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TWiki Formatted Search

Inline search feature allows flexible formatting of search result

The default output format of a %SEARCH{...}% is a table consisting of topic names and topic summaries. Use the format="..." parameter to customize the search result. The format parameter typically defines a bullet or a table row containing variables, such as %SEARCH{ "food" format="| $topic | $summary |" }%. See %SEARCH{...}% for other search parameters, such as separator="".

On this page:

Syntax

Three parameters can be used to customize a search result:

1. header="..." parameter

Use the header parameter to specify the header of a search result. It should correspond to the format of the format parameter. This parameter is optional.
Example: header="| *Topic:* | *Summary:* |"

Variables that can be used in the header string:

Name: Expands To:
$web Name of the web
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar
$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot or \" Double quote (")
$aquot Apostrophe quote (')
$percnt Percent sign (%)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$gt Greater than sign (>)

2. format="..." parameter

Use the format parameter to specify the format of one search hit.
Example: format="| $topic | $summary |"

Variables that can be used in the format string:

Name: Expands To:Sorted descending
$createwikiusername Wiki user name of topic revision 1, e.g. Public.JohnSmith
$createwikiname Wiki user name of topic revision 1, e.g. JohnSmith
$wikiusername Wiki user name of last topic update, like Public.JohnSmith
$wikiname Wiki user name of last topic update, e.g. JohnSmith
$topictitle Topic title, in order of sequence defined by: Form field named "Title", topic preference setting named TITLE, topic name
$summary(noheader) Topic summary, with leading ---+ headers removed
Note: The tokens can be combined, for example $summary(100, showvarnames, noheader)
$summary(showvarnames) Topic summary, with %ALLTWIKI{...}% variables shown as ALLTWIKI{...}
$summary(expandvar) Topic summary, with %ALLTWIKI{...}% variables expanded
$summary(50) Topic summary, up to 50 characters shown
$summary Topic summary, just the plain text, all TWiki variables, formatting and line breaks removed; up to 162 characters
$topic(40, ...) Topic name, shortened to 40 characters with "..." indication
$topic(30, -<br />) Topic name, hyphenated each 30 characters with separator "-<br />"
$topic(20) Topic name, "- " hyphenated each 20 characters
$topic Topic name
$createdate Time stamp of topic revision 1
$isodate Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 2024-04-25T06:40Z
$date Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 2024-04-25 - 06:40
$tntopics The total number of topics matched
$nwebs The number of webs searched
$formname The name of the form attached to the topic; empty if none
$formfield(name) The field value of a form field; for example, $formfield(TopicClassification) would get expanded to PublicFAQ. This applies only to topics that have a TWikiForm
$changes(n) Summary of changes between latest rev and rev n
$changes Summary of changes between latest rev and previous rev
$query(query-syntax, quote:") Strings in QuerySearch result are quoted with the specified quote. Useful to triple-quote strings for use in SpreadSheetPlugin's CALCULATE, such as $query(attachments.comment, quote:''') which returns a list of triple-quoted attachment comment strings -- the spreadhseet funcions will work properly even if comment strings contain commas and parenthesis
$text(encode:type) Same as above, but encoded in the specified type. Possible types are the same as in ENCODE. Though ENCODE can take the extra parameter, $text(encode:type) cannot. Example: $text(encode:html)
$query(query-syntax, encode:type) QuerySearch result is encoded in the specified type. This is in parallel to $formfield(name, encode:type) mentioned above
$percnt Percent sign (%)
$ntopics Number of topics found in current web. This is the current topic count, not the total number of topics
$rev Number of last topic revision, e.g. 4
$nhits Number of hits if multiple="on". Cumulative across all topics in current web. Identical to $ntopics unless multiple="on"
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar
$web Name of the web
$parent Name of parent topic; empty if not set
$parent(20) Name of parent topic, same hyphenation/shortening like $topic()
$createusername Login name of topic revision 1, e.g. jsmith
$username Login name of last topic update, e.g. jsmith
$locked LOCKED flag (if any)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search
$gt Greater than sign (>)
$text Formatted topic text. In case of a multiple="on" search, it is the line found for each search hit.
$formfield(name, 30, ...) Form field value, shortened to 30 characters with "..." indication
$formfield(name, 20, -<br />) Form field value, hyphenated each 20 characters with separator "-<br />"
$formfield(name, encode:type) Form field value, encoded in the specified type. Possible types are the same as in ENCODE: quote, moderate, safe, entity, html, url and csv. The encode:type parameter can be combined with other parameters described below, but it needs to be the last parameter. Example: $formfield(Description, 20, encode:html)
$formfield(name, 10) Form field value, "- " hyphenated each 10 characters
$quot or \" Double quote (")
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$count(reg-exp) Count of number of times a regular expression pattern appears in the text of a topic (does not search meta data). Follows guidelines for use and limitations outlined above under $pattern(reg-exp). Example: $count(.*?(---[+][+][+][+]) .*) counts the number of <H4> headers in a page.
$aquot Apostrophe quote (')
$query(query-syntax) Access topic meta data using SQL-like QuerySearch syntax. Example:
$query(attachments.arraysize) returns the number of files attached to the current topic
$query(attachments[name~'*.gif'].size) returns an array with size of all .gif attachments, such as 848, 1425, 923
$query(parent.name) is equivalent to $parent
$pattern(reg-exp, encode:type) A text extracted by reg-exp is encoded in the specified type. This is in parallel to $formfield(name, encode:type) mentioned above
$pattern(reg-exp) A regular expression pattern to extract some text from a topic (does not search meta data; use $formfield instead). In case of a multiple="on" search, the pattern is applied to the line found in each search hit.
• Specify a RegularExpression that covers the whole text (topic or line), which typically starts with .*, and must end in .*
• Put text you want to keep in parenthesis, like $pattern(.*?(from here.*?to here).*)
• Example: $pattern(.*?\*.*?Email\:\s*([^\n\r]+).*) extracts the e-mail address from a bullet of format * Email: ...
• This example has non-greedy .*? patterns to scan for the first occurance of the Email bullet; use greedy .* patterns to scan for the last occurance
• Limitation: Do not use .*) inside the pattern, e.g. $pattern(.*foo(.*)bar.*) does not work, but $pattern(.*foo(.*?)bar.*) does
• Note: Make sure that the integrity of a web page is not compromised; for example, if you include an HTML table make sure to include everything including the table end tag

