---
name: "quest"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "xapian-tools"
version: "1.4.29-3+deb13u1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/quest"
---

# quest(1)

Xapian command line search tool

## NAME

quest - Xapian command line search tool

## SYNOPSIS

**quest** \[*OPTIONS*\] *'QUERY'*

## DESCRIPTION

quest - Xapian command line search tool

NB: QUERY should be quoted to protect it from the shell.

## OPTIONS

- **-d**, **--db**=*DIRECTORY*

  database to search (multiple databases may be specified)

- **-m**, **--msize**=*MSIZE*

  maximum number of matches to return

- **-c**, **--check-at-least**=*HOWMANY*

  minimum number of matches to check

- **-s**, **--stemmer**=*LANG*

  set the stemming language, the default is 'english' (pass 'none' to disable stemming)

- **-p**, **--prefix**=*PFX*:TERMPFX

  add a prefix

- **-b**, **--boolean-prefix**=*PFX*:TERMPFX

  add a boolean prefix

- **-f**, **--flags**=*FLAG1\[*,FLAG2\]...

  specify QueryParser flags (default: default).  Valid flags: accumulate, auto\_multiword\_synonyms, auto\_synonyms, boolean, boolean\_any\_case, cjk\_ngram, default, lovehate, ngrams, no\_positions, partial, phrase, pure\_not, spelling\_correction, synonym, wildcard

- **-o**, **--default-op**=*OP*

  specify QueryParser default operator (default: or).  Valid operators: and, elite\_set, max, near, or, phrase, synonym

- **-w**, **--weight**=*SCHEME*

  specify weighting scheme to use (default: bm25).  Valid schemes: bb2, bm25, bm25+, bool, coord, dlh, dph, ifb2, ineb2, inl2, lm, pl2, pl2+, tfidf, trad

- **-F**, **--freqs**

  show query term frequencies

- **-h**, **--help**

  display this help and exit

- **-v**, **--version**

  output version information and exit