Search and filter

Newt has four related tools: quick search moves the cursor, filter mode narrows the current listing, Go to File jumps to a file anywhere below the current directory, and Find in Folder creates recursive results in a pane.

Quick search

With a pane focused, start typing the beginning of a filename (case is ignored). The cursor jumps to the nearest match, and keystrokes that would match nothing are ignored. While the search is active:

• The arrow keys, Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End move only between matching entries.
• Right extends the text with the next character of the focused name, and Left shortens it.
• Backspace deletes the last character instead of going to the parent directory.
• Escape clears the search and keeps the selection.

Characters typed with Shift also start a quick search, unless the chord is bound to a command; characters typed with Ctrl, Alt, or Command do not. When a Windows filesystem with drive letters is mounted, Shift plus a letter jumps to that drive instead. Selecting, clicking a row, or changing directory clears the search.

To have typing open filter mode instead, turn off quick search in Settings (behavior.quick_search).

Filter mode

Press / (Filter Files) to filter the visible list with a regular expression; rebind it in the Keybindings tab if / is awkward on your keyboard layout. Pressed during a quick search, it switches to filter mode and keeps the typed text. The pattern ignores case and matches anywhere in the name. An invalid regular expression hides nothing.

Filter mode only changes the current listing; it does not descend into subdirectories. A faint accent tint on the file list shows that a filter is active.

Selected entries stay selected when they are filtered out, and reappear selected when you clear the filter. While a filter is active, operations act only on the selected entries it shows; if it hides every selected entry, they act on the focused entry instead.

Go to File

Press Mod + G to find files and folders anywhere under the active pane’s directory by name. Results appear as you type. Press Enter to move the pane to the chosen entry’s folder with the cursor on the entry; press Enter again to open it.

Matching is fuzzy: the query’s characters must appear in the path in order, ignoring case and accents, so fobr finds foo_bar.txt. Spaces split the query into pieces that must all match, such as pane tsx. Matches in the file name, consecutive characters, and word starts rank higher. The top 100 results are shown, and the line under the input counts the entries searched so far.

Go to File leaves out:

• hidden entries, unless the pane is showing hidden files;
• .git folders;
• names matching the Exclude globs (quick_open.exclude);
• with Respect .gitignore on (the default), whatever the repository’s .gitignore files and .git/info/exclude ignore. Your global git excludes file is not used.

Symlinked folders are followed only with Follow Symlinks on. On macOS, Skip Package Contents (quick_open.skip_packages, off by default) finds apps and other packages without looking inside them. The search stays on one filesystem and stops after Limit entries, 200,000 by default. These options are under Go to File in Settings.

Go to File works on any filesystem a pane can show, including SFTP, S3, archives, and disc images. In a remote session it runs on the remote host.

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, under Content. It can require whole words, or find the files that do not contain the text. Files larger than 10 MiB are skipped for content matching.
• Case-sensitive matching.
• Following symlinks (off by default; link cycles are skipped).
• Skipping hidden entries, and entries ignored by .gitignore or .git/info/exclude.
• Under More search options: limits on entry type, size, modified, accessed, or created time, owner and permissions (or Windows attributes), depth, and number of results. Times can be a span such as 7d, 3h, or 2 weeks, or a date such as 2026-01-31. Also Stay on one filesystem, and on macOS Skip package contents (both off by default).

A search stays within the filesystem it started on.

Work with results

The pane switches to a flat list of results, and matches stream in as they are found. The status bar shows how many entries have been scanned and the directory being searched. Each row keeps its source path, and ordinary pane commands act on the real entry, so you can view, edit, copy, move, or delete directly from the results.

Directories that cannot be read are skipped, and the finished result is marked partial; hover the marker for details.

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 results replace the current history entry instead of adding another one.