A little LDAP help needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Clayton Sutton
  • Start date Start date
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Clayton Sutton

Can someone tell me what the "&" means in the below query? After I add it
into "Saved Queries" in AD Users and Computers it adds a second "&".


(&(msExchHideFromAddressLists=TRUE)(objectClass=User))

(&(&(msExchHideFromAddressLists=TRUE)(objectClass=User)))

Just trying to understand the LDAP syntax.


TIA,


Clayton
 
In addition to what Todd and Al said, the extra (&) in the second filter is
totally extraneous.

Joe K.
 
Well when I copy and paste the code into the "Saved Queries" text and click
it places the second "&" it's self. I am just trying to understand the "&"
in the first place. What is it there for? Is if a verable of some kind?
It makes no sense at the begaining of the line to me.


Clayton
 
The & and | operators are simply a way of creating queries that have
compound filter components.

For example, if you want to find users with last name of Jones, you might
do:
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(sn=Jones))

The three filter components are grouped together inside an (&...), meaning
that they must all be true. If we only cared if one of those was true, we
would group them in an (|....).

This grouping thing in LDAP filters can get nested many levels deep to
create more and more complex filter expressions. For example, I could do:
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(|(sn=Jones)(sn=Smith)))

to find all of the users whose last name is Jones or Smith. You can keep
nesting as much as you want.

I have no idea why the tool you are using adds the extra (&...) wrapper
around the query. It is redundant and adds no value in the query you
showed. It also doesn't hurt though. I'm sure there's a reason for it
having to do with the way the tool works, but I don't know.

Joe K.
 
Thank you Joe,

Your expiation was the best I've gotten so far. In other settings I would
expect to see something like:

(objectCategory=person) & (objectClass=user) & (sn=Jones)

Not THAT I understand! But putting the *&* in front was confusing to me.
In LDAP it's kinda like a powerful *&* wrapper. Do you know of any LDAP
documents that show all of the "wrappers"?


Clayton
 
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