Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Visual Studio upgrade boosts Code Search

news
Jan 19, 20242 mins

Visual Studio 2022 17.9 Preview 3 allows users to search for any word or string of characters across their codebase.

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With the just-released Preview 3 of the planned Visual Studio 2022 17.9 upgrade, Microsoft has enhanced Code Search, also known as the All-In-One Search experience.

The third preview of Visual Studio 2022 17.9 was launched January 17 and can be downloaded at the Visual Studio website.

The improvements to Code Search allow Visual Studio users to search for any word or string of characters across their solution, supplementing file and symbol results from their codebase. Users also now can search for words in comments, names of variables and parameters, or any other string of characters across a codebase. For more specialized text search, Find in Files (Ctrl+Shift+F) and Quick Find (Ctrl+) offer more options.

The default Code Search experience (Ctrl+T or Ctrl+) will include exact text matches and items such as comments and local variables not previously included. Text results are deprioritized compared to types, files, and members. Users also can filter down to just text results, i.e., a text-only view, by taking actions such as prefixing a search query with “x”.

Full text support in Code Search was available by default in the Preview Channel starting with version 17.9 Preview 2. It will also be in the main release of version 17.9 as a preview feature. Preview 3 follows Preview 2, released December 12, and Preview 1, released November 15.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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