Modern programming environments tend to use fuzzy string matching for file search and autocomplete. This is a very efficient strategy for finding things; it requires few keystrokes and returns likely matches even in situations where the searcher doesn’t recall the exact name of something.
By contrast, Unreal’s current search is inefficient and relies on case-insensitive exact substring matches. For example, if I create a material called M_PBRDemo
, a search for mpbr
in the content drawer will not find it. It is similarly difficult to find things in other places in the editor, including in the material and event graph search palettes.
Please consider implementing fuzzy string search to speed up search workflows throughout the Unreal Editor. Reference implementations are readily available in multiple languages, including C++. See, for example, Reverse Engineering Sublime Text’s Fuzzy Match - ForrestTheWoods