Finding a file by name

Type part of a file’s name and the explorer swaps its tree for a list of the files that match, best first.

Starting a search

Click Find file (the magnifier) in the explorer’s header.
Or press Ctrl/Cmd+P, which works from anywhere, or choose Go to file… in the command palette. From a conversation, it first opens the project’s Files tab, beside the conversation or in its place, as Show a file clicked in a conversation says (Opening files from the conversation).
With no file open, the empty Files tab lists Go to file, with its shortcut.

A box, Find a file by name, appears at the top of the explorer with the keyboard in it.

What’s searched

It searches the names of the files the composer’s @ lists (Slash commands and mentions): the files git tracks and the new ones it doesn’t ignore. Outside a repository, it’s a walk of the folder that skips node_modules, bin, obj and the like. Files git ignores are left to the tree.

Only names are searched, not what’s in the files. To look for text in them, click Find “…” in files under the list, which takes what you typed to Find in files, or press Ctrl+Shift+F (Cmd+Shift+F on macOS) in the box.

Matching

The letters you type are looked for in order, in the file’s name first, then in its path. A match at the start of the name or of a word, or with the letters together, comes first, then shorter paths.

The results

Each result is one line: the name, with the letters that matched in bold, then, muted, its folder relative to the project’s: PlayerController.cpp Source/Game/Player. That tells files with the same name apart at a glance.

A path too long for the width is cut short from its start (…/Game/Player), and its tip shows the whole path.
A file at the top of the project shows no folder.
The list holds the best 200, and says so: 200 of 1,204 files. Type more to narrow them.
While the list is first being made, it says Listing files…. With nothing matching, it says No file’s name matches.
A project with more files than the @ list’s 100,000 says that the list is cut short.

Choosing

Up and Down choose a result. Enter, or a click, opens it to stay.
A line number after the name goes to that line: player:42.
Esc, or emptying the box, brings the tree back, with the file you just opened selected in it.

Shortcuts

Key	Does
`Ctrl/Cmd+P`	Start a search. You can rebind it in Settings → Keyboard (Go to file).
`Up`, `Down`	Choose a result
`Enter`	Open it to stay
`Esc`	Back to the tree