microsoft / microsoft/vscode-remote-release
Explorer Filter (Ctrl+Alt+F) Should Support Multiple File Name Filtering
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Since Aug 19, 2026.
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Description
The current Explorer Filter (Ctrl+Alt+F) is very useful for quickly narrowing down files in the Explorer view. However, it only supports filtering using a single search string/fuzzy match.
In many real-world development scenarios, users need to quickly locate and work with a specific set of files, for example:
CustomerService.cs
AccountService.cs
AuditService.cs
Currently, there is no way to paste multiple file names and have Explorer display only those matching files. Users must search one file at a time or switch to other views that do not provide the same convenient Explorer workflow.
Suggested Feature
Allow Explorer Filter (Ctrl+Alt+F) to support multiple file names using one of the following syntaxes:
CustomerService.cs,AccountService.cs,AuditService.cs
or
CustomerService.cs|AccountService.cs|AuditService.cs
Expected Behavior
When users enter multiple file names in the Explorer Filter:
CustomerService.cs,AccountService.cs,AuditService.cs
only matching files should remain visible in the Explorer tree.
This would make it easy to:
- Copy multiple specific files to another folder.
- Review files from pull requests.
- Work with deployment file lists.
- Handle hotfix or release file sets.
- Navigate large enterprise repositories.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Assessment
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