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fff.nvim

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:53:39 +0800

dmtrKovalenko/fff.nvim

FFF

A fast file search for your AI and neovim, with memory built-in

FFF stands for ~~freakin fast fuzzy file finder~~ (pick 3) and it is an opinionated fuzzy file picker for your AI agent and Neovim. Just for file search, but we do the file search really fff well.

FFF is a tool for grepping, fuzzy file matching, globbing, and multigrepping with a strong focus on performance and useful search results. For humans - provides an unbelievable typo-resistant experience, for AI agents - implements the fastest file search with additional free memory suggesting the best search results based on various factors like frecency, git status, file size, definition matches, and more.

MCP

FFF is an amazing way to reduce the time and tokens by giving your AI agent a bit of memory built-in to their file search tools. It makes your AI harness to find the code faster and spend less tokens by doing less roundtrips and reading less useless files.

You can install FFF as a dependency for your AI agent using a simple bash script:

`1`	`curl -L https://dmtrkovalenko.dev/install-fff-mcp.sh \| bash`

The installation script is here ./install-mcp.sh if you want to review it before running.

It will print out the instructions on how to connect it to your Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc. Once you have it connected just ask your agent to “use fff”. Here is an example addition to CLAUDE.md that works perfectly:

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# CLAUDE.md
For any file search or grep in the current git indexed directory use fff tools

Neovim guide

Here is some demo on the linux repository (100k files, 8GB) but you better fill it yourself and see the magic

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5d0e1ce9-642c-4c44-aa88-01b05bb86abb

Installation

FFF.nvim requires neovim 0.10.0 or higher

lazy.nvim

{
  'dmtrKovalenko/fff.nvim',
  build = function()
    -- this will download prebuild binary or try to use existing rustup toolchain to build from source
    -- (if you are using lazy you can use gb for rebuilding a plugin if needed)
    require("fff.download").download_or_build_binary()
  end,
  -- if you are using nixos
  -- build = "nix run .#release",
  opts = { -- (optional)
    debug = {
      enabled = true,     -- we expect your collaboration at least during the beta
      show_scores = true, -- to help us optimize the scoring system, feel free to share your scores!
    },
  },
  -- No need to lazy-load with lazy.nvim.
  -- This plugin initializes itself lazily.
  lazy = false,
  keys = {
    {
      "ff", -- try it if you didn't it is a banger keybinding for a picker
      function() require('fff').find_files() end,
      desc = 'FFFind files',
    },
    {
      "fg",
      function() require('fff').live_grep() end,
      desc = 'LiFFFe grep',
    },
    {
      "fz",
      function() require('fff').live_grep({
        grep = {
          modes = { 'fuzzy', 'plain' }
        }
      }) end,
      desc = 'Live fffuzy grep',
    },
    {
      "fc",
      function() require('fff').live_grep({ query = vim.fn.expand("<cword>") }) end,
      desc = 'Search current word',
    },
  }
}

vim.pack

vim.pack.add({ 'https://github.com/dmtrKovalenko/fff.nvim' })

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd('PackChanged', {
  callback = function(event)
    if event.data.updated then
      require('fff.download').download_or_build_binary()
    end
  end,
})

-- the plugin will automatically lazy load
vim.g.fff = {
  lazy_sync = true, -- start syncing only when the picker is open
  debug = {
    enabled = true,
    show_scores = true,
  },
}

vim.keymap.set(
  'n',
  'ff',
  function() require('fff').find_files() end,
  { desc = 'FFFind files' }
)

Configuration

FFF.nvim comes with sensible defaults. Here’s the complete configuration with all available options:

