Search P4 Server using a DSL query

You can run more complex searches with Domain Specific Language (DSL) queries. To create a DSL query, you must use the DSL keywords with the Boolean operators.

To run a basic search, see Search P4 Server using a basic search.

  1. Select the Account button in the top navigation bar and select Search.

    The Search page opens.

  2. Choose a keyword. See DSL keywords.

    The keyword dialog opens.

  3. Choose a Boolean operator. See Boolean operators.

  4. (Optional:) Check the Case Sensitive checkbox for case-sensitive results.

    This option is only available for the User, Ext, Depot Path, and FileName keywords.

  5. Choose a value from the dropdown list or enter a search string.

  6. Select Apply.

    Your search term is shown in the Search box at the top of the page.

  7. Select Enter to run the search.

DSL keywords

Here is a list of all the DSL keywords that you can use to run a search. These keywords must be used with the Boolean operators.

Keyword Description Query type Case sensitive? Examples

text

Specify any text or phrase you want to search for.

multiMatch

No

text: "Hello World"

text: tree sky

model

Specify the data model you want to search for. See Data models.

term

No

model: content

depotFile

Specify the depot path using a wildcard character '*'. If you have special characters in your depot path, then you can use double quotes in the DSL query.

wildcard

 Yes

depotFile: //depot/main/*

depotFile: "//depot/- 200/tests/*"

fileName

Specify the file name using a wildcard character '*'.

wildcard

Yes

fileName: sky*

detected

Specify the detected AI (Artificial Intelligence) tags.

list of match

No

detected: tree rock

tag

Specify the user-defined tags.

list of match

 No

tag: "red hat" hat

ext

Specify the file extension or the file name.

list of wildcard

 Yes

ext: jpeg png

description

Specify the changelist description within quotes.

match_phrase_prefix

No

description: "fixed a bug"

date

Specify a date range or a date +/- a duration. You can also use the terms now, pastHour, pastDay, pastWeek, pastMonth, and pastYear.

range

Yes

date: 2020/9/19 2023/2/22:23:59:59

date: pastDay

date: now - 3hours

date: pastWeek - 1day

date: 1996/9/19 + 2weeks

size

Specify the file size. Accepts values in KB or KiB up to EiB.

range

Not applicable

size: 3MB 8MB

user

Specify the username.

term

 Yes

user: axyz

rev

Specify the revision range or use 'latest'.

range

Not applicable

rev: latest

change

Specify the changelist range or use 'latest'.

range

Not applicable

change: 10223 10230

content

Specify the content of a file to match a query.

match_phrase_prefix

 No

content: "fixed bug"

dimension

Specify the 2D pixel dimension.

range

 Not applicable

dimension: width >= 1024

scene

Specify the 3D scene geometry.

range

 Not applicable

scene: meshes > 30

Boolean operators

Here is a list of all the Boolean operators that you can use in a search. These must be used with the DSL keywords.

Query Description Bool type Example

MUST +

Specify the term that must exist in the search results.

must

MUST user: axyz

Returns all the files in the results where the username matches 'axyz'.

NOT -

Specify the term that must not be included in the search results.

must_not

-depotFile: //depot/test/*

Returns files from all depot paths except for '//depot/test/'

<empty>

Specify one term or another term that should be included in the search results.

should

detected: tree description: "Pine tree"

Returns all the files that have AI tag 'tree' or have 'Pine tree' in the description.

CASE =

Specify case sensitivity for a DSL keyword that should be included in the search results.

case

=depotFile: //DEPOT/test/*

Returns all files from the path '//DEPOT/test/*'

Example DSL queries

Example 1

MUST model: asset tags: tree rock -depotFile: "//depot/- 200/tests/*" +user: axyz

This DSL query runs a search and gets results for all the files in P4 Search that match the following criteria:

  • the data model type is 'asset'

  • the search matches the AI tags 'tree' or 'rock'

  • excludes all files in the depot file path '//depot/tests/'

  • matches the username 'axyz' only

Example 2

+date: 2022/7/26 2022/8/1 +model: asset

This DSL query runs a search and gets results for all the assets that were submitted in the specified date range.

Example 3

ext: fbx obj MUST tags: white light MUST size: 3MB 100MB +model: asset

This DSL query runs a search and gets results for all the files in P4 Search that match the following criteria:

  • the file extension can be fbx or obj

  • the AI tags in a file must contain both the tags 'white' and 'light'

  • the file size must be between 3MB and 100MB

  • the data model type must be an 'asset'

Example 4

MUST ext: fbx obj MUST size: 3MB 100MB

This DSL query runs a search and gets results for all the files in P4 Search that match the following criteria:

  • the file extension can either be fbx or obj, but not both, so this does not return any results

  • the file size must be between 3MB and 100MB

Example 5

=+ext: JPG MUST size: 3MB 100MB +model: asset

This DSL query runs a search and gets results for all the files in P4 Search that match the following criteria:

  • the file extension must be JPG (case sensitive)

  • the file size must be between 3MB and 100MB

  • the data model type must be an 'asset'

To learn more about the DSL query API endpoints, see DSL query API endpoints.