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Documentation | 2025.5

# Search

P4 Code Review's search feature combines user, group, project, and file path searching. The standard P4 Code Review searches can be extended to search file content by using the optional P4 Search API.

You can download the P4 Search API installer from the P4 Search download page on the Perforce website. For more information, see the P4 Search Documentation and the P4 Search release notes.

If you make a configuration change, P4 Code Review will not use it until the configuration cache has been reloaded, this forces P4 Code Review to use the new configuration.

You must be an admin or super user to reload the P4 Code Review config cache. Navigate to the User id dropdown menu, select System Information, click the Cache Info tab, and click the Reload Configuration button.

Configure P4 Code Review search with the following configuration block in the `SWARM_ROOT/data/config.php` file:

    <?php
        // this block should be a peer of 'p4'
        'search' => array(
            'maxlocktime'     => 5000, // 5 seconds, in milliseconds
            'p4_search_host'  => 'http://myhelixsearch.mydomain.com:4567', // optional URL to the P4 Search host
        ),

## maxlocktime

The `maxlocktime` key specifies the maximum amount of time, in milliseconds, that any table within the P4 Server should be locked while performing `fstat` command searching. Increasing this value might allow better search results at the expense of potentially blocking other queries on the P4 Server. Decreasing this value impacts the P4 Server less, but may be insufficient for returning the desired search results.

## p4_search_host

The `p4_search_host` configurable specifies the URL of your P4 Search server. When configured, P4 Code Review issues API calls to P4 Search to take advantage of its file content and description indexing.

## Comment attachment thumbnail and blur generation

P4 Code Review generates the blur and thumbnail images for P4 Code Review comment attachments and stores them in the comment attachment depot.

To prevent P4 Code Review clashing with P4 Search thumbnail and blur generation, set the P4 Server protections for the P4 Code Review comment attachments depot directory so only the swarm user has access to it.

P4 Code Review 2022.1 Patch 1 and later: By default, the P4 Code Review package post-installation configuration script offers to create the comment attachment depot directory as //.swarm and set the protections so only the swarm user has access to it.

For example, if the comment attachment depot directory is //.swarm, set P4 Server protections for //.swarm to:

list user * * -//.swarm/...

admin user swarm * //.swarm/...

super user super * //.swarm/...

This prevents P4 Search creating thumbnails and blurs for files stored in the comment attachment depot directory.

### More information

- For instructions on configuring the P4 Code Review comment attachments depot directory, see Comment attachments.

- For instructions on setting P4 Server protections, see the Setting protections with p4 protect section of the P4 Server Administration Documentation.

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