Double Shift Search Tabs
Press Shift twice and search your whole workspace from one place: files, folders, classes, symbols,
commands and file contents. Tabs narrow the search down, and Match Case, Words, Regex and a file mask
filter every result, the way Search Everywhere works in PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA and WebStorm.
Getting started
- Install the extension.
- Press
Shift Shift.
- Type. Results appear as you type;
Enter opens the selected one.
Tabs
The first group of icons in the title bar switches what the palette searches. Click one, or press Tab /
Shift+Tab to move between them. Your query stays and runs again on the new tab.
| Tab |
Searches |
| All |
Everything below, grouped as Recent, Symbols, Folders, Files, Actions and Text |
| Classes |
Classes, interfaces, structs and enums |
| Files |
Files and folders |
| Symbols |
Every symbol: classes, functions, methods, variables, constants, ... |
| Actions |
Commands from VS Code's built-in and installed extensions, e.g. Git: Commit |
| Text |
File contents, up to 5 matches per file |
Classes and symbols come from your language extensions (Pylance for Python, VS Code's TypeScript support
for JS/TS, and so on), so they only cover files those extensions have indexed.
Filters
The icons after the divider filter the results. Active filters are highlighted.
| Filter |
Effect |
| Match Case |
Letter case must match. Command titles ignore it. |
| Words |
The query must match a whole word |
| Regex |
The query is a regular expression |
| File Mask |
Limit results to file names such as *.py, *.vue; prefix with ! to exclude, e.g. !*.test.ts |
| Include Non-Project Items |
Also search folders that are normally hidden (see Hidden folders) |
The filters apply to every kind of result: file and folder names, symbols, commands and file contents.
Without Words or Regex, names are matched loosely: several words in any order (user model), or the
initials of a CamelCase name (gua finds getUserAccount.ts).
Results
- Recently opened files come first, then files staged in Git. Library folders such as
vendor or
site-packages rank last.
- Symbols and text matches show the file path on a second line. Files and folders use your file icon theme
(VS Code 1.108 or newer).
- The split button on a result opens it beside the current editor.
- The palette reopens on your last tab with your last filters and query. The query is selected, so typing
replaces it.
Hidden folders
Common dependency, build, cache and tool folders, such as node_modules, .venv and dist, are hidden by
default (doubleShiftSearchTabs.defaultExcludes). Your files.exclude and search.exclude settings are
respected too.
To hide more folders, add their names to the excludeFolders setting. * and ? work as wildcards, for
example to hide every git worktree of a repository:
{
"doubleShiftSearchTabs.excludeFolders": ["my-repo-*", "old-clone"]
}
Settings
All settings are under doubleShiftSearchTabs., e.g. doubleShiftSearchTabs.maxFiles.
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
rememberLastTab |
true |
Reopen on the last used tab instead of All |
rememberLastQuery |
true |
Reopen with the last query, selected |
useSelectionAsQuery |
false |
Start with the text selected in the editor |
maxRecentFiles |
10 |
Number of recently opened files to remember |
defaultExcludes |
true |
Hide common dependency, build, cache and tool folders; the full list is in the setting's description |
excludeFolders |
[] |
Extra folder names to hide; * and ? allowed |
deprioritizedFolders |
vendor, site-packages, ... |
Folders ranked last instead of hidden |
excludeExtensions |
.zip, .png, .pdf, ... |
File types skipped by the text search |
maxFiles |
100000 |
Maximum number of files to index |
Known limitations
- VS Code core commands such as Reload Window or Format Document are not listed under Actions: extensions
cannot read their titles. Use
Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P for those.
- Group headers show while the query is empty. Once you type, VS Code sorts the results itself and drops
the headers.
- A language server that is still indexing answers slowly. Files, actions and text matches appear first,
symbols follow when ready.
Credits and licence
MIT licence, see LICENSE.
Based on Double Shift Search by Tristan Budd
(MIT). Title bar icons are made from Codicons (CC BY 4.0),
see media/icons/README.md.
