Searchfox Query Language Documentation 

Searchfox provides a powerful query language for searching code repositories. The system is designed with simplicity in mind - you can start with basic searches and refine them interactively, while also supporting advanced query syntax for power users.

Basic Search 

The simplest way to search is to just type what you’re looking for. No special syntax is required:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=AudioContext

This will search for:

Text occurrences in files
Symbol/identifier matches (prefix-based)
File names containing the term

The path filter input on the right hand side supports glob patterns that supports the following features:

* : matches any characters except path separators (/)
** : matches any characters including path separators
? : matches any single character
{a,b,c}: matches any of the comma-separated alternatives
^ and $: regex anchors (preserved as-is)
Literal parentheses, pipes, and dots are escaped

The same syntax is used whenever globbing is expected in searchfox.

Query Parameters 

Searches can be customized using URL parameters:

Case Sensitivity 

Parameter: case
Values: true for case-sensitive, anything else for case-insensitive (default)

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=AudioContext&case=true

Regular Expressions 

Parameter: regexp
Values: true to treat query as regex, anything else for literal search
Note: Regex mode only performs textual content search, not semantic search unless symbol: or id: prefixes are used

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=AudioContext%3A%3A.*Panner*&regexp=true

Path Filtering 

Parameter: path
Description: Filter results by file paths using glob patterns
Example: ?q=MyFunction&path=src/main/*

For example, finding media playback tests (not Web Audio tests that are in dom/media/webaudio/tests) that use an AudioContext:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=path%3Adom%2Fmedia%2Ftest+AudioContext&path=&case=false&regexp=false

Advanced Query Syntax 

The query language supports term:value syntax for more precise searches.

Important: term:value syntax must be placed before any search terms. The search endpoint stops parsing once it encounters an unrecognized term.

`path:`

Filters results by file paths using glob patterns (same as path parameter):

path:src/components/* MyFunction

`pathre:`

Filters results using regular expressions for paths:

pathre:^src/(main|test)/.*\.js$ MyFunction

Example, finding all tests for the PannerNode, in WPT and Mochitests:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=pathre%3Atesting%5C%2Fwpt%7Cdom%5C%2Fmedia%5C%2Fwebaudio%5C%2Ftest+PannerNode

Context 

Allows displaying the result and surrounding context. A current limitation is that this only works with fulltext search via text: or re: and if you forget to use one, you may get semantic results without any context.

context:3 re:AudioContext::.*Create

Search for all factory methods of an AudioContext, with 3 lines of context, above and below the search hit:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=context%3A3+re%3AAudioContext%3A%3A.*Create

Search Type Terms 

`symbol:`

Search only for symbols/identifiers

symbol:cubeb_stream_init

Multiple symbols can be comma-separated: symbol:Foo,Bar
Dot notation is normalized to hash: symbol:obj.method becomes symbol:obj#method
Note: in C++, this requires the mangled symbol name, and so it is best access by clicking on a member

`id:`

Exact-match identifier search (not prefix-based like the default search):

id:main

This means id:creategain won’t match createGainNode() calls, that are also present indexed code.

`text:`

Exact text match, this escapes regexp characters

text:function main()

`re:`

Treat remainder of query as regular expression

re:get\w+Value

`nresult:`

Show the nsresult definition for given hex or decimal notation.

nsresult:0x80004005
nsresult:80004005
nsresult:2147500037