Filter Lines

This extension allows to you to filter lines of the current document by a string or a regular expression. It is basically a port of Filter Lines package for Sublime Text.

(the access log used for this illustration is borrowed here)

Available commands

All of the following commands are available via Ctrl-Shift-P.

Command	Default keybinding
Filter Lines: Include Lines with Regex	Ctrl-K Ctrl-R *
Filter Lines: Include Lines with String	Ctrl-K Ctrl-S *
Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with Regex
Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with String
Filter Lines: Include Lines with Regex and Context
Filter Lines: Include Lines with String and Context
Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with Regex and Context
Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with String and Context

* Use cmd instead of ctrl on Mac

"Regex" commands accept any regular expression valid in JavaScript, except that you cannot really match multiple lines. See MDN for syntax reference, but keep in mind that you only need to enter the inner part of the regex without the enclosing slashes (/.../) which one would normally use in JavaScript.

"Context" commands additionally prompt you for the number of lines to include/exclude around a matching line, similarly to grep -A, -B, -C. Not that "exclude" commands apply context to the leftover lines rather than the matching lines, which mimics grep -v.

Available settings

Setting	Description	Default value
caseSensitiveStringSearch	Makes searching by string case sensitive. Instead of changing this setting to true you can use regexp search that is case sensitive by default.	false
caseSensitiveRegexSearch	Makes searching by regex case sensitive.	true
preserveSearch	Tells the extension to preserve the search string.	true
lineNumbers	Includes line numbers in filtered output. Line numbers are 1-based and padded to 5 spaces.	false
createNewTab	Set this setting to false to have filtered output displayed in-place rather than in a new tab.	true
indentContext	Controls how context lines are printed. When true, context lines are placed below the corresponding matching line with additional indent, which works nicely with folding. When false, matching lines and context lines are printed together like grep -A, -B, -C would do.	true
foldIndentedContext	Fold indented context. Only takes effect when all of the following applies: a "context" command is used; the entered number of context lines is greater than zero; indentContext is true.	true

If you are using Settings UI, you will find these settings under "Filter Lines" section.

Under the hood: Available commands ids

You can use these command ids to make your own keybindings.

# filterlines.includeLinesWithRegex

Implements the "Filter Lines: Include Lines with Regex" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.includeLinesWithString

Implements the "Filter Lines: Include Lines with String" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.excludeLinesWithRegex

Implements the "Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with Regex" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.excludeLinesWithString

Implements the "Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with String" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.includeLinesWithRegexAndContext

Implements the "Filter Lines: Include Lines with Regex and Context" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.includeLinesWithStringAndContext

Implements the "Filter Lines: Include Lines with String and Context" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.excludeLinesWithRegexAndContext

Implements the "Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with Regex and Context" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.excludeLinesWithStringAndContext

Implements the "Filter Lines: Exclude Lines with String and Context" command. Takes no arguments.

# filterlines.promptFilterLines

Displays the necessary prompts and then performs the action specified in the arguments.

Argument	Possible values	Default value	Description
search_type	"regex" or "string"	"regex"	Defines the search type.
invest_search	true or false	false	Defines the action type. By default the "Include" action is performed. Set invest_search to true to perform the "Exclude" action.
with_context	true or false	false	Controls whether to prompt for context.
context	any non-negative number	—	Defines the number of leading and trailing context lines. Only takes effect if with_context is false.
before_context	any non-negative number	—	Defines the number of leading context lines, overriding context if it is given. Only takes effect if with_context is false.
after_context	any non-negative number	—	Defines the number of trailing context lines, overriding context if it is given. Only takes effect if with_context is false.

# filterLines.filterLines

Performs the action specified in the arguments with the given search string. Arguments:

Argument	Possible values	Default value	Description
search_type	"regex" or "string"	"regex"	Defines the search type.
invest_search	true or false	false	Defines the action type. By default the "Include" action is performed. Set invest_search to true to perform the "Exclude" action.
needle	any string	""	Defines the search string, as in the "needle in a haystack" idiom.
context	any non-negative number	—	Defines the number of leading and trailing context lines.
before_context	any non-negative number	—	Defines the number of leading context lines, overriding context if it is given.
after_context	any non-negative number	—	Defines the number of trailing context lines, overriding context if it is given.

Differences from the original Filter Lines

1. Folding is not supported due not VS Code API limitations.
2. Menu items are not provided, again due to VS Code API limitations.
3. With "preserveSearch": true the search string is stored in memory rather than on disk and is cleared as soon as the VS Code window is closed.
4. With "lineNumbers": true line numbers are 1-based, not 0-based.
5. With "lineNumbers": true line numbers are appended even when the search is inverted (that is, when an "Exclude…" command is used).

You can find this extension both in the Visual Studio Marketplace and in the Open VSX Registry. Happy filtering!