File Search & Navigation

Name: file-search
Rating: 92
Author: erevusobolus

Find files, search content, and navigate codebases efficiently.

Find Files by Name

bash

# Find by exact name
find /path -name "filename.ts" -type f

# Find by pattern
find /path -name "*.tsx" -type f

# Find case-insensitive
find /path -iname "*component*" -type f

# Limit depth
find /path -maxdepth 2 -name "*.ts"

# Exclude directories
find /path -name "*.ts" -not -path "*/node_modules/*"

Search Content (grep)

bash

# Search recursively with line numbers
grep -rn "searchTerm" /path/

# Case-insensitive
grep -rin "searchterm" /path/

# Show context (3 lines before/after)
grep -rn -B3 -A3 "pattern" /path/

# Only matching filenames
grep -rl "pattern" /path/

# Multiple patterns (OR)
grep -rE "pattern1|pattern2" /path/

# Exclude directories
grep -rn "pattern" /path/ --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=.git

Read Files

bash

# Full file
cat /path/to/file

# First N lines
head -n 50 /path/to/file

# Last N lines
tail -n 50 /path/to/file

# Specific line range (lines 10-30)
sed -n '10,30p' /path/to/file

# With line numbers
cat -n /path/to/file
nl /path/to/file

Project Exploration Patterns

Quick Overview

bash

# Directory structure
find /project -type f -name "*.ts" | head -30

# See all source files
find /project/src -type f \( -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.tsx" \)

Find Definitions

bash

# Find function definition
grep -rn "function functionName" /project/src/
grep -rn "const functionName = " /project/src/

# Find class
grep -rn "class ClassName" /project/src/

# Find interface
grep -rn "interface InterfaceName" /project/src/

# Find import
grep -rn "from './module'" /project/src/

Find Usage

bash

# Find where something is used
grep -rn "functionName(" /project/src/

# Find imports of a file
grep -rn "import.*from.*filename" /project/src/

Common Search Paths

Project	Source Location
Main Workspace	`$WORKSPACE` (your TherionSystem directory)
Skills	`$WORKSPACE/skills`
Scripts	`$WORKSPACE/scripts`
OpenClaw workspace	`~/.openclaw/workspace`

Best Practices

•Always use absolute paths — Never use relative paths in commands
•Exclude noise — Always exclude node_modules, .git, dist
•Start broad, narrow down — Search broadly first, then refine
•Read before edit — Always cat a file before modifying it
•Use context — Use -B3 -A3 to see surrounding code

Workflow Example

bash

# 1. Find the file
find /project -name "*component*" -type f

# 2. Search within it
grep -n "functionName" /path/to/file.tsx

# 3. Read the relevant section
sed -n '45,75p' /path/to/file.tsx

# 4. Now you have context to edit