# Is it possible to search the julia registry for a function

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [June 24, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182 "2025-06-24T20:36:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![brianguenter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/brianguenter/32/29519_2.png) [@brianguenter](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/brianguenter)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182/1 "2025-06-24T20:36:54Z")

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Is there a tool that will search the packages in the Julia registry for a function name?

I sometimes come across online examples that use a Julia function I would also like to use but can’t find the package that contains the function because the code snippet elided the using statements.

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**Author:** ![Oscar\_Smith](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oscar_smith/32/25343_2.png) [@Oscar\_Smith](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Oscar_Smith)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182/2 "2025-06-24T20:40:54Z")

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See [JuliaHub registry search](https://juliahub.com/ui/Search?type=symbols&q=solve&t=function)

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**Author:** ![nsajko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nsajko/32/221187_2.png) [@nsajko](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nsajko)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182/3 "2025-06-24T22:51:49Z")

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In my experience the “symbol search” is buggy, so I usually use the code search instead. Bug reports:

- [bug: symbol search fails to find declared supertype in type definition · Issue #165 · JuliaComputing/JuliaHub-Feedback · GitHub](https://github.com/JuliaComputing/JuliaHub-Feedback/issues/165)

- [bug: symbol search fails to find module name used in accessing a member of the module · Issue #167 · JuliaComputing/JuliaHub-Feedback · GitHub](https://github.com/JuliaComputing/JuliaHub-Feedback/issues/167)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brianguenter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/brianguenter/32/29519_2.png) [@brianguenter](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/brianguenter)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182/4 "2025-06-24T23:18:25Z")

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Thanks for the tip. I tried code search but it doesn’t have a “definition” search. In the `AbstractIrrational` code search returns 217 results which is a lot to look through to find the defining package.

Is there a way to get just the source files that _define_ the symbol using code search?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182/5 "2025-06-25T00:12:08Z")

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[`AbstractIrrational`](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/numbers/#Base.AbstractIrrational) is defined in `Base`, which you can discover with

```julia-repl
julia> parentmodule(AbstractIrrational)
Base

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Benny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@Benny](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Benny)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-it-possible-to-search-the-julia-registry-for-a-function/130182/6 "2025-06-25T00:16:08Z")

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> [@brianguenter](#):
>
> 217 results which is a lot to look through to find the defining package.
> 
> Is there a way to get just the source files that _define_ the symbol using code search?

Filtering all source files in a _registry_ with a symbol is going to give a lot of results too. Filtering further to definitions using a symbol needs the Julia runtime because plain text search can’t distinguish imports, multi-line strings, metaprogramming, and variant syntax. Just a headache when people don’t share project files.