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Search is a core plugin that helps you find data in your Obsidian vault. You can combine keywords, operators, and regular expressions to narrow results precisely.
  • Press Ctrl+Shift+F (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+F (macOS).
  • Click the search icon in the left sidebar.
Select text in the editor before opening Search, and Obsidian will pre-fill the search field with your selection.
Open Search with an empty field to see your recent search terms and reuse them.
Files matching your Settings → Excluded files patterns will not appear in search results.
Type a word or phrase into the search field. By default, Obsidian searches the contents of notes and canvases.
  • Each word is matched independently: meeting work returns files containing both words.
  • Wrap a phrase in quotes for an exact match: "stand-up meeting".
  • Escape quotes inside a phrase with a backslash: "they said \"hello\" to each other".

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Boolean operators

Combine words and phrases with boolean logic: 
meeting OR work
meeting work OR meetup personal
meeting (work OR meetup) personal
meeting -work
meeting -work -meetup
meeting -(work meetup)
  • Use OR to match either term.
  • Use - (hyphen) before a word to exclude it.
  • Use parentheses to group expressions and control evaluation order.

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Search operators

Operators let you target specific parts of a note or file:
OperatorDescriptionExample
file:Search in filenames.file:.jpg
path:Search in file paths.path:"Daily notes/2022-07"
content:Search in file content.content:"happy cat"
tag:Find files with a specific tag.tag:#work
line:Match files where a single line contains all terms.line:(mix flour)
block:Match files where a single block contains all terms.block:(dog cat)
section:Match files where a section contains all terms.section:(dog cat)
task:Match text in a task item.task:call
task-todo:Match text in an uncompleted task.task-todo:call
task-done:Match text in a completed task.task-done:call
match-case:Case-sensitive match.match-case:HappyCat
ignore-case:Case-insensitive match.ignore-case:ikea
Some operators accept a nested search term in parentheses: task:(call OR email).

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Search properties

Search across note properties using bracket syntax: 
[aliases]                    — files that have an aliases property
[aliases:Name]               — files where aliases equals "Name"
[aliases:null]               — files where aliases exists but has no value
[status:Draft OR Published]  — files where status is Draft or Published
Both the property name and value support sub-queries including OR, parentheses, exact quotes, and regex.

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Regular expressions

Surround a regular expression with forward slashes to use it in a search: 
/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/
This matches any ISO 8601 date such as 2022-01-01. You can combine regex with operators: 
path:/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/
This returns files with a date in the file path.
Obsidian uses JavaScript-flavored regular expressions.

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Change case sensitivity

By default, search is case-insensitive. Click the Match case icon inside the search bar to enable case-sensitive matching. The icon is highlighted when case-sensitive mode is active.

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Sort results

1

Enter a search term

Type your query in the search field.
2

Open the sort dropdown

Select the dropdown on the right side below the search field.
3

Choose a sort order

Options include file name (A–Z or Z–A), modified time, and created time.

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Copy search results

1

Run a search

Enter your search term.
2

Open the results menu

Click the three-dots icon next to the result count below the search field.
3

Copy results

Select Copy search results.

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Embed search results in a note

You can embed a live search query inside any note using a query code block: 
```query
tag:#project status:active
```
The results update dynamically as your vault changes.

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Search settings

Click the sliders icon on the right side of the search bar to access additional settings:
SettingDescription
Explain search termBreaks down your query and explains it in plain language.
Collapse resultsToggle whether search context is shown below each result.
Show more contextExpand results to show more surrounding text for each match.

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