X (Twitter) Search Operators: Field Guide (Updated 2026)

Built from real-world testing on the X web/mobile search bar and TweetDeck, plus the official v2 Search operator list. Syntax can change without warning; verify critical queries.

Use the advanced search builder to compose queries, then return here for syntax details. For location filters, the place ID finder helps you resolve place IDs.

If you are budgeting for image-generation workflows, see the direct provider pricing breakdown for image + video generation APIs.

Table of contents

• 1. Syntax and boolean logic

• 2. Text and content (core web operators)

• 3. Accounts and network

• 4. Time and ID operators

  • 4.1 Date range
  • 4.2 Date+time and unix
  • 4.3 ID-based ranges

• 5. Geo / location

• 6. Post type and conversation structure

  • 6.1 Classic filter: operators (web)
  • 6.2 is: operators (API-first, often work on web)
  • 6.3 Direct relationships

• 7. Media, links, and miscellaneous filters

  • 7.1 Media type (web/TweetDeck)
  • 7.2 Links, mentions, hashtags, safety
  • 7.3 App / card-specific

• 8. Engagement operators

• 9. API-only (or mostly API) operators

• 10. Deprecated / flaky

• 11. Practical patterns

  • Sources to monitor

1. Syntax and boolean logic

• AND: spaces = AND. cat dog finds posts with both.
• OR: uppercase OR. word1 OR word2.
• NOT: prefix - to terms or operators: iphone -filter:retweets, @nasa -from:nasa.
• Grouping: parentheses to combine: (cats OR dogs) (video OR pic).
• Order of operations: AND first, then OR. Use parentheses when unsure.
• Quotes and wildcard: "exact phrase"; wildcard works inside quotes only: "this is the * time this week".
• Force exact token: +word stops auto-correction.
• Case/accents: case-insensitive; accents mostly normalized in API, close on web.

2. Text and content (core web operators)

• Keywords/phrases/exclusions: word1 word2, "exact phrase", -word.
• Question bias: a lone ? or traffic ? often surfaces questions.
• Emoticons/emoji: :), :(, or emoji behave like tokens.
• Hashtags/cashtags: #hashtag, $TSLA.
• URLs: url:example.com matches link or expanded URL; replace hyphens with underscores inside the value (url:t_mobile.com).
• Language: lang:en (BCP-47 codes). Web adds buckets like lang:und, lang:qam, lang:qht.

3. Accounts and network

• Authors/mentions: from:username, to:username, @username (combine with -from:username to see others).
• Lists: list:list-id or list:user/list-slug (cannot be negated).
• Verification/follow graph: filter:verified, filter:blue_verified, filter:follows (not negatable), filter:social / filter:trusted for trusted-network expansion.

4. Time and ID operators

4.1 Date range

• since:YYYY-MM-DD inclusive; until:YYYY-MM-DD exclusive. Combine to bound a window.

4.2 Date+time and unix

• Web/TweetDeck accept UTC timestamps: since:2024-09-01_00:00:00_UTC; until:2024-09-02_00:00:00_UTC.
• since_time:UNIXSECONDS, until_time:UNIXSECONDS.

4.3 ID-based ranges

• since_id:TWEET_ID, max_id:TWEET_ID.
• within_time:7d / 3h / 5m / 30s for "last N units" (web only).

5. Geo / location

• Web/TweetDeck: near:city, near:me, within:10km or 5mi, geocode:lat,long,radius, place:PLACE_ID.
• API extras: place_country:US, point_radius:[lon lat radius], bounding_box:[west_long south_lat east_long north_lat].
• Reality check: very few posts have precise geo; sparse results are normal.

6. Post type and conversation structure

6.1 Classic filter: operators (web)

• filter:nativeretweets, include:nativeretweets, filter:retweets.
• filter:replies, filter:self_threads, filter:quote.
• conversation_id:TWEET_ID, quoted_tweet_id:TWEET_ID, quoted_user_id:USER_ID.

6.2 is: operators (API-first, often work on web)

• is:retweet, is:reply, is:quote, is:verified.
• Common exclusions: -is:retweet, -is:quote, -is:nullcast (remove ads-only posts in API).

6.3 Direct relationships

• in_reply_to_tweet_id:TWEET_ID.
• retweets_of:username, retweets_of_tweet_id:TWEET_ID.
• quotes_of_tweet_id:TWEET_ID.

7. Media, links, and miscellaneous filters

7.1 Media type (web/TweetDeck)

• filter:media, filter:images, filter:twimg, filter:videos, filter:native_video.
• Legacy/specific: filter:periscope, filter:vine, filter:consumer_video, filter:pro_video, filter:spaces.

7.2 Links, mentions, hashtags, safety

• Web: filter:links, filter:mentions, filter:news, filter:safe, filter:hashtags.
• API: has:links, has:media, has:images, has:video_link, has:geo, has:hashtags, has:cashtags, has:mentions.

7.3 App / card-specific

• source:client_name (replace spaces/hyphens with underscores).
• card_domain:pscp.tv, card_url:pscp.tv.
• card_name:audio, card_name:animated_gif, card_name:player, card_name:summary, card_name:summary_large_image.
• Poll and ads cards: card_name:poll2choice_text_only, poll3choice_text_only, poll4choice_text_only, plus promo_image_app / promo_image_convo / promo_video_convo / promo_website.
• Note: card_name: searches only cover a shallow recent window.

8. Engagement operators

• Web style: filter:has_engagement; min_retweets:X, min_faves:X, min_replies:X; negatives flip to maximums (-min_retweets:5, -min_faves:20, -min_replies:10).
• API naming: min_likes:X, min_reposts:X, min_replies:X. Prefer these for v2 API queries.

9. API-only (or mostly API) operators

• Context/entity: context:domain_id.entity_id, entity:"string".
• Advanced geo: place:"Name" or place:ID, place_country:US, point_radius:[lon lat radius], bounding_box:[west south east north].
• Structural/metadata: conversation_id:, in_reply_to_tweet_id:, retweets_of:, retweets_of_tweet_id:, quotes_of_tweet_id:, list:123, the full has: and is: families, lang: with explicit supported tags.

10. Deprecated / flaky

• min_faves / min_retweets are not guaranteed in APIs; use min_likes / min_reposts there.
• filter: vs has:: keep filter: for the web UI; use has: for new API code.
• Geo tagging is opt-in and rare; empty results do not always mean the syntax is wrong.
• card_name: (and some include: flags) cover only a recent slice of data.

11. Practical patterns

• Search someone's media in a window without RTs:
  from:username filter:media -is:retweet since:2024-01-01 until:2024-12-31
  Open on X
• High-engagement posts about a topic from verified accounts:
  "your topic" filter:verified min_faves:500 -is:retweet
  (For API queries swap min_faves -> min_likes or min_reposts.)
  Open on X

Sources to monitor

Developer X - X Search v2 operator list - ExportData cheat sheet - igorbrigadir reference - IFTTT API notes