Episode

Visual Studio Tip: Customizing Search Output in Visual Studio

When you do a Find in Files (CTRL+SHIFT+F), by default the output displays the file path which can fill up the results window. Did you know you can use a registry key to customize the output of your search?

Just create a string value in the registry called "Find result format" put it in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\Find (12.0 for VS 2013, 11.0 for VS2012, 10.0 for VS2010) then specify a value for your new registry string value of $f$e($l,$c):$t\r\n This will display file name file extension (line number column number): line of code containing the string match and then inserts a carriage return.

The end result? Simpler search results (as long as you don't need the file path)