📋 cpe search

Search for CPEs that match the given criteria. Reads CPE strings from standard input (one per line) or from a file (--file), and prints the ones that match the criteria CPE.

Blank lines and lines starting with # are skipped. Lines that fail to parse are reported on standard error and skipped, but processing continues.

Usage

cpe search [flags] <criteria-cpe>

Arguments

Argument	Description
<criteria-cpe>	The criteria CPE string (2.2 or 2.3). Exactly one argument is required.

Flags

Flag	Shorthand	Type	Default	Description
--file	-f	string	""	Input file with CPE strings (one per line). Reads stdin if unset.
--advanced		bool	false	Use advanced matching (AdvancedMatchCPE) instead of basic MatchCPE
--fuzzy		bool	false	Enable fuzzy matching (requires --advanced)

This command also inherits the global flags --output, -o (text/json) and --no-color.

When --advanced is not set, the command calls MatchCPE(criteria, target, nil) (basic matching). When --advanced is set, it builds options via NewAdvancedMatchOptions() and sets UseFuzzyMatch from --fuzzy.

How It Works

The diagram below shows how cpe search reads lines from stdin or a file, parses each candidate, matches it against the criteria, and collects the matches.

Examples

Search from stdin via a pipe

cat cpes.txt | cpe search "cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:windows:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"

Expected output:

Found 2 matching CPE(s):
1. cpe:/a:microsoft:windows:10
2. cpe:/a:microsoft:windows:11

Search a file for Apache products

cpe search --file cpes.txt "cpe:2.3:a:apache:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"

Advanced + fuzzy matching with JSON output

cpe -o json search --advanced --fuzzy "cpe:2.3:a:*:log4j:*:*:*:*:*:*:*" < cpes.txt

Expected output (a JSON array of matching CPE 2.2 URIs):

["cpe:/a:apache:log4j:2.0", "cpe:/a:apache:log4j:2.14.1"]

Output

• text (default): Found N matching CPE(s): followed by a numbered list of matching CPE 2.2 URIs.
• json: a JSON array of matching CPE 2.2 URIs, e.g. ["cpe:/a:...", "cpe:/a:..."].

Related API Modules

• Search — the search module
• Matching — MatchCPE used in basic mode
• Advanced Matching — AdvancedMatchCPE, NewAdvancedMatchOptions, UseFuzzyMatch