require('fff').setup({
    base_path = vim.fn.getcwd(),
    prompt = '🪿 ',
    title = 'FFFiles',
    max_results = 100,
    max_threads = 4,
    lazy_sync = true, -- set to false if you want file indexing to start on open
    layout = {
      height = 0.8,
      width = 0.8,
      prompt_position = 'bottom', -- or 'top'
      preview_position = 'right', -- or 'left', 'right', 'top', 'bottom'
      preview_size = 0.5,
      flex = { -- set to false to disable flex layout
        size = 130, -- column threshold: if screen width >= size, use preview_position; otherwise use wrap
        wrap = 'top', -- position to use when screen is narrower than size
      },
      show_scrollbar = true, -- Show scrollbar for pagination
      -- How to shorten long directory paths in the file list:
      -- 'middle_number' (default): uses dots for 1-3 hidden (a/./b, a/../b, a/.../b)
      --                            and numbers for 4+ (a/.4./b, a/.5./b)
      -- 'middle': always uses dots (a/./b, a/../b, a/.../b)
      -- 'end': truncates from the end (home/user/projects)
      path_shorten_strategy = 'middle_number',
    },
    preview = {
      enabled = true,
      max_size = 10 * 1024 * 1024, -- Do not try to read files larger than 10MB
      chunk_size = 8192, -- Bytes per chunk for dynamic loading (8kb - fits ~100-200 lines)
      binary_file_threshold = 1024, -- amount of bytes to scan for binary content (set 0 to disable)
      imagemagick_info_format_str = '%m: %wx%h, %[colorspace], %q-bit',
      line_numbers = false,
      cursorlineopt = 'both', -- the cursorlineopt used for lines in grep file previews, see :h cursorlineopt
      wrap_lines = false,
      filetypes = {
        svg = { wrap_lines = true },
        markdown = { wrap_lines = true },
        text = { wrap_lines = true },
      },
    },
    keymaps = {
      close = '<Esc>',
      select = '<CR>',
      select_split = '<C-s>',
      select_vsplit = '<C-v>',
      select_tab = '<C-t>',
      -- you can assign multiple keys to any action
      move_up = { '<Up>', '<C-p>' },
      move_down = { '<Down>', '<C-n>' },
      preview_scroll_up = '<C-u>',
      preview_scroll_down = '<C-d>',
      toggle_debug = '<F2>',
      -- grep mode: cycle between plain text, regex, and fuzzy search
      cycle_grep_modes = '<S-Tab>',
      -- goes to the previous query in history
      cycle_previous_query = '<C-Up>',
      -- multi-select keymaps for quickfix
      toggle_select = '<Tab>',
      send_to_quickfix = '<C-q>',
      -- this are specific for the normal mode (you can exit it using any other keybind like jj)
      focus_list = '<leader>l',
      focus_preview = '<leader>p',
    },
    hl = {
      border = 'FloatBorder',
      normal = 'Normal',
      cursor = 'CursorLine',  -- Falls back to 'Visual' if CursorLine is not defined
      matched = 'IncSearch',
      title = 'Title',
      prompt = 'Question',
      frecency = 'Number',
      debug = 'Comment',
      combo_header = 'Number',
      scrollbar = 'Comment',
      directory_path = 'Comment',
      -- Multi-select highlights
      selected = 'FFFSelected',
      selected_active = 'FFFSelectedActive',
      -- Git text highlights for file names
      git_staged = 'FFFGitStaged',
      git_modified = 'FFFGitModified',
      git_deleted = 'FFFGitDeleted',
      git_renamed = 'FFFGitRenamed',
      git_untracked = 'FFFGitUntracked',
      git_ignored = 'FFFGitIgnored',
      -- Git sign/border highlights
      git_sign_staged = 'FFFGitSignStaged',
      git_sign_modified = 'FFFGitSignModified',
      git_sign_deleted = 'FFFGitSignDeleted',
      git_sign_renamed = 'FFFGitSignRenamed',
      git_sign_untracked = 'FFFGitSignUntracked',
      git_sign_ignored = 'FFFGitSignIgnored',
      -- Git sign selected highlights
      git_sign_staged_selected = 'FFFGitSignStagedSelected',
      git_sign_modified_selected = 'FFFGitSignModifiedSelected',
      git_sign_deleted_selected = 'FFFGitSignDeletedSelected',
      git_sign_renamed_selected = 'FFFGitSignRenamedSelected',
      git_sign_untracked_selected = 'FFFGitSignUntrackedSelected',
      git_sign_ignored_selected = 'FFFGitSignIgnoredSelected',
      -- Grep highlights
      grep_match = 'IncSearch',               -- Highlight for matched text in grep results
      grep_line_number = 'LineNr',            -- Highlight for :line:col location
      grep_regex_active = 'DiagnosticInfo',   -- Highlight for keybind + label when regex is on
      grep_plain_active = 'Comment',        -- Highlight for keybind + label when regex is off
      grep_fuzzy_active = 'DiagnosticHint',   -- Highlight for keybind + label when fuzzy is on
      -- Cross-mode suggestion highlights
      suggestion_header = 'WarningMsg', -- Highlight for the "No results found. Suggested..." banner
    },
    -- Store file open frecency
    frecency = {
      enabled = true,
      db_path = vim.fn.stdpath('cache') .. '/fff_nvim',
    },
    -- Store successfully opened queries with respective matches
    history = {
      enabled = true,
      db_path = vim.fn.stdpath('data') .. '/fff_queries',
      min_combo_count = 3, -- Minimum selections before combo boost applies (3 = boost starts on 3rd selection)
      combo_boost_score_multiplier = 100, -- Score multiplier for combo matches (files repeatedly opened with same query)
    },
    -- Git integration
    git = {
      status_text_color = false, -- Apply git status colors to filename text (default: false, only sign column)
    },
    debug = {
      enabled = false, -- Show file info panel in preview
      show_scores = false, -- Show scores inline in the UI
    },
    logging = {
      enabled = true,
      log_file = vim.fn.stdpath('log') .. '/fff.log',
      log_level = 'info',
    },
    -- find_files settings
    file_picker = {
      current_file_label = '(current)',
    },
    -- grep settings
    grep = {
      max_file_size = 10 * 1024 * 1024, -- Skip files larger than 10MB
      max_matches_per_file = 100, -- Maximum matches per file (set 0 to unlimited)
      smart_case = true, -- Case-insensitive unless query has uppercase
      time_budget_ms = 150, -- Max search time in ms per call (prevents UI freeze, 0 = no limit)
      modes = { 'plain', 'regex', 'fuzzy' }, -- Available grep modes and their cycling order
    },
  })

