Searching

Find a name or a string in the diff and jump straight to it. / searches the file you’re in. g/ searches every changed file in full, old and new versions both.

Search the current file

1. Press /. A Search this file… bar opens under the top bar. Text you had selected fills it in. Otherwise the last query is still there.
2. Type. Matches highlight on both sides of the diff as you go, and the counter shows the total.
3. Press Enter to go to the first match. The keyboard goes back to the diff, and the counter changes to 3 / 17.
4. Press n for the next match and N for the previous one. Both take a count, so 5n skips ahead five.
5. Press Esc to close the bar. / brings the same query back.

Shift+Enter in the bar goes to the previous match.

The search is literal and smart case: lowercase text matches any case, and a query with a capital letter matches case exactly. user finds User and user, and User finds only User.

It only covers lines the diff shows: changed lines and their context. To search the whole file, use g/.

Limits on /

• A file stops at 5000 matches, and the counter shows 5000+ with “Match limit reached, some matches are not shown”.
• A line longer than 5000 characters is only searched in its first 5000, and the bar says so.
• A file showing Changed since last review can’t be searched. / there says “Search isn’t available in the changes-since-last-review view.”

Search all changed files

1. Press g/. The Search all changed files… panel opens.
2. Type a query. Results arrive after a short pause and group under each file path. Each row shows the side (old or new), the line number, and the line with the match highlighted.
3. Use the arrow keys to pick a result and press Enter to jump there. Focus moves to the result list, so j, k and Enter keep stepping through results. / returns to the query box.
4. Press Ctrl+o to go back to where you were before the jump.
5. Press Esc to close the panel. g/ reopens it with the last query.

g/ reads whole files, not just the hunks. For each changed file it searches the old version and the new version. A deleted file only has an old side, an added file only a new side, and binary files are skipped. A hit on a line outside the diff lands on the nearest line the diff shows.

The panel stays open after a jump, so the next hit is one keypress away. A collapsed or generated file opens up when you jump into it.

Search with a regex

Click .* in the panel to switch the query to a regular expression. It uses JavaScript regex syntax and the same smart case rule. Escapes like \S don’t count as capital letters.

handle(Get|Post)Request\(

A bad pattern shows its error under the query instead of results:

invalid regex: Invalid regular expression: missing )

A pattern that nests one repeated group inside another, such as (a+)+ or (.*)*, is refused before it runs, since it can take forever on the wrong line:

pattern has a repeated group inside a repeated group and could hang the search; simplify it

Regex searches run in a separate worker that nittle kills when the search runs out of time, so a slow pattern can’t hang the review.

Limits on g/

• 500 results at most. Past that the count reads 500+ and the list ends with “Showing the first matches only. Narrow the query to see the rest.”
• A line returns at most 50 matches, and a line over 5000 characters is only searched in its first 5000.
• Files over 2 MB are skipped, and a search reads at most 16 MB in total. Either one marks the results as partial.
• Each file gets 250 ms. A file that takes longer stops early, and the results are marked partial.
• A whole regex search gets 2 seconds. Past that the worker is killed and the panel shows “pattern took too long; try a simpler regex”.
• At most two searches run at once and four more wait. Past that the server answers “too many searches running, try again”.

Related pages

• Move around the diff with Keyboard review.
• Follow a name to its definition with Code navigation.