Searching Artifacts Using Search Window
You can search for files that contain a literal or a character pattern in the entire workspace, a set of projects, a specific project or folders selects in the Project Explorer view. You can search any type of file.
To search and/or replace text:
1. Click Search > File Search.
The Search window is displayed.
2. In the Containing text: box, type the text you want to search. Leave this field empty to search for files. From the drop-down list, you can choose to repeat or modify a recent search.
You can use the following wild cards for search expressions:
• * : matches any set of characters, including the empty string
• ? : matches for any character
• \ : Escape for a literal; if you want to search for an asterisk, question mark, or backslash character, type a backslash before it to indicate that you are not using these characters as wild cards (example, "\*", "\?", or "\\")
3. Select Case sensitive if you want the text search to be case sensitive.
4. Select Regular expression if you want to specify that the search text is a regular expression.
5. In File name patterns, type all the file name patterns for the files to find or search through for the specified expression.
You can use the following wild cards for file name patterns:
• * : Matches any set of characters, including the empty string
• ? : Matches for any character
• ! : Excludes the given file name pattern (example, "!*.html or !plugin.xml
• . : Search all the artifacts in the workspace
You can also click Choose to search only for file types. In the Select Types window, select the file types you want to search. For example, if you want to search all map artifacts in the workspace, select *.map. Click Select All to select all file types. Click Deselect All to clear the selected file types.
If a file type is not available, then you can type the file extension in Other extensions.
6. In Search In, select any of the following options if required:
• Derived resources: Search in derived artifacts.
• Binary files: Search in binary files.
7. In Scope, select Workspace to search for the text or the expression within the current workspace.
8. Click Search.
The search results are displayed in the Search View. For information about search results, see Search Results View.
You can replace the text matches without clicking Search. For more information, see Replacing Text Matches.
Search Results View
After clicking Search in the Search window, the Search View appears that displays the files that contains the matching text. Text searches will search for expressions in files with extensions (file types) specified in the Search Window. You can double-click on the required artifact and the artifact opens in an editor.
In the Search View, you can do the following for the selected search result.
Icon | Description | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Remove Selected Matches (Delete) | Removes selected match in the Search View. It does not affect the actual file. |
 | Remove All Matches | Removes all search results in the Search View |
 | Expand All | Expands every tree item in the Search View |
 | Collapse All | Collapses every tree item in the Search View |
 | Run the Current Search Again (F5) | Re-runs the current search. If any search result was removed, they will reappear. |
 | Cancel Current Search | Cancels the current search. |
 | Show Previous Searches | Perform a previous search. You can browse previously conducted searches and repeat a previous search. You can select a previous search from the drop-down menu or clear the search history. |
 | Pin the Search View | Pin the Search View so that subsequent searches shows the results in another Search View and the pinned view remains unchanged. |
 | View menu | Displays the following options: • Show as List: Displays the search results as a list of files. • Show as Tree (default): Displays the search results in a tree view. • Filters: Provide a value that limits the number of top-level elements in the Search View • Preferences: Displays the following search preferences: – Reuse editors to show matches (selected by default) – Bring search view to front after search (selected by default) – Ignore potential matches – Emphasize potential matches (selected by default) – Foreground color for potential matches – Default perspective for Search view (default is None) |
Last modified date: 01/03/2025