GH-SEARCH-CODE(1)              GitHub CLI manual             GH-SEARCH-CODE(1)



NAME
       gh-search-code - Search within code



SYNOPSIS
       gh search code <query> [flags]



DESCRIPTION
       Search within code in GitHub repositories.


       The search syntax is documented at:

       <https://docs.github.com/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-code>


       Note that these search results are powered by what is now a legacy
       GitHub code search engine.  The results might not match what is seen on
       github.com, and new features like regex search are not yet available
       via the GitHub API.


       For more information on handling search queries containing a hyphen,
       run gh search --help.



OPTIONS
       --extension <string>
              Filter on file extension


       --filename <string>
              Filter on filename


       -q, --jq <expression>
              Filter JSON output using a jq expression


       --json <fields>
              Output JSON with the specified fields


       --language <string>
              Filter results by language


       -L, --limit <int> (default 30)
              Maximum number of code results to fetch


       --match <strings>
              Restrict search to file contents or file path: {file|path}


       --owner <strings>
              Filter on owner


       -R, --repo <strings>
              Filter on repository


       --size <string>
              Filter on size range, in kilobytes


       -t, --template <string>
              Format JSON output using a Go template; see "gh help formatting"


       -w, --web
              Open the search query in the web browser



JSON FIELDS
       path, repository, sha, textMatches, url



EXIT CODES
       0: Successful execution


       1: Error


       2: Command canceled


       4: Authentication required


       NOTE: Specific commands may have additional exit codes. Refer to the
       command's help for more information.



EXAMPLE
       # Search code matching "react" and "lifecycle"
       $ gh search code react lifecycle

       # Search code matching "error handling"
       $ gh search code "error handling"

       # Search code matching "deque" in Python files
       $ gh search code deque --language=python

       # Search code matching "cli" in repositories owned by microsoft organization
       $ gh search code cli --owner=microsoft

       # Search code matching "panic" in the GitHub CLI repository
       $ gh search code panic --repo cli/cli

       # Search code matching keyword "lint" in package.json files
       $ gh search code lint --filename package.json




SEE ALSO
       gh-search(1)

                                   Mar 2026                  GH-SEARCH-CODE(1)