The following code creates an attribute set matchAttrs, which has two attributes "sn" and "mail". It specifies that the qualifying entries must have a surname ("sn") attribute with a value of "Geisel" and a "mail" attribute with any value. It then invokes DirContext.search() to search the context "ou=People" for entries that have the attributes specified by matchAttrs.
// Specify the attributes to match
// Ask for objects that has a surname ("sn") attribute with 
// the value "Geisel" and the "mail" attribute
Attributes matchAttrs = new BasicAttributes(true); // ignore attribute name case
matchAttrs.put(new BasicAttribute("sn", "Geisel"));
matchAttrs.put(new BasicAttribute("mail"));
// Search for objects that have those matching attributes
NamingEnumeration answer = ctx.search("ou=People", matchAttrs);
while (answer.hasMore()) {
    SearchResult sr = (SearchResult)answer.next();
    System.out.println(">>>" + sr.getName());
    printAttrs(sr.getAttributes());
}
Running this example produces the following result.
# java SearchRetAll >>>cn=Ted Geisel attribute: sn value: Geisel attribute: objectclass value: top value: person value: organizationalPerson value: inetOrgPerson attribute: jpegphoto value: [B@1dacd78b attribute: mail value: Ted.Geisel@JNDITutorial.example.com attribute: facsimiletelephonenumber value: +1 408 555 2329 attribute: cn value: Ted Geisel attribute: telephonenumber value: +1 408 555 5252
// Specify the ids of the attributes to return
String[] attrIDs = {"sn", "telephonenumber", "golfhandicap", "mail"};
// Search for objects that have those matching attributes
NamingEnumeration answer = ctx.search("ou=People", matchAttrs, attrIDs);
# java Search >>>cn=Ted Geisel attribute: sn value: Geisel attribute: mail value: Ted.Geisel@JNDITutorial.example.com attribute: telephonenumber value: +1 408 555 5252