Search operators

Spendle supports search operators for finding specific transactions in the transaction list.

Note: This document describes the search operators for the transaction search screen. Action rules (automatic categorization) use different operators — see Action rule operators at the bottom of this document.

Basic search

Partial match (default)

Without an operator, a partial match search is performed (case-insensitive).

Syntax: searchterm

Examples:

• decl → finds “decl”, “decl122024jansen”, “declaratie”, “mydeclaration”
• albert → finds “Albert Heijn”, “albertstreet”, “Albertina”

Use: Ideal for quick, broad searches when the exact spelling is uncertain.

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Advanced search operators

1. Whole word match (~)

Search for a whole word, not as part of a larger word.

Syntax: ~searchterm

Examples:

• ~decl → finds “decl” but NOT “decl122024jansen” or “declaratie”
• ~ah → finds “AH” but NOT “Albert Heijn” or “ahoy”
• ~12.50 → finds exactly “12.50” but NOT ”€ 12.50” or “112.50”

Use: When searching for a specific word or code without false positives.

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2. Exact match (=)

The entire field must exactly match the search term.

Syntax: =searchterm

Examples:

• =decl → finds only transactions where the memo field is exactly “decl”
• =Albert Heijn → finds only exactly “Albert Heijn”, not “Albert Heijn Amsterdam”
• =50 → finds only transactions where a field contains exactly “50” (not for amounts!)

Use: For very precise searches when the exact value is known.

Note: For amount filters use =50 (with a number); for text searches use =term (with text).

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3. Starts with (^)

Find transactions where a field starts with the search term.

Syntax: ^searchterm

Examples:

• ^albert → finds “Albert Heijn”, “Albertstraat” but NOT “De Albert”
• ^NL → finds “NL12BANK0123”, “NL-Amsterdam” but NOT “SNL Bank”
• ^2024 → finds “2024-01-15”, “20241501” but NOT “dec2024”

Use: Useful for finding transactions starting with a specific prefix, such as bank codes, years or brand names.

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4. Ends with ($)

Find transactions where a field ends with the search term.

Syntax: searchterm$

Examples:

• jansen$ → finds “decl122024jansen”, “J.Jansen” but NOT “jansen123”
• BV$ → finds “Acme BV”, “Transport BV” but NOT “BV Nederland”
• 2024$ → finds “dec2024”, “invoice-2024” but NOT “2024-01-15”

Use: Useful for finding transactions with specific suffixes such as company types (Ltd, Inc) or years at the end.

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5. Exclusion / NOT (-)

Exclude transactions that match the search term.

Syntax: -searchterm

Examples:

• -albert → shows EVERYTHING except transactions containing “albert”
• -~decl → shows everything except transactions containing the whole word “decl”
• -^AH → shows everything except transactions starting with “AH”

Use: Filter out unwanted results from search results.

Combining: The - operator can be combined with other operators:

• -~word → exclusion of whole word
• -=exact → exclusion of exact match
• -^start → exclusion of starts-with

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Combining multiple search terms

AND logic (space)

Multiple words separated by spaces work as AND — all words must be present.

Examples:

• albert heijn → finds transactions containing BOTH “albert” AND “heijn”
• decl 2024 → finds transactions containing BOTH “decl” AND “2024”
• ~ah amsterdam → finds transactions with the whole word “ah” AND “amsterdam”

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OR logic (comma)

Multiple search terms separated by commas work as OR — at least one must be present.

Examples:

• albert,jumbo → finds transactions with “albert” OR “jumbo”
• ~ah,~plus → finds transactions with the whole word “ah” OR “plus”
• ^NL,^BE → finds transactions starting with “NL” OR “BE”

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Amount filters

In addition to text operators, filtering by amount is also supported:

Syntax:

• >50 → greater than 50
• >=50 → greater than or equal to 50
• <100 → less than 100
• <=100 → less than or equal to 100
• =50 → exactly 50 (note: for amounts, not text!)

Combining with text:

• albert >50 → transactions with “albert” AND amount > 50
• ~ah >=20 <=100 → whole word “ah” AND amount between 20 and 100

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Which fields are searched?

The search function searches the following fields:

• Memo (note)
• Description
• Counterparty account
• Relation
• Category
• Account
• Group
• Annotation
• Transaction ID
• Tag
• Amount

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Practical examples

Scenario 1: Find a specific supermarket

Problem: Searching “AH” also returns results containing “ahoy”, “sahara”, etc.

Solution: ~ah

This finds only the whole word “AH”.

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Scenario 2: Filter recurring costs

Problem: All large expenses are to be shown, except fixed costs.

Solution: >100 -rent -energy -water

This shows expenses above 100, but excludes rent, energy and water.

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Scenario 3: Search for IBAN transactions

Problem: Searching for Dutch IBANs.

Solution: ^NL

This finds all transactions with fields starting with “NL”.

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Scenario 4: Find old expense claims

Problem: Finding expense claims from 2024.

Solution: decl 2024 or ^decl 2024$

The first finds all transactions with both words, the second is more specific.

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Scenario 5: Excluding multiple stores

Problem: All transactions are to be shown except supermarkets.

