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searching-code.md

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title intro redirect_from allowTitleToDifferFromFilename versions topics
Searching code {% ifversion code-search-upgrade %}(legacy){% endif %}
{% ifversion code-search-upgrade %}You only need to use the legacy code search syntax if you are using the code search API{% else %}You can search for code on {% data variables.product.github %} and narrow the results using these code search qualifiers in any combination{% endif %}.
/articles/searching-code
/github/searching-for-information-on-github/searching-files-in-a-repository-for-exact-matches
/github/searching-for-information-on-github/searching-code-for-exact-matches
/github/searching-for-information-on-github/searching-code
/github/searching-for-information-on-github/searching-on-github/searching-code
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fpt ghec ghes
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GitHub search

{% ifversion code-search-upgrade %}

Note

This article covers the syntax for legacy code search, which you should only need to use for the REST API endpoint for searching code.

For information on the code search syntax that you can use on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}, see AUTOTITLE.

{% endif %}

{% data reusables.search.you-can-search-globally %} For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

You can only search code using these code search qualifiers. Search qualifiers specifically for repositories, users, or commits, will not work when searching for code.

{% data reusables.search.syntax_tips %}

Considerations for code search

Due to the complexity of searching code, there are some restrictions on how searches are performed:

  • {% data reusables.search.required_login %}
  • Code in forks is only searchable if the fork has more stars than the parent repository, and the forked repository has at least one pushed commit after being created. Forks with fewer stars than the parent repository or no commits are not indexed for code search. To include forks with more stars than their parent and at least one pushed commit in the search results, you will need to add fork:true or fork:only to your query. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.
  • Only the default branch is indexed for code search.{% ifversion fpt or ghec %}
  • Only files smaller than 384 KB are searchable.{% else %}* Only files smaller than 5 MB are searchable.
  • Only the first 500 KB of each file is searchable.{% endif %}
  • Up to 4,000 private{% ifversion ghec or ghes %} and internal{% endif %} repositories are searchable. These 4,000 repositories will be the most recently updated of the first 10,000 private{% ifversion ghec or ghes %} and internal{% endif %} repositories that you have access to.
  • Only repositories with fewer than 500,000 files are searchable.{% ifversion fpt or ghec %}
  • Only repositories that have had activity or have been returned in search results in the last year are searchable.{% endif %}
  • Except with filename searches, you must always include at least one search term when searching source code. For example, searching for language:javascript is not valid, while amazing language:javascript is.
  • At most, search results can show two fragments from the same file, but there may be more results within the file.
  • You can't use the following wildcard characters as part of your search query: . , : ; / \ ` ' " = * ! ? # $ & + ^ | ~ < > ( ) { } [ ] @. The search will simply ignore these symbols.

Search by the file contents or file path

With the in qualifier you can restrict your search to the contents of the source code file, the file path, or both. When you omit this qualifier, only the file contents are searched.

Qualifier Example
in:file octocat in:file matches code where "octocat" appears in the file contents.
in:path octocat in:path matches code where "octocat" appears in the file path.
in:file,path octocat in:file,path matches code where "octocat" appears in the file contents or the file path.

Search within a user's or organization's repositories

To search the code in all repositories owned by a certain user or organization, you can use the user or org qualifier. To search the code in a specific repository, you can use the repo qualifier.

Qualifier Example
user:USERNAME user:defunkt extension:rb matches code from @defunkt that ends in .rb.
org:ORGNAME org:github extension:js matches code from GitHub that ends in .js.
repo:USERNAME/REPOSITORY repo:mozilla/shumway extension:as matches code from @mozilla's shumway project that ends in .as.

Search by file location

You can use the path qualifier to search for source code that appears at a specific location in a repository. Use path:/ to search for files that are located at the root level of a repository. Or specify a directory name or the path to a directory to search for files that are located within that directory or any of its subdirectories.

Qualifier Example
path:/ octocat filename:readme path:/ matches readme files with the word "octocat" that are located at the root level of a repository.
path:DIRECTORY form path:cgi-bin language:perl matches Perl files with the word "form" in the cgi-bin directory, or in any of its subdirectories.
path:PATH/TO/DIRECTORY console path:app/public language:javascript matches JavaScript files with the word "console" in the app/public directory, or in any of its subdirectories (even if they reside in app/public/js/form-validators).

Search by language

You can search for code based on what language it's written in. The language qualifier can be the language name or alias. For a full list of supported languages with their names and aliases, see the github-linguist/linguist repository.

Qualifier Example
language:LANGUAGE element language:xml size:100 matches code with the word "element" that's marked as being XML and has exactly 100 bytes.
language:LANGUAGE display language:scss matches code with the word "display," that's marked as being SCSS.
language:LANGUAGE org:mozilla language:markdown matches code from all @mozilla's repositories that's marked as Markdown.

Search by file size

You can use the size qualifier to search for source code based on the size of the file where the code exists. The size qualifier uses greater than, less than, and range qualifiers to filter results based on the byte size of the file in which the code is found.

Qualifier Example
size:n function size:>10000 language:python matches code with the word "function," written in Python, in files that are larger than 10 KB.

Search by filename

The filename qualifier matches code files with a certain filename. You can also find a file in a repository using the file finder. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Qualifier Example
filename:FILENAME filename:linguist matches files named "linguist."
filename:FILENAME filename:.vimrc commands matches .vimrc files with the word "commands."
filename:FILENAME filename:test_helper path:test language:ruby matches Ruby files named test_helper within the test directory.

Search by file extension

The extension qualifier matches code files with a certain file extension.

Qualifier Example
extension:EXTENSION form path:cgi-bin extension:pm matches code with the word "form," under cgi-bin, with the .pm file extension.
extension:EXTENSION icon size:>200000 extension:css matches files larger than 200 KB that end in .css and have the word "icon."

Further reading