Search and filter

Newt has three related tools: quick search moves the cursor, filter mode narrows the current listing, and Find in Folder creates recursive results in a pane.

Quick search

With a pane focused, start typing a filename prefix. The cursor moves to the next matching entry and wraps at the end of the list. Press Escape to clear the text.

Quick search is enabled by the behavior.quick_search preference. Disable it if typing should open filter mode instead.

Filter mode

Press / to filter the visible list with a regular expression. This is the default binding for Filter Files (start_filter), and can be changed in the Keybindings tab—for example, when / requires a modifier on your keyboard layout. The same command switches from Quick Search to Filter mode without discarding the text already typed.

Selection is retained when entries are filtered out, so clearing the filter restores the wider view and its existing selection. The .. parent row remains available. A non-empty filter gives the file list a faint accent tint to show that the view is partial.

When the current row is hidden, or focus is on .. or no row, entering a non-empty pattern moves focus to the first match. Refining the pattern keeps focus on the current row as long as that row still matches.

Filter mode only changes the current listing. It does not descend into subdirectories.

Find in Folder

Press Mod + F to search recursively from the active pane’s directory. The dialog supports:

• A name substring, or a glob when the pattern contains *, ?, or [.
• Optional file-content text or a regular expression.
• Case-sensitive matching.
• Following symlinks, disabled by default.

Files larger than 10 MiB are skipped for content matching, but can still match by name. A search stays within its source filesystem and does not cross into separately mounted child filesystems.

Work with results

Matches stream into a flat result filesystem as they are found. Each row retains its source path, and ordinary pane commands operate on the underlying entry. You can view, edit, copy, move, or delete directly from the results where the source filesystem permits it.

The pane switches to the result filesystem immediately, even before the first match. While the search is running, its status bar shows the number of entries scanned and the current directory relative to the search root, so an empty result list does not imply that the search has stalled.

Press Shift + Enter to reveal a result in its source directory. Press Backspace at the result root to return to the directory that was searched.

Press Mod + F again while viewing results to refine the same search. The new result set replaces the current history entry rather than piling up temporary searches.