filter search

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How to filter search results

Display only matching lines

Typing & after forward search (/) or backward search (?) puts you in search term input mode. The search input mode inherits settings such as “regular expressions” and “case sensitivity”.

A “new document” is created that displays only the lines that match the search term you entered, and you move to that document.

If you specified a header line at this time, the header line will also be displayed.

You can switch documents with [ and ] as you would with multiple files open.

Since the line numbers are linked, if you move from the lines displayed by the filter to the original document with [, you will move to the corresponding line.

filter filter

Display non-matching lines

When you are in search term input mode with &, typing ! toggles to display non-matching lines (Non-match) mode.

To close all documents created by filter search, press K (uppercase). You can also close only that document with ctrl+k.

Combining filters with --quit-if-one-screen

When used in combination with --quit-if-one-screen, if the filter fits on one screen, it will exit as is. If --header is specified, the header line will also be displayed.

When used together, it can be used as a convenient grep.

ps aux|ov --quit-if-one-screen --header --filter "postgres"
USER         PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
postgres    1589  0.0  0.0 221992 29952 ?        Ss   Jul24   0:05 /usr/lib/postgresql/14/bin/postgres -D /var/lib/postgresql/14/main -c config_file=/etc/postgresql/14/main/postgresql.conf
postgres    1624  0.0  0.0 222104 11336 ?        Ss   Jul24   0:00 postgres: 14/main: checkpointer
postgres    1626  0.0  0.0 221992  8904 ?        Ss   Jul24   0:01 postgres: 14/main: background writer
postgres    1627  0.0  0.0 221992 11464 ?        Ss   Jul24   0:01 postgres: 14/main: walwriter
postgres    1628  0.0  0.0 222560  9928 ?        Ss   Jul24   0:02 postgres: 14/main: autovacuum launcher
postgres    1629  0.0  0.0  76728  7112 ?        Ss   Jul24   0:02 postgres: 14/main: stats collector
postgres    1631  0.0  0.0 222420  8904 ?        Ss   Jul24   0:00 postgres: 14/main: logical replication launcher
noborus   747819  0.0  0.0 1603756 7552 pts/0    Rl+  15:50   0:00 ov -H1 --filter postgres --quit-if-one-screen
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