How to prevent PyCharm's "Find in Files" to search the Python interpreter libraries?

Question

I am trying to find some pattern within files like my project's setup.py / setup.cfg', rio.yaml. Our code .. So within the Find in Files dialog I selected the Directory option. However the python libraries are still being searched:

That was a surprise: I had expected those to only show up if the Project were selected. So how can the Python libraries be excluded?

I have even manually excluded the virtual environment (.venv and friends) directories.

The files are still being searched under that .venv directory

I am on PyCharm Professional 2021.3.1.

Answer 1

TL;DR: For readers who are busy and just want a quick-fix to get on with their work I usually recommend narrowing search using scope thereby you can explicitly exclude any paths that are polluting your search results.

I think this might be a PyCharm 2021.3.1 specific bug (see this excellent answer to the PY-51643 issue on JetBrains bugtracker). It should be possible to fix the issue by manually configuring some IDE settings, however the solution is dependent on a very specific interpreter/project setup so reproducing the conditions of the bug requires setting up an entire environment.