Query Dialog

Introduction – Where am I?

The Query Dialog shows matches from an external address-book query. Unlike the Alias Dialog, which reads NeoMutt’s local aliases, this dialog is filled by an external command such as an LDAP lookup, contacts script, or directory search. Its job is to help you find recipients who are not already stored in your alias list.

Query Dialog

  1   Alan Jay Lerner           <ajl@guava.com>           |                        grammy,oscar,tony
  2   Alan Menken               <am@mango.com>            |                        grammy,oscar,tony
  3   Alex Lacamoire            <al@tangerine.com>        |                         emmy,grammy,tony
  4   Al Pacino                 <ap@mango.com>            |                          emmy,oscar,tony
  5   Andre De Shields          <ads@cherry.com>          |                         emmy,grammy,tony
  6   Andrew Lloyd Webber       <alw@elderberry.com>      |                   emmy,grammy,oscar,tony
  7   Anne Bancroft             <ab@elderberry.com>       |                          emmy,oscar,tony
  8   Anne Garefino             <ag@ziziphus.com>         |                         emmy,grammy,tony
  9   Audra McDonald            <amd@fig.com>             |                         emmy,grammy,tony
 10   Audrey Hepburn            <ah@lemon.com>            |                   emmy,grammy,oscar,tony
 11   Benj Pasek                <bp@apple.com>            |                        grammy,oscar,tony
 12   Bette Midler              <bm@vanilla.com>          |                         emmy,grammy,tony
 13   Bob Fosse                 <bf@guava.com>            |                          emmy,oscar,tony
 14   Christopher Plummer       <cp@vanilla.com>          |                          emmy,oscar,tony
 15   Cy Coleman                <cc@damson.com>           |                         emmy,grammy,tony
 16   Cyndi Lauper              <cl@tangerine.com>        |                         emmy,grammy,tony
 17   Cynthia Erivo             <ce@lemon.com>            |                         emmy,grammy,tony
 18   Cynthia Nixon             <cn@nectarine.com>        |                         emmy,grammy,tony
 19   Ellen Burstyn             <eb@nectarine.com>        |                          emmy,oscar,tony
 20   Elton John                <ej@kumquat.com>          |                        grammy,oscar,tony
 21   Frances McDormand         <fmd@hawthorn.com>        |                          emmy,oscar,tony
 22   Frank Loesser             <fl@strawberry.com>       |                        grammy,oscar,tony
Query: tony                                                                                         
To: tony                                                                                            

What am I looking at?

• Each result row shows the display name, email address, and any extra text returned by the query backend.

• The highlighted row is the address that will be inserted, mailed to, or turned into an alias.

• The status line records the current query string.

• The prompt line shows the live recipient or search text that produced these results.

What can I do?

• Select one or more addresses to insert into the current recipient field.

• Run a new query or append more results to the current list.

• Sort, limit, and tag results to narrow large address-book searches.

• Create a local alias from a selected query result.

• Compose a new message directly to the selected address.

• Full reference: Query Functions, Generic Functions.

Where can I go next?

• Selecting entries usually returns you to the Compose Dialog or the Message Window prompt that asked for recipients.

• <mail> opens the Compose Dialog directly.

• Creating an alias affects what you will later see in the Alias Dialog.

• q cancels and returns to the caller.

Where did I come from?

• <query> from the Index Dialog opens this dialog explicitly.

• Address completion from the Message Window can open it when you use query completion.

• Editing recipient fields in the Compose Dialog is a common path into this dialog.

How do I configure this?

• Start with Alias Config.

• Common options include $query_command, $query_format, and, for local aliases alongside query results, $alias_file and $alias_format.

• Query results often become persistent local data via :alias, :group, and related alias commands.

• Colours come from Colour Objects, especially indicator, status, prompt, message, and normal.