3. footer="..." parameter

Use the footer parameter to specify the footer of a search result. It should correspond to the format of the format parameter. This parameter is optional.
Example: footer="| *Topic* | *Summary* |"

Variables that can be used in the footer string:

Name: Expands To:
$web Name of the web
$ntopics Number of topics found in current web
$tntopics The total number of topics matched
$nwebs The number of webs searched
$nhits Number of hits if multiple="on". Cumulative across all topics in current web. Identical to $ntopics unless multiple="on"
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar
$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot or \" Double quote (")
$aquot Apostrophe quote (')
$percnt Percent sign (%)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$gt Greater than sign (>)

4. default="..." parameter

Use the default parameter to specify a default message if there are no hits in a web. This parameter is optional.
Example: default="| *Note* | Nothing found in the [[$web.WebHome][$web]] web |"

Variables that can be used in the default string:

Name: Expands To:
$web Name of the web
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar
$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot or \" Double quote (")
$aquot Apostrophe quote (')
$percnt Percent sign (%)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$gt Greater than sign (>)

Results pagination

When a search return many results, you may want to paginate them having the following line below the results.

«Prev   1   2   3   4   5   Next»

SearchResultsPagination describes how to do it.

Evaluation order of variables

By default, variables embedded in the format parameter of %SEARCH{}% are evaluated once before the search. This is OK for variables that do not change, such as %SCRIPTURLPATH%. Variables that should be evaluated once per search hit must be escaped. For example, to escape a conditional:
    %IF{ "..." then="..." else="..." }%
write this:
    format="$percntIF{ \"...\" then=\"...\" else=\"...\" }$percnt"

Examples

Here are some samples of formatted searches. The SearchPatternCookbook has other examples, such as creating a picklist of usernames, searching for topic children and more.

Bullet list showing topic name and summary

Write this:

%SEARCH{
 "FAQ"
 scope="topic"
 nosearch="on"
 nototal="on"
 header="   * *Topic: Summary:*"
 format="   * [[$topic]]: $summary"
 footer="   * *Topic: Summary*"
}%

To get this:

Table showing form field values of topics with a form

In a web where there is a form that contains a TopicClassification field, an OperatingSystem field and an OsVersion field we could write:

| *Topic:* | *OperatingSystem:* | *OsVersion:* |
%SEARCH{ "[T]opicClassification.*?value=\"[P]ublicFAQ\"" scope="text" type="regex" nosearch="on" nototal="on" format="| [[$topic]] | $formfield(OperatingSystem) | $formfield(OsVersion) |" }%

To get this:

Topic: OperatingSystem OsVersion
IncorrectDllVersionW32PTH10DLL OsWin 95/98
WinDoze95Crash OsWin 95

Extract some text from a topic using regular expression

Write this:

%SEARCH{
 "__Back to\:__ TWikiFAQ"
 scope="text"
 type="regex"
 nosearch="on"
 nototal="on"
 header="TWiki FAQs:"
 format="   * $pattern(.*?FAQ\:[\n\r]*([^\n\r]+).*) [[$topic][Answer...]]"
}%

To get this:

TWiki FAQs:

Nested Search

Search can be nested. For example, search for some topics, then form a new search for each topic found in the first search. The idea is to build the nested search string using a formatted search in the first search.

Here is an example. Let's search for all topics that contain the word "culture" (first search), and let's find out where each topic found is linked from (second search).

Write this:

%SEARCH{
 "culture"
 format="   * $topic is referenced by:$n      * $percntSEARCH{ \"$topic\" format=\"$dollartopic\" nosearch=\"on\" nototal=\"on\" separator=\", \" }$nop%"
 nosearch="on"
 nototal="on"
}%

To get this:

Note: Nested search can be slow, especially if you nest more then 3 times. Nesting is limited to 16 levels. For each new nesting level you need to "escape the escapes", e.g. write $dollarpercntSEARCH{ for level three, $dollardollarpercntSEARCH{ for level four, etc.

Most recently changed pages

Write this:

%SEARCH{
 "\.*"
 scope="topic"
 type="regex"
 nosearch="on"
 nototal="on"
 sort="modified"
 reverse="on"
 format="| [[$topic]] | $wikiusername  | $date |"
 limit="7"
}%=

To get this:

WysiwygPlugin TWikiContributor 2014-02-19 - 18:29
WikiReferences TWikiContributor 2013-09-26 - 03:36
WysiwygPluginSettings TWikiContributor 2013-09-12 - 13:06
WysiwygPluginTopicLister TWikiContributor 2013-09-12 - 13:06
WelcomeGuest TWikiContributor 2013-05-01 - 16:03
WebTopicViewTemplate TWikiContributor 2013-01-24 - 09:48
WorkflowAndAutomationVariables TWikiContributor 2012-11-11 - 17:07

Search with conditional output

A regular expression search is flexible, but there are limitations. For example, you cannot show all topics that are up to exactly one week old, or create a report that shows all records with invalid form fields or fields within a certain range, etc. You need some additional logic to format output based on a condition:

  1. Specify a search which returns more hits then you need
  2. For each search hit apply a spreadsheet formula to determine if the hit is needed
  3. If needed, format and output the result
  4. Else supress the search hit

This requires the TWiki:Plugins.SpreadSheetPlugin. The following example shows all topics in the Public web that have been updated in the last 7 days.

Write this:

%CALCULATE{$SET(weekold, $TIMEADD($TIME(), -7, day))}%
%SEARCH{ "." scope="topic" type="regex" web="Public" nonoise="on" sort="modified" reverse="on" format="$percntCALCULATE{$IF($TIME($date) < $GET(weekold), <nop>, | [[$web.$topic][$topic]] | $wikiusername | $date | $rev |)}$percnt" limit="100" }%

To get this:

TWikiUsers TWikiAdminUser 2024-04-24 - 23:29 4031
Wipe1rSea1ls TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-24 - 23:29 1
WiperSeals TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-24 - 19:34 1
HydraulicSeal TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 17:35 1
DmssealsSeals TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 16:56 1
BrufceRicharfds TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 14:18 1
ShaunEasley TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 13:24 1
Bru1ceRicha1rds TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 11:14 1
BruceRichards TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-22 - 22:44 1
EstheTaylo TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-22 - 19:41 1
NormaEdgerly TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-22 - 14:19 1
Sbo77betOnlin77e TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-19 - 20:06 1
Bac1caratOnli1ne TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-19 - 13:55 1
TammyHernandez TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-18 - 18:44 1
KevinPressley TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-18 - 17:59 1

The condition can be anything you like. To restrict search based on a date range it is easier to use the date="" parameter as shown in the next example.

Restrict search based on a date range

A search can be restricted based on a date range. The following example is identical to the previous one, showing all topics in the Public web that have been updated in the last 7 days.

Write this:

%SEARCH{
 "."
 scope="topic"
 type="regex"
 web="%USERSWEB%"
 nonoise="on"
 sort="modified"
 reverse="on"
 format="| [[$web.$topic][$topic]] | $wikiusername | $date | $rev |"
 limit="100"
 date="P1w/$today"
}%=

To get this:

TWikiUsers TWikiAdminUser 2024-04-24 - 23:29 4031
Wipe1rSea1ls TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-24 - 23:29 1
WiperSeals TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-24 - 19:34 1
HydraulicSeal TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 17:35 1
DmssealsSeals TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 16:56 1
BrufceRicharfds TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 14:18 1
ShaunEasley TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 13:24 1
Bru1ceRicha1rds TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-23 - 11:14 1
BruceRichards TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-22 - 22:44 1
EstheTaylo TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-22 - 19:41 1
NormaEdgerly TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-22 - 14:19 1
Sbo77betOnlin77e TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-19 - 20:06 1
Bac1caratOnli1ne TWikiRegistrationAgent 2024-04-19 - 13:55 1

Embedding search forms to return a formatted result

Use an HTML form and an embedded formatted search on the same topic. You can link them together with an %URLPARAM{"..."}% variable. Example:

Write this:

<form action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{"view"}%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%">
Find Topics: 
<input type="text" name="q" size="32" value="%URLPARAM{"q" encode="entity"}%" />&nbsp;<input type="submit" class="twikiSubmit" value="Search" />
</form>
Result:
%SEARCH{
 search="%URLPARAM{"q" encode="quote"}%"
 type="keyword"
 format="   * $web.$topic: %BR% $summary"
 nosearch="on"
}%

To get this:

Find Topics:  
Result:

Related Topics: UserDocumentationCategory, SearchHelp, VarSEARCH, VarENCODE, SearchResultsPagination, SearchPatternCookbook, RegularExpression, QuerySearch

-- Contributors: TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny, TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie, TWiki:Main.SopanShewale



Revision: r26 - 2014-03-23 - 04:56:35 - TWikiContributor
Parents: WebHome > TWikiVariables

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