Key Features

Available Methods

require('fff').find_files()                         -- Find files in current repository
require('fff').scan_files()                         -- Trigger rescan of files in the current directory
require('fff').refresh_git_status()                 -- Refresh git status for the active file list
require('fff').find_files_in_dir(path)              -- Find files in a specific directory
require('fff').change_indexing_directory(new_path)  -- Change the base directory for the file picker

just jump to the definition and see what other APIs are exposed we have a plenty

Commands

FFF.nvim provides several commands for interacting with the file picker:

:FFFScan - Manually trigger a rescan of files in the current directory
:FFFRefreshGit - Manually refresh git status for all files
:FFFClearCache [all|frecency|files] - Clear various caches
:FFFHealth - Check FFF health status and dependencies
:FFFDebug [on|off|toggle] - Toggle debug scores display
:FFFOpenLog - Open the FFF log file in a new tab

Debug Mode

Toggle scoring information display:

Press F2 while in the picker
Use :FFFDebug command
Enable by default with debug.show_scores = true

Multi-Select and Quickfix Integration

Select multiple files and send them to Neovim’s quickfix list (keymaps are configurable):

<Tab> - Toggle selection for the current file (shows thick border ▊ in signcolumn)
<C-q> - Send selected files to quickfix list and close picker

Live Grep Search Modes

Live grep supports three search modes, cycled with <S-Tab>:

Plain text (default) - The query is matched literally. Special regex characters like ., *, (, ), $ have no special meaning. This is the safest mode for searching code containing regex metacharacters.
Regex - The query is interpreted as a regular expression. Supports character classes ([a-z]), quantifiers (+, *, {n}), alternation (foo|bar), anchors (^, $), word boundaries (\b), and more.
Fuzzy - The query is fuzzy matched using Smith-Waterman scoring. Accommodates typos and scattered characters (e.g., “mtxlk” matches “mutex_lock”). Results are filtered by a quality threshold to avoid overly fuzzy matches.

The current mode is shown on the right side of the input field (e.g., plain, regex, fuzzy) with color-coded highlighting.

You can customize which modes are available and their cycling order globally in your configuration, or per-call when invoking live_grep().

Global configuration:

require('fff').setup({
  grep = {
    modes = { 'plain', 'regex' }, -- Only plain and regex, no fuzzy
  }
})

Per-call configuration:

-- Only fuzzy and plain modes for this specific grep
require('fff').live_grep({
  grep = {
    modes = { 'fuzzy', 'plain' },
  }
})

-- Single mode (hides mode indicator completely)
require('fff').live_grep({
  grep = {
    modes = { 'fuzzy' },
  }
})

-- Pre-fill the search with an initial query
require('fff').live_grep({ query = 'search term' })

When only one mode is configured, the mode indicator is hidden completely and the cycle keybind does nothing.

Constraints

There are a number of constraints you can use to refine your search in both grep and file search mode:

git:modified - show only modified files (one of modified, staged, deleted, renamed, untracked, ignored)
test/ - any deeply nested children of any test/ dir
!something - exclude results matching something
!test/, !git:modified - combining with any other constraint works as negation
./**/*.{rs,lua} - any valid glob expression via the fastest globbing library

For grep only:

*.md, *.{c,h} - extension filtering
src/main.rs - grep in a single file

In addition to that, all constraints can be combined together like:

`1`	`git:modified src/*/.rs !src/**/mod.rs user controller`

This will find all the files that qualify the constraints and:

match both user and controller (for file mode)
match “user controller” (for grep mode)

Cross-Mode Suggestions

When a search returns no results, FFF automatically queries the opposite search mode and displays the results as suggestions:

File search with no matches → shows suggested content matches (grep results) for the same query
Grep search with no matches → shows suggested file name matches for the same query

Suggestions are clearly labeled with a “No results found. Suggested …” banner (highlighted with hl.suggestion_header). You can navigate and select suggestion items just like normal results — selecting a grep suggestion will open the file at the matching line.

Git Status Highlighting

FFF integrates with git to show file status through sign column indicators (enabled by default) and optional filename text coloring.

Sign Column Indicators (enabled by default) - Border characters shown in the sign column:

hl = {
  git_sign_staged = 'FFFGitSignStaged',
  git_sign_modified = 'FFFGitSignModified',
  git_sign_deleted = 'FFFGitSignDeleted',
  git_sign_renamed = 'FFFGitSignRenamed',
  git_sign_untracked = 'FFFGitSignUntracked',
  git_sign_ignored = 'FFFGitSignIgnored',
}

Text Highlights (opt-in) - Apply colors to filenames based on git status:

To enable git status text coloring, set git.status_text_color = true:

require('fff').setup({
  git = {
    status_text_color = true, -- Enable git status colors on filename text
  },
  hl = {
    git_staged = 'FFFGitStaged',       -- Files staged for commit
    git_modified = 'FFFGitModified',   -- Modified unstaged files
    git_deleted = 'FFFGitDeleted',     -- Deleted files
    git_renamed = 'FFFGitRenamed',     -- Renamed files
    git_untracked = 'FFFGitUntracked', -- New untracked files
    git_ignored = 'FFFGitIgnored',     -- Git-ignored files
  }
})

The plugin provides sensible default highlight groups that link to common git highlight groups (e.g., GitSignsAdd, GitSignsChange). You can override these with your own custom highlight groups to match your colorscheme.

