Filter Lines

A VS Code extension that live-filters the lines of the active editor by one or more keywords and shows the result in a read-only virtual document that updates as you type.

Usage

1. Open a text/log file in the editor.
2. Run Filter Lines: Filter Logs by Keywords from the Command Palette (filter.logs). A read-only result tab opens beside the source file.
3. Type search terms separated by commas (e.g. ERROR, WARN, timeout) — the result tab updates live while you type (debounced), and the input title shows the match count.
4. Use the toggle buttons in the input's title bar:
   • AND/OR — lines must contain all terms vs. at least one
   • Aa — case-sensitive matching
   • .* — treat each term as a regular expression
   • exclude — invert: keep lines that do NOT match (like grep -v)
   • context — cycle context lines around each match (like grep -C)
5. Press Enter to keep the current result and close the input, or Esc to close it (the result tab stays open either way).

The result tab

• Every line is prefixed with its original line number; matched terms are highlighted.
• Ctrl+Click (Go to Definition) on a result line jumps straight to that line in the source file.
• The header documents the query (terms, logic, options, match count, timestamp), so old result tabs stay self-explanatory.
• The refresh button in the tab's title bar re-runs the stored query against the current content of the source file — handy for growing log files.

Development

npm install
npm run compile   # or: npm run watch

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded, then run the filter.logs command there.

Adjusting the filter logic

All matching logic lives in FilterOptions and the filterLines function in src/extension.ts — adjust there if you need whole-word matching, trimming, or other match rules. Case sensitivity, regex mode, AND/OR logic, and inversion are already built in as toggles.