Places query syntax - mozillaZine Forums (2024)

This is a discussion on serialized 'places:' query strings.
Firefox 3 switched to "places" sqlite database as a main bookmarks and history container. That brings great advantage to FF users, but unfortunately lack of time left most of that database power under the hood with FF3. Still, you can get a glimpse of SQL query power by using serialized 'places:' query strings, simple strings that can be added to your bookmarks that will perform queries over database. You already have some of them, like "most visited", "recently bookmarked" and such.

Here is the basic knowledge about query system that we collected so far and few examples.
This list comes from a joint effort of mZ forum posters and is not necessarily correct or in way comprehensive

QUERY STRING EXAMPLES

Default smart bookmarks (for those that incidentally deleted them):
Most Visited

place:queryType=0&sort=8&maxResults=10

Recently Bookmarked

place:folder=BOOKMARKS_MENU&folder=UNFILED_BOOKMARKS&folder=TOOLBAR&queryType=1&sort=12&excludeItemIfParentHasAnnotation=livemark%2FfeedURI&maxResults=10&excludeQueries=1

Recent Tags - sorted by last modified date

place:type=6&sort=14&maxResults=10

Unsorted Bookmarks

place:folder=UNFILED_BOOKMARKS&excludeItems=1&expandQueries=0

More examples (chronologically):
Query for all history from last day that contains "firefox" and is from mozillazine.org domain
Query for all bookmarks with "top" tag (broken)
Query for term "linux"(broken)
Query for most visited bookmarked items
Query for items with recently used tags
Default history and default bookmarks menu
Add Unfiled Bookmarks to Bookmarks Menu
Retreive bookmarks with specific tag (doesn't use terms, but folder id)

BUILD YOUR OWN QUERY

1. Query search parameters:
(All parameters are ANDed together)

beginTime (Unsigned Long)
Time range for results. Lower boundary.
Values:
Any. Time format is in microseconds, so multiply with 1000000 * 60 * 60 for hours and for days multiply that with 24.beginTimeRef (Unsigned Long)
Indicates how to interpret the corresponding time value in beginTime.
Values:
0 (default) - The time is relative to Jan 1 1970 GMT
1 - The time is relative to this morning at midnight. Normally used for queries relative to today.
2 - The time is relative to right now.endTime (Unsigned Long)
Time range for results. Upper boundary.
Values: Same as beginTime.endTimeRef (Unsigned Long)
Indicates how to interpret the corresponding time value in endTime.
Values: Same as beginTimeRefterms (String)
Query this term
Values: AnyminVisits (Long)
Filter results based on number of visits. This is lower value
Values:
-1 (default) - Show all
Any - Show items with visit count larger than this number.maxVisits (Long)
Filter results based on number of visits. This is upper value
Values:
-1 (default) - Show all
Any - Show items with visit count smaller than this number.onlyBookmarked (Boolean)
Return only bookmarked items
Values:
true - Return only bookmarked items
false - Return alldomain (String)
Query for this host or domain name (controlled by domainIsHost).
Values: AnydomainIsHost (Boolean)
Controls the meaning of 'domain'
Values:
true - exact match
false - hierarchical (Returns anything whose host name ends in 'domain')uri (URI)
URI to match
Values: AnyuriIsPrefix (Boolean)
Controls the interpretation of 'uri' (above).
Values:
false (default) - the URI will request an exact match of the specified URI.
true - Any history entry beginning in 'uri' will match (for example "http://bar.com/foo" will match "http://bar.com/foo" as well as "http://bar.com/foo/baz.gif")annotation (String)
Annotation to match
Values: Any!annotation (Boolean)
Test for existance or non-existance of a given annotation. "Annotation is not"
Values:
true - Remove everything that doesn't have annotation.
false - Normal resultsfolder (String)
Folder that is queried
Values:
PLACES_ROOT - Places Root Folder
BOOKMARKS_MENU - Bookmarks Menu
TOOLBAR - Bookmarks Toolbar
TAGS - Tags
UNFILED_BOOKMARKS - Unfiled Bookmarks2. Configuration of the search result