Example - Custom Bright Colors for Text:

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, 'CustomGitModified', { fg = '#FFA500' })
vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, 'CustomGitUntracked', { fg = '#00FF00' })

require('fff').setup({
  git = {
    status_text_color = true,
  },
  hl = {
    git_modified = 'CustomGitModified',
    git_untracked = 'CustomGitUntracked',
  }
})

File Filtering

FFF.nvim respects .gitignore patterns automatically. To filter files from the picker without modifying .gitignore, create a .ignore file in your project root:

# Exclude all markdown files
*.md

# Exclude specific subdirectory
docs/archive/**/*.md

Run :FFFScan to force a rescan if needed.

Troubleshooting

Health Check

Run :FFFHealth to check the status of FFF.nvim and its dependencies. This will verify:

File picker initialization status
Optional dependencies (git, image preview tools)
Database connectivity

Viewing Logs

If you encounter issues, check the log file:

`1`	`:FFFOpenLog`

Or manually open the log file at ~/.local/state/nvim/log/fff.log (default location).

fzf

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:32:18 +0800

junegunn/fzf

^{Special thanks to:}

Warp, the intelligent terminal for developers

Available for MacOS, Linux, & Windows

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder.

It’s an interactive filter program for any kind of list; files, command history, processes, hostnames, bookmarks, git commits, etc. It implements a “fuzzy” matching algorithm, so you can quickly type in patterns with omitted characters and still get the results you want.

Highlights

📦 Portable — Distributed as a single binary for easy installation
⚡ Blazingly fast — Highly optimized code instantly processes millions of items
🛠️ Extremely versatile — Fully customizable via an event-action binding mechanism
🔋 Batteries included — Includes integration with bash, zsh, fish, Vim, and Neovim

Installation

Using Homebrew

You can use Homebrew (on macOS or Linux) to install fzf.

`1`	`brew install fzf`

[!IMPORTANT] To set up shell integration (key bindings and fuzzy completion), see the instructions below.

fzf is also available via MacPorts: sudo port install fzf

Linux packages

Package Manager	Linux Distribution	Command
APK	Alpine Linux	`sudo apk add fzf`
APT	Debian 9+/Ubuntu 19.10+	`sudo apt install fzf`
Conda		`conda install -c conda-forge fzf`
DNF	Fedora	`sudo dnf install fzf`
Nix	NixOS, etc.	`nix-env -iA nixpkgs.fzf`
Pacman	Arch Linux	`sudo pacman -S fzf`
pkg	FreeBSD	`pkg install fzf`
pkgin	NetBSD	`pkgin install fzf`
pkg_add	OpenBSD	`pkg_add fzf`
Portage	Gentoo	`emerge --ask app-shells/fzf`
Spack		`spack install fzf`
XBPS	Void Linux	`sudo xbps-install -S fzf`
Zypper	openSUSE	`sudo zypper install fzf`

[!IMPORTANT] To set up shell integration (key bindings and fuzzy completion), see the instructions below.

Windows packages

On Windows, fzf is available via Chocolatey, Scoop, Winget, and MSYS2:

Package manager	Command
Chocolatey	`choco install fzf`
Scoop	`scoop install fzf`
Winget	`winget install fzf`
MSYS2 (pacman)	`pacman -S $MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX-fzf`

Using git

Alternatively, you can “git clone” this repository to any directory and run install script.

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git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install

The install script will add lines to your shell configuration file to modify $PATH and set up shell integration.

Binary releases

You can download the official fzf binaries from the releases page.

https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/releases

Setting up shell integration

Add the following line to your shell configuration file.

bash

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# Set up fzf key bindings and fuzzy completion
eval "$(fzf --bash)"

zsh

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# Set up fzf key bindings and fuzzy completion
source <(fzf --zsh)

fish

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# Set up fzf key bindings
fzf --fish | source

[!NOTE] --bash, --zsh, and --fish options are only available in fzf 0.48.0 or later. If you have an older version of fzf, or want finer control, you can source individual script files in the /shell directory. The location of the files may vary depending on the package manager you use. Please refer to the package documentation for more information. (e.g. apt show fzf)

[!TIP] You can disable CTRL-T or ALT-C binding by setting FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND or FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND to an empty string when sourcing the script. For example, to disable ALT-C binding:

bash: FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND= eval "$(fzf --bash)"

zsh: FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND= source <(fzf --zsh)

fish: fzf --fish | FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND= source

Setting the variables after sourcing the script will have no effect.