Solution: -albert -jumbo -aldi -lidl

Or with whole words: -~ah -~plus -~coop

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Tips & tricks

1. Start broad, then refine: Begin with a simple search term and add operators to narrow down.

2. Combine smartly: Use ^ for the start and $ for the end in a single search term: ^decl2024$

3. Exclusion is powerful: Use - to quickly filter out irrelevant results.

4. Test operators: Try without an operator first, then with one to see the difference.

5. Case-insensitive: All searches are case-insensitive, so AH, ah and Ah return the same results.

6. Operators work everywhere: The operators work in all fields, not just in memo.

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Cheatsheet — Transaction search

Operator	Function	Example	Finds
(none)	Partial match	decl	”decl”, “declaratie”, “decl123”
~	Whole word	~decl	”decl” (not “declaratie”)
=	Exact	=decl	Only exactly “decl”
^	Starts with	^albert	”Albert Heijn”, “Albertstraat”
$	Ends with	jansen$	”J.Jansen”, “decl-jansen”
-	NOT / Exclusion	-albert	Everything except “albert”
(space)	AND	decl 2024	Contains “decl” AND “2024”
,	OR	ah,plus	Contains “ah” OR “plus”

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Action rule operators

Action rules (automatic categorization) use different matching logic than the transaction search screen. Below are the operators for action rules:

How action rules combine fields

An action rule has multiple fields that can be filled in:

Fields in an action rule:

• Memo — note field of the transaction
• Description — description field of the transaction
• Amount Min — minimum amount (separate field, not >50 syntax)
• Amount Max — maximum amount (separate field, not <100 syntax)
• Account — which account
• Type — IN (income) or OUT (expenses)

How they combine:

1. Memo and Description = OR logic

   • Memo only → must match the memo field
   • Description only → must match the description field
   • Both filled → either one must match (OR)

2. Other fields = AND logic

   • Amount Min/Max, Account, Type
   • These must all match together with memo/description

Practical examples:

Memo	Description	Amount Min	Amount Max	Matches when…
decl*	(empty)	(empty)	(empty)	Memo starts with “decl”
(empty)	ALBERT HEIJN	(empty)	(empty)	Description contains “ALBERT HEIJN”
decl*	ALBERT HEIJN	(empty)	(empty)	Memo starts with “decl” OR description contains “ALBERT HEIJN”
decl*	(empty)	50	(empty)	Memo starts with “decl” AND amount ≥ 50
decl*	ALBERT HEIJN	50	200	(Memo starts with “decl” OR description contains “ALBERT HEIJN”) AND amount between 50–200
decl*	(empty)	50	(empty) + Type: OUT	Memo starts with “decl” AND amount ≥ 50 AND expense

Important note: In action rules, separate fields are used for amount filters (Min/Max), not the >50 or <100 syntax. That syntax only works in the transaction search screen.

Basic matching

Automatic smart matching:

• Patterns >4 characters: substring match (finds anywhere in the text)
• Patterns ≤4 characters: whole word match (prevents false positives like “BP” in “subpage”)

Examples:

• decl (4 chars) → finds “decl” but NOT “decl072024” (whole word)
• albert (6 chars) → finds “albert”, “albertheijn”, “Albertstraat” (substring)

Wildcard operator (*)

Use * as a wildcard for flexible matching.

Syntax:

• pattern* → starts with “pattern”
• *pattern → ends with “pattern”
• *pattern* → contains “pattern” (forces substring match)
• pattern*2024 → starts with “pattern” and ends with “2024”

Examples:

• decl* → finds “decl”, “decl072024Jansen”, “decl122024”, “declaratie”
• *2024 → finds “decl2024”, “invoice2024”, “dec-2024”
• *AH* → finds “AH”, “Albert Heijn”, “AHOY” (substring)
• dec*2024 → finds “dec-2024”, “december2024”, “decl072024”

Use: Ideal for matching codes with variable suffixes such as “decl072024”, “decl122024”, etc.

Exact word match (=)

Force whole word match regardless of length.

Syntax: =pattern

Examples:

• =ah → finds “AH” but NOT “Albert Heijn” or “ahoy”
• =2024 → finds “2024” but NOT “dec2024” or “20241215”

Exclusion (-)

Exclude matches (veto).

Syntax: -pattern

Examples:

• -private → does NOT match if “private” is present
• -test → excludes test transactions

Use: Prevent a rule from being applied to certain transactions.

Required (+)

Match must be present (AND condition).

Syntax: +pattern

Examples:

• albert,jumbo +supermarket → matches “albert” OR “jumbo”, but ONLY if “supermarket” is also present

Use: Add an extra condition to a rule.

Combinations in action rules

Multiple patterns can be combined with commas (OR logic):

Examples:

• decl*,declaratie → matches everything starting with “decl” OR containing “declaratie”
• =ah,=plus,=coop → matches exact words “ah”, “plus” or “coop”
• albert*,-test → starts with “albert” but NOT if “test” is present
• *2024,*2023 → ends with “2024” or “2023”

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Cheatsheet — Action rules

Operator	Function	Example	Finds
(none, >4 chars)	Substring match	albert	”albert”, “albertheijn”
(none, ≤4 chars)	Whole word	decl	”decl” (not “decl2024”)
*	Wildcard	decl*	”decl”, “decl072024”, “declaratie”
=	Exact word	=ah	”ah” (not “ahoy”)
-	Exclusion / NOT	-private	Everything except with “private”
+	Required / AND	+2024	Must also contain “2024”
,	OR	ah,plus	”ah” OR “plus”

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Difference between transaction search and action rules

Feature	Transaction search	Action rules
Purpose	Quickly find transactions	Automatically categorize
Whole word	~decl	decl (≤4 chars) or =decl
Substring	decl (default)	albert (>4 chars) or *decl*
Wildcard	—	decl*
Starts with	^decl	decl*
Ends with	decl$	*decl
AND	space	+pattern
OR	comma	comma
NOT	-decl	-decl

Key difference: Action rules use automatic smart matching (short patterns = whole words) and wildcards, while transaction search uses explicit operators.

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Technical details

• Case-insensitive: All searches and rules are case-insensitive
• Multiple fields: Operators work on all searchable fields
• Backward compatible: Existing searches and rules continue to work
• Combinable: Operators can be combined for complex queries
• Performant: Efficient implementation with optimized regex for whole words and wildcards