Title: SniffPress
Author: wpwebguru
Published: <strong>July 18, 2025</strong>
Last modified: December 23, 2025

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Search plugins

![](https://ps.w.org/sniffpress/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3330772)

![](https://ps.w.org/sniffpress/assets/icon-256x256.jpg?rev=3330209)

# SniffPress

 By [wpwebguru](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wpwebguru/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/sniffpress.1.1.zip)

 * [Details](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/sniffpress/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/sniffpress/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/sniffpress/#installation)
 * [Development](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/sniffpress/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/)

## Description

SniffPress is an essential developer tool that lets you search through all your 
theme and plugin files directly from the WordPress admin dashboard.

### Resources

GitHub: https://github.com/viveksoftchure/sniffpress

**New in version 1.1:**
 – Top-level admin menu for easier access – Search limits
to prevent server overload – Exclusion patterns to skip specific folders/files –
Improved theme editor links for both active and inactive themes – Enhanced user 
interface with search statistics

**Key Features:**
 – Search across multiple themes/plugins at once – Case-sensitive
and whole word matching options – Regular expression support – Filter by file type(
PHP, JS, CSS, etc.) – Direct links to edit found files (works with any theme/plugin)–
Search limits: control maximum file size and results count – Exclusion patterns:
skip vendor folders, cache directories, etc. – Direct links to edit found files –
Clean, intuitive interface – Fast AJAX-powered searching – Search completion statistics

**Perfect for:**
 – Debugging theme/plugin issues – Finding specific functions/hooks–
Locating text strings for translation – Code audits and maintenance

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * The main search interface with new options
 * [[
 * Example search results with highlighted matches

## Installation

 1. Upload the `sniffpress` folder to your `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. Navigate to **SniffPress** (top-level menu) to start searching

## FAQ

### What file types are searched by default?

The plugin searches:
 – PHP (.php) – JavaScript (.js) – CSS (.css) – Text (.txt)–
Markdown (.md) – JSON (.json) – XML (.xml) – HTML (.html)

### Why are some files missing from results?

The plugin automatically skips:
 – Binary files (images, fonts, etc.) – Files over
2MB in size (configurable) – Vendor directories (node_modules, vendor, .git, etc.)–
Files matching your exclusion patterns

### Can I search WordPress core files?

Currently the plugin only searches theme and plugin files. Core file search may 
be added in future versions.

### How do I use exclusion patterns?

Enter comma-separated patterns in the “Exclude patterns” field. Examples:
 – `node_modules,
vendor` – skip these common directories – `*.log, cache/` – skip log files and cache
directory – `assets/css, includes/` – skip specific folders

### What are the recommended search limits?

For large sites, we recommend:
 – Max file size: 2-5MB – Max results: 100-200 This
prevents timeouts and memory issues.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8c0ced2ad5a0c50ec3a0903b1d1946b4309a9b5e4ed01ff7f8d40bc710f49e3e?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[It works well – too well !!!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/it-works-well-too-well/)󠁿

 [nick6352683](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nick6352683/) July 22, 2025 1 reply

For years I was using Notepad++ to search strings in files, but I could not filter
what type of files to search from file types – for example, php, html, css, etc…
Also, I had to spend a few seconds to select the location of the folders to search
from my hard drive, at least for local development. This plugin allows me to not
only filter which files to search, but also for live sites, I can search on the 
spot without having to download the themes/plugins if I don’t have copies of them
on my pc. And at an added bonus, it works really fast. Not necessarily a must use
tool, but a great help and time saver for developers and alike.

 [ Read all 1 review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“SniffPress” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this
plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ wpwebguru ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wpwebguru/)
 *   [ vivekkumarsahu0 ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/vivekkumarsahu0/)
 *   [ shubham715 ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/devshubham715/)

[Translate “SniffPress” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/sniffpress)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/sniffpress/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/sniffpress/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/sniffpress/) by 
[RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/sniffpress/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.1

 * Added top-level admin menu for easier access
 * Added search limits: control max file size and results count
 * Added exclusion patterns to skip specific folders/files
 * Improved theme editor links for both active and inactive themes
 * Enhanced user interface with search statistics
 * Added welcome message with usage tips
 * Fixed exclusion pattern matching for directories
 * Improved plugin main file detection
 * Better error handling and user feedback
 * Performance optimizations for large codebases

#### 1.0

 * Initial release with core search functionality
 * Support for both themes and plugins
 * Case-sensitive and whole word matching
 * File type filtering options

## Meta

 *  Version **1.1**
 *  Last updated **3 months ago**
 *  Active installations **20+**
 *  WordPress version ** 5.6 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **6.8.5**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/sniffpress/)
 * Tags
 * [code search](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/code-search/)[developer-tools](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/developer-tools/)
   [file search](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/file-search/)[search](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/search/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/sniffpress/advanced/)

## Ratings

 5 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  1 5-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  0 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  0 1-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/?filter=1)

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ wpwebguru ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wpwebguru/)
 *   [ vivekkumarsahu0 ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/vivekkumarsahu0/)
 *   [ shubham715 ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/devshubham715/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/sniffpress/)