Vim/Neovim plugin

If you use vim-plug, add this to your Vim configuration file:

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Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } }
Plug 'junegunn/fzf.vim'

junegunn/fzf provides the basic library functions
- fzf#install() makes sure that you have the latest binary
junegunn/fzf.vim is a separate project that provides a variety of useful commands

To learn more about the Vim integration, see README-VIM.md.

[!TIP] If you use Neovim and prefer Lua-based plugins, check out fzf-lua.

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 upgrade fzf
macports: sudo port upgrade fzf
chocolatey: choco upgrade fzf
vim-plug: :PlugUpdate fzf

Building fzf

See BUILD.md.

Usage

fzf will launch interactive finder, read the list from STDIN, and write the selected item to STDOUT.

`1`	`find * -type f \| fzf > selected`

Without STDIN pipe, fzf will traverse the file system under the current directory to get the list of files.

`1`	`vim $(fzf)`

[!NOTE] You can override the default behavior

Either by setting $FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND to a command that generates the desired list

Or by setting --walker, --walker-root, and --walker-skip options in $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS

[!WARNING] A more robust solution would be to use xargs but we’ve presented the above as it’s easier to grasp
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fzf --print0 | xargs -0 -o vim

[!TIP] fzf also has the ability to turn itself into a different process.
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fzf --bind 'enter:become(vim {})'
See Turning into a different process for more information.

Using the finder

CTRL-K / CTRL-J (or CTRL-P / CTRL-N) 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

Display modes

fzf by default runs in fullscreen mode, but there are other display modes.

`--height` mode

With --height HEIGHT[%], fzf will start below the cursor with the given height.

`1`	`fzf --height 40%`

reverse layout and --border goes well with this option.

`1`	`fzf --height 40% --layout reverse --border`

By prepending ~ to the height, you’re setting the maximum height.

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# Will take as few lines as possible to display the list
seq 3 | fzf --height ~100%
seq 3000 | fzf --height ~100%

Height value can be a negative number.

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# Screen height - 3
fzf --height -3

`--tmux` mode

With --tmux option, fzf will start in a tmux popup.

# --tmux [center|top|bottom|left|right][,SIZE[%]][,SIZE[%][,border-native]]

fzf --tmux center         # Center, 50% width and height
fzf --tmux 80%            # Center, 80% width and height
fzf --tmux 100%,50%       # Center, 100% width and 50% height
fzf --tmux left,40%       # Left, 40% width
fzf --tmux left,40%,90%   # Left, 40% width, 90% height
fzf --tmux top,40%        # Top, 40% height
fzf --tmux bottom,80%,40% # Bottom, 80% height, 40% height

--tmux is silently ignored when you’re not on tmux.

[!NOTE] If you’re stuck with an old version of tmux that doesn’t support popup, or if you want to open fzf in a regular tmux pane, check out fzf-tmux script.

[!TIP] You can add these options to $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS so that they’re applied by default. For example,
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# Open in tmux popup if on tmux, otherwise use --height mode
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--height 40% --tmux bottom,40% --layout reverse --border top'

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`
`'wild`	exact-match (quoted)	Items that include `wild`
`'wild'`	exact-boundary-match (quoted both ends)	Items that include `wild` at word boundaries
`^music`	prefix-exact-match	Items that start with `music`
`.mp3$`	suffix-exact-match	Items that end with `.mp3`
`!fire`	inverse-exact-match	Items that do not include `fire`
`!^music`	inverse-prefix-exact-match	Items that do not start with `music`
`!.mp3$`	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.

`1`	`^core go$ \| rb$ \| py$`

Environment variables

FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND
- Default command to use when input is tty
- e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f'
FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS
- Default options
- e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--layout=reverse --inline-info"
FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS_FILE
- If you prefer to manage default options in a file, set this variable to point to the location of the file
- e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS_FILE=~/.fzfrc

[!WARNING] FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND is not used by shell integration due to the slight difference in requirements.

CTRL-T runs $FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND to get a list of files and directories

ALT-C runs $FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND to get a list of directories

vim ~/**<tab> runs fzf_compgen_path() with the prefix (~/) as the first argument

cd foo**<tab> runs fzf_compgen_dir() with the prefix (foo) as the first argument

The available options are described later in this document.

Customizing the look

The user interface of fzf is fully customizable with a large number of configuration options. For a quick setup, you can start with one of the style presets — default, full, or minimal — using the --style option.

