Exact Symbol Search is a deterministic symbol navigation extension for VS Code. It provides a simple and predictable search experience by strictly filtering symbols based on your query and sorting them by their location in the file.
Problem: VS Code's default fuzzy matching is often too aggressive, ranking irrelevant symbols above exact matches. Solution: This extension enforces strict substring matching and predictable line-number sorting.
Features
🔍 Strict Substring Filtering: Only shows symbols that strictly contain your search query.
🧩 Multi-Word Search: Filter by multiple disjoint parts of a symbol name (e.g., user id matches getUserId and USER_ID).
🔡 Smart Case Sensitivity:
Lowercase Query: Performs a case-insensitive search.
Uppercase Query: Switches to case-sensitive mode for precise matching.
📍 Line Number Sorting: Results are always sorted by their line number. The extension bypasses VS Code's internal ranking to guarantee this order.
👁️ Cursor Preview: Automatically jumps the cursor to the selected symbol as you navigate the list (restores original position if cancelled).
🏗️ Deep Symbol Support: Scans all symbols in the current file, including nested classes, methods, and properties.
Usage
Open a file in VS Code.
Press Cmd+Shift+O (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+O (Windows/Linux).
Start typing the symbol name.
Use Up/Down arrow keys to navigate. The editor cursor will preview the location.
Press Enter to jump to the code, or Esc to cancel.
Note: This extension overrides the default "Go to Symbol in Editor" keybinding to provide a seamless replacement.
Extension Settings
This extension works out of the box with zero configuration. No settings are currently required.
Known Issues
No Match Highlighting: To strictly enforce line-number sorting, this extension disables VS Code's internal fuzzy matcher. As a side effect, the matched characters in the dropdown list are not highlighted.
Release Notes
0.0.4
Prepared for marketplace release with updated metadata and badges.
0.0.3
Added Multi-Word Search support.
Added Cursor Preview functionality (jumps to symbol on selection).
Enforced strict Line Number Sorting (bypassing VS Code ranking).
Smart Case Sensitivity logic improvements.
Enjoying Exact Symbol Search?
Please leave a review on the Marketplace!
