from: vs to: vs @username on X Search

On X search, from:username finds posts an account wrote, to:username finds replies sent to that account, and @username finds any post that mentions it. Add -from:username to a mention search to see only what other people say about the account.

The three operators look alike and answer different questions. This guide compares them side by side; all three are in the Twitter advanced search operators reference.

What Is the Difference Between from:, to: and @ on X?

The difference between from:, to: and @ on X is whose post it is: the account’s own posts, replies aimed at the account, or anyone’s post naming the account. The table compares them on 4 points (twitter-advanced-search reference).

Operator	Returns	Includes the account’s own posts?	Example
from:NASA	Posts written by @NASA	Yes, only those	from:NASA moon
to:NASA	Replies addressed to @NASA	No	to:NASA question
@NASA	Any post that mentions @NASA, including replies	Yes, when NASA mentions itself	@NASA -from:NASA
@NASA -from:NASA	Mentions of @NASA by other accounts	No	@NASA launch -from:NASA

The Advanced search form has one field for each: From these accounts, To these accounts (in reply to) and Mentioning these accounts (X Help Center).

When Should You Use from:?

Use from: when you want what an account itself posted. It is the operator for finding an old post by someone, reviewing a competitor’s posts, or exporting a timeline. The full method is in how to search tweets from a specific user.

When Should You Use to:?

Use to: when you want replies people sent to an account, such as customer questions to a brand. to:brand -from:brand removes the brand’s own replies inside its threads. The full method is in how to find replies sent to a user on X.

When Should You Use @username?

Use @username when you want every post that names the account, whether or not it is a reply. Pair it with -from:username for brand monitoring. The full method is in how to search tweets mentioning a user.

How Do You Combine from:, to: and @?

You combine the account operators to isolate conversations between accounts. Listed below are the 4 most useful combinations.

Goal	Query
One side of a conversation	from:user1 to:user2
Both sides of a conversation	(from:user1 to:user2) OR (from:user2 to:user1)
An account’s replies to others, not in its own threads	from:user1 filter:replies -to:user1
Mentions of two accounts together	@user1 @user2

Any of these takes an engagement floor on top, so you see only the mentions worth reading; the thresholds are in how to search tweets by likes, reposts and replies.

How to Collect Posts, Replies and Mentions With apidojo

apidojo’s Tweet Scraper V2 on Apify accepts all three operators in searchTerms, and also has separate author, inReplyTo and mentioning inputs that do the same jobs. Mention collection with @NASA is one of the actor’s documented examples (Apify).

{
  "searchTerms": ["@NASA -from:NASA", "to:NASA"],
  "sort": "Latest"
}

It costs $0.40 per 1,000 tweets. See the apidojo Twitter Scraper.