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title intro redirect_from versions topics
Finding files on GitHub
You can search for a file in a repository using the file finder. To search for a file in multiple repositories on {% data variables.product.github %}, use the {% ifversion code-search-upgrade %}[`path` code search qualifier](/search-github/github-code-search/understanding-github-code-search-syntax#path-qualifier){% else %}[`filename` code search qualifier](/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-code#search-by-filename){% endif %}.
/articles/finding-files-on-github
/github/searching-for-information-on-github/finding-files-on-github
/github/searching-for-information-on-github/searching-on-github/finding-files-on-github
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GitHub search

Tip

  • By default, file finder results exclude some directories like build, log, tmp, and vendor. To search for files in these directories, {% ifversion code-search-upgrade %}use the path code search qualifier{% else %}use the filename code search qualifier{% endif %}. Alternatively, you can customize which directories are excluded by default using a .gitattributes file.
  • You can also open the file finder by pressing t on your keyboard. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Using the file finder

{% ifversion code-view-ui %} {% data reusables.repositories.navigate-to-repo %}

  1. In the “Go to file” search bar, type the name of the file or directory you'd like to find. Screenshot of the main view for a repository. A search bar, labeled "Go to file", is outlined in dark orange.
  2. Alternatively, if there is no "Go to file" search bar, click Go to file, then type the name of the file or directory you'd like to find. Screenshot of the main view for a repository. A "Go to file" button is outlined in dark orange.
  3. In the list of results, click the file or directory you wanted to find. You can view the file path for a directory or file below each search result. {% else %} {% data reusables.repositories.navigate-to-repo %}
  4. Above the list of files, click Go to file. Screenshot of a row of buttons on the main page of a repository. The "Go to file" button is outlined in dark orange.
  5. In the search field, type the name of the file you'd like to find. Screenshot of the repository file search bar. The search bar has the term "readme." Results are shown under the search bar and include "README.md."
  6. In the list of results, click the file you wanted to find. {% endif %}

Customizing excluded files

By default, file finder results do not include files in the following directories if they exist at your repository root:

  • .git
  • .hg
  • .sass-cache
  • .svn
  • build
  • dot_git
  • log
  • tmp
  • vendor

You can override these default exclusions using a .gitattributes file.

To do this, create or update a file called .gitattributes in your repository root, setting the linguist-generated attribute to false for each directory that should be included in file finder results.

For example, the following .gitattributes file would cause files in the build/ directory to be available to the file finder:

build/** linguist-generated=false

Note that this override requires the use of the recursive glob pattern (**). For more information, see pattern format in the Git documentation. More complex overrides of subdirectories within excluded-by-default directories are not supported.

Further reading