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---
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stage: Data Stores
group: Global Search
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
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---
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# Searching in GitLab **(FREE)**
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GitLab has two types of searches available: _basic_ and _advanced_ .
Both types of search are the same, except when you are searching through code.
- When you use basic search to search code, your search includes one project at a time.
- When you use [advanced search ](advanced_search.md ) to search code, your search includes all projects at once.
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## Global search scopes **(FREE SELF)**
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/68640) in GitLab 14.3.
To improve the performance of your instance's global search, a GitLab administrator
can limit the search scope by disabling the following [`ops` feature flags ](../../development/feature_flags/index.md#ops-type ).
| Scope | Feature flag | Description |
|--|--|--|
| Code | `global_search_code_tab` | When enabled, global search includes code. |
| Commits | `global_search_commits_tab` | When enabled, global search includes commits. |
| Issues | `global_search_issues_tab` | When enabled, global search includes issues. |
| Merge requests | `global_search_merge_requests_tab` | When enabled, global search includes merge requests. |
| Users | `global_search_users_tab` | When enabled, global search includes users. |
| Wiki | `global_search_wiki_tab` | When enabled, global search includes project wikis (not [group wikis ](../project/wiki/group.md )). |
All global search scopes are enabled by default on GitLab.com
and self-managed instances.
## Global search validation
Global search ignores and logs as abusive any search with:
- Fewer than 2 characters
- A term longer than 100 characters (URL search terms must not exceed 200 characters)
- A stop word only (for example, `the` , `and` , or `if` )
- An unknown `scope`
- `group_id` or `project_id` that is not completely numeric
- `repository_ref` or `project_ref` with special characters not allowed by [Git refname ](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-check-ref-format )
Global search only flags with an error any search that includes more than:
- 4096 characters
- 64 terms
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## Perform a search
To start a search, type your search query in the search bar on the top-right of the screen.
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You must type at least two characters.
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![basic search ](img/basic_search_v15_1.png )
After the results are displayed, you can modify the search, select a different type of data to
search, or choose a specific group or project.
![basic_search_results ](img/basic_search_results_v15_1.png )
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## Search in code
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To search through code or other documents in a project:
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1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project.
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1. On the top bar, in the search field, type the string you want to search for.
1. Press **Enter** .
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Code search shows only the first result in the file.
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To search across all of GitLab, ask your administrator to enable [advanced search ](advanced_search.md ).
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### View Git blame from code search
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> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/327052) in GitLab 14.7.
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After you find search results, you can view who made the last change to the line
where the results were found.
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1. From the code search result, hover over the line number.
1. On the left, select **View blame** .
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![code search results ](img/code_search_git_blame_v15_1.png )
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## Search for a SHA
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You can search for a commit SHA.
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1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project.
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1. On the top bar, in the search field, type the SHA.
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If a single result is returned, GitLab redirects to the commit result
and gives you the option to return to the search results page.
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![project SHA search redirect ](img/project_search_sha_redirect.png )
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## Searching for specific terms
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> - [Removed support for partial matches in issue searches](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/273784) in GitLab 14.9 [with a flag](../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `issues_full_text_search`. Disabled by default.
> - Feature flag [`issues_full_text_search` enabled on GitLab.com](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/273784) in GitLab 14.10.
> - Feature flag [`issues_full_text_search` enabled on self-managed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/273784) in GitLab 15.2.
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You can filter issues and merge requests by specific terms included in titles or descriptions.
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- Syntax
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- Searches look for all the words in a query, in any order. For example: searching
issues for `display bug` returns all issues matching both those words, in any order.
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- To find the exact term, use double quotes: `"display bug"`
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- Limitation
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- For performance reasons, terms shorter than 3 chars are ignored. For example: searching
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issues for `included in titles` is same as `included titles`
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- Search is limited to 4096 characters and 64 terms per query.
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- When searching issues, partial matches are not allowed. For example: searching for `play` will
not return issues that have the word `display` . But variations of words will still match, so searching
for `displays` also returns issues that have the word `display` .
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## Retrieve search results as feed
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> Feeds for merge requests were [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/66336) in GitLab 14.3.
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GitLab provides RSS feeds of search results for your project. To subscribe to the
RSS feed of search results:
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1. Go to your project's page.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Issues** or **Merge requests** .
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1. Perform a search.
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1. Select the feed symbol ** {rss}** to display the results as an RSS feed in Atom format.
The URL of the result contains both a feed token, and your search query.
You can add this URL to your feed reader.
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## Search history
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Search history is available for issues and merge requests, and is stored locally
in your browser. To run a search from history:
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1. In the top menu, select **Issues** or **Merge requests** .
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1. To the left of the search bar, select **Recent searches** , and select a search from the list.
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## Removing search filters
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Individual filters can be removed by selecting the filter's (x) button or backspacing. The entire search filter can be cleared by selecting the search box's (x) button or via < kbd > ⌘< / kbd > (Mac) + < kbd > ⌫< / kbd > .
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To delete filter tokens one at a time, the < kbd > ⌥< / kbd > (Mac) / < kbd > Control< / kbd > + < kbd > ⌫< / kbd > keyboard combination can be used.
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## Autocomplete suggestions
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In the search bar, you can view autocomplete suggestions for:
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- Projects and groups
- Various help pages (try and type **API help** )
- Project feature pages (try and type **milestones** )
- Various settings pages (try and type **user settings** )
- Recently viewed issues (try and type some word from the title of a recently viewed issue)
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- Recently viewed merge requests (try and type some word from the title of a recently viewed merge request)
- Recently viewed epics (try and type some word from the title of a recently viewed epic)
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- [GitLab Flavored Markdown ](../markdown.md#gitlab-specific-references ) (GLFM) for issues in a project (try and type a GLFM reference for an issue)
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## Search settings
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> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/292941) in GitLab 13.8 [with a flag](../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `search_settings_in_page`. Disabled by default.
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> - [Added](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/4842) to Group, Administrator, and User settings in GitLab 13.9.
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> - [Feature flag `search_settings_in_page` removed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/294025) in GitLab 13.11.
> - [Generally available](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/294025) in GitLab 13.11.
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You can search inside a Project, Group, Administrator, or User's settings by entering
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a search term in the search box located at the top of the page. The search results
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appear highlighted in the sections that match the search term.
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![Search project settings ](img/project_search_general_settings_v13_8.png )