fzf(1) fzf - a command-line fuzzy finder fzf(1)

NAME

fzf - a command-line fuzzy finder

SYNOPSIS

fzf [options]

DESCRIPTION

fzf is an interactive filter program for any kind of list.

It implements a "fuzzy" matching algorithm, so you can quickly type
in patterns with omitted characters and still get the results you
want.

OPTIONS

Note

Most long options have the opposite version with --no- prefix.

Search mode

-x, --extended
Extended-search mode. Since 0.10.9, this is enabled by
default. You can disable it with +x or --no-extended.

-e, --exact
Enable exact-match

-i, --ignore-case
Case-insensitive match (default: smart-case match)

+i, --no-ignore-case
Case-sensitive match

--literal
Do not normalize latin script letters for matching.

--scheme=SCHEME
Choose scoring scheme tailored for different types of input.

default
Generic scoring scheme designed to work well with any
type of input.

path
Additional bonus point is only given to the characters
after path separator. You might want to choose this
scheme over default if you have many files with spaces
in their paths.

history
Scoring scheme well suited for command history or any
input where chronological ordering is important. No
additional bonus points are given so that we give more
weight to the chronological ordering. This also sets
--tiebreak=index.


--algo=TYPE
Fuzzy matching algorithm (default: v2)

v2 Optimal scoring algorithm (quality)
v1 Faster but not guaranteed to find the optimal result
(performance)


-n, --nth=N[,..]
Comma-separated list of field index expressions for limiting
search scope. See FIELD INDEX EXPRESSION for the details.
When you use this option with --with-nth, the field index
expressions are calculated against the transformed lines
(unlike in --preview where fields are extracted from the
original lines) because fzf doesn't allow searching against
the hidden fields.

--with-nth=N[,..]
Transform the presentation of each line using field index
expressions

-d, --delimiter=STR
Field delimiter regex for --nth, --with-nth, and field index
expressions (default: AWK-style)

--disabled
Do not perform search. With this option, fzf becomes a simple
selector interface rather than a "fuzzy finder". You can later
enable the search using enable-search or toggle-search action.

Search result

+s, --no-sort
Do not sort the result

--tail=NUM
Maximum number of items to keep in memory. This is useful when
you want to browse an endless stream of data (e.g. log stream)
with fzf while limiting memory usage.
e.g.
# Interactive filtering of a log stream
tail -f *.log | fzf --tail 100000 --tac --no-sort --exact

--track
Make fzf track the current selection when the result list is
updated. This can be useful when browsing logs using fzf with
sorting disabled. It is not recommended to use this option
with --tac as the resulting behavior can be confusing. Also,
consider using track action instead of this option.

e.g.
git log --oneline --graph --color=always | nl |
fzf --ansi --track --no-sort --layout=reverse-list

--tac Reverse the order of the input

e.g.
history | fzf --tac --no-sort

--tiebreak=CRI[,..]
Comma-separated list of sort criteria to apply when the scores
are tied.

length Prefers line with shorter length
chunk Prefers line with shorter matched chunk (delimited by
whitespaces)
begin Prefers line with matched substring closer to the
beginning
end Prefers line with matched substring closer to the end
index Prefers line that appeared earlier in the input stream

- Each criterion should appear only once in the list
- index is only allowed at the end of the list
- index is implicitly appended to the list when not specified
- Default is length (or equivalently length,index)
- If end is found in the list, fzf will scan each line
backwards

Interface

-m, --multi
Enable multi-select with tab/shift-tab. It optionally takes an
integer argument which denotes the maximum number of items
that can be selected.

+m, --no-multi
Disable multi-select

--no-mouse
Disable mouse

--bind=KEYBINDS
Comma-separated list of custom key bindings. See KEY/EVENT
BINDINGS for the details.

--cycle
Enable cyclic scroll

--wrap Enable line wrap

--wrap-sign=INDICATOR
Indicator for wrapped lines. The default is '<?> ' or '> '
depending on --no-unicode.

--no-multi-line
Disable multi-line display of items when using --read0

--gap[=N]
Render empty lines between each item

--keep-right
Keep the right end of the line visible when it's too long.
Effective only when the query string is empty.

--scroll-off=LINES
Number of screen lines to keep above or below when scrolling
to the top or to the bottom (default: 3).

--no-hscroll
Disable horizontal scroll

--hscroll-off=COLS
Number of screen columns to keep to the right of the
highlighted substring (default: 10). Setting it to a large
value will cause the text to be positioned on the center of
the screen.

--filepath-word
Make word-wise movements and actions respect path separators.
The following actions are affected:

backward-kill-word
backward-word
forward-word
kill-word

--jump-labels=CHARS
Label characters for jump mode.

Layout

--height=[~]HEIGHT[%]
Display fzf window below the cursor with the given height
instead of using the full screen.

If a negative value is specified, the height is calculated as
the terminal height minus the given value.

fzf --height=-1

When prefixed with ~, fzf will automatically determine the
height in the range according to the input size.

# Will not take up 100% of the screen
seq 5 | fzf --height=~100%

Adaptive height has the following limitations:
* Cannot be used with top/bottom margin and padding given in
percent size
* Negative value is not allowed
* It will not find the right size when there are multi-line
items


--min-height=HEIGHT
Minimum height when --height is given in percent (default:
10). Ignored when --height is not specified.

