fzf

fzf is a general-purpose, command-line fuzzy finder. It is an interactive filter program for lists of files, command history, processes, git commits, and more, written in Go.

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1. Shell Initialization & Integration

Initialize fzf keybindings and completion in your shell config:

1. Installation

Install fzf via your package manager:

# macOS/Linux (Homebrew)
brew install fzf

# Debian/Ubuntu (APT)
sudo apt install fzf

# Arch Linux (Pacman)
sudo pacman -S fzf

2. Shell Configuration

Add the initialization script to your shell's rc file:

• Bash (add to ~/.bashrc):

  eval "$(fzf --bash)"

• Zsh (add to ~/.zshrc):

  source <(fzf --zsh)

• Fish (add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish):

  fzf --fish | source

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2. Default Shell Shortcuts

Once initialized, fzf binds the following hotkeys in your terminal:

Hotkey	Action	Description
Ctrl + t	Find Files	Paste selected file paths onto the command line.
Ctrl + r	History Search	Search through past shell commands and paste the selected command.
Alt + c	Quick cd	Search directories and cd directly into the selected directory.

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3. Search Syntax & Operators

fzf matches fuzzy patterns by default. You can search using space-separated terms and operators to narrow down matches:

Search Term	Match Type	Description
core	Fuzzy Match	Match lines containing c, o, r, e in any order.
'core	Exact Match	Match lines containing the exact substring "core".
^core	Prefix Match	Match lines starting with "core".
core$	Suffix Match	Match lines ending with "core".
!core	Inverse Match	Match lines that do not contain "core".
!^core	Inverse Prefix	Match lines that do not start with "core".
!core$	Inverse Suffix	Match lines that do not end with "core".

# Example search inside fzf prompt:
# ^src 'config !.json$
# Matches files starting with 'src', containing 'config' exactly, but not ending with '.json'

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4. Interactive Interface Controls

Hotkeys inside the interactive fzf UI:

Category	Shortcut	Action
Navigation	Ctrl + j / Ctrl + n / Down	Move cursor down.
	Ctrl + k / Ctrl + p / Up	Move cursor up.
Selection	Tab	Toggle selection of the current item (multi-select).
	Shift + Tab	Toggle selection and move cursor up.
	Enter	Select active item and exit.
Cancel	Escape / Ctrl + g / Ctrl + c	Exit fzf without selecting anything.
History	Ctrl + r	Cycles search history sorting in Ctrl + R view.

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5. Configuration Environment Variables

Customize fzf defaults by exporting environment variables in your shell rc.

1. Default Options ($FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS)

Configure visual settings, layouts, border styles, and colors:

export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--height 40% --layout=reverse --border --info=inline'

2. File Finding Command ($FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND)

Replace standard find with faster tools like fd or ripgrep:

# Use fd to find files (ignoring hidden files and node_modules)
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --strip-cwd-prefix --hidden --exclude .git'

3. Shortcut-Specific Custom Options

Pass configurations to specific default keys:

# Preview file content using bat when pressing Ctrl+T
export FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS="--preview 'bat -n --color=always {}'"

# Preview directories using eza when pressing Alt+C
export FZF_ALT_C_OPTS="--preview 'eza --tree --level=2 --color=always {}'"

# Cycle Ctrl+R sorting chronological / relevance and copy command via Ctrl+Y
export FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS="--bind 'ctrl-y:execute-silent(echo -n {2..} | pbcopy)+abort'"

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6. Advanced Pipelines & Recipes

1. Interactive file opener

Search files and open the selection in your default editor:

# Open in $EDITOR (Vim, VS Code, Nano, etc.)
$EDITOR $(fzf)

2. Interactive Git Checkout (Checkout branches fuzzy-style)

git checkout $(git branch | cut -c 3- | fzf)

3. Kill running process fuzzy-style

Lists running processes and kills the selected one:

ps -ef | fzf --header='Select process to kill' | awk '{print $2}' | xargs kill -9

4. Fuzzy autocompletion helper

In shells like Bash and Zsh, suffix any command with ** followed by Tab to trigger fuzzy autocompletion:

# Fuzzy complete file paths
vim **<TAB>

# Fuzzy complete environment variables
export **<TAB>

# Fuzzy complete hosts from /etc/hosts
ssh **<TAB>