Filtering Guide

Detailed guide to filtering job postings by timeframe and location in swelist

Overview

swelist provides two powerful filtering mechanisms to help you find relevant job postings:

1. Timeframe filtering - Filter by when jobs were posted
2. Location filtering - Filter by geographic location

Both filters work together and can be combined for precise searches.

Timeframe Filtering

Timeframe filtering uses the --timeframe parameter to show only jobs posted within a specific time window.

Available Timeframes

lastday

Last 24 Hours

Shows jobs posted in the last 24 hours.

swelist --timeframe lastday

This is the default timeframe if you don’t specify one.

Best for:

• Daily job hunting routine
• Staying on top of the newest postings
• Quick morning or evening checks

lastweek

Last 7 Days

Shows jobs posted in the last 7 days (168 hours).

swelist --timeframe lastweek

Best for:

• Weekly review sessions
• Catching up after a few days away
• Seeing weekly trends

lastmonth

Last 30 Days

Shows jobs posted in the last 30 days (720 hours).

swelist --timeframe lastmonth

Best for:

• Comprehensive searches
• Understanding hiring patterns
• Finding older postings that are still active

How Timeframe Filtering Works

The timeframe filter calculates the time difference between the current moment and when each job was posted:

• lastday: Includes jobs where (current_time - posting_time) < 24 hours
• lastweek: Includes jobs where (current_time - posting_time) < 7 days
• lastmonth: Includes jobs where (current_time - posting_time) < 30 days

Timeframe filtering is applied before location filtering, so the count of available jobs may decrease after applying location filters.

Examples

# Default: last 24 hours
swelist

# Explicit last day
swelist --timeframe lastday

# Last week for new grad positions
swelist --role newgrad --timeframe lastweek

# Last month for comprehensive search
swelist --role internship --timeframe lastmonth

Location Filtering

Location filtering uses the --location parameter to show only jobs in specific geographic areas.

Location Matching Logic

swelist uses intelligent location matching with two different strategies:

1. State Code Matching (2-letter inputs)

When you provide a 2-letter location code, swelist treats it as a US state abbreviation:

if len(user_location) == 2:  # treat as state code
    if job_location.endswith(user_location):
        # Match found

Examples:

• CA matches “San Francisco, CA”, “Los Angeles, CA”, “Palo Alto, CA”
• NY matches “New York, NY”, “Buffalo, NY”, “Rochester, NY”
• TX matches “Austin, TX”, “Houston, TX”, “Dallas, TX”

State code matching checks if the job location ends with the state code, ensuring precise state-level filtering.

2. City/Country Matching (3+ letter inputs)

When you provide a longer location string, swelist performs substring matching:

else:  # city or country
    if user_location in job_location:
        # Match found

Examples:

• Toronto matches “Toronto, ON”, “Toronto, Canada”
• San Francisco matches “San Francisco, CA”
• Remote matches “Remote”, “Remote - US”, “Remote - Canada”
• Boston matches “Boston, MA”, “Boston Metro Area”

All location matching is case-insensitive, so toronto, TORONTO, and Toronto all work the same.

Single Location Filter

# City name
swelist --location Seattle

# State code
swelist --location WA

# Country
swelist --location Canada

# Remote work
swelist --location Remote

Multiple Location Filters

You can search multiple locations simultaneously by separating them with commas:

# Multiple cities
swelist --location "Boston, Seattle, Austin"

# Multiple states
swelist --location "CA, NY, WA"

# Mix of cities and states
swelist --location "Toronto, CA, NY, Seattle"

# Mix of everything
swelist --location "Remote, CA, Boston, Toronto"

When using multiple locations, wrap the entire parameter in quotes to ensure proper parsing.

How Multiple Locations Work

The location filter splits your input by commas and checks if any of your locations match the job posting:

user_locations = [loc.strip().lower() for loc in location.split(",")]

for job in postings:
    job_locations = [l.lower() for l in job.get("locations", [])]
    
    for user_loc in user_locations:
        for job_loc in job_locations:
            if match_found:
                include_job()
                break

A job is included if it matches at least one of your specified locations.

Special Location: “all”

The default location value is all, which disables location filtering:

# These are equivalent
swelist
swelist --location all

Use --location all to see all available postings regardless of location.

Combining Filters

The real power of swelist comes from combining timeframe and location filters:

Progressive Filtering

1. First, jobs are filtered by timeframe
2. Then, the results are filtered by location
3. Finally, matching jobs are displayed

# Find new grad jobs in California from the last week
swelist --role newgrad --timeframe lastweek --location CA

This command:

1. Fetches new grad positions
2. Filters to jobs posted in the last 7 days
3. Further filters to jobs ending in “CA”

Advanced Filtering Examples

Targeted Search

# Very specific search
swelist --role internship --timeframe lastday --location "Seattle, SF"

Handling No Results

If your filters are too restrictive, you may get no results:

swelist --location "Antarctica" --timeframe lastday

Output:

No postings found for location 'Antarctica' in lastday

swelist provides helpful feedback:

• No jobs in timeframe: No postings found in lastday
• No jobs matching location + timeframe: No postings found for location 'X' in lastday

If you get no results, try:

• Expanding the timeframe (e.g., lastday → lastweek)
• Broadening the location (e.g., Seattle → WA)
• Using --location all to see if any jobs exist in the timeframe

Best Practices

For Daily Searches

# Quick check of your target locations
swelist --location "Seattle, SF, Boston" --timeframe lastday

For Weekly Reviews

# Comprehensive weekly scan
swelist --role newgrad --timeframe lastweek --location "CA, NY, WA"

For Initial Research

# See everything available in a region
swelist --timeframe lastmonth --location CA

For Remote Opportunities

# Focus on remote-first positions
swelist --location Remote --timeframe lastweek

Tips for Effective Filtering

Use 2-letter state codes for comprehensive coverage: CA will match all California cities, while San Francisco will only match that specific city.

Start broad, then narrow: Begin with --timeframe lastmonth to see overall availability, then use lastday for daily monitoring.

Combine multiple locations strategically: Instead of running separate searches, combine your target cities: --location "Boston, NYC, DC"

Don’t forget Remote: Many companies list remote positions separately, so include Remote in your location list.

Location matching is flexible and forgiving - partial matches work, so "San Francisco", "SF", and "San Fran" may all return results depending on how companies list their locations.