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Terminal > Blocks

Filtering output

Live-filter a block's output, with regex and case-sensitive modes.

To find text in a command's output in Mel, open the block's filter bar: it narrows that block to the lines that match, highlights the match, and counts the hits. Every block has its own filter bar, and it is Mel's find-in-output: the quickest way to read a test run, a build log or tail -f.

Opening the filter

Select a block and click the 🔽 icon in its header, or pick Toggle block filter from the right-click menu. The filter bar docks under the block's header. Filters are per-block: each block remembers its own filter independently, and the bar stays open until you close it.

Keyboard shortcuts

ActionWindows and LinuxMac
Find in the selected block (open or close its filter)Find in Selected Block has no key by default; set one in Settings ▸ Keyboard shortcutssame
Search files in the projectCtrl+Shift+F⌘⇧F
Search command historyCtrl+R⌘R

Using it

  • Query field — type and the output narrows immediately to lines containing your text. A live match count shows how many lines matched.
  • ✕ — clears the query.
  • **.*** — regex mode. Your query is compiled as a regular expression; matching lines are kept.
  • Aa — case-sensitive matching. Both toggles highlight in the accent color when active.

While the filter has a non-empty query, matched substrings inside the surviving lines are highlighted, so you can spot the hit inside a long line at a glance.

# e.g. filter a test run down to failures
cargo test
# open the filter, type: FAILED
# or regex mode: error(\[E\d+\])?

Works on streaming output

The filter is re-evaluated every frame, so it works on running blocks too. Open a filter on a tail -f or a long-running build and new lines are filtered as they stream in — you effectively get a live grep over any command without restarting it.

Filtering vs. searching

  • The block filter searches one block's output and hides non-matching lines.
  • Global search (Ctrl+Shift+F, or ⌘⇧F on a Mac) searches files in your project via ripgrep. See the command palette for how to reach it.

FAQ

How do I search terminal output? Select the block and open its filter (the 🔽 icon, or Toggle block filter in the right-click menu), then type. Only matching lines stay, with the match highlighted.

Can I search all blocks at once? Not in one bar: each block has its own filter. To search files, use global search (Ctrl+Shift+F).

Does it work while a command is still running? Yes. New lines are filtered as they arrive.

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