Advanced Search Syntax in Unreal's Content Browser

Unreal Engine's content browser comes with a powerful built-in search syntax that allows for simple and complex querying.

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Search Syntax Structure

The advanced search syntax (beyond simply typing in the name of an asset) consists of a Key, Operator, and Value.

Keys

There are many keys available as pulled from the Asset metadata in the Asset registry, with a few special keys that exist for all Asset types:

• Name: The asset name
• Path: The asset path
• Class: The asset class (alias: Type)
• ParentClass: The asset's parent class
• Collection: The names of any collections that contain the asset (alias: Tag)

Operators

Operators allow logic to be applied to search query parameters:

Operator	Note	Example
=	equals	Name = Truffle
!=	not equals	Name != Truffle
<	less than	Triangles < 25000
<=	less than or equal to	Triangles <= 25000
>	greater than	Triangles > 5000
>=	greater than or equal to	Triangles >= 5000
&	and	Name = Truffle & Triangles > 5000
||	or	Name = Truffle || ParentClass = Fungus
!	not	Name != Truffle
-	`negate	-Truffle
+	exact	+Truffle
...	match beginning of string	Truf... (beginning)
...	match end of string	...uffle (end)

Values

Values are the target of what you are querying for, which can be (just about) anything, as seen above in the examples section of Operators.

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Finding Assets by Name

Let's consider we wanted to find all assets with chicken in their name.

• Inputting chicken without any operators will return all assets that contain the string chicken.
• Prepending the + operator, +chicken, will return all assets that contain an exact match of the string.
• When the ... operator is appended, chicken... will return all assets that start with the string.
• When the ... operator is prepended, ...chicken will return all assets that end with the string.

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Filtering Assets by Name Partials

One clear reason to subscribe to a standard asset naming convention is how powerful it is in combination with the advanced search syntax.

For example, we can search for all base material decals with M_... & MaterialDomain = Decal:

Or find all skeletal meshes, including those we may have not applied the proper prefix to with SK_... | Type = Skeletal Mesh:

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