## Introduction

You can search for specific files or code snippets by using the search box
located at the top of the Code Search UI:

![Search box](https://developers.google.com/code-search/images/search-box.png)

To get started, open the Code Search UI for your project:

- [Android](https://cs.android.com)
- [Chromium](https://source.chromium.org)
- Other Google Projects: [Google Open Source](https://cs.opensource.google)

## Text search

All searches use
[RE2 regular expressions](https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax)
by default. If you don't want to use regular expressions, enclose your search
in double quotation marks ( " ). For example:

    "foo()" # Treats the parentheses as literals. Doesn't match 'food'.
    foo() # Parentheses are treated as part of a regular expression. Matches 'food'.

> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** If you use a [search filter](https://developers.google.com/code-search/reference/#filters), such as `file`, don't enclose the filter in quotes. For example, use `file:abd.xyz` not `file:"abc.xyz"`.

## Cross references

[Cross references](https://developers.google.com/code-search/user/cross-references) are available for some repositories.
Where cross references are enabled, symbols are links to their definition.
Clicking a symbol definition shows a list of usages.

## What's next

- Search for [files](https://developers.google.com/code-search/user/search-files) or [file contents](https://developers.google.com/code-search/user/search-file-contents).
- Learn about supported operators, filters, and keyboard shortcuts in the Code Search [reference](https://developers.google.com/code-search/reference) documentation.