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I am using Firefox Developer Edition 57 and have search bar integrated with address bar like Chrome has. I like this feature, but have problems when I want to search for something that is or looks like URL; for example today I wanted to search for "mean.js".

In Chrome when I hit CTRL + K on keyboard (that's the way I invoke the search all of the time) ? is added in the very beginning of the address bar, which marks that whatever I enter is a search term. That way even if I enter a URL (like "mean.js") Chrome searches for that URL in the default search engine, instead of opening that URL. It seems it doesn't work that way in Firefox (even when I add ? manually).

Can I somehow force the Firefox to search for URL instead of opening it, when searching from the address bar?

Robert Kusznier
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  • Stick a `'` at the front – DavidPostill Oct 18 '17 at 10:36
  • @DavidPostill When I do it, It searches for `'` instead of just ``. – Robert Kusznier Oct 18 '17 at 10:37
  • Yes, but the google search engine ignores the `'`. You get results **not including** the `'`. Try it. https://www.google.com/search?q=%27mean.js&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab – DavidPostill Oct 18 '17 at 10:42
  • Eg, one of the search results is [Difference between MEAN.js and MEAN.io](//stackoverflow.com/q/23199392). There is no `'` in there. – DavidPostill Oct 18 '17 at 10:43
  • @DavidPostill If it works, it still feels like a hack. I was wondering if Firefox support that in somehow clean way, especially with some keyboard shortcut that I could use (like Chrome does for `CTRL + K`). And I don't use Google but DuckDuckGo as my main search engine :P. – Robert Kusznier Oct 18 '17 at 10:45
  • I don't know of any other workaround :/ – DavidPostill Oct 18 '17 at 10:45
  • Okay. Then I'll be using that trick for now. Thanks :). – Robert Kusznier Oct 18 '17 at 10:46
  • You always can search using search bar. – atype Oct 18 '17 at 11:20
  • @DavidPostill's trick also works with DuckDuckGo. It appears to behave the same as enclosing in double-quotes (which also works), in that the `.` becomes part of the search string, instead of just a separator between the text strings either side; but that's probably what you want, anyway. – AFH Oct 18 '17 at 11:26
  • @atype - Read the question: there isn't a search bar. – AFH Oct 18 '17 at 11:27
  • @AFH Can't you add it back? Also, you can try using search provider shortcuts, then it will search sites, not open them. – atype Oct 18 '17 at 11:50
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    @atype - Personally, I prefer separate search and address boxes, but the whole point of the question is that he wants to use the integrated combination box. Incidentally, even with separate boxes, quotes in the address box force a search. – AFH Oct 18 '17 at 12:17
  • I switched back to using a separate search and adress bar. – Robert Kusznier Oct 18 '17 at 12:29

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I personally use keywords for search engines, for ex.: "#qw www.url.lol" will search "www.url.lol" on Qwant. Go to "preferences > Search (tab)" and set new keywords to the search engines.

Azarilh
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    That is pretty good. Do you maybe know a way to bind one of those search keywords to a keyboard shortcut? – Robert Kusznier Oct 18 '17 at 13:25
  • From your system settings maybe. I'm using KDE, from shortcuts' settings i can add shortcuts to write entire senteces. Sorry for the delay. – Azarilh Oct 23 '17 at 22:22
  • Note that you can also set keywords conveniently by right-clicking into a search input. I've always had `g` as my keyword for Google, so my "shortcut" for "search instead of open" is `Home`+`G`+`Space`. That's not too bad, is it? – Christallkeks Dec 04 '17 at 11:57
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Ctrl + K works in Firefox now forcing address bar to do the search. The same can be emulated by prefixing the search terms with ?.

Robert Kusznier
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I was having the opposite problem. I tried to go to a url I copied from a web page (that was not set up as a link). Firefox and other browsers were searching for the url (or the website) instead of going there.

It turned out that there was a space in it that was hard to notice.

So a space in the string on the address bar forces a search rather than going to the address.

I hope this helps somebody. However, whatever options I disabled (such as turning off search suggestions or having a separate search bar), I could not make it only attempt to go the address rather than searching for it. An error might have highlighted the problem for me.

digit1908
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