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fzf --style full \
    --preview 'fzf-preview.sh {}' --bind 'focus:transform-header:file --brief {}'

Preset	Screenshot
`default`
`full`
`minimal`

Here’s an example based on the full preset:

git ls-files | fzf --style full \
    --border --padding 1,2 \
    --border-label ' Demo ' --input-label ' Input ' --header-label ' File Type ' \
    --preview 'fzf-preview.sh {}' \
    --bind 'result:transform-list-label:
        if [[ -z $FZF_QUERY ]]; then
          echo " $FZF_MATCH_COUNT items "
        else
          echo " $FZF_MATCH_COUNT matches for [$FZF_QUERY] "
        fi
        ' \
    --bind 'focus:transform-preview-label:[[ -n {} ]] && printf " Previewing [%s] " {}' \
    --bind 'focus:+transform-header:file --brief {} || echo "No file selected"' \
    --bind 'ctrl-r:change-list-label( Reloading the list )+reload(sleep 2; git ls-files)' \
    --color 'border:#aaaaaa,label:#cccccc' \
    --color 'preview-border:#9999cc,preview-label:#ccccff' \
    --color 'list-border:#669966,list-label:#99cc99' \
    --color 'input-border:#996666,input-label:#ffcccc' \
    --color 'header-border:#6699cc,header-label:#99ccff'

Options

See the man page (fzf --man or man fzf) for the full list of options.

Demo

If you learn by watching videos, check out this screencast by @samoshkin to explore fzf features.

Examples

Wiki page of examples
- Disclaimer: The examples on this page are maintained by the community and are not thoroughly tested
Advanced fzf examples

Key bindings for command-line

By setting up shell integration, you can use the following key bindings in bash, zsh, and fish.

CTRL-T - Paste the selected files and directories onto the command-line

The list is generated using --walker file,dir,follow,hidden option
- You can override the behavior by setting FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND to a custom command that generates the desired list
- Or you can set --walker* options in FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS

Set FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS to pass additional options to fzf

# Preview file content using bat (https://github.com/sharkdp/bat)
export FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS="
  --walker-skip .git,node_modules,target
  --preview 'bat -n --color=always {}'
  --bind 'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(down|hidden|)'"

Can be disabled by setting FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND to an empty string when sourcing the script

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
Press CTRL-/ or ALT-/ to toggle line wrapping

Set FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS to pass additional options to fzf

# CTRL-Y to copy the command into clipboard using pbcopy
export FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS="
  --bind 'ctrl-y:execute-silent(echo -n {2..} | pbcopy)+abort'
  --color header:italic
  --header 'Press CTRL-Y to copy command into clipboard'"

ALT-C - cd into the selected directory
- The list is generated using --walker dir,follow,hidden option
- Set FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND to override the default command
  - Or you can set --walker-* options in FZF_ALT_C_OPTS
- Set FZF_ALT_C_OPTS to pass additional options to fzf
  1 2 3 4
  
  # Print tree structure in the preview window export FZF_ALT_C_OPTS=" --walker-skip .git,node_modules,target --preview 'tree -C {}'"
- Can be disabled by setting FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND to an empty string when sourcing the script

Display modes for these bindings can be separately configured via FZF_{CTRL_T,CTRL_R,ALT_C}_OPTS or globally via FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS. (e.g. FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS='--tmux bottom,60% --height 60% --border top')

More tips can be found on the wiki page.

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 the current directory
# - You can select multiple items with TAB key
vim **<TAB>

# Files under parent directory
vim ../**<TAB>

# Files under parent directory that match `fzf`
vim ../fzf**<TAB>

# Files under your home directory
vim ~/**<TAB>


# Directories under current directory (single-selection)
cd **<TAB>

# Directories under ~/github that match `fzf`
cd ~/github/fzf**<TAB>

Process IDs

Fuzzy completion for PIDs is provided for kill command.

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# Can select multiple processes with <TAB> or <Shift-TAB> keys
kill -9 **<TAB>

Host names

For ssh and telnet commands, fuzzy completion for hostnames is provided. The names are extracted from /etc/hosts and ~/.ssh/config.

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ssh **<TAB>
telnet **<TAB>

Environment variables / Aliases

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unset **<TAB>
export **<TAB>
unalias **<TAB>

Customizing fzf options for completion

# Use ~~ as the trigger sequence instead of the default **
export FZF_COMPLETION_TRIGGER='~~'

# Options to fzf command
export FZF_COMPLETION_OPTS='--border --info=inline'

# Options for path completion (e.g. vim **<TAB>)
export FZF_COMPLETION_PATH_OPTS='--walker file,dir,follow,hidden'

# Options for directory completion (e.g. cd **<TAB>)
export FZF_COMPLETION_DIR_OPTS='--walker dir,follow'

# Advanced customization of fzf options via _fzf_comprun function
# - The first argument to the function is the name of the command.
# - You should make sure to pass the rest of the arguments ($@) to fzf.
_fzf_comprun() {
  local command=$1
  shift

  case "$command" in
    cd)           fzf --preview 'tree -C {} | head -200'   "$@" ;;
    export|unset) fzf --preview "eval 'echo \$'{}"         "$@" ;;
    ssh)          fzf --preview 'dig {}'                   "$@" ;;
    *)            fzf --preview 'bat -n --color=always {}' "$@" ;;
  esac
}

Customizing completion source for paths and directories

# Use fd (https://github.com/sharkdp/fd) for listing path candidates.
# - The first argument to the function ($1) is the base path to start traversal
# - See the source code (completion.{bash,zsh}) for the details.
_fzf_compgen_path() {
  fd --hidden --follow --exclude ".git" . "$1"
}

# Use fd to generate the list for directory completion
_fzf_compgen_dir() {
  fd --type d --hidden --follow --exclude ".git" . "$1"
}

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 by using _fzf_setup_completion helper function.

