forgejo-docs/docs/user/code-search.md

---
title: 'Code Search'
license: 'CC-BY-SA-4.0'
---

Forgejo supports code search through an indexer and `git-grep` as a fallback when [`REPO_INDEXER_ENABLED`](../../admin/config-cheat-sheet#indexer-indexer) is disabled.

# Basic (git-grep)

If `REPO_INDEXER_ENABLED` is set to `false`, the code search function will be limited to a single repository and will use [`git-grep`](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-grep).

Currently, only fixed strings are supported and any case differences are ignored. The search results will include the matched line, along with a single line before and after the match.

Since, the searches are performed in the fly they may be performed on any valid branch or tag.

# Indexer

For advanced search queries and searching across an entire organization or instance, `REPO_INDEXER_ENABLED: true` enables code search via bleve/elasticsearch.

However, search results are limited to the HEAD of the repository.
admin: Document fallback behavior of repo indexer (#444) ref: https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/pulls/1594 Preview: https://forgejo.codeberg.page/@docs_pull_444/docs/next/user/code-search/ Reviewed-on: https://codeberg.org/forgejo/docs/pulls/444 Reviewed-by: Earl Warren <earl-warren@noreply.codeberg.org> Co-authored-by: Shiny Nematoda <snematoda@noreply.codeberg.org> Co-committed-by: Shiny Nematoda <snematoda@noreply.codeberg.org> 2024-02-29 10:06:38 -05:00			`---`
			`title: 'Code Search'`
			`license: 'CC-BY-SA-4.0'`
			`---`

			Forgejo supports code search through an indexer and `git-grep` as a fallback when [`REPO_INDEXER_ENABLED`](../../admin/config-cheat-sheet#indexer-indexer) is disabled.

			`# Basic (git-grep)`

			If `REPO_INDEXER_ENABLED` is set to `false`, the code search function will be limited to a single repository and will use [`git-grep`](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-grep).

update code search (forgejo/forgejo#3654) 2024-05-06 07:41:38 -04:00			`Currently, only fixed strings are supported and any case differences are ignored. The search results will include the matched line, along with a single line before and after the match.`

			`Since, the searches are performed in the fly they may be performed on any valid branch or tag.`
admin: Document fallback behavior of repo indexer (#444) ref: https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/pulls/1594 Preview: https://forgejo.codeberg.page/@docs_pull_444/docs/next/user/code-search/ Reviewed-on: https://codeberg.org/forgejo/docs/pulls/444 Reviewed-by: Earl Warren <earl-warren@noreply.codeberg.org> Co-authored-by: Shiny Nematoda <snematoda@noreply.codeberg.org> Co-committed-by: Shiny Nematoda <snematoda@noreply.codeberg.org> 2024-02-29 10:06:38 -05:00
			`# Indexer`

style: fix typos and use american spelling convention in some areas (#647) You'll notice that asides from some typo fixes, "organisation" has been changed to "organization" to ensure a more consistent style guide, adapted to Codeberg's style: https://docs.codeberg.org/improving-documentation/style-guide/ Also changed "orgs" to "organizations" as it's more professional and easier to understand. Reviewed-on: https://codeberg.org/forgejo/docs/pulls/647 Reviewed-by: Earl Warren <earl-warren@noreply.codeberg.org> Co-authored-by: Abdur-Rahman Mansoor <armansoor@missingno.dev> Co-committed-by: Abdur-Rahman Mansoor <armansoor@missingno.dev> 2024-05-25 10:28:28 -04:00			For advanced search queries and searching across an entire organization or instance, `REPO_INDEXER_ENABLED: true` enables code search via bleve/elasticsearch.
update code search (forgejo/forgejo#3654) 2024-05-06 07:41:38 -04:00
			`However, search results are limited to the HEAD of the repository.`