Exact code search

{{< details >}}

• Tier: Premium, Ultimate
• Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed
• Status: Limited availability

{{< /details >}}

{{< history >}}

• Introduced as a beta in GitLab 15.9 with flags named index_code_with_zoekt and search_code_with_zoekt. Disabled by default.
• Enabled on GitLab.com and GitLab Self-Managed in GitLab 16.6.
• Global code search introduced in GitLab 16.11 with a flag named zoekt_cross_namespace_search. Disabled by default.
• Feature flags index_code_with_zoekt and search_code_with_zoekt removed in GitLab 17.1.
• Changed from beta to limited availability in GitLab 18.6.
• Feature flag zoekt_cross_namespace_search removed in GitLab 18.7.

{{< /history >}}

[!warning] This feature is in limited availability. For more information, see epic 9404. Provide feedback in issue 420920.

With exact code search, you can use exact match and regular expression modes to search for code in all GitLab or in a specific project.

Exact code search is powered by Zoekt and is used by default in groups where the feature is enabled.

Use exact code search

Prerequisites:

• Exact code search must be enabled:
  • For GitLab.com, exact code search is enabled by default in paid subscriptions.
  • For GitLab Self-Managed, an administrator must install Zoekt and enable exact code search.

To use exact code search:

1. In the top bar, select Search or go to.
2. In the search box, enter your search term.
3. In the left sidebar, select Code.

You can also use exact code search in a project or group.

Available scopes

Scopes describe the type of data you're searching. The following scopes are available for exact code search:

Scope	Global <sup>1</sup> <sup>2</sup>	Group	Project
Code	{{< no >}}	{{< yes >}}	{{< yes >}}

Footnotes:

1. An administrator can disable global search scopes. In GitLab 18.6 and earlier, to enable global search on GitLab Self-Managed, an administrator must also enable the zoekt_cross_namespace_search feature flag.
2. On GitLab.com, global search is not enabled.

Zoekt search API

{{< history >}}

• Introduced in GitLab 16.9 with a flag named zoekt_search_api. Enabled by default.
• Generally available in GitLab 18.4. Feature flag zoekt_search_api removed.

{{< /history >}}

With the Zoekt search API, you can use the search API for exact code search. To use advanced search or basic search instead, specify a search type.

Search modes

{{< history >}}

• Introduced in GitLab 16.8 with a flag named zoekt_exact_search. Disabled by default.
• Generally available in GitLab 17.3. Feature flag zoekt_exact_search removed.

{{< /history >}}

GitLab has two search modes:

• Exact match mode: returns results that exactly match the query.
• Regular expression mode: supports regular and boolean expressions.

The exact match mode is used by default. To switch to the regular expression mode, to the right of the search box, select Use regular expression ({{< icon name="regular-expression" >}}).

Syntax

<!-- Remember to also update the table in `doc/drawers/exact_code_search_syntax.md` -->

This table shows some example queries for exact match and regular expression modes.

Query	Exact match mode	Regular expression mode
"foo"	"foo"	foo
foo file:^doc/	foo in directories that start with /doc	foo in directories that start with /doc
"class foo"	"class foo"	class foo
class foo	class foo	class and foo
foo or bar	foo or bar	foo or bar
class Foo	class Foo (case-sensitive)	class (case-insensitive) and Foo (case-sensitive)
class Foo case:yes	class Foo (case-sensitive)	class and Foo (both case-sensitive)
foo -bar	foo -bar	foo but not bar
foo file:js	foo in files with names that contain js	foo in files with names that contain js
foo -file:test	foo in files with names that do not contain test	foo in files with names that do not contain test
foo lang:ruby	foo in Ruby source code	foo in Ruby source code
foo file:\.js$	foo in files with names that end with .js	foo in files with names that end with .js
foo.*bar	foo.*bar (literal)	foo.*bar (regular expression)
sym:foo	foo in symbols like class, method, and variable names	foo in symbols like class, method, and variable names
test repo:(?i)foo	test in projects with foo in their name (case-insensitive); repo: supports regular expressions	test in projects with foo in their name (case-insensitive); repo: supports regular expressions

Known issues

• You can search only files smaller than 1 MB with less than 20_000 trigrams. For more information, see issue 455073.
• You can use exact code search only on the default branch of a project. For more information, see issue 403307.
• Multiple matches on a single line are counted as one result.
• If you encounter results where newlines are not displayed correctly, update gitlab-zoekt to version 1.5.0 or later.