Editing Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (section)

===Search and compare===
The Search operation is used to both search for and read entries.  Its parameters are:
; baseObject : The name of the base object entry (or possibly the root) relative to which the search is to be performed.
; scope : What elements below the baseObject to search. This can be <code>BaseObject</code> (search just the named entry, typically used to read one entry), <code>singleLevel</code> (entries immediately below the base DN), or <code>wholeSubtree</code> (the entire subtree starting at the base DN).
; filter : Criteria to use in selecting elements within scope. For example, the filter <code>(&(objectClass=person)(|(givenName=John)(mail=john*)))</code> will select "persons" (elements of objectClass <code>person</code>) where the matching rules for <code>givenName</code> and <code>mail</code> determine whether the values for those attributes match the filter assertion. Note that a common misconception is that LDAP data is case-sensitive, whereas in fact matching rules and ordering rules determine matching, comparisons, and relative value relationships. If the example filters were required to match the case of the attribute value, an ''extensible match filter'' must be used, for example, <code>(&(objectClass=person)(|(givenName:caseExactMatch:=John)(mail:caseExactSubstringsMatch:=john*)))</code>
; derefAliases : Whether and how to follow alias entries (entries that refer to other entries),
; attributes : Which attributes to return in result entries.
; sizeLimit, timeLimit : Maximum number of entries to return, and maximum time to allow search to run. These values, however, cannot override any restrictions the server places on size limit and time limit.
; typesOnly : Return attribute types only, not attribute values.

The server returns the matching entries and potentially continuation references. These may be returned in any order.  The final result will include the result code.

The Compare operation takes a DN, an attribute name and an attribute value, and checks if the named entry contains that attribute with that value.