Search syntax

The search string is case insensitive and can be composed using single terms (including wildcards) or phrases (delimited by double quotes), optionally combined using boolean operators. For example:

database* AND "web service" -test

You can also restrict the search to specific fields (example, only systems) using the following syntax: <field>:<value>. For example:

system:vmw* OR system:web*

Ensure that you enclose the complete search string within quotes to get accurate results. For example, if the search string is sys:TEST1, the search results return both TEST1 and TEST10. To search only for TEST1, use this syntax sys:"TEST1"

The following topics provide an overview of the search syntax:

Using wildcards

Wildcards allow you to search for similar terms using a single string.

Two types of wildcards are available:

Single character wildcards (?): Indicates one variable character. For example, to search for "text" or "test", you can use the search string te?t.
Multiple character wildcards (*): Indicates zero or more variable characters. For example, to search for "test", "tests", or "testing" you can use the search string test*.

Using boolean operators

Boolean operators allow you to combine terms and phrases in a search using logical operators.

The following table lists the supported operators:

Operator	Description
AND	Links two terms and finds a matching result if both terms exist in the object's properties.
+	Requires that the term after the "+" symbol exist in the object's properties.
OR	Links two terms and finds a matching result if either of the terms exist in the object's properties; results containing both terms will be displayed at the top of the list.
-	Excludes results that contain the term after the "-" symbol.

Additional information

If no operator is specified between two terms, the AND operator is used by default.
Boolean operators must be specified using capital letters (upper case) in the search string.

Grouping search terms and phrases

You can use parentheses to group clauses and form sub-queries. For example:

(database* OR "web service") AND billing

Restricting the search using fields

Use the following syntax to restrict the search to specific fields:

<field>:<value>

where <field> is an optional filter used to restrict search results. The available fields, including description and examples, are listed in the following table. For most fields, aliases that are easier and more intuitive to remember are also available. Example, scenario instead of tc.

Field name

Description

entityid

System whose BMC Helix Continuous Optimization name matches the string.

Examples: sysid, systemid, wkldid, workloadid, appid, entid

name

Name of the entity. It could be system, server, application, domain, business driver, or workload.

domainid

Container domain ID for an entity.

breadcrumbid

Container domain ID for an entity in the breadcrumb.

enttype OR type

Entity of the specified type:

Type	Prefix	Example
System	sys	sys\:vh\:vmw or or sys\:*
Business Driver	wkld	wkld:\svc
Domain	app	app:\gen

Example search string: enttype:sys\:vh\:vmw

For information about entity types and their prefixes, see Entity types.

enttypename

Entity type name that matches the string.

Examples: "Virtual Machine - VMware" or "Virtual*"

Example search string: enttypename:"Virtual Machine - VMware"

relatedto

Show child entities of the selected one by name. Example: Cluster-23

relatedtoid

Related parent entity by ID. Examples: SYS12334, WKLD89234, APP87324

tag

Tag whose name matches the string.

tag.type Entities with tags of the specified tag type. Examples: App, Importance

Escaping special characters

If you need to use special characters as a part of the search string, they must be properly escaped using the \ character. For example, to search for a system called "Database (2)", you must escape the string as follows:

Database \(2\)

Special characters that need to be escaped are:

+ - && \|\| \! ( ) { } \[ \] ^ " ~ * ? : \ /