notepad-plus-plus / notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus
[Feature request] Search for Lines Not Matching
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 29.4k
- Forks
- 5.4k
- PR merge metrics
- No merged PRs in 30d
Description
Is there an existing issue (open or closed) for this?
- I have searched the existing issues
Description of the Issue
Preparing a reg. exp. to find lines that do not include a string of characters (or strings) is not easy to do, so I thought why not add a tick box to invert the search. This could then be used for all of the search modes.
Describe the solution you'd like.
Add a tick box to invert the search (exclude the matching lines).
Debug Information
Notepad++ v8.9.6.4 (64-bit)
Build time: Jun 3 2026 - 23:47:49
Scintilla/Lexilla included: 5.6.2/5.4.9
Boost Regex included: 1_90
pugixml included: 1.15
nlohmann JSON included: 3.12.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line:
Admin mode: OFF
Local Conf mode: OFF
Cloud Config: OFF
WinGUp: present
disableNppAutoUpdate.xml: absent
Periodic Backup: ON
Placeholders: OFF
Scintilla Rendering Mode: SC_TECHNOLOGY_DEFAULT (0)
Multi-instance Mode: monoInst
asNotepad: OFF
File Status Auto-Detection: cdDisabled
Dark Mode: OFF
Display Info:
primary monitor: 1920x1080, scaling 100%
visible monitors count: 4
installed Display Class adapters:
0000: Description - NVIDIA T1200 Laptop GPU
0000: DriverVersion - 32.0.15.9647
0001: Description - Intel(R) UHD Graphics
0001: DriverVersion - 32.0.101.7026
0002: Description - DisplayLink USB Device
0002: DriverVersion - 9.3.3324.0
0003: Description - DisplayLink USB Device
0003: DriverVersion - 9.3.3324.0
- warning, search has been limited to maximum number of adapter records: 4
OS Name: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
OS Version: 22H2
OS Build: 19045.6456
Current ANSI codepage: 1252
Plugins:
ComparePlus (2.2)
mimeTools (3.1)
NppConverter (4.7)
NppExport (0.4)
Anything else?
No response
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.
Research direction
Start by locating the search dialog and the implementations for its existing search modes; the issue does not name specific files or tests. Trace how matching lines are selected, then verify that an inversion control excludes matching lines consistently across all search modes, with tests covering the new behavior.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- desktop, search
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 52/100