OR
Logical operatorsort (Unsigned Short)
Sort results
Values:
0 - Natural bookmark order
1 - Sort by title, A-Z
2 - Sort by title, Z-A
3 - Sort by visit date, most recent last
4 - Sort by visit date, most recent first
5 - Sort by uri, A-Z
6 - Sort by uri, Z-A
7 - Sort by visit count, ascending
8 - Sort by visit count, descending
9 - Sort by keyword, A-Z
10 - Sort by keyword, Z-A
11 - Sort by date added, most recent last
12 - Sort by date added, most recent first
13 - Sort by last modified date, most recent last
14 - Sort by last modified date, most recent first
17 - Sort by tags, ascending
18 - Sort by tags, descending
19 - Sort by annotation, ascending
20 - Sort by annotation, descendingsortingAnnotation (String)
The annotation to use in sort by annotation modestype (Unsigned Short)
Type of results that are returned
Values:
0 - Results as URI ("URI" results, one for each URI visited in the range).
1 - Results as visit ("visit" results, with one for each time a page was visited - this will often give you multiple results for one URI).
2 - Results as full visits (like "visit", but returns all attributes for each result)
3 - Results as date query (returns results for given date range)
4 - Results as site query (returns last visit for each url in the given host)
5 - Results as date+site query (returns list of hosts visited in the given period)
6 - Results as tag query (returns list of bookmarks with the given tag)
7 - Results as tag container (returns bookmarks with given tag - for same uri uses last modified) - folder=tag_folder_id must be present in the queryexcludeItems (Boolean)
Exclude all URIs and separators from the bookmark query results (ignored for queries over history.)
Values:
true - Return only list of bookmark folders and queries (such as the left pane of the places page)
false (default) - Return full listexcludeQueries (Boolean)
Excludes queries from the query results (simple folder queries like bookmark folder symlinks will still be included.)
Values:
true - Return list without queries
false (default) - Return full listexcludeReadOnlyFolders (Boolean)
Excludes read-only folders from the query results (this only affects cases where the actual folder result node would appear in its parent folder and filters it out)
Values:
true - Return list without read-only folders
false (default) - Return full listexcludeItemIfParentHasAnnotation (String)
Exclude item whose parent has this annotation from the bookmark query results (ignored for queries over history.)An example is to exclude livemark items (parent folders have the "livemark/feedURI" annotation)
Values:
AnyexpandQueries (Boolean)
Allows items with "place:" URIs to appear as containers,with the container's contents filled in from the stored query (doesn't do anything if excludeQueries is set).
true - "place:" URIs appear as containers
false (default) - "place:" URIs appear as normal itemsincludeHidden (Boolean)
Returns normally hidden items in history query (content of iframes and all images on web pages). Does nothing for bookmark queries
Values:
true - Return items including hidden ones
false (default) - Return normal resultsshowSessions (Boolean)
Separate/group history items based on session information. Only matters when sorting by date.
Values:
true - Use session information when returning results
false (default) - Normal resultsmaxResults (Unsigned Long)
Set max number of results to return. This doesn't work in conjunction with sorting by title!
Values:
0 (default) - Get all results
Any: The query is executed, the results are sorted, and then the top 'maxResults' results are taken and returned. resolveNullBookmarkTitles (Boolean)
If a bookmark title is NULL (note, not empty), attempt to use the history title.
Values:
true - Attempt
false (default) - Don't attempt queryType (Unsigned Short)
The type of search to use when querying the DB; This attribute is only honored by query nodes. It is silently ignored for simple folder queries.
Values:
0 - History
1 - Bookmarks
2 - UnifiedoriginalTitle (String)
Retrieves original page title.
Values:none?MORE INFORMATION

Detailed explanations on some of query strings.
Places Documentation
MDC wiki - Places query URIs
MDC wiki - Querying Places
Source: nsINavHistoryService.idl
Source: nsNavHistory.cpp
Source: utils.js
Source: nsBrowserGlue.jsIMPORTANT RELATED BUGS (to be updated)

Bug 399799 – Provide better options to query for tags - VERIFIED FIXED
Bug 411591 – expose frecency as a sort order for place queries - NEW
Bug 420282 – After bug 385245, need RESULTS_AS_FOLDER_QUERY result type - UNCONFIRMED
Bug 421118 – break inheritance of the sorting mode - ASSIGNED
Bug 421953 – Implement RESULTS_AS_DATE_HOST_SITE_QUERY - NEW
Bug 426870 – Bookmarking place: URIs can lead to circular menus - NEW
Bug 430580 – User defined Saved Search should be editable - NEW
Bug 430702 – Bookmarked place: URIs are not consistently presented - NEWTOOLS

Patch For Library - by White Alice0775.
With FF3 final, the query editing functionality in Library has been disabled and pushed back for future versions. This extension brings that functionality back, fixes lots of bugs and enables you to see tag folder id's.
SearchPlaces - by Andy Halford.
You can now use this tool to create and edit complex queries.