Pokemon Go has a search term feature that allows you to navigate and filter through all your pocket monsters with ease, but it’s something that often seems to have flown under the radar within the community.
You’ll see a lot of different names used for the search bar that sits at the top of your storage screen — from search term to search box, search string, and even filter box at times. Regardless of what you call it, using it efficiently can allow you to sift through your Pokemon much quicker.
Many Trainers simply may see the search bar as a place to type a name and have it return a list of Pokemon that they’ve caught, but it can be used for so much more if you know the right things to enter.
Search strings take out all of the monotony, allowing you to find just what you need so that you can get back to catching and battling your way through the Pokedex. Below, we’ll look at all the important search strings that are vital to know on your journey to be the very best.
Searching by Pokemon name
The first use for the bar is probably the one that Trainers will most likely be familiar with: Searching for a Pokemon’s name. This will show you every single one of those species that you have. So if you search ‘Charizard’, you’ll be shown all the variants of it that you’ve caught.
Sometimes, though, you might want to find all Pokemon from a particular evolution line. The method behind this isn’t as obvious, but it’s incredibly easy to search for:
- To do this, all you need to do is add a ‘+’ to the search string.
- So, in this case, ‘+Charizard’ will show you all of the Pokemon you have from the evolution line including Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard.
- The same results will be shown for ‘+Charmander’ and ‘+Charmeleon’ too.
Keyword searches
In addition to searching for a mon’s name and evolution, there are various basic keyword search terms you can use. The following is a list you can use to filter by:
| Search term | Result |
|---|---|
| Legendary | Lists all of your owned Legendary Pokemon. |
| Mythical | Displays all of your Mythical ‘mon. |
| Shiny | Shows all your Shiny Pokemon within your Pokedex. |
| Lucky | Lists all of your owned Lucky Pokemon. |
| Shadow | Shows all your Shiny Pokemon within your Pokedex. |
| Purified | Displays all of your purified ‘mon. |
| Male | Lists all of your owned male Pokemon. |
| Female | Displays all of your Female ‘mon. |
| Buddy0 | Pokemon with no Buddy history. |
| Buddy1 | Early on in your Buddy ranking. |
| Buddy2 | Lists all ‘Good’ buddies. |
| Buddy3 | Displays all ‘Great’ buddies. |
| Buddy4 | Shows all ‘Ultra’ buddies. |
| Buddy5 | Lists all ‘Best’ buddies. |
| Defender | Shows which of your Pokemon are defending a gym. |
| Traded | Brings up all of the Pokemon that you received by trade. |
| Hatched | Lists all of the ‘mon that have been hatched through eggs. |
| Evolve | Displays all of the Pokemon that can evolve. |
| Region name (Kanto, Johto, Galar) | Showcases your ‘mon by region. |
Searching by Pokemon type
You can also search by type. For example, the term ‘Grass’ will show you all your Pokemon that are a Grass-type.
This search string won’t just show those pure Grass-types, either, as it’ll also include anything that has a Dual typing with it. As an example, Venusaur would show up in the results when searching ‘Grass’ or ‘Poison’.
Advanced searches in Pokemon Go
As well as these basic search terms, there are more complicated searches you can take advantage of, too. They’re not that well-known overall and can prove very useful in a pinch.
CP & HP
Firstly, you’re able to filter Pokemon in your storage by CP and HP. A search of ‘CP1000’ will show all Pokemon with a CP of 1000. That one isn’t particularly useful though, as it’ll exclude any species that are close to the 1,000 CP mark. Instead, you should search for a range.
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‘CP2800-4000’ will return all Pokemon between those values, a much more viable and useful type of search. Replacing the term with ‘HP’ will bring up a similar result, but for a mon’s health.
With GO Battle League now a popular part of Pokemon Go, searching for Pokemon within each league’s limit is commonplace. For example, to find species suitable for Great League, you could search between the upper end of the maximum 1500 CP mark.
Star rating
As part of the previously revamped appraisal system in Pokemon Go, individual species are given star ratings in terms of their individual values (IVs). These range from one through to a maximum of four.
If you’re looking to transfer any Pokemon under a certain star rating, this is incredibly useful. Searching ‘1*’ will show you every Pokemon you have that has 1-star IVs, regardless of their CP.
It should be noted, however, that searching for ‘4*’ will show you only Pokemon with perfect IVs, so even a Pokemon with 44 out of 45 will come under ‘3*’.
Move name & type
Finally, you can search by moves in the Pokemon Go search bar. Adding ‘@’ to the start of the search string will indicate that you are performing a move-based search.
- If you want to find any of your Pokemon that have Solar Beam, for example, searching ‘@Solar Beam’ will show you all of your Pokemon with that as a move.
- Similarly, you can also do these by move type to show every Pokemon that has a type-specific move.
- That being said, this won’t distinguish between fast and charge moves, however.
This is a great way to find which of your Pokemon may have a surprise advantage. It can also be used to find weaknesses when taking on a Raid Boss.
Combining search terms
For those of you who want to narrow things down even further if you’ve got 1000s of ‘mon tucked away, you can also combine your searches together by adding either ‘&’ or ‘|’ in between searches to bring up results for both.
The same can be done for an ‘or’ function. Instead of searching for parameters where both of them must be met, you’ll be searching for either of them to show up.
Now you know how to filter your Pokemon in a multitude of ways to make sorting and finding the ones you want much easier, make sure to check out how to play Pokemon Go if you’re returning after a break or are a complete newbie, the latest Field Research task details, what’s in the shop this week, or the best Eevee evolutions.