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<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/i/master/fzf-preview.png" width=640>
It's an interactive Unix filter for command-line that can be used with any
list; files, command history, processes, hostnames, bookmarks, git commits,
etc.
- Vim/Neovim plugin, key bindings and fuzzy auto-completion
Table of Contents
-----------------
* [Installation](#installation)
* [Using git](#using-git)
* [Using Homebrew or Linuxbrew](#using-homebrew-or-linuxbrew)
* [As Vim plugin](#as-vim-plugin)
* [Windows](#windows)
* [Upgrading fzf](#upgrading-fzf)
* [Building fzf](#building-fzf)
* [Usage](#usage)
* [Using the finder](#using-the-finder)
* [Layout](#layout)
* [Search syntax](#search-syntax)
* [Environment variables](#environment-variables)
* [Options](#options)
* [Examples](#examples)
* [fzf-tmux script](#fzf-tmux-script)
* [Key bindings for command line](#key-bindings-for-command-line)
* [Fuzzy completion for bash and zsh](#fuzzy-completion-for-bash-and-zsh)
* [Files and directories](#files-and-directories)
* [Process IDs](#process-ids)
* [Host names](#host-names)
* [Environment variables / Aliases](#environment-variables--aliases)
* [Settings](#settings)
* [Supported commands](#supported-commands)
* [Vim plugin](#vim-plugin)
* [Advanced topics](#advanced-topics)
* [Performance](#performance)
* [Executing external programs](#executing-external-programs)
* [Tips](#tips)
* [Respecting .gitignore, <code>.hgignore</code>, and <code>svn:ignore</code>](#respecting-gitignore-hgignore-and-svnignore)
* [git ls-tree for fast traversal](#git-ls-tree-for-fast-traversal)
* [Fish shell](#fish-shell)
* [<a href="LICENSE">License</a>](#license)
- `fzf-tmux` script for launching fzf in a tmux pane
- Shell extensions
- Key bindings (`CTRL-T`, `CTRL-R`, and `ALT-C`) (bash, zsh, fish)
You can [download fzf executable][bin] alone if you don't need the extra
stuff.
[bin]: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf-bin/releases
[install](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/blob/master/install) script.
```sh
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
Alternatively, you can use [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/) or
[Linuxbrew](http://linuxbrew.sh/) to install fzf.
# To install useful key bindings and fuzzy completion:
$(brew --prefix)/opt/fzf/install
You can manually add the directory to `&runtimepath` as follows,
" If installed using Homebrew
set rtp+=/usr/local/opt/fzf
But it's recommended that you use a plugin manager like
[vim-plug](https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug).
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf', 'do': './install --all' }
Pre-built binaries for Windows can be downloaded [here][bin]. fzf is also
available as a [Chocolatey package][choco].
[choco]: https://chocolatey.org/packages/fzf
```sh
choco install fzf
```
However, other components of the project may not work on Windows. Known issues
and limitations can be found on [the wiki page][windows-wiki]. You might want
to consider installing fzf on [Windows Subsystem for Linux][wsl] where
[windows-wiki]: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/wiki/Windows
Upgrading fzf
-------------
fzf is being actively developed and you might want to upgrade it once in a
while. Please follow the instruction below depending on the installation
method used.
- git: `cd ~/.fzf && git pull && ./install`
- brew: `brew update; brew reinstall fzf`
- chocolatey: `choco upgrade fzf`
Building fzf
------------
See [BUILD.md](BUILD.md).
fzf will launch interactive finder, read the list from STDIN, and write the
selected item to STDOUT.
```sh
find * -type f | fzf > selected
```
Without STDIN pipe, fzf will use find command to fetch the list of
files excluding hidden ones. (You can override the default command with
`FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND`)
- `CTRL-J` / `CTRL-K` (or `CTRL-N` / `CTRL-P`) to move cursor up and down
- `Enter` key to select the item, `CTRL-C` / `CTRL-G` / `ESC` to exit
- On multi-select mode (`-m`), `TAB` and `Shift-TAB` to mark multiple items
- Emacs style key bindings
- Mouse: scroll, click, double-click; shift-click and shift-scroll on
multi-select mode
#### Layout
fzf by default starts in fullscreen mode, but you can make it start below the
cursor with `--height` option.
```sh
vim $(fzf --height 40%)
```
Also check out `--reverse` option if you prefer "top-down" layout instead of
the default "bottom-up" layout.
