What are the advanced uses of VS Code search features?

VS Code provides powerful search and find features, supporting in-file, cross-file, regex and other search methods, helping quickly locate code and content.

Basic Search

Find in File

• Shortcut: Ctrl+F
• Function: Find text in currently open file
• Features: Support case sensitivity, whole word match, regex

Replace in File

• Shortcut: Ctrl+H
• Function: Find and replace text in current file
• Operation: Enter replacement content after finding, select replacement scope

Cross-file Search

Find in Workspace

• Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+F
• Function: Search text across entire workspace
• Location: Sidebar search view

Replace in Workspace

• Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+H
• Function: Find and replace across entire workspace
• Features: Support previewing replacement results

Search Options

Basic Options

• Case Sensitive: Aa icon button
• Match Whole Word: Ab icon button
• Use Regular Expression: .* icon button
• Use Exclude Files: Exclude specific files when searching

Advanced Options

• Include: Specify file patterns to search
• Exclude: Specify file patterns to exclude
• Context Lines: Show context of matches

Regular Expression Search

Regex Syntax

javascript
// Find function calls
function\s+(\w+)\s*\(([^)]*)\)

// Find email addresses
[\w.]+@[\w.]+\.\w+

// Find URLs
https?:\/\/[^\s]+

Using Capture Groups

javascript
// Find and replace
// Find: (\w+)\.(\w+)\((.*)\)
// Replace: $2($1, $3)

Search Result Navigation

Viewing Search Results

• Search results displayed in search panel
• Click results to jump to corresponding location
• Support keyboard navigation

Quick Navigation

• F3/Shift+F3: Next/previous match
• Enter: Open selected result
• Ctrl+Enter: Open in new editor

Search Configuration

Search Exclude Configuration

Configure in settings.json:

json
{
  "search.exclude": {
    "**/node_modules": true,
    "**/dist": true,
    "**/.git": true,
    "**/*.min.js": true
  }
}

Search Include Configuration

json
{
  "search.include": {
    "**/*.js": true,
    "**/*.ts": true,
    "**/*.jsx": true
  }
}

Using .gitignore

json
{
  "search.useIgnoreFiles": true,
  "search.useParentIgnoreFiles": true
}

Smart Search

Symbol Search

• Shortcut: Ctrl+T
• Function: Search symbols in workspace (functions, classes, variables, etc.)
• Features: Support fuzzy matching

File Search

• Shortcut: Ctrl+P
• Function: Quick open files
• Features: Support fuzzy matching and symbol jumping

Symbol Definition Search

• Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+O
• Function: Search symbols in current file
• Features: Grouped display by type

Search Shortcuts

Common Shortcuts

• Ctrl+F: Find in file
• Ctrl+H: Replace in file
• Ctrl+Shift+F: Find in workspace
• Ctrl+Shift+H: Replace in workspace
• Ctrl+T: Symbol search
• Ctrl+P: File search
• F3: Next match
• Shift+F3: Previous match

Search Tips

Fuzzy Search

• Use partial name search
• Support camelCase matching
• Automatically ignore case

Multi-condition Search

javascript
// Search multiple keywords
keyword1 OR keyword2

// Exclude specific content
keyword -exclude

Context Search

• Set context lines to view more information
• Use "Open in context" to view complete code

Performance Optimization

Large Project Search

• Reasonably configure exclusion rules
• Use file type filtering
• Limit search scope

Search Caching

• VS Code automatically caches search results
• Support incremental search
• Reduce duplicate search time

Important Notes

• Regex search may affect performance
• Large projects recommended to use exclusion rules
• Search results can be saved and exported
• Support search history
• Pay attention to search result accuracy