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# usage: _fzf_setup_completion path|dir|var|alias|host COMMANDS...
_fzf_setup_completion path ag git kubectl
_fzf_setup_completion dir tree

Custom fuzzy completion

(Custom completion API is experimental and subject to change)

For a command named “COMMAND”, define _fzf_complete_COMMAND function using _fzf_complete helper.

# Custom fuzzy completion for "doge" command
#   e.g. doge **<TAB>
_fzf_complete_doge() {
  _fzf_complete --multi --reverse --prompt="doge> " -- "$@" < <(
    echo very
    echo wow
    echo such
    echo doge
  )
}

The arguments before -- are the options to fzf.
After --, simply pass the original completion arguments unchanged ("$@").
Then, write a set of commands that generates the completion candidates and feed its output to the function using process substitution (< <(...)).

zsh will automatically pick up the function using the naming convention but in bash you have to manually associate the function with the command using the complete command.

`1`	`[ -n "$BASH" ] && complete -F _fzf_complete_doge -o default -o bashdefault doge`

If you need to post-process the output from fzf, define _fzf_complete_COMMAND_post as follows.

_fzf_complete_foo() {
  _fzf_complete --multi --reverse --header-lines=3 -- "$@" < <(
    ls -al
  )
}

_fzf_complete_foo_post() {
  awk '{print $NF}'
}

[ -n "$BASH" ] && complete -F _fzf_complete_foo -o default -o bashdefault foo

Vim plugin

See README-VIM.md.

Advanced topics

Customizing for different types of input

Since fzf is a general-purpose text filter, its algorithm was designed to “generally” work well with any kind of input. However, admittedly, there is no true one-size-fits-all solution, and you may want to tweak the algorithm and some of the settings depending on the type of the input. To make this process easier, fzf provides a set of “scheme"s for some common input types.

Scheme	Description
`--scheme=default`	Generic scheme designed to work well with any kind of input
`--scheme=path`	Suitable for file paths
`--scheme=history`	Suitable for command history or any input where chronological ordering is important

(See fzf --man for the details)

Performance

fzf is fast. Performance should not be a problem in most use cases. However, you might want to be aware of the options that can affect 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 because it has to tokenize each line.
A plain string --delimiter should be preferred over a regular expression delimiter.
--with-nth makes fzf slower as fzf has to tokenize and reassemble each line.

Executing external programs

You can set up key bindings for starting external processes without leaving fzf (execute, execute-silent).

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# 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/EVENT BINDINGS section of the man page for details.

Turning into a different process

become(...) is similar to execute(...)/execute-silent(...) described above, but instead of executing the command and coming back to fzf on complete, it turns fzf into a new process for the command.

`1`	`fzf --bind 'enter:become(vim {})'`

Compared to the seemingly equivalent command substitution vim "$(fzf)", this approach has several advantages:

Vim will not open an empty file when you terminate fzf with CTRL-C
Vim will not open an empty file when you press ENTER on an empty result
Can handle multiple selections even when they have whitespaces
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fzf --multi --bind 'enter:become(vim {+})'

To be fair, running fzf --print0 | xargs -0 -o vim instead of vim "$(fzf)" resolves all of the issues mentioned. Nonetheless, become(...) still offers additional benefits in different scenarios.

You can set up multiple bindings to handle the result in different ways without any wrapping script
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fzf --bind 'enter:become(vim {}),ctrl-e:become(emacs {})'
- Previously, you would have to use --expect=ctrl-e and check the first line of the output of fzf

You can easily build the subsequent command using the field index expressions of fzf

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# Open the file in Vim and go to the line
git grep --line-number . |
    fzf --delimiter : --nth 3.. --bind 'enter:become(vim {1} +{2})'

Reloading the candidate list

By binding reload action to a key or an event, you can make fzf dynamically reload the candidate list. See https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/issues/1750 for more details.

1. Update the list of processes by pressing CTRL-R

ps -ef |
  fzf --bind 'ctrl-r:reload(ps -ef)' \
      --header 'Press CTRL-R to reload' --header-lines=1 \
      --height=50% --layout=reverse

2. Switch between sources by pressing CTRL-D or CTRL-F

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FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='find . -type f' \
  fzf --bind 'ctrl-d:reload(find . -type d),ctrl-f:reload(eval "$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND")' \
      --height=50% --layout=reverse

3. Interactive ripgrep integration

The following example uses fzf as the selector interface for ripgrep. We bound reload action to change event, so every time you type on fzf, the ripgrep process will restart with the updated query string denoted by the placeholder expression {q}. Also, note that we used --disabled option so that fzf doesn’t perform any secondary filtering.