--tmux[=[center|top|bottom|left|right][,SIZE[%]][,SIZE[%]]]
Start fzf in a tmux popup (default center,50%). Requires tmux
3.3 or later. This option is ignored if you are not running
fzf inside tmux.

e.g.
# Popup in the center with 70% width and height
fzf --tmux 70%

# Popup on the left with 40% width and 100% height
fzf --tmux right,40%

# Popup on the bottom with 100% width and 30% height
fzf --tmux bottom,30%

# Popup on the top with 80% width and 40% height
fzf --tmux top,80%,40%


--layout=LAYOUT
Choose the layout (default: default)

default Display from the bottom of the screen
reverse Display from the top of the screen
reverse-list Display from the top of the screen, prompt at
the bottom


--reverse
A synonym for --layout=reverse


--border[=BORDER_OPT]
Draw border around the finder

rounded Border with rounded corners (default)
sharp Border with sharp corners
bold Border with bold lines
double Border with double lines
block Border using block elements; suitable when using
different background colors
thinblock Border using legacy computing symbols; may not
be displayed on some terminals
horizontal Horizontal lines above and below the finder
vertical Vertical lines on each side of the finder
top (up)
bottom (down)
left
right
none

If you use a terminal emulator where each box-drawing
character takes 2 columns, try setting --ambidouble. If the
border is still not properly rendered, set --no-unicode.


--border-label[=LABEL]
Label to print on the horizontal border line. Should be used
with one of the following --border options.

* rounded
* sharp
* bold
* double
* horizontal
* top (up)
* bottom (down)

e.g.
# ANSI color codes are supported
# (with https://github.com/busyloop/lolcat)
label=$(curl -s http://metaphorpsum.com/sentences/1 | lolcat
-f)

# Border label at the center
fzf --height=10 --border --border-label="<?> $label <?>"
--color=label:italic:black

# Left-aligned (positive integer)
fzf --height=10 --border --border-label="<?> $label <?>"
--border-label-pos=3 --color=label:italic:black

# Right-aligned (negative integer) on the bottom line
(:bottom)
fzf --height=10 --border --border-label="<?> $label <?>"
--border-label-pos=-3:bottom --color=label:italic:black


--border-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]]
Position of the border label on the border line. Specify a
positive integer as the column position from the left. Specify
a negative integer to right-align the label. Label is printed
on the top border line by default, add :bottom to put it on
the border line on the bottom. The default value 0 (or center)
will put the label at the center of the border line.


--no-unicode
Use ASCII characters instead of Unicode drawing characters to
draw borders, the spinner and the horizontal separator.


--ambidouble
Set this option if your terminal displays ambiguous width
characters (e.g. box-drawing characters for borders) as 2
columns.


--margin=MARGIN
Comma-separated expression for margins around the finder.

TRBL Same margin for top, right, bottom, and left
TB,RL Vertical, horizontal margin
T,RL,B Top, horizontal, bottom margin
T,R,B,L Top, right, bottom, left margin

Each part can be given in absolute number or in percentage
relative to the terminal size with % suffix.

e.g.
fzf --margin 10%
fzf --margin 1,5%

--padding=PADDING
Comma-separated expression for padding inside the border.
Padding is distinguishable from margin only when --border
option is used.

e.g.
fzf --margin 5% --padding 5% --border --preview 'cat {}'
\
--color bg:#222222,preview-bg:#333333

TRBL Same padding for top, right, bottom, and left
TB,RL Vertical, horizontal padding
T,RL,B Top, horizontal, bottom padding
T,R,B,L Top, right, bottom, left padding


--info=STYLE
Determines the display style of the finder info. (e.g. match
counter, loading indicator, etc.)

default On the left end of the horizontal
separator
right On the right end of the horizontal
separator
hidden Do not display finder info
inline After the prompt with the default prefix
' < '
inline:PREFIX After the prompt with a non-default
prefix
inline-right On the right end of the prompt line
inline-right:PREFIX On the right end of the prompt line with
a custom prefix


--info-command=COMMAND
Command to generate the finder info line. The command runs
synchronously and blocks the UI until completion, so make sure
that it's fast. ANSI color codes are supported. $FZF_INFO
variable is set to the original info text. For additional
environment variables available to the command, see the
section ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES EXPORTED TO CHILD PROCESSES.

e.g.
# Prepend the current cursor position in yellow
fzf --info-command='echo -e
"\x1b[33;1m$FZF_POS\x1b[m/$FZF_INFO <?>"'


--no-info
A synonym for --info=hidden


--separator=STR
The given string will be repeated to form the horizontal
separator on the info line (default: '<?>' or '-' depending on
--no-unicode).

ANSI color codes are supported.


--no-separator
Do not display horizontal separator on the info line. A
synonym for --separator=''


--scrollbar=CHAR1[CHAR2]
Use the given character to render scrollbar. (default: '|' or
':' depending on --no-unicode). The optional CHAR2 is used to
render scrollbar of the preview window.


--no-scrollbar
Do not display scrollbar. A synonym for --scrollbar=''


--prompt=STR
Input prompt (default: '> ')

--pointer=STR
Pointer to the current line (default: '<?>' or '>' depending
on --no-unicode)

--marker=STR
Multi-select marker (default: '<?>' or '>' depending on
--no-unicode)

--marker-multi-line=STR
Multi-select marker for multi-line entries. 3 elements for
top, middle, and bottom. (default: '<?><?><?>' or '.|''
depending on --no-unicode)

--header=STR
The given string will be printed as the sticky header. The
lines are displayed in the given order from top to bottom
regardless of --layout option, and are not affected by
--with-nth. ANSI color codes are processed even when --ansi is
not set.

--header-lines=N
The first N lines of the input are treated as the sticky
header. When --with-nth is set, the lines are transformed just
like the other lines that follow.

--header-first
Print header before the prompt line

--ellipsis=STR
Ellipsis to show when line is truncated (default: '..')

Display

--ansi Enable processing of ANSI color codes

--tabstop=SPACES
Number of spaces for a tab character (default: 8)

--color=[BASE_SCHEME][,COLOR_NAME[:ANSI_COLOR][:