Search Details about the search functions of KeePass.

• Search Mode 'Simple Expression'
  • Example: Multiple terms
  • Example: Terms with spaces
  • Example: Exclusions (2.x)
• Search Mode 'Regular Expression'
  • Example: Exact term
  • Example: Short passwords
  • Example: Multiple tags (OR, exact)
• Search Mode 'XPath Expression' (2.x)
  • Example: Icon
  • Example: Expired in specific year
  • Example: Expired in specific time period
  • Example: Custom string field
  • Example: Attached PDF files
  • Example: Background color
  • Example: Multiple tags (AND, exact)
  • Example: History entry count
  • Example: Group notes
• Search Profiles (2.x)
• Quick Search Box

Search Mode 'Simple Expression'

In this mode, KeePass searches the specified terms in the selected fields. For an entry to match, all terms must match.

• Multiple terms.
  In order to search for multiple terms, separate the terms using spaces. If you want to search for a term containing spaces, enclose the term in double quotes ("...").
• Exclusions (2.x).
  In order to find entries that do not contain a certain term, prepend a minus sign to the term.

An entry matches if the specified terms can be found as substrings. If you want to find exact matches instead, use a regular expression (see the example 'Exact term').

Examples.

Search Mode 'Regular Expression'

In this mode, KeePass searches for matches of a regular expression in the selected fields.

Information about regular expressions and tools can be found here:

• Microsoft: Regular Expression Language - Quick Reference
• Wikipedia: Regular expression
• Regex101: Build, test and debug regex

Examples.

Search Mode 'XPath Expression' (2.x)

In this mode, a KeePass 2.x XML DOM of the current database is created in memory and the specified XPath expression is used to find entries.

If you want to find and replace data using XPath and regular expressions, see the XML Replace feature.

In order to see your database in the KeePass 2.x XML format, you can export it (via 'File' → 'Export') to a 'KeePass XML (2.x)' file.

Information about XPath expressions can be found here:

• W3C: XML Path Language (XPath) 1.0
• Microsoft: XPath Reference
• Microsoft: XPath Examples
• Wikipedia: XPath

When running on .NET, XPath 1.0 functions are supported. Additionally, KeePass supports the following XPath extension functions:

• boolean kp:matches(string strInput, string strPattern, string strFlags = ''):
  This function returns true if the string strInput matches the regular expression strPattern. The string strFlags is optional and may contain one or more of the following flags:
  • s: Single-line mode.
  • m: Multi-line mode.
  • i: Case-insensitive matching.
  • x: Ignore pattern white-space.
  • q: Treat pattern characters literally.
  For details about regular expressions and the flags, see the websites linked in the section about the regular expression search mode.
  The kp:matches function is basically the same as the fn:matches function of XPath 2.0 and higher (which is not necessarily supported by the framework).
• number kp:string-compare(string strX, string strY, string strLanguage = '', string strOptions = ''):
  This function compares the strings strX and strY lexicographically (by default case-sensitive, lower-case first). It returns a number less than zero when strX < strY, 0 when strX = strY and a number greater than zero when strX > strY. The strings strLanguage and strOptions are optional. strLanguage specifies the language to determine the sort order (e.g. 'en-US' or 'de-DE'; an empty string means the current language). Supported options:
  • u: Case-sensitive comparison, upper-case first.
  • i: Case-insensitive comparison.
  The kp:string-compare function is basically the same as Microsoft's ms:string-compare function (which is not necessarily supported by the framework).

Examples.

Icon
Find what:	//Entry[(IconID = '3') and not(CustomIconUUID)]
Finds every entry that has a icon.

Search Profiles (2.x)

KeePass can save search parameters as a search profile. This can be useful when you are regularly performing similar searches.

Creating a profile.
In order to save the current search parameters specified in the 'Find' dialog, click the profile creation button. KeePass then shows a dialog where you can enter a name for the new profile.

Overwriting a profile.
Overwriting an existing profile works the same as creating a profile, except that you select an existing profile name in the name dialog.

Using a profile.
There are two ways to load a profile and perform a search with it:

• Open the 'Find' dialog (via the menu 'Find' or Ctrl+F), click on the 'Profile' combo box and select the desired profile; this causes KeePass to load the profile. If necessary, adjust the search parameters. Finally, click the 'Find' button.
• In the menu of the main window, click 'Find' → 'Search Profiles'. In this menu, all profiles are listed. For each profile, there are commands to directly perform a search with the profile (commands 'Find ...') and commands to show the profile in the 'Find' dialog (commands 'Open ...').

Deleting a profile.
In order to delete a profile, select it in the 'Find' dialog and click the profile deletion button.

Quick Search Box

The quick search box in the toolbar of the main window supports simple expression and regular expression searches.

In order to indicate that the search string is a regular expression, enclose it in '//'. For example, '//A{6}//' finds all entries containing the string 'AAAAAA'. Note that this special syntax does not work in the 'Find' dialog; in this dialog, you need to select the regular expression mode and specify the regular expression as-is, i.e. without enclosing it in '//'.

Options.
The 'Find' dialog and the quick search box are independent; options/parameters in the 'Find' dialog do not affect quick searches. Options for quick searches can be found in the options dialog (menu 'Tools' → 'Options' → tab 'Interface').