Text Query Syntax

Text query syntax

The power search box accepts a compact text syntax for precise filtering — ideal if you'd rather type qty<10 mfr:acme than click through the visual builder. Pressing Enter runs it (and fills the builder, so you can fine-tune afterwards).

Where to find it: the second box in the Visual search panel (Inventory → More → Visual search).

The basics

A query is a list of terms separated by spaces. A bare word matches item names:

esp32

Add a field: prefix to search a specific field:

mfr:acme          items whose manufacturer contains "acme"
name:bracket      items whose name contains "bracket"

Field names are case-insensitive and accept short aliases.

Fields you can search

Field	Aliases	Matches
Name	name	The item name
Description	description, desc	The description
Notes	notes, note	Free-text notes
Manufacturer	manufacturer, mfr, make	The maker
Part number	mpn	Manufacturer part number
Barcode	barcode, gtin, upc, ean	A scanned/entered barcode
Serial number	serial, serialnumber, sn	The unit's serial number
Quantity	quantity, qty	On-hand count (numeric)
Weight	weight	Item weight, in grams (numeric)
Dimensions	width, height, depth	Bounding size, in millimetres (numeric)
Reorder point	reorder, reorderpoint	The item's own low-stock floor (numeric)
Unit cost	cost, unitcost	What a unit costs (money)
Purchase price	price, purchaseprice, paid	What you paid (money)
Current value	value, currentvalue, worth	Latest revalued worth (money)
Expiry date	expiry, expires, expirydate	When perishable stock expires (date)
Warranty expiry	warranty, warrantyexpires	When cover ends (date)
Condition	condition, cond	Condition grade (choice)
Tracking mode	tracking, trackingmode	How stock is tracked (choice)
Dead-stock reporting	deadstock	The item's dead-stock setting (choice)
Favourite	favourite, favorite, fav	Pinned favourites (yes/no)
Active	active	Excludes decommissioned items (yes/no)
Tag	tag, tags, tagged	A tag on the item

Comparisons

Numeric fields accept >, < and =:

qty<10            fewer than 10 in stock
qty=0             out of stock
weight>500        heavier than 500 g

ℹ️ Note A weight is always written in grams and a dimension in millimetres, whatever units you read them in — so weight>500 finds anything over half a kilo even with the app set to pounds.

Money is typed in your base currency's normal units — cost>10 means over ten, not ten pence:

cost>10           units costing more than 10
value<50          worth less than 50 now

Dates are written YYYY-MM-DD, where < means before that day and > means after it:

expiry<2026-03-01     expiring before March
warranty>2027-01-01   still covered beyond 2027
expiry:2026-03-01     expiring on that exact day

Choice fields match one of a fixed set of values. Case doesn't matter, and you can write a multi-word value with a hyphen (or quote it):

Field	Accepted values
condition	mint, good, needs-repair, out-for-calibration
tracking	discrete (shown as Bulk), serialised, consumable-gauge, untracked
deadstock	inherit, always (shown as Report), never (shown as Ignore)

condition=needs-repair    or condition:"needs repair"
tracking:serialised
deadstock:always

💡 Tip Get one wrong and Gubbins lists the values it will accept, so you never have to guess.

The yes/no flags:

fav:yes           only your favourites
active:no         only decommissioned items

ℹ️ Note Searches normally cover your live inventory only. Adding active:no (or active:yes) is the exception — it lets you go looking for decommissioned items deliberately.

Tags

Filter by a tag with the tag: prefix. tag: matches part of a tag's name, tag= the whole name — both ignoring case, exactly as the tag dictionary itself treats Fragile and fragile as one tag:

tag:fragile               items tagged "fragile"
tag:expo                  items tagged "expo-2026", "expo-spares", …
tag=expo-2026             only the tag named exactly "expo-2026"
tag:"needs a clean"       a tag name with spaces — quote it

An item matches if any of its tags does, so tag:fragile tag:vintage finds the items that carry both.

ℹ️ Note This searches the tags on the item. A tag on a location describes that place rather than the things inside it — narrow the location tree by its tag chips instead (see Tags).

Capabilities

Capabilities are weighted attributes you define. Use the cap: prefix:

cap:waterproof            items that have the "waterproof" capability
cap:voltage>3.3           capability "voltage" greater than 3.3
cap:colour=red            capability "colour" equal to "red"

Custom category fields work the same way with field: (or cf:):

field:material=steel

Is it filled in at all?

Use has: to find items that carry any value for a field — and, with the - below, the ones that don't:

has:mpn                   items that have a part number
has:Datasheet             items with a value for the "Datasheet" custom field
-has:category             items you haven't put in a category yet

has: takes the optional fields — description, notes, MPN, manufacturer, barcode, serial number, weight, dimensions and category — under the same aliases as the table above. A name it doesn't recognise is read as one of your own custom fields. Asking about something every item always has (has:name, has:qty, has:location) is rejected rather than answered, since it would match everything.

Excluding things

Put - (or NOT) in front of a term to exclude what it matches:

resistor -mfr:acme        resistors, but not the ones made by Acme
-mpn=LM7805               everything except that exact part number
-has:Datasheet            items with no datasheet on file
-(qty<10 OR fav:yes)      neither low-stock nor favourited

- applies to the one term or bracket immediately after it, so -mfr:acme resistor means "not Acme" and "resistor". It is also how you write "not equal to" — there's no !=.

💡 Tip Excluding a field also keeps the items that have nothing in it. -mfr:acme returns items with no manufacturer recorded as well as items made by someone else — which is almost always what you meant.

Combining terms

• Spaces mean AND — every term must match: qty<10 mfr:acme.
• OR — either side: mfr:acme OR mfr:globex.
• Parentheses group logic: cap:voltage>3.3 (qty<10 OR mfr:acme).
• - / NOT exclude, and bind tightest of the three.

💡 Tip A value containing a space, a bracket, a |, or a leading - must be quoted so it isn't read as structure — for example name:"a|b" or "-40C". Either "…" or '…' will do. A hyphen inside a term is always literal, so mpn:ABC-123 needs no quoting.

ℹ️ Note A quote only begins a phrase where one could start — at the start of a term, or immediately after a :, =, > or < — and only when a later quote can end a term and close it. Anywhere else it is an ordinary character, so an apostrophe or an inch mark needs no escaping: Bob's drill mfr:acme, '80s vinyl tag:retro don't and 3.5" spanner qty>2 all keep their filters.

ℹ️ Note If a term can't be understood, Gubbins tells you why rather than silently ignoring it — so a typo'd field name is easy to spot and fix.

Related pages

• Visual query builder — the same queries, built by clicking.
• Natural-language search — no syntax to learn at all.
• Saved searches & favourites — keep a query for reuse.