title: Query: Unlinked Directive
role: manual
tags: #manual #zettelstore
syntax: zmk
back: 00001007700000 00001007720000
backward: 00001007700000 00001007720000
box-number: 1
copyright: (c) 2020-present by Detlef Stern <ds@zettelstore.de>
created: 20211119133357
forward: 00001007030300 00001007040340
lang: en
license: EUPL-1.2-or-later
modified: 20230928190540
published: 20230928190540
visibility: public

The value of a personal Zettelstore is determined in part by explicit connections between related zettel.
If the number of zettel grow, some of these connections are missing.
There are various reasons for this.
Maybe, you forgot that a zettel exists.
Or you add a zettel later, but forgot that previous zettel already mention its title.

__Unlinked references__ are phrases in a zettel that mention the title of another, currently unlinked zettel.

To retrieve unlinked references to an existing zettel, use the query ''{ID} UNLINKED''.
```
# curl 'http://127.0.0.1:23123/z?q=00001012000000+UNLINKED'
00001012921200 API: Encoding of Zettel Access Rights
```
This returns all zettel (in this case: only one) that references the title of the given Zettel, but does not references it directly.

In addition you may add __phrases__ if you do not want to scan for the title of the given zettel.
```
# curl 'http://localhost:23123/z?q=00001012054400+UNLINKED+PHRASE+API'
00001012050600 API: Provide an access token
00001012921200 API: Encoding of Zettel Access Rights
00001012080200 API: Check for authentication
00001012080500 API: Refresh internal data
00001012050200 API: Authenticate a client
00001010040700 Access token
```
This finds all zettel that does contain the phrase ""API"" but does not directly reference the given zettel.

The directive searches within all zettel whether the title of the specified zettel occurs there.
The other zettel must not link to the specified zettel.
The title must not occur within a link (e.g. to another zettel), in a [[heading|00001007030300]], in a [[citation|00001007040340]], and must have a uniform formatting.
The match must be exact, but is case-insensitive.
For example ""API"" does not match ""API:"".