How do I search for the word under my cursor across all project files using Telescope?

Explanation

Telescope's grep_string() function performs a project-wide search for the exact word currently under the cursor, displaying live-previewed results in an interactive picker. This is the Telescope equivalent of pressing * followed by :grep, but with instant visual feedback.

How it works

• require('telescope.builtin').grep_string() calls Telescope's built-in grep function
• By default, it searches for <cword> — the keyword under the cursor — using grep or ripgrep
• Results appear in a fuzzy-searchable picker with a live file preview
• You can further filter results by typing in the Telescope prompt
• When ripgrep is available, Telescope uses it automatically for speed

Example

Map it to a convenient leader key in your Neovim config:

vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>fw', function()
  require('telescope.builtin').grep_string()
end, { desc = 'Find word under cursor' })

Or to search for an arbitrary word from a prompt, use live_grep instead:

vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>fg', function()
  require('telescope.builtin').live_grep()
end)

Tips

• Pass { search = vim.fn.expand('<cWORD>') } to search for the full WORD (including dots and slashes) instead of the keyword
• Add { word_match = '-w' } to enforce whole-word matching with ripgrep
• In Telescope results, <C-q> sends all matches to the quickfix list for further processing
• Combine with :cdo for project-wide refactoring