fd

fd is a simple, fast, and user-friendly alternative to the traditional find command. It features sensible defaults (ignoring hidden files and .gitignore by default) and is built in Rust for high performance.

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1. Quick Comparison with find

Feature	find	fd
Syntax	Verbose and complex	✅ Clean and intuitive
Search Pattern	Literal/glob by default	✅ Regex by default (--glob optional)
Default Traversal	Recursive	✅ Recursive
Respects .gitignore	❌ No	✅ Yes (ignores Git-hidden files by default)
Skips Hidden Files	❌ No	✅ Yes (skips hidden files by default)
Colored Output	❌ No	✅ Yes (colorized output by default)
Command Execution	Complex (-exec {} \;)	✅ Simplified parallel execution (-x / -X)

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2. Basic Search Commands

fd searches the current directory recursively unless paths are specified.

# Basic syntax
# fd [options] [pattern] [search-path]

# Search for any file/directory containing "report" in its name
fd report

# Search specifically within the 'src/' folder
fd component src/

# List all files in the current directory (matches anything)
fd

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3. Search and Pattern Matching

Control how your search queries are interpreted.

Option	Long Option	Description
-s	--case-sensitive	Forces case-sensitive search (default is smart-case).
-i	--ignore-case	Forces case-insensitive search.
-g	--glob	Use wildcard glob-based search instead of regex.
-H	--hidden	Include hidden files and directories in search results.
-I	--no-ignore	Search files ignored by .gitignore or .fdignore.
-p	--full-path	Match pattern against the full path, not just the filename.
-d <N>	--max-depth <N>	Restrict search to <N> directory levels deep.
-E <pattern>	--exclude <pattern>	Exclude matching paths (supports globs/regex).

# Force a case-sensitive match
fd -s "Config"

# Use simple wildcards instead of regex
fd -g "*.config.js"

# Search for "token" inside hidden files (excluding .git)
fd -H "token"

# Search all files, including git-ignored files
fd -I "temporary"

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4. Search Filtering

Narrow down your search results by file type, extension, size, or modification date.

By Type (-t / --type)

Filter results by filesystem type. Common types:

• f (file), d (directory), l (symlink), x (executable), e (empty file/directory).

# Search only for directories matching "dist"
fd -t d dist

# Search only for empty files
fd -t f -t e

By Extension (-e / --extension)

Matches files by extension without needing globs.

# Search for all markdown files
fd -e md

# Search for all python or shell scripts
fd -e py -e sh

By Size (-S / --size)

Filter files using comparison limits. Supported units: B, K, M, G, T (also supports + and -).

# Find files larger than 10 Megabytes
fd -S +10M

# Find files smaller than 1 Kilobyte
fd -S -1K

By Modification Date

Filter files by when they were last modified.

# Files modified within the last 24 hours
fd --changed-within 1d

# Files modified before 2 weeks ago
fd --changed-before 2w

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5. Command Execution

fd can execute commands on the files it finds, running tasks in parallel by default.

Single-File Execution (-x / --exec)

Executes the command once for each search result (in parallel).

# Unzip all zip archives found in the directory
fd -e zip -x unzip

# Convert all .jpg files to .png in parallel
fd -e jpg -x convert {} {.}.png

Batch Execution (-X / --exec-batch)

Launches the command once, with all search results as arguments (sequential).

# Open all python test files in Vim at once
fd -g 'test_*.py' -X vim

# Count lines of all markdown files in the project
fd -e md -X wc -l

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6. Execution Placeholders

When using -x or -X, you can format file paths using placeholders.

Placeholder	Output Style	Example Output (for src/utils/math.js)
{}	Full path of the result	src/utils/math.js
{.}	Path without the extension	src/utils/math
{/}	Basename (filename only)	math.js
{/.}	Basename without the extension	math
{//}	Parent directory path	src/utils

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7. Essential Recipes

1. Highlight file metadata (like ls -l)

Use the short option -l to display full file information:

fd -e py -l

2. Find and delete files safely

Find temporary files and delete them in one command:

fd -H "^\.DS_Store$" -X rm

3. Integrate with Ripgrep

Search for code inside specific file types:

fd -e rs -X rg "unwrap"