: | rg_prefix='rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case' \
    fzf --bind 'start:reload:$rg_prefix ""' \
        --bind 'change:reload:$rg_prefix {q} || true' \
        --bind 'enter:become(vim {1} +{2})' \
        --ansi --disabled \
        --height=50% --layout=reverse

If ripgrep doesn’t find any matches, it will exit with a non-zero exit status, and fzf will warn you about it. To suppress the warning message, we added || true to the command, so that it always exits with 0.

See “Using fzf as interactive Ripgrep launcher” for more sophisticated examples.

Preview window

When the --preview option is set, fzf automatically starts an external process with the current line as the argument and shows the result in the split window. Your $SHELL is used to execute the command with $SHELL -c COMMAND. The window can be scrolled using the mouse or custom key bindings.

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# {} is replaced with the single-quoted string of the focused line
fzf --preview 'cat {}'

Preview window supports ANSI colors, so you can use any program that syntax-highlights the content of a file, such as Bat or Highlight:

`1`	`fzf --preview 'bat --color=always {}' --preview-window '~3'`

You can customize the size, position, and border of the preview window using --preview-window option, and the foreground and background color of it with --color option. For example,

fzf --height 40% --layout reverse --info inline --border \
    --preview 'file {}' --preview-window up,1,border-horizontal \
    --bind 'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(50%|hidden|)' \
    --color 'fg:#bbccdd,fg+:#ddeeff,bg:#334455,preview-bg:#223344,border:#778899'

See the man page (man fzf) for the full list of options.

More advanced examples can be found here.

[!WARNING] Since fzf is a general-purpose text filter rather than a file finder, it is not a good idea to add --preview option to your $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS.

# *********************
# ** DO NOT DO THIS! **
# *********************
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--preview "bat --style=numbers --color=always --line-range :500 {}"'

# bat doesn't work with any input other than the list of files
ps -ef | fzf
seq 100 | fzf
history | fzf

Previewing an image

fzf can display images in the preview window using one of the following protocols:

See bin/fzf-preview.sh script for more information.

`1`	`fzf --preview 'fzf-preview.sh {}'`

Tips

Respecting `.gitignore`

You can use fd, ripgrep, or the silver searcher to traverse the file system while respecting .gitignore.

# Feed the output of fd into fzf
fd --type f --strip-cwd-prefix | fzf

# Setting fd as the default source for fzf
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --strip-cwd-prefix'

# Now fzf (w/o pipe) will use the fd command to generate the list
fzf

# To apply the command to CTRL-T as well
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND="$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND"

If you want the command to follow symbolic links and don’t want it to exclude hidden files, use the following command:

`1`	`export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --strip-cwd-prefix --hidden --follow --exclude .git'`

Fish shell

CTRL-T key binding of fish, unlike those of bash and zsh, will use the last token on the command-line as the root directory for the recursive search. For instance, hitting CTRL-T at the end of the following command-line

`1`	`ls /var/`

will list all files and directories 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:

`1`	`set -g FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND "command find -L \$dir -type f 2> /dev/null \| sed '1d; s#^\./##'"`

fzf Theme Playground

fzf Theme Playground created by Vitor Mello is a webpage where you can interactively create fzf themes.

https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/wiki/Related-projects

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Sponsors :heart:

I would like to thank all the sponsors of this project who make it possible for me to continue to improve fzf.

If you’d like to sponsor this project, please visit https://github.com/sponsors/junegunn.

JetBrains supports this project with an Open Source Development License.

Fuzzy Finder on Producthunt daily

fff.nvim

dmtrKovalenko/fff.nvim

FFF

MCP

Neovim guide

Installation

lazy.nvim

vim.pack

Configuration

Key Features

Available Methods

Commands

Debug Mode

Multi-Select and Quickfix Integration

Live Grep Search Modes

Constraints

Cross-Mode Suggestions

Git Status Highlighting

File Filtering

Troubleshooting

Health Check

Viewing Logs

fzf

junegunn/fzf

Warp, the intelligent terminal for developers

Highlights

Table of Contents

Installation

Using Homebrew

Linux packages

Windows packages

Using git

Binary releases

Setting up shell integration

Vim/Neovim plugin

Upgrading fzf

Building fzf

Usage

Using the finder

Display modes

--height mode

--tmux mode

Search syntax

Environment variables

Customizing the look

Options

Demo

Examples

Key bindings for command-line

Fuzzy completion for bash and zsh

Files and directories

Process IDs

Host names

Environment variables / Aliases

Customizing fzf options for completion

Customizing completion source for paths and directories

Supported commands

Custom fuzzy completion

Vim plugin

Advanced topics

Customizing for different types of input

Performance

Executing external programs

Turning into a different process

Reloading the candidate list

1. Update the list of processes by pressing CTRL-R

2. Switch between sources by pressing CTRL-D or CTRL-F

3. Interactive ripgrep integration

Preview window

Previewing an image

Tips

Respecting .gitignore

Fish shell

fzf Theme Playground

Related projects

License

Sponsors :heart:

`--height` mode

`--tmux` mode

Respecting `.gitignore`