Exclude file types from search in Visual Studio

Question

Often when I want to search through my code in Visual Studio, I know the thing I'm looking for is in some C# code. However, as I've used the same variable name in a javascript file, I have to wade through all those search results too. This gets even worse when the text I'm looking for is also used in a third-party javascript library that we've brought into the project: this can result in hundreds of search results.

To compound things, our designers include HTML mock-ups of the pages in the same project, so I often find I'm hitting loads of search results in there too.

I guess what I really want is to see results in my .cs, .aspx, and .ascx files, but not .js or .htm.

Is there any way to do any of the following:

• Search only in files of a particular type (search only .cs files).
• Search only in files of any of a given set of types (search only .cs, .aspx and .ascx files).
• Search in all file types except a particular type or types (search everything except .js).

I suspect not, in which case is there any crafty way of working around this?

[I'm using Visual Studio 2008.]

Answer 1

In the Find in Files dialog, there should be a field called Find Options. You should be able to enter the extensions of fields you want to search in a field in this dialog:

*.cs; *.aspx; *.ascx;

Answer 2

In the Find dialog box, go to "find options->Look at these file types".

Type in you own string, eg, *.cs, *.aspx, *.ascx. The click the "find all" button.

Answer 3

Instead of Ctrl + F, I think it is Ctrl + Shift + F which gives you the choice to specify file types, you wish to look into.