```sh
vim $(fzf --height 40% --reverse)
```
You can add these options to `$FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS` so that they're applied by
default. For example,
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--height 40% --reverse --border'
#### Search syntax
Unless otherwise specified, fzf starts in "extended-search mode" where you can
type in multiple search terms delimited by spaces. e.g. `^music .mp3$ sbtrkt
!fire`
| Token | Match type | Description |
| -------- | -------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| `sbtrkt` | fuzzy-match | Items that match `sbtrkt` |
| `^music` | prefix-exact-match | Items that start with `music` |
| `.mp3$` | suffix-exact-match | Items that end with `.mp3` |
| `'wild` | exact-match (quoted) | Items that include `wild` |
| `!fire` | inverse-exact-match | Items that do not include `fire` |
| `!.mp3$` | inverse-suffix-exact-match | Items that do not end with `.mp3` |
If you don't prefer fuzzy matching and do not wish to "quote" every word,
start fzf with `-e` or `--exact` option. Note that when `--exact` is set,
`'`-prefix "unquotes" the term.
A single bar character term acts as an OR operator. For example, the following
query matches entries that start with `core` and end with either `go`, `rb`,
or `py`.
```
^core go$ | rb$ | py$
```
#### Environment variables
- `FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND`
- Default command to use when input is tty
- e.g. `export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='ag -g ""'`
- Default options
- e.g. `export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--reverse --inline-info"`
#### Options
See the man page (`man fzf`) for the full list of options.
Many useful examples can be found on [the wiki
page](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/wiki/examples). Feel free to add your
own as well.
`fzf-tmux` script
-----------------
[fzf-tmux](bin/fzf-tmux) is a bash script that opens fzf in a tmux pane.
```sh
# usage: fzf-tmux [-u|-d [HEIGHT[%]]] [-l|-r [WIDTH[%]]] [--] [FZF OPTIONS]
# (-[udlr]: up/down/left/right)
# select git branches in horizontal split below (15 lines)
git branch | fzf-tmux -d 15
# select multiple words in vertical split on the left (20% of screen width)
cat /usr/share/dict/words | fzf-tmux -l 20% --multi --reverse
```
It will still work even when you're not on tmux, silently ignoring `-[udlr]`
options, so you can invariably use `fzf-tmux` in your scripts.
Alternatively, you can use `--height HEIGHT[%]` option not to start fzf in
fullscreen mode.
```sh
fzf --height 40%
```
Key bindings for command line
-----------------------------
The install script will setup the following key bindings for bash, zsh, and
fish.
- `CTRL-T` - Paste the selected files and directories onto the command line
- Set `FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND` to override the default command
- Set `FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS` to pass additional options
- `CTRL-R` - Paste the selected command from history onto the command line
- If you want to see the commands in chronological order, press `CTRL-R`
again which toggles sorting by relevance
- Set `FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS` to pass additional options
- `ALT-C` - cd into the selected directory
- Set `FZF_ALT_C_OPTS` to pass additional options
If you're on a tmux session, you can start fzf in a split pane by setting
`FZF_TMUX` to 1, and change the height of the pane with `FZF_TMUX_HEIGHT`
(e.g. `20`, `50%`).
If you use vi mode on bash, you need to add `set -o vi` *before* `source
~/.fzf.bash` in your .bashrc, so that it correctly sets up key bindings for vi
mode.
More tips can be found on [the wiki page](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/wiki/Configuring-shell-key-bindings).
Fuzzy completion for bash and zsh
---------------------------------
#### Files and directories
Fuzzy completion for files and directories can be triggered if the word before
the cursor ends with the trigger sequence which is by default `**`.
- `COMMAND [DIRECTORY/][FUZZY_PATTERN]**<TAB>`
# Files under current directory
# - You can select multiple items with TAB key
vim ../**<TAB>
# Files under parent directory that match `fzf`
vim ../fzf**<TAB>
# Directories under current directory (single-selection)
# Directories under ~/github that match `fzf`
cd ~/github/fzf**<TAB>
#### Process IDs
Fuzzy completion for PIDs is provided for kill command. In this case
there is no trigger sequence, just press tab key after kill command.
```sh
# Can select multiple processes with <TAB> or <Shift-TAB> keys
kill -9 <TAB>
```
For ssh and telnet commands, fuzzy completion for host names is provided. The
names are extracted from /etc/hosts and ~/.ssh/config.
ssh **<TAB>
telnet **<TAB>
#### Environment variables / Aliases
```sh
unset **<TAB>
export **<TAB>
unalias **<TAB>
```
# Use ~~ as the trigger sequence instead of the default **
export FZF_COMPLETION_TRIGGER='~~'
# Options to fzf command
export FZF_COMPLETION_OPTS='+c -x'
# Use ag instead of the default find command for listing path candidates.
# - The first argument to the function is the base path to start traversal
# - See the source code (completion.{bash,zsh}) for the details.
# - ag only lists files, so we use with-dir script to augment the output
ag -g "" "$1" | with-dir "$1"
}
# Use ag to generate the list for directory completion
_fzf_compgen_dir() {
ag -g "" "$1" | only-dir "$1"
`only-dir` and `with-dir` scripts can be found [here][dir-scripts]. They are
written in Ruby, but you should be able to rewrite them in any language you
prefer.
