Every search prefix, with examples
A prefix tells search which field to look in. Type the prefix, a colon, then a value. This guide covers every prefix on the Shelf, grouped, with something you can paste. The credit, studio and place prefixes have their own guide after this one.
Combining works the same everywhere: a space is AND, a comma is OR where it is allowed (genre:Jazz,Blues), quotes keep a value whole.
Which prefixes are there?
| Prefix | Example | Finds |
|---|---|---|
artist: | artist:radiohead | records by that artist |
genre: | genre:Jazz | one of the 20 parent genres |
subgenre: | subgenre:"Acid House" | a finer genre |
mood: | mood:psychedelic | a mood descriptor |
label: | label:warp | an exact record label |
year: | year:1997 | original release year |
decade: | decade:1990s | a decade |
era: | era:1985-1995 | a year range |
canon: | canon:rs-metal-100 | records on a ranked list |
tag: | tag:canterbury | a MusicBrainz tag |
rated: | rated:4+ | your Sound rating |
How do artist, genre, subgenre, mood and label work?
These match the same buckets Stats uses, so a count there equals the shelf result. label: is an exact match on the label name, so label:RCA doesn't also pull in every label with those letters. Old prefixes sonicdna:, vibe: and style: are gone; use subgenre: and mood:.
How do I search by year or era?
year:1997 is one year, decade:1990s a decade, era:1985-1995 a range. They use the album's original release year, not your pressing's, so a 2014 reissue of a 1970 record is found under 1970.
Can I search ranked lists and tags?
canon: finds records on a list Gatefold carries: canon:pitchfork-1970s (one list per decade, 1960s to 2020s), canon:rs-metal-100 and canon:ra-electronic-100. tag: searches MusicBrainz tags on the records you own; it needs two letters or more.
Can I search by my rating?
rated:5 is exactly five, rated:4+ is four and up, rated:<3 is under three, rated:any is everything you've rated, rated:none is everything you haven't. It uses your Sound rating; the Album rating doesn't filter the Shelf.
What if a prefix finds nothing?
A word before a colon that isn't a prefix is searched as plain text, so a typo returns little rather than an error. Offline, the shelf's typed search understands only a single prefix at a time.