# Improve readability of code search terminal output

`f941166`→[main](/content/gh/entireio/cli/commits/main/index.html)·  
  
evisdren·4d ago·2 files·+140 added/-15 removed

Code search results were plain undifferentiated text, making matches  
hard to scan (ENT-1130). Group results by file with a colored header,  
dim line numbers, highlight query matches, and dim the stats footer,  
matching the styling of other commands. Piped and --json output stay  
plain.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

## Changes

2

- cmd/entire/cli

- Msearch_cmd.go+78/-11

- Msearch_cmd_test.go+62/-4

```
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return writeCodeSearchJSON(w, resp)
}

writeCodeSearchText(w, resp)
writeCodeSearchText(w, resp, newStatusStyles(w))
return nil
}

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// with an ellipsis so that JSONL/minified files don't blow up the terminal.
const maxContextLineLen = 200

// writeCodeSearchText renders code search results in grep-style format.
func writeCodeSearchText(w io.Writer, resp *codesearch.SearchResponse) {
// writeCodeSearchText renders code search results grouped by file (ripgrep
// style): a colored "repo:path" header per file, indented line-numbered
// matches beneath it, and a dimmed stats footer. Colors are applied only when
// the writer supports them (styles.colorEnabled); piped output stays plain.
func writeCodeSearchText(w io.Writer, resp *codesearch.SearchResponse, styles statusStyles) {
if len(resp.Results) == 0 {
if len(resp.FailedJurisdictions) > 0 {
fmt.Fprintf(w, "No code search results found (some regions failed: %s)
",
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}
return
}

// Group results by repo:path, preserving first-appearance order so the
// best-scored file stays on top (results arrive globally score-sorted).
type fileGroup struct {
key     string
results []codesearch.Result
}
var groups []fileGroup
idx := make(map[string]int, len(resp.Results))
for _, r := range resp.Results {
line := r.ContextLine
runes := []rune(line)
if len(runes) > maxContextLineLen {
line = string(runes[:maxContextLineLen]) + "…"
}
key := r.Repo + ":" + r.Path
	i, ok := idx[key]
if !ok {
	i = len(groups)
	idx[key] = i
	groups = append(groups, fileGroup{key: key})
}
fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s:%s:%d: %s\n", r.Repo, r.Path, r.Line, line)
groups[i].results = append(groups[i].results, r)
}

for gi, g := range groups {
if gi > 0 {
fmt.Fprintln(w)
}
fmt.Fprintln(w, styles.render(styles.cyan, g.key))
for _, r := range g.results {
line := r.ContextLine
runes := []rune(line)
if len(runes) > maxContextLineLen {
line = string(runes[:maxContextLineLen]) + "…"
}
lineNo := styles.render(styles.dim, fmt.Sprintf("%d:", r.Line))
fmt.Fprintf(w, "  %s %s\n", lineNo, highlightCodeMatches(line, resp.Query, styles))
}
}

shown := len(resp.Results)
var summary string
if resp.Stats.TotalMatches > shown {
fmt.Fprintf(w, "\nShowing %d of %d matches across %d files in %d repos (%.0fms)\n",
summary = fmt.Sprintf("Showing %d of %d matches across %d files in %d repos (%.0fms)",
shown, resp.Stats.TotalMatches, resp.Stats.TotalFiles, resp.Stats.ReposSearched, resp.Stats.DurationMs)
} else {
fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n%d matches across %d files in %d repos (%.0fms)\n",
summary = fmt.Sprintf("%d matches across %d files in %d repos (%.0fms)",
resp.Stats.TotalMatches, resp.Stats.TotalFiles, resp.Stats.ReposSearched, resp.Stats.DurationMs)
}
fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n%s\n", styles.render(styles.dim, summary))
if len(resp.FailedJurisdictions) > 0 {
fmt.Fprintf(w, "Warning: results may be incomplete (failed jurisdictions: %s)\n",
warning := fmt.Sprintf("Warning: results may be incomplete (failed jurisdictions: %s)",
strings.Join(resp.FailedJurisdictions, ", "))
fmt.Fprintln(w, styles.render(styles.yellow, warning))
}
}

// highlightCodeMatches bold-red highlights occurrences of query in line
// (grep convention). Matching is case-insensitive when lowercasing doesn't
// change byte lengths (it can for some Unicode); otherwise it falls back to
// exact matching so byte offsets stay aligned. Returns line unchanged when
// color is disabled or there's nothing to highlight.
func highlightCodeMatches(line, query string, styles statusStyles) string {
if !styles.colorEnabled || query == "" {
return line
}
haystack, needle := line, query
if l, q := strings.ToLower(line), strings.ToLower(query); len(l) == len(line) && len(q) == len(query) {
	haystack, needle = l, q
}
matchStyle := styles.red.Bold(true)
var b strings.Builder
i := 0
for {
j := strings.Index(haystack[i:], needle)
if j < 0 {
break
}
j += i
b.WriteString(line[i:j])
b.WriteString(matchStyle.Render(line[j : j+len(needle)]))
i = j + len(needle)
}
if i == 0 {
return line // no matches; skip the builder copy
}
b.WriteString(line[i:])
return b.String()
}

// writeSearchJSON writes client-side paginated search results as JSON.
func writeSearchJSON(w io.Writer, resp *search.Response, limit, page int) error {
if limit <= 0 {
```

Mcmd/entire/cli/search_cmd.go+78/-11

```
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}

var buf bytes.Buffer
writeCodeSearchText(&buf, resp)
writeCodeSearchText(&buf, resp, newStatusStyles(&buf))

output := buf.String()
if !strings.Contains(output, "entireio/cli:main.go:10: func main() {") {
if !strings.Contains(output, "entireio/cli:main.go\n") {
	t.Errorf("output missing file header:\n%s", output)
}
if !strings.Contains(output, "  10: func main() {") {
	t.Errorf("output missing first result:\n%s", output)
}
if !strings.Contains(output, "  42: \tfmt.Println(\"hello\")") {
	t.Errorf("output missing second result:\n%s", output)
}
if !strings.Contains(output, "2 matches across 1 files") {
	t.Errorf("output missing summary line:\n%s", output)
}
if strings.Contains(output, "\x1b[") {
	t.Errorf("expected no ANSI codes for non-terminal writer:\n%s", output)
}
}

func TestWriteCodeSearchText_GroupsByFile(t *testing.T) {
t.Parallel()

// Interleaved files (score-sorted input) should collapse into one header
	// per file, in first-appearance order.
	resp := &codesearch.SearchResponse{
		Stats: codesearch.Stats{TotalMatches: 3, TotalFiles: 2, ReposSearched: 1, DurationMs: 1},
		Results: []codesearch.Result{
			{Repo: "r", Path: "a.go", Line: 1, ContextLine: "one"},
			{Repo: "r", Path: "b.go", Line: 2, ContextLine: "two"},
			{Repo: "r", Path: "a.go", Line: 3, ContextLine: "three"},
		},
	}

var buf bytes.Buffer
	writeCodeSearchText(&buf, resp, newStatusStyles(&buf))

output := buf.String()
	if got := strings.Count(output, "r:a.go\n"); got != 1 {
		t.Errorf("expected exactly 1 header for a.go, got %d:\n%s", got, output)
	}
	if aIdx, bIdx := strings.Index(output, "r:a.go"), strings.Index(output, "r:b.go"); aIdx > bIdx {
		t.Errorf("expected a.go header before b.go:\n%s", output)
	}
}

func TestHighlightCodeMatches(t *testing.T) {
t.Parallel()

styles := statusStyles{colorEnabled: true}

out := highlightCodeMatches("func HandleRequest(w)", "handlerequest", styles)
	if !strings.Contains(out, "\x1b[") {
		t.Errorf("expected ANSI codes in highlighted output, got %q", out)
	}
	if !strings.HasPrefix(out, "func ") || !strings.HasSuffix(out, "(w)") {
		t.Errorf("expected unmatched text preserved around highlight, got %q", out)
	}
	if out := highlightCodeMatches("no match here", "zzz", styles); out != "no match here" {
		t.Errorf("expected unchanged line when no match, got %q", out)
	}
	plain := statusStyles{colorEnabled: false}
	if out := highlightCodeMatches("func main()", "main", plain); out != "func main()" {
		t.Errorf("expected unchanged line when color disabled, got %q", out)
	}
}

func TestWriteCodeSearchJSON(t *testing.T) {
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}

var buf bytes.Buffer
writeCodeSearchText(&buf, resp)
writeCodeSearchText(&buf, resp, newStatusStyles(&buf))

output := buf.String()
if strings.Contains(output, longLine) {
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}

var buf bytes.Buffer
writeCodeSearchText(&buf, resp)
writeCodeSearchText(&buf, resp, newStatusStyles(&buf))

if !strings.Contains(buf.String(), "No code search results found") { 
	t.Errorf("expected empty results message, got:\n%s", buf.String())
}
```