Amarok/Manual/Organization/Collection/SearchInCollection

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The Search Collection feature makes it possible to specify complex filters to search for specific tracks in your collection. This can be done by using the edit box in the left pane or by clicking on the Edit Filter-button right next to the edit box.

Edit Box

When you type in the input field, Amarok will search for the expression in all available tags such as artist, album and title. The view of the collection will update automatically to display only the matches of the search.
To search in a specific tag, type tag:value into the search bar. Operators like < and > can be used to create more general conditions. Several conditions can be used together by separating them by a space between them.

Operators

Numerical tags can use the following operators to create a condition:

Equal: :
Less: <
Larger Than: >

Examples

Without specifying a tag, Amarok will search in all tags:

More complex patterns can be used to get better results:

Edit Filter Dialog

A more complex interface to specify search patterns is provided by the Edit Filter dialog.
The Append button adds the current condition to the existing one with the specified connection in the Appending Condition.
By clicking on Undo the last action will be removed.
Clear deletes the complete search pattern.

Appending Condition

Several conditions can be connected to form a complex search expression.

AND

Choose this if you want the get tracks that apply to the new as well as to the previous condition.

OR

Choose this if you want the get tracks that apply to the new or to the previous condition.

Invert Condition

Negates the defined filter condition.

Simple

The simple search mode acts like the edit box and searches through all tags.

Filter Action

Furthermore, the matching of simple conditions can be configured.

Match All Words

Tracks must contain all words that are in the Simple Search edit box.

Match Any Word

Tracks must contain at least one of the words that are in the Simple Search edit box.

Exact Match

Tracks must contain exactly the same words that are in the Simple Search edit box.

Exclude

Tracks must not contain any of the words that are in the Simple Search edit box.

Advanced

To search for in a specific tag it needs to be selected in the combobox. Numerical values can further form a more complex condition with the Equal To, Smaller Than, Larger Than and Between options.

Example

In this example we are trying to find the following track:
Title: Story Of My Life
Artist: Social Distortion
Album: Greatest Hits
We'll search for the track with that conditions in that order. Here again the result when the edit box is used:

Now click on the Edit Filters-button next to the edit box. Choose Title in the combobox and click the Append-button.

Amarok already updates the view in the background. But to get a non-ambiguous result we need the other filters. Adding the filters for artist and album work the same way. Use AND to connect the conditions, because the track needs to fulfill all requirements.