[dir-scripts]: https://gist.github.com/junegunn/8c3796a965f22e6a803fe53096ad7a75
#### Supported commands
On bash, fuzzy completion is enabled only for a predefined set of commands
(`complete | grep _fzf` to see the list). But you can enable it for other
commands as well like follows.
```sh
complete -F _fzf_path_completion -o default -o bashdefault ag
complete -F _fzf_dir_completion -o default -o bashdefault tree
Advanced topics
---------------
### Performance
fzf is fast, and is [getting even faster][perf]. Performance should not be
a problem in most use cases. However, you might want to be aware of the
options that affect the performance.
- `--ansi` tells fzf to extract and parse ANSI color codes in the input and it
makes the initial scanning slower. So it's not recommended that you add it
to your `$FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS`.
- `--nth` makes fzf slower as fzf has to tokenize each line.
- `--with-nth` makes fzf slower as fzf has to tokenize and reassemble each
line.
- If you absolutely need better performance, you can consider using
`--algo=v1` (the default being `v2`) to make fzf use faster greedy
algorithm. However, this algorithm is not guaranteed to find the optimal
ordering of the matches and is not recommended.
[perf]: https://junegunn.kr/images/fzf-0.17.0.png
You can set up key bindings for starting external processes without leaving
fzf (`execute`, `execute-silent`).
```bash
# Press F1 to open the file with less without leaving fzf
# Press CTRL-Y to copy the line to clipboard and aborts fzf (requires pbcopy)
fzf --bind 'f1:execute(less -f {}),ctrl-y:execute-silent(echo {} | pbcopy)+abort'
```
See *KEY BINDINGS* section of the man page for details.
### Preview window
When `--preview` option is set, fzf automatically starts external process with
the current line as the argument and shows the result in the split window.
# {} is replaced to the single-quoted string of the focused line
fzf --preview 'cat {}'
```
Since preview window is updated only after the process is complete, it's
important that the command finishes quickly.
# Use head instead of cat so that the command doesn't take too long to finish
fzf --preview 'head -100 {}'
```
Preview window supports ANSI colors, so you can use programs that
syntax-highlights the content of a file.
- Highlight: http://www.andre-simon.de/doku/highlight/en/highlight.php
- CodeRay: http://coderay.rubychan.de/
- Rouge: https://github.com/jneen/rouge
# Try highlight, coderay, rougify in turn, then fall back to cat
fzf --preview '[[ $(file --mime {}) =~ binary ]] &&
echo {} is a binary file ||
(highlight -O ansi -l {} ||
coderay {} ||
rougify {} ||
cat {}) 2> /dev/null | head -500'
```
You can customize the size and position of the preview window using
`--preview-window` option. For example,
fzf --height 40% --reverse --preview 'file {}' --preview-window down:1
```
For more advanced examples, see [Key bindings for git with fzf][fzf-git].
[fzf-git]: https://junegunn.kr/2016/07/fzf-git/
#### Respecting `.gitignore`, `.hgignore`, and `svn:ignore`
[ag](https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher) or
[rg](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep) will do the
filtering:
```sh
# Feed the output of ag into fzf
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='ag -g ""'
# Now fzf (w/o pipe) will use ag instead of find
fzf
# To apply the command to CTRL-T as well
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND="$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND"
If you don't want to exclude hidden files, use the following command:
```sh
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='ag --hidden --ignore .git -g ""'
```
If you're running fzf in a large git repository, `git ls-tree` can boost up the
speed of the traversal.
```sh
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='
(git ls-tree -r --name-only HEAD ||
find . -path "*/\.*" -prune -o -type f -print -o -type l -print |
sed s/^..//) 2> /dev/null'
Fish shell before version 2.6.0 [doesn't allow](https://github.com/fish-shell/fish-shell/issues/1362)
reading from STDIN in command substitution, which means simple `vim (fzf)`
doesn't work as expected. The workaround for fish 2.5.0 and earlier is to use
the `read` fish command:
fzf | read -l result; and vim $result
```
or, for multiple results:
```sh
fzf -m | while read -l r; set result $result $r; end; and vim $result
```
The globbing system is different in fish and thus `**` completion will not work.
However, the `CTRL-T` command will use the last token on the commandline as the
root folder for the recursive search. For instance, hitting `CTRL-T` at the end
of the following commandline
```sh
ls /var/
```
will list all files and folders under `/var/`.
When using a custom `FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND`, use the unexpanded `$dir` variable to
make use of this feature. `$dir` defaults to `.` when the last token is not a
valid directory. Example:
```sh
set -g FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND "command find -L \$dir -type f 2> /dev/null | sed '1d; s#^\./##'"