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Searching

Fern has two search modes:

  • a vault-wide full-text search for finding notes
  • an in-note search for navigating within an open file

Both support the same structured query operators.

Press / from View or Normal mode to open the search modal.

Type a query and Fern searches the full text of every note in your vault. Results update as you type and are ranked by relevance. Regular expressions are supported.

Key Action
/ Open vault search
j / Down Move to next result
k / Up Move to previous result
Enter Open the selected note
Esc Close search without opening

When you open a result, Fern jumps to the note and highlights every match. Use n and N to jump forward and backward through the highlights.

Searching from a selection

In Normal mode, select text with v or V, then press s to open vault search pre-filled with the selected text.

To search within the currently open note, use the command bar:

:/<term>

Press Enter to confirm. Fern highlights every match in the note and moves the cursor to the first one.

Key Action
n Jump to next match
N Jump to previous match
Esc Clear highlights

In-note search supports regular expressions. For example, to find any line starting with a checkbox:

:/^\s*- \[

Search operators

Both vault search and in-note search support structured query operators. Operators can be combined freely in a single query.

Text matching

Syntax Matches
word Lines containing the word (case-insensitive)
"multi word phrase" Lines containing the exact phrase
-word Lines that do NOT contain the word
-"exact phrase" Lines that do NOT contain the phrase

Boolean operators

Use OR or XOR between terms or groups to broaden or narrow results.

Syntax Matches
pikachu OR squirtle Lines matching either term
pikachu XOR squirtle Lines matching exactly one of the terms (not both)

You can combine multiple terms in each group:

"gym leaders" OR "team rocket"
meowth -wild XOR "team rocket"

Note: OR and XOR cannot be mixed in the same query. Use one or the other.

Task operators

Syntax Matches
task: Any checkbox item (- [ ], - [x], etc.)
task-todo: Checkbox items in the "todo" state
task-done: Checkbox items in the "done" state
task-todo:text Todo items whose text also contains "text"

The symbols used for task-todo: and task-done: follow your checkbox_todo and checkbox_done settings. See Configuring Fern.

Tag operator

Syntax Matches
tag:pokemon Lines containing #pokemon
tag:#pokemon Same as above (the # prefix is optional)

Scope operators

Scope operators restrict matches to a specific structural context within a note if it contains all the given terms passed. They expect a parenthesised list of terms.

Syntax Matches
section:(terms) All lines within any heading section
block:(terms) All lines within any paragraph or list block that contains all the given terms
subtask:(terms) Subtask lines nested under any checkbox item matching the given terms

Terms inside () follow the same negation rules: prefix with - to exclude.

Examples:

section:(project deadline)

Finds all lines in any section whose heading area contains both "project" and "deadline".

block:(error -expected)

Finds all lines in any block that contains "error" but not "expected".

subtask:(sprint backlog) task-todo:

Finds todo subtasks nested under tasks that mention "sprint" and "backlog".

Find and replace

To search and replace within the current note, use the command bar with vim-style substitute syntax:

:s/pattern/replacement/
Command Effect
:s/old/new/ Replace the first occurrence of old per line
:s/old/new/g Replace all occurrences in the document
:s/old/new/c Interactively confirm each replacement
:s/old/new/gc Interactively confirm each replacement (all occurrences)
:%s/old/new/g Same as above (vim-style whole-file prefix, optional)

The pattern is case-insensitive. The replacement is literal text.

During an interactive session (c flag), the status bar shows the current match position and the following keys are active:

Key Action
y Replace this occurrence and advance
n Skip this occurrence and advance
a Replace all remaining occurrences at once
q / Esc Cancel and leave the document unchanged

Each confirmed replacement is a separate undo entry. Replacing all at once (a or without the c flag) is a single undo entry.

Tips

  • Vault search and in-note search share the same n/N navigation keys. After opening a vault search result, n and N continue to navigate the matches from your query inside that note.
  • To search across a specific subfolder, use a path prefix in your regex: community/.*meeting will only match notes inside community/.
  • The search index is updated automatically whenever you save a note.
  • Operators can be mixed: tag:work task-todo: section:(Q3) finds todo items tagged #work inside any section containing "Q3".

Next: Linking Notes