Search Syntax Improvements

Today we are announcing simplified syntax for adding comparison and range
criteria to searches. Previously we relied on Solr-style syntax, so searching
for items with more than 10 stars would look like stars:[10 TO *]. The new
syntax simplifies this to stars:>10.

Greater Than Queries

Let’s find all repositories that have something to do with “cats”, and that
have been starred 10 or more times by other GitHub users. All the following
search examples are equivalent:

• cats stars:”> 10″
• cats stars:”10 .. *”

Less Than Queries

What about if we are interested in the less popular “cats” repositories?
We can find them using the new syntax as well:

• cats stars:”< 10″
• cats stars:”* .. 10″

Range Queries

Our search updates also improve the syntax for range queries. Say we’re looking
for “cats” repositories that were last updated between the end of April and July 4th
of 2012. Using the new syntax this would look like:

• cats pushed:”2012-04-30 .. 2012-07-04″

Omitting Spaces

If you prefer a more compact notation and typing fewer characters, you can
omit the quotations and the space characters for any of these range criteria.
Quotations need to be included only if the range value contains whitespace.

• cats stars:>10
• cats stars:<10
• cats pushed:2012-04-30..2012-07-04