# Searching discussions

You can search for discussions on GitHub and narrow the results using search qualifiers.

## About searching for discussions

You can search for discussions globally across all of GitHub, or search for discussions within a particular organization or repository. For more information, see [About searching on GitHub](/en/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/about-searching-on-github).

> \[!TIP]
>
> * This article contains links to example searches on the GitHub.com website, but you can use the same search filters in any GitHub platform. In the linked example searches, replace `github.com` with the hostname for your GitHub platform.
> * For a list of search syntaxes that you can add to any search qualifier to further improve your results, see [Understanding the search syntax](/en/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/understanding-the-search-syntax).
> * Use quotations around multi-word search terms. For example, if you want to search for issues with the label "In progress," you'd search for `label:"in progress"`. Search is not case sensitive.

## Search by the title, body, or comments

With the `in` qualifier you can restrict your search for discussions to the title, body, or comments. You can also combine qualifiers to search a combination of title, body, or comments. When you omit the `in` qualifier, GitHub searches the title, body, and comments.

| Qualifier     | Example                                                                                                                                                           |
| :------------ | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `in:title`    | [**welcome in:title**](https://github.com/search?q=welcome+in%3Atitle\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with "welcome" in the title.                         |
| `in:body`     | [**onboard in:title,body**](https://github.com/search?q=onboard+in%3Atitle%2Cbody\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with "onboard" in the title or body.     |
| `in:comments` | [**thanks in:comments**](https://github.com/search?q=thanks+in%3Acomment\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with "thanks" in the comments for the discussion. |

## Search within a user's or organization's repositories

To search discussions in all repositories owned by a certain user or organization, you can use the `user` or `org` qualifier. To search discussions in a specific repository, you can use the `repo` qualifier.

| Qualifier                                      | Example                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| :--------------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <code>user:<em>USERNAME</em></code>            | [**user:octocat feedback**](https://github.com/search?q=user%3Aoctocat+feedback\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with the word "feedback" from repositories owned by @octocat.                                                    |
| <code>org:<em>ORGNAME</em></code>              | [**org:github**](https://github.com/search?q=org%3Agithub\&type=Discussions\&utf8=%E2%9C%93) matches discussions in repositories owned by the GitHub organization.                                                                      |
| <code>repo:<em>USERNAME/REPOSITORY</em></code> | [**repo:nodejs/node created:<2021-01-01**](https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Anodejs%2Fnode+created%3A%3C2020-01-01\&type=Discussions) matches discussions from @nodejs' Node.js runtime project that were created before January 2021. |

## Search by open or closed state

You can filter discussions based on whether they're open or closed using the `is` qualifier.

| Qualifier   | Example                                                                                                                                                                            |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `is:open`   | [**performance is:open is:discussion**](https://github.com/search?q=is%3Adiscussion+performance+is%3Aopen\&type=discussions) matches open discussions with the word "performance." |
| `is:closed` | [**android is:closed**](https://github.com/search?q=android+is%3Aclosed\&type=discussions) matches closed discussions with the word "android."                                     |

## Search based on whether a discussion was answered

You can search for a discussion that has been answered using the `is` qualifier.

| Qualifier       | Example                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `is:answered`   | [**performance is:answered is:discussion**](https://github.com/search?q=is%3Adiscussion+performance+is%3Aanswered\&type=discussions) matches answered discussions with the word "performance." |
| `is:unanswered` | [**android is:unanswered**](https://github.com/search?q=android+is%3Aunanswered\&type=discussions) matches unanswered discussions with the word "android."                                     |

## Search based on whether a discussion is locked

You can search for a discussion that has been locked using the `is` qualifier. For more information, see [Moderating discussions](/en/discussions/managing-discussions-for-your-community/moderating-discussions).

| Qualifier     | Example                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `is:locked`   | [**"code of conduct" is:locked is:discussion**](https://github.com/search?q=%22code+of+conduct%22+is%3Alocked+is%3Adiscussion\&type=discussions) matches discussions with the words "code of conduct" that have been locked. |
| `is:unlocked` | [**code of conduct is:unlocked is:discussion**](https://github.com/search?q=%22code+of+conduct%22+is%3Aunlocked\&type=discussions) matches discussions with the words "code of conduct" that are unlocked.                   |

## Filter by repository visibility

You can filter by the visibility of the repository containing the discussions using the `is` qualifier. For more information, see [About repositories](/en/repositories/creating-and-managing-repositories/about-repositories#about-repository-visibility).

| Qualifier    | Example                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| :----------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `is:public`  | [**is:public**](https://github.com/search?q=is%3Apublic\&type=Discussions) matches discussions in public repositories.                                                                      |
|              |                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| `is:private` | [**is:private tiramisu**](https://github.com/search?q=is%3Aprivate+tiramisu\&type=Discussions) matches discussions that contain the word "tiramisu" in private repositories you can access. |

## Search by author

The `author` qualifier finds discussions created by a certain user.

| Qualifier                                       | Example                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| :---------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <code>author:<em>USERNAME</em></code>           | [**cool author:octocat**](https://github.com/search?q=cool+author%3Aoctocat\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with the word "cool" that were created by @octocat.                                            |
| `in:body` <code>author:<em>USERNAME</em></code> | [**bootstrap in:body author:octocat**](https://github.com/search?q=bootstrap+in%3Abody+author%3Aoctocat\&type=Discussions) matches discussions created by @octocat that contain the word "bootstrap" in the body. |

## Search by commenter

The `commenter` qualifier finds discussions that contain a comment from a certain user.

| Qualifier                                | Example                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| :--------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <code>commenter:<em>USERNAME</em></code> | [**github commenter:becca org:github**](https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93\&q=github+commenter%3Abecca+org%3Agithub\&type=Discussions) matches discussions in repositories owned by GitHub, that contain the word "github," and have a comment by @becca. |

## Search by user who has answered a discussion

The `answered-by` qualifier finds discussions where a certain user's comment was marked as an answer.

| Qualifier                                  | Example                                                                                                                                                                      |
| :----------------------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <code>answered-by:<em>USERNAME</em></code> | [**cool answered-by:octocat**](https://github.com/search?q=cool+author%3Aoctocat\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with the word "cool" that were answered by @octocat. |

## Search by a user that's involved in a discussion

You can use the `involves` qualifier to find discussions that involve a certain user. The qualifier returns discussions that were either created by a certain user, mention the user, or contain comments by the user. The `involves` qualifier is a logical OR between the `author`, `mentions`, and `commenter` qualifiers for a single user.

| Qualifier                                         | Example                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| :------------------------------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| <code>involves:<em>USERNAME</em></code>           | **[involves:becca involves:octocat](https://github.com/search?q=involves%3Abecca+involves%3Aoctocat\&type=Discussions)** matches discussions either @becca or @octocat are involved in.                             |
| `in:body` <code>involves:<em>USERNAME</em></code> | [**NOT free in:body involves:becca**](https://github.com/search?q=NOT+free+in%3Abody+involves%3Abecca\&type=Discussions) matches discussions @becca is involved in that do not contain the word "free" in the body. |

## Search by number of comments

You can use the `comments` qualifier along with greater than, less than, and range qualifiers to search by the number of comments. For more information, see [Understanding the search syntax](/en/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/understanding-the-search-syntax).

| Qualifier                        | Example                                                                                                                                                   |
| :------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <code>comments:<em>n</em></code> | [**comments:>100**](https://github.com/search?q=comments%3A%3E100\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with more than 100 comments.                     |
| <code>comments:<em>n</em></code> | [**comments:500..1000**](https://github.com/search?q=comments%3A500..1000\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with comments ranging from 500 to 1,000. |

## Search by when a discussion was created or last updated

You can filter discussions based on times of creation, or when the discussion was last updated. For discussion creation, you can use the `created` qualifier; to find out when an discussion was last updated, use the `updated` qualifier.

Both qualifiers take a date as a parameter. Date formatting must follow the [ISO8601](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601) standard, which is `YYYY-MM-DD` (year-month-day). You can also add optional time information `THH:MM:SS+00:00` after the date, to search by the hour, minute, and second. That's `T`, followed by `HH:MM:SS` (hour-minutes-seconds), and a UTC offset (`+00:00`).

When you search for a date, you can use greater than, less than, and range qualifiers to further filter results. For more information, see [Understanding the search syntax](/en/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/understanding-the-search-syntax).

| Qualifier                                | Example                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| :--------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| <code>created:<em>YYYY-MM-DD</em></code> | [**created:>2020-11-15**](https://github.com/search?q=created%3A%3E%3D2020-11-15\&type=discussions) matches discussions that were created after November 15, 2020.                                                              |
| <code>updated:<em>YYYY-MM-DD</em></code> | [**weird in:body updated:>=2020-02-01**](https://github.com/search?q=weird+in%3Abody+updated%3A%3E%3D2020-12-01\&type=Discussions) matches discussions with the word "weird" in the body that were updated after December 2020. |

## Search by category

You can filter discussions by specific discussions categories.

| Qualifier                                   | Example                                                                                                                                        |
| :------------------------------------------ | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <code>category:<em>CATEGORYNAME</em></code> | [**category:Ideas**](https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93\&q=category%3Aideas) matches discussions categories that match the name "Ideas". |

## Search by label

You can filter discussions by specific labels that are applied to discussions.

| Qualifier                                 | Example                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| :---------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <code>label: <em>"LABEL NAME"</em></code> | [**label:"Product Feedback"**](https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93\&q=label%3A%22product+feedback%22\&type=discussions) matches discussions that match the label "Product Feedback". |

## Further reading

* [Sorting search results](/en/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/sorting-search-results)