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Maccy search & regex guide

Maccy is search-first. Here's how its fuzzy, exact and regex modes work — with patterns you can paste straight in.

Search is the whole point

Maccy is built around search. Open it with + + C and just start typing — the list filters instantly as you go. You rarely scroll; you type two or three characters of what you remember and the right clip floats up.

Search modes

Maccy offers different matching behaviours you can set in preferences:

ModeWhat it doesGood for
FuzzyMatches loosely; characters in orderHalf-remembered text
ExactMatches the literal substringPrecise phrases
Regular expressionFull regex patternsPower users, structured data

Using regular expressions

Switch Maccy's search to regular-expression mode and your query becomes a pattern. A few practical examples:

  • https?:// — find copied links.
  • \b[A-F0-9]{6}\b — find six-character hex colour codes.
  • \d{3}-\d{4} — find things shaped like phone numbers.
  • TODO|FIXME — find copied code comments.

Regex search shines when your history is full of structured snippets — URLs, hashes, colour codes — and you want a whole class of them, not one exact string.

Frequently asked questions

Does Maccy support regex search?

Yes — switch the search mode to regular expression in preferences and your query is treated as a regex pattern.

What's the difference between fuzzy and exact search?

Fuzzy matches characters loosely and in order, forgiving typos; exact matches the literal substring. Use fuzzy when you half-remember something, exact when you know the phrase.

Can I search images in Maccy?

Search targets text. Images appear in history, but you find them by surrounding text or by scrolling, not by matching pixels.