gh find-code

This extension is a command-line tool that uses the GitHub REST API and fzf to interactively search and preview code.

---

👨‍💻 Usage

gh find-code [Flags] [Search query]

• Use valid qualifiers to refine the results of your search.
  • GitHub Docs - Searching Code
  • GitHub Docs - Understanding the search syntax

Qualifier	Search query example	Description
in	'in:path zsh'	matches code where zsh appears in the file path
user	'user:ashtom Development'	files with the word Development only from @ashtom
org	'org:cli searcher'	searches all code in the cli org for searcher
repo	'repo:junegunn/fzf FZF_PORT'	searches only in the junegunn/fzf repo for FZF_PORT
path	'path:.github shfmt'	files with the word shfmt in the .github path
language	'language:js "new Proxy"'	search for the string new Proxy in JavaScript files
size (>, >=, <, and <=)	'size:<100 _gnu_generic'	files smaller than 100 bytes with _gnu_generic
filename	'filename:.zshrc GOCACHE'	search in all filenames .zshrc for GOCACHE
extension	'extension:rs "Hello, world!"'	find .rs files with the string Hello, world!

Important

The search syntax differs between the WebUI and the REST API, with the latter not supporting regex.

---

Flags	Description
-l	limit the number of listed results (default 30, max 100)
-h	help

Key Bindings fzf	Description
?	toggle help
ctrlb	open the file in the browser
ctrlo	open the file content in the editor
ctrlp	replace query with "repo:owner/name"
ctrlr	reload with up to 100 results
ctrlspace	toggle command history
ctrlt	toggle between Code and Fuzzy search
ctrlx	open the search query in the browser
enter	open the file in the pager
tab	toggle the file preview
esc	quit

---

💻 Requirements and Installation

• bat - preview looks better
• curl - sending updates to fzf
• Fuzzy Finder (fzf) - allow for interaction with listed data
• GitHub command line tool (gh) - get the data from Github
• Python - used to parse and open custom URLs on different operating systems

# install this extension
gh ext install LangLangBart/gh-find-code
# upgrade
gh ext upgrade LangLangBart/gh-find-code
# uninstall
gh ext remove LangLangBart/gh-find-code

---

🌐 Environment Variables

Table 1: Environment Variables Utilized

Variable	Purpose	Default
BAT_THEME	Preview theme for syntax highlighting.	Monokai Extended
EDITOR	Editor to open selected files.	vim
PAGER	Pager for file viewing.	less

Table 2: Environment Variables Defined and Utilized

Variable	Purpose	Default
GHFC_DEBUG_MODE	Enable debug mode	0 (Disabled)
GHFC_HISTORY_FILE	Custom location	${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/gh-find-code/history.txt
GHFC_HISTORY_LIMIT	Max number of stored commands	500

To avoid interfering with a user's typical keybinds, you can overwrite the following keybinds to another key. For example, change ctrl-p to ctrl-u.

GHFC_FILTER_BY_REPO_KEY="ctrl-u" gh find-code

Note

The assigned key must be a valid key listed under AVAILABLE KEYS in the fzf man page.

man fzf | less --pattern "AVAILABLE KEYS"

Variable	Purpose	Default
GHFC_OPEN_BROWSER_KEY	open the file in the browser	ctrl-b
GHFC_OPEN_EDITOR_KEY	open the file content in the editor	ctrl-o
GHFC_FILTER_BY_REPO_KEY	replace query with "repo:owner/name"	ctrl-p
GHFC_RELOAD_KEY	reload with up to 100 results	ctrl-r
GHFC_TOGGLE_HISTORY_KEY	toggle command history	ctrl-space
GHFC_TOGGLE_FUZZY_SEARCH_KEY	toggle between Code and Fuzzy search	ctrl-t
GHFC_OPEN_BROWSER_QUERY_KEY	open the search query in the browser	ctrl-x
GHFC_VIEW_CONTENTS_KEY	open the file in the pager	enter
GHFC_TOGGLE_PREVIEW_KEY	toggle the file preview	tab

---

💁 TIPS

Alias

• The name gh find-code was chosen for its descriptive nature. For frequent use, consider setting up an alias.

# ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias ghfc='gh find-code'
# or add a custom 'BAT_THEME'/ 'EDITOR'
alias ghfc='BAT_THEME="Dracula" EDITOR="vim" gh find-code'

Bat

• Set BAT_THEME to change the preview color scheme:

# To view all default themes
bat --list-themes --color=never
# Recommended themes: 1337, Dracula, gruvbox-dark, Monokai Extended
# To launch this extension with the 'Dracula' theme
BAT_THEME="Dracula" gh find-code

Editor

• The extension uses the EDITOR environment variable to determine in which editor the selected file will be opened, works with nano, nvim/vi/vim, and VSCode/VSCodium.
• The code from opened files is stored temporarily and is removed when the program ends.

# Set the editor to Visual Studio Code
EDITOR="code" gh find-code

Fuzzy Finder (fzf)

• Scroll the preview in larger steps by adding this snippet to your shell setup.

# ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
# scroll the preview in larger steps with ctrl+w/s
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="
--bind 'ctrl-w:preview-half-page-up,ctrl-s:preview-half-page-down'"

• See man fzf for AVAILABLE KEYS or junegunn/fzf for more details.
• NOTE: How to use ALT commands in a terminal on macOS?

History

• The history file stores successfully completed unique commands.
• Customize history file location and limit:

# Specify a custom location for the history file
GHFC_HISTORY_FILE="/custom/location/history.txt" gh find-code
# Set the maximum number of stored commands to 1000
GHFC_HISTORY_LIMIT="1000" gh find-code

Pattern Matching

• In rare cases, when the API returns patterns with newline characters, pcre2grep, pcregrep, or rg will be used to find line numbers if any of them is installed. Otherwise, grep will be used by default, which will not match patterns containing newlines.

---

💪 Contributing

Note

Pre-commit is a multi-language package manager for pre-commit hooks. You specify a list of hooks you want and pre-commit manages the installation and execution of any hook written in any language before every commit.

Source: pre-commit introduction

# install the git hook scripts
pre-commit install --hook-type commit-msg --hook-type pre-commit
# pre-commit installed at .git/hooks/commit-msg
# pre-commit installed at .git/hooks/pre-commit

---

Noteworthy Projects

• Official GitHub Search
• grep.app | code search
• k1LoW/gh-grep