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Can we add the ability to search only comments?


Sometimes I remember a question or answer not by the body text or title, but by the comments. These comments might be by me or someone else. When I want to refer to these questions later, it is difficult to find them. This would be easier if we could search in only comments.

I have been spending much more time reviewing than answering questions lately. Once of the most frequent issues I find with questions -- especially those by new users -- is they don't post a minimal, complete example that replicates the problem they are having. I know I have seen other people suggest very effectively that the questioner post a better question, and I'd like to see what they have recommended, and how the worded it. If I do a search for "+ complete + minimal" however, I get a lot of noise. If it were possible to search only comments, it would be much easier.

Recommended Syntax:

Following the precedent set for searching only body text, one possible syntax for this search method might be:

comment: apples oranges

Related Questions on Meta:

  1. How can I search StackOverflow comments?
  2. How do I find a comment?
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FWIW, Jeff wants it too –  HodofHod Jun 4 '12 at 2:52
You're writing "only". As far as I know, there's no way to search comments (through these sites) at all, right? –  Arjan Aug 15 '13 at 12:43
@Arjan: As far as I can tell, no. I just tried both using the SO search feature and some google-fuism and neither resulted in a hit from yesterday. –  John Dibling Aug 15 '13 at 12:53

1 Answer 1

Short of a 'search comments' feature, sometimes Google comes to the rescue.

I was looking for a discussion about the system banner and the only thing I could remember is saying "Awe, shucks" in a comment (strange, I know). So I searched:


site:meta.stackoverflow.com Robert Cartaino Awe shucks

Worked like a charm

share|improve this answer
Has anything changed with this feature-request since the new elasticsearch? –  HodofHod Mar 22 '13 at 1:30
As an alternative, can we show ALL comments to the Google bot then...? (And maybe even a user id, which makes searching easier for those without a last name as nice as yours!) –  Arjan Aug 15 '13 at 12:56

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