. One is Joplin's Markdown guide. One just my own joplin shortcuts, but one I use is Joplin Search.pdf. The link goes to a file in joplin resources and gives us a great review of the various search functions including get out of full text indexed search and into a complete search with the / command or prefix. It is a great guide. Joplin has a note on top saying it is monitoring for changes so it will keep the file up to date?!
I don't know where I got this. It is a local file in my joplin resources. If some expert can let us know, it is a great resource.
I believe that the banner you are seeing is just because you have opened the PDF from within Joplin. It will monitor the file in case you make any changes to it and will update the changed file if you do.
Could it be that you have a PDF of the Help section on the Joplin site that covers searching?
1 Like
That's good to know. It would be even better to know the link to the file in joplin resources that details the search functions. Regards.
@dpoulton had it exactly right. I just matched them, and apparently I made a pdf from the section in the help files on search. That is exactly what my pdf is. Best I can imagine, because I did it about 9 months ago and totally don't remember at all, is that I selected the search area of the help file and clipped it to a note. then did a pdf export of that note and stored it in the resources folder. Anyway, my note is an exact replica of the html help file section on search.
He is also correct in assuming that the note at top is because the note is opened in my pdf viewer / editor and Joplin is no doubt monitoring for changes while the note is also open in Joplin.
I prefer the pdf editor as the note comes up on my other screen and is lots bigger than the space I give Joplin. Also the rules for query on on the other screen from the screen making the query.
Oddly enough, my markdown guide note is just a link to the html help page without the pdf intervention. I think its because it has its own page and the search rules were harder to find.
I always try to put the source (link) of a clipped note / created pdf into the note/pdf iteself, so I always know where it comes from. Most of all to be able to check, wether the info is still correct in reation to the source. Internet can be so fugacious...
2 Likes
Wow! You got a like from me just for the use of of the word "fugacious" 
2 Likes
That's simply my fate as a non-native speaker... 
I tend to give you a 
for your reply, but due to the limitations here, I ended up giving you a 
too...
It would be helpful to know where to find "the section in the help files on search." The only thing I've found is https://joplinapp.org/spec/search_sorting/, which gives no information on the UI, for example the use of '/' to enable substring search. Thanks.
Thank you. I am at a loss to say why I overlooked this.
You may know this, but just in case: Joplin's "Note Properties" has an URL field. It's also automatically populated if you save something from the web clipper.
(I wish there was an easily clickable link visible when it's not empty, though.)
1 Like
Thank you. I am aware of that, but I am unable to change my habits at this. 
And equally important; I always mistrust the portability of meta data in case I'll have to migrate from Joplin to another solution, like I did last year with Evernote. I don't expect to leave Joplin, I hope I never have to, but I like to be prepared