Clarify regex vs literal text in search result messages (#1757)

* Initial plan

* Improve presentation of regex-based searches in agent mode

- Updated FindTextInFilesTool to indicate "regex" vs "text" in search messages
- Updated Claude grep tool formatter to show "Searched for regex"
- Added test for literal text search message format
- Updated existing test to match new regex message format

Co-authored-by: roblourens <[email protected]>

* Make regex/text keywords localizable via l10n

- Moved 'regex' and 'text' keywords inside l10n.t() calls
- This allows localization system to translate or keep terms as appropriate per language
- Addresses localization concern about whether 'regex' should be localized

Co-authored-by: roblourens <[email protected]>

* Refactor nested ternary operators into helper method

- Extract message generation logic into getResultMessage helper
- Improves code readability and maintainability
- All tests passing

Co-authored-by: roblourens <[email protected]>

* Update ChatSessionContentProvider test snapshot

- Updated snapshot to reflect new grep message format
- Changed from "Searched text for" to "Searched for regex"
- All tests now passing (8/8)

Co-authored-by: roblourens <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: roblourens <[email protected]>

Author: Copilot

src/extension/agents/claude/common/toolInvocationFormatter.ts

@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ function formatGlobInvocation(invocation: ChatToolInvocationPart, toolUse: Anthr
 
 function formatGrepInvocation(invocation: ChatToolInvocationPart, toolUse: Anthropic.ToolUseBlock): void {
 	const pattern: string = (toolUse.input as any)?.pattern ?? '';
-	invocation.invocationMessage = new MarkdownString(l10n.t("Searched text for `{0}`", pattern));
+	invocation.invocationMessage = new MarkdownString(l10n.t("Searched for regex `{0}`", pattern));
 }
 
 function formatLSInvocation(invocation: ChatToolInvocationPart, toolUse: Anthropic.ToolUseBlock): void {

src/extension/chatSessions/vscode-node/test/__snapshots__/claudeChatSessionContentProvider.spec.ts.snap

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ exports[`ChatSessionContentProvider > loads real fixture file with tool invocati
   {
     "parts": [
       {
-        "invocationMessage": "Searched text for \`ClaudeAgentManager\`",
+        "invocationMessage": "Searched for regex \`ClaudeAgentManager\`",
         "isError": undefined,
         "toolCallId": "toolu_01FqdrDGdxXUWRRLziM7gS2R",
         "toolName": "Grep",

src/extension/tools/node/findTextInFilesTool.tsx

@@ -95,16 +95,28 @@ export class FindTextInFilesTool implements ICopilotTool<IFindTextInFilesToolPar
 			return [];
 		}).slice(0, maxResults);
 		const query = this.formatQueryString(options.input);
-		result.toolResultMessage = textMatches.length === 0 ?
-			new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched text for ${query}, no results`) :
-			textMatches.length === 1 ?
-				new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched text for ${query}, 1 result`) :
-				new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched text for ${query}, ${textMatches.length} results`);
+		result.toolResultMessage = this.getResultMessage(isRegExp, query, textMatches.length);
 
 		result.toolResultDetails = textMatches;
 		return result;
 	}
 
+	private getResultMessage(isRegExp: boolean, query: string, count: number): MarkdownString {
+		if (count === 0) {
+			return isRegExp
+				? new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched for regex ${query}, no results`)
+				: new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched for text ${query}, no results`);
+		} else if (count === 1) {
+			return isRegExp
+				? new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched for regex ${query}, 1 result`)
+				: new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched for text ${query}, 1 result`);
+		} else {
+			return isRegExp
+				? new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched for regex ${query}, ${count} results`)
+				: new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searched for text ${query}, ${count} results`);
+		}
+	}
+
 	private isValidRegex(pattern: string): boolean {
 		try {
 			new RegExp(pattern);
@@ -138,8 +150,12 @@ export class FindTextInFilesTool implements ICopilotTool<IFindTextInFilesToolPar
 	}
 
 	prepareInvocation(options: vscode.LanguageModelToolInvocationPrepareOptions<IFindTextInFilesToolParams>, token: vscode.CancellationToken): vscode.ProviderResult<vscode.PreparedToolInvocation> {
+		const isRegExp = options.input.isRegexp ?? true;
+		const query = this.formatQueryString(options.input);
 		return {
-			invocationMessage: new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searching text for ${this.formatQueryString(options.input)}`),
+			invocationMessage: isRegExp ?
+				new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searching for regex ${query}`) :
+				new MarkdownString(l10n.t`Searching for text ${query}`),
 		};
 	}
 

src/extension/tools/node/test/findTextInFilesTool.spec.tsx

@@ -89,7 +89,15 @@ suite('FindTextInFiles', () => {
 
 		const tool = accessor.get(IInstantiationService).createInstance(FindTextInFilesTool);
 		const prepared = await tool.prepareInvocation({ input: { query: 'hello `world`' }, }, CancellationToken.None);
-		expect((prepared?.invocationMessage as any as MarkdownString).value).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`"Searching text for \`\` hello \`world\` \`\`"`);
+		expect((prepared?.invocationMessage as any as MarkdownString).value).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`"Searching for regex \`\` hello \`world\` \`\`"`);
+	});
+
+	test('prepares invocation message with text for literal search', async () => {
+		setup(new RelativePattern(URI.file(workspaceFolder), ''), false);
+
+		const tool = accessor.get(IInstantiationService).createInstance(FindTextInFilesTool);
+		const prepared = await tool.prepareInvocation({ input: { query: 'hello', isRegexp: false }, }, CancellationToken.None);
+		expect((prepared?.invocationMessage as any as MarkdownString).value).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`"Searching for text \`hello\`"`);
 	});
 
 	test('retries with plain text when regex yields no results', async () => {