The String Representation of LDAP Search Filters
RFC 2254

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Network Working Group                                          T. Howes
Request for Comments: 2254                Netscape Communications Corp.
Category: Standards Track                                 December 1997

            The String Representation of LDAP Search Filters

1. Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1997).  All Rights Reserved.

IESG Note

   This document describes a directory access protocol that provides
   both read and update access.  Update access requires secure
   authentication, but this document does not mandate implementation of
   any satisfactory authentication mechanisms.

   In accordance with RFC 2026, section 4.4.1, this specification is
   being approved by IESG as a Proposed Standard despite this
   limitation, for the following reasons:

   a. to encourage implementation and interoperability testing of
      these protocols (with or without update access) before they
      are deployed, and

   b. to encourage deployment and use of these protocols in read-only
      applications.  (e.g. applications where LDAPv3 is used as
      a query language for directories which are updated by some
      secure mechanism other than LDAP), and

   c. to avoid delaying the advancement and deployment of other Internet
      standards-track protocols which require the ability to query, but
      not update, LDAPv3 directory servers.

Howes                       Standards Track                     [Page 1]
RFC 2254             String Representation of LDAP         December 1997

   Readers are hereby warned that until mandatory authentication
   mechanisms are standardized, clients and servers written according to
   this specification which make use of update functionality are
   UNLIKELY TO INTEROPERATE, or MAY INTEROPERATE ONLY IF AUTHENTICATION
   IS REDUCED TO AN UNACCEPTABLY WEAK LEVEL.

   Implementors are hereby discouraged from deploying LDAPv3 clients or
   servers which implement the update functionality, until a Proposed
   Standard for mandatory authentication in LDAPv3 has been approved and
   published as an RFC.

2. Abstract

   The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) [1] defines a
   network representation of a search filter transmitted to an LDAP
   server.  Some applications may find it useful to have a common way of
   representing these search filters in a human-readable form.  This
   document defines a human-readable string format for representing LDAP
   search filters.

   This document replaces RFC 1960, extending the string LDAP filter
   definition to include support for LDAP version 3 extended match
   filters, and including support for representing the full range of
   possible LDAP search filters.

Howes                       Standards Track                     [Page 2]
RFC 2254             String Representation of LDAP         December 1997

3. LDAP Search Filter Definition

   An LDAPv3 search filter is defined in Section 4.5.1 of [1] as
   follows:

        Filter ::= CHOICE {
                and                [0] SET OF Filter,
                or                 [1] SET OF Filter,
                not                [2] Filter,
                equalityMatch      [3] AttributeValueAssertion,
                substrings         [4] SubstringFilter,
                greaterOrEqual     [5] AttributeValueAssertion,
                lessOrEqual        [6] AttributeValueAssertion,
                present            [7] AttributeDescription,
                approxMatch        [8] AttributeValueAssertion,
                extensibleMatch    [9] MatchingRuleAssertion
        }

        SubstringFilter ::= SEQUENCE {
                type    AttributeDescription,
                SEQUENCE OF CHOICE {
                        initial        [0] LDAPString,
                        any            [1] LDAPString,
                        final          [2] LDAPString
                }
        }

        AttributeValueAssertion ::= SEQUENCE {
                attributeDesc   AttributeDescription,
                attributeValue  AttributeValue
        }

        MatchingRuleAssertion ::= SEQUENCE {
                matchingRule    [1] MatchingRuleID OPTIONAL,
                type            [2] AttributeDescription OPTIONAL,
                matchValue      [3] AssertionValue,
                dnAttributes    [4] BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE
        }

        AttributeDescription ::= LDAPString

        AttributeValue ::= OCTET STRING

        MatchingRuleID ::= LDAPString

        AssertionValue ::= OCTET STRING

        LDAPString ::= OCTET STRING