# Searching for Strings

Use the string searcher to search for strings of text in specified files.

To search for a string of text:

1. Open the String Search dialog box in one of the following ways:
   - Click on .
   - Choose Browse -> String Search.
2. Type the text that you wish to search for in the String box. Use the Ignore Case check box to turn case sensitivity on or off.

   This version of JDE does not support regular expressions; only the characters that you specify are used.

3. Set whether to search the current project or a specified directory:
   - Click Current Project to limit the search to those source files you included as part of the current project when you created it.
   - Click Directory to focus the search on a specified directory and enter the path of the directory to search
4. Set the scope of your search:
   - Use the File Types box to specify the types of files to search. File types are specified by their suffixes. Items in the list are separated by a space. You can add or delete files from this list. By default `.java` and `.html` are included.
   - Use the Recursive Search check box to control whether the search descends into sub-projects (Current Project) or directories beneath the one you specify (Directory). By default, the search descends recursively.
5. You can start the search in two ways:
   - Press Enter or Return after you type the text in the String box.
   - Click Search.
6. The results of the search are displayed in the String Search tab at the bottom of the main window. Each line consists of:
   - The name of a file found to contain the string (the file name is a link to the file)
   - The line number on which the match was found
   - The text of the matched line
7. Click on the file name link to display the file in the JDE source editor. Choose Browse -> Next and Browse -> Previous to move from match to match.

To stop a search, choose Browse -> Stop Search.

See also:

  Browsing Class Files
  What Is a Project?