How to Find a File in Eclipse

The traditional way to find a file in Eclipse is to drill down in the Project Explorer, starting at the project level and going down the directory structure until you locate the desired file. Learn how to quickly and easily locate files in Eclipse so that you don’t slow down your Java or PHP code development.

Instructions

1. Press the “Ctrl,” “Shift” and “R” keys on your keyboard simultaneously. A pop-up window will open and you can type in the name of the file you wish to find. Eclipse uses intelligent matching. Once it matches the file, just press "Enter." This is the fastest way to find files of any type, including Java and PHP files.

2. Click “Search” and then click “File” to utilize the Search menu, which is located at the top of the Eclipse application window. This is helpful when you want to do a full text search.

3. Type the text you want to find on the top line of the Search dialogue. On the second line, you can limit the file extensions included in the search. For example, if you only want to search Java files, type "*.java" without the quotes on the second line. This method is not as fast as the one described in the previous step.

Tips & Warnings

• Eclipse is especially useful for Java development, but it can also be utilized for PHP, XML and HTML coding as well.

References

• The Eclipse Foundation: File Search

Resources

• The Eclipse Foundation: Home Page
• The Eclipse Foundation: Downloads
• The Eclipse Foundation: Documentation