cli · BagToad · Aug 6, 2025 · Jun 23, 2025 · Jul 25, 2025 · Jul 25, 2025
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ func NewCmdCode(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*CodeOptions) error) *cobra.Comman
 			Note that these search results are powered by what is now a legacy GitHub code search engine.
 			The results might not match what is seen on %[1]sgithub.com%[1]s, and new features like regex search
 			are not yet available via the GitHub API.
+
+			For more information on handling search queries containing a hyphen, run %[1]sgh search --help%[1]s.
 		`, "`"),
 		Example: heredoc.Doc(`
 			# Search code matching "react" and "lifecycle"

@@ -37,15 +37,17 @@ func NewCmdCommits(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*CommitsOptions) error) *cobra.
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "commits [<query>]",
 		Short: "Search for commits",
-		Long: heredoc.Doc(`
+		Long: heredoc.Docf(`
 			Search for commits on GitHub.
 
 			The command supports constructing queries using the GitHub search syntax,
 			using the parameter and qualifier flags, or a combination of the two.
 
 			GitHub search syntax is documented at:
 			<https://docs.github.com/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-commits>
-		`),
+
+			For more information on handling search queries containing a hyphen, run %[1]sgh search --help%[1]s.
+		`, "`"),
 		Example: heredoc.Doc(`
 			# Search commits matching set of keywords "readme" and "typo"
 			$ gh search commits readme typo

@@ -26,15 +26,17 @@ func NewCmdIssues(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*shared.IssuesOptions) error) *c
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "issues [<query>]",
 		Short: "Search for issues",
-		Long: heredoc.Doc(`
+		Long: heredoc.Docf(`
 			Search for issues on GitHub.
 
 			The command supports constructing queries using the GitHub search syntax,
 			using the parameter and qualifier flags, or a combination of the two.
 
 			GitHub search syntax is documented at:
 			<https://docs.github.com/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-issues-and-pull-requests>
-		`),
+
+			For more information on handling search queries containing a hyphen, run %[1]sgh search --help%[1]s.
+		`, "`"),
 		Example: heredoc.Doc(`
 			# Search issues matching set of keywords "readme" and "typo"
 			$ gh search issues readme typo

@@ -28,15 +28,17 @@ func NewCmdPrs(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*shared.IssuesOptions) error) *cobr
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "prs [<query>]",
 		Short: "Search for pull requests",
-		Long: heredoc.Doc(`
+		Long: heredoc.Docf(`
 			Search for pull requests on GitHub.
 
 			The command supports constructing queries using the GitHub search syntax,
 			using the parameter and qualifier flags, or a combination of the two.
 
 			GitHub search syntax is documented at:
 			<https://docs.github.com/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-issues-and-pull-requests>
-		`),
+
+			For more information on handling search queries containing a hyphen, run %[1]sgh search --help%[1]s.
+		`, "`"),
 		Example: heredoc.Doc(`
 			# Search pull requests matching set of keywords "fix" and "bug"
 			$ gh search prs fix bug

@@ -38,15 +38,17 @@ func NewCmdRepos(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*ReposOptions) error) *cobra.Comm
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "repos [<query>]",
 		Short: "Search for repositories",
-		Long: heredoc.Doc(`
+		Long: heredoc.Docf(`
 			Search for repositories on GitHub.
 
 			The command supports constructing queries using the GitHub search syntax,
 			using the parameter and qualifier flags, or a combination of the two.
 
 			GitHub search syntax is documented at:
 			<https://docs.github.com/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-for-repositories>
-		`),
+
+			For more information on handling search queries containing a hyphen, run %[1]sgh search --help%[1]s.
+		`, "`"),
 		Example: heredoc.Doc(`
 			# Search repositories matching set of keywords "cli" and "shell"
 			$ gh search repos cli shell

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package search
 
 import (
+	"github.com/MakeNowJust/heredoc"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmdutil"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
@@ -15,7 +16,33 @@ func NewCmdSearch(f *cmdutil.Factory) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "search <command>",
 		Short: "Search for repositories, issues, and pull requests",
-		Long:  "Search across all of GitHub.",
+		Long: heredoc.Docf(`
+			Search across all of GitHub.
+
+			Excluding search results that match a qualifier
+
+			In a browser, the GitHub search syntax supports excluding results that match a search qualifier
+			by prefixing the qualifier with a hyphen. For example, to search for issues that
+			do not have the label "bug", you would use %[1]s-label:bug%[1]s as a search qualifier.
+
+			%[1]sgh%[1]s supports this syntax in %[1]sgh search%[1]s as well, but it requires extra
+			command line arguments to avoid the hyphen being interpreted as a command line flag because it begins with a hyphen.
+
+			On Unix-like systems, you can use the %[1]s--%[1]s argument to indicate that
+			the arguments that follow are not a flag, but rather a query string. For example:
+
+			$ gh search issues -- "my-search-query -label:bug"
+
+			On PowerShell, you must use both the %[1]s--%[2]s%[1]s argument and the %[1]s--%[1]s argument to
+			produce the same effect. For example:
+
+			$ gh --%[2]s search issues -- "my search query -label:bug"
+
+			See the following for more information:
+			- GitHub search syntax: <https://docs.github.com/en/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/understanding-the-search-syntax#exclude-results-that-match-a-qualifier>
+			- The PowerShell stop parse flag %[1]s--%[2]s%[1]s: <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_parsing?view=powershell-7.5#the-stop-parsing-token>
+			- The Unix-like %[1]s--%[1]s argument: <https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#Shell-Builtin-Commands-1>
+		`, "`", "%"),
 	}
 
 	cmd.AddCommand(searchCodeCmd.NewCmdCode(f, nil))