Here is a cool Visual Studio feature that almost nobody knows about. If you want to open up a file in your solution, but can't be bothered to dig down through your projects and folders to find it, try this, Click in the Find box in the toolbar, Type of followed by a space, then begin the name of the file you are looking for. Oct 26, 2020 In addition to searching the IDE itself, Visual Studio search also searches your solution items for filename, code, method, and other matches. In the following screenshot, a search for markdown has found the MarkdownMetaExtractor.cs file, the MarkdownMetaExtractor class, and two methods within the solution. Jun 23, 2010 The good news is that Visual Studio has a Find All built into it. To find the option (excuse the pun!) all you need to do is hold Ctrl and Shift and press F or click on Edit - Find and Replace - Find In Files. This will open up a dialog box that will let you enter your search criteria. Find in Files allows you to search a specified set of files. The matches found and actions taken are listed in the Find Results window selected in Result options. You can use any of the following methods to display Find in Files in the Find and Replace window. To display Find in Files. On the menu bar, choose Edit Find and Replace. Choose Find in Files. General Shortcuts. Ctrl-X or Shift-Delete. Cuts the currently selected item to the clipboard.
-->Find in Files allows you to search a specified set of files. The matches found and actions taken are listed in the Find Results window selected in Result options.
You can use any of the following methods to display Find in Files in the Find and Replace window.
To display Find in Files
On the menu bar, choose Edit > Find and Replace.
Choose Find in Files.
To cancel a Find operation, press Ctrl + Break.
Note
The Find and Replace tool does not search directories with the Hidden or System attribute.
Find what
To search for a new text string or expression, specify it in the box. To search for any of the 20 strings that you searched for most recently, open the drop-down list and choose the string. Choose the adjacent Expression Builder button if you want to use one or more regular expressions in your search string. For more information, see Using regular expressions in Visual Studio.
Note
The Expression Builder button will only be enabled if you have selected Use Regular Expressions under Find options.
Look in
The option chosen from the Look in drop-down list determines whether Find in Files searches only in currently active files or in all files stored within certain folders. Select a search scope from the list or click the Browse (...) button to display the Choose Search Folders dialog box and to enter your own set of directories. You can also type a path directly into the Look in box.
Warning
With the Entire Solution or Current Project options, project and solution files are not searched. If you want to look in project files, choose a search folder.
Note
If the Look in option selected causes you to search a file that you have checked out from source code control, only the version of that file which has been downloaded to your local machine is searched.
Include subfolders
Specifies that subfolders of the Look in folder will be searched.
Find options
You can expand or collapse the Find options section. The following options can be selected or cleared:
Match case
When selected, a Find Results search will be case-sensitive
Match whole word
When selected, the Find Results windows will only return whole word matches.
Use Regular Expressions
If this check box is selected, you can use special notations to define patterns of text to match in the Find what or Replace with text boxes. For a list of these notations, see Using regular expressions in Visual Studio.
Look at these file types
This list indicates the types of files to search through in the Look in directories. If this field is blank, all of the files in the Look in directories will be searched.
Select any item in the list to enter a preconfigured search string that will find files of those particular types.
Visual Studio Find All Instances
Result options
You can expand or collapse the Result options section. The following options can be selected or cleared:
Find results 1 window
When selected, the results of the current search will replace the content of the Find Results 1 window. This window opens automatically to display your search results. To open this window manually, select Other Windows from the View menu and choose Find Results 1.
Find results 2 window
When selected, the results of the current search will replace the content of the Find Results 2 window. This window opens automatically to display your search results. To open this window manually, select Other Windows from the View menu and choose Find Results 2.
Display file names only
Displays a list of files containing search matches rather than displaying the search matches themselves.
Append results
Appends the results from the search to the previous search results.
Visual Studio Find All Files
See also