How to limit Find All References in Visual Studio to just the variable concerned

Question

With C++ files, why does the right-click option to 'Find All References' of a variable usage return all spelling usages in the entire project whether related or not. How can this Find operation be limited to just the actual variable concerned?

Answer 1

As for MSVC 2015 Update 2 it does actually find all the references to a variable, including comments and strings.

When you get a list of references you can see different icons for each element denoting different types of references: like comments, strings or variables with the same name. Then you have two options when walking though the list: visit all found locations (F4, Shift+F4) or only confirmed references using the black arrow buttons, as shown here:

I would also recommend to rescan solution if searching doesn't work correctly (Solution Explorer > right click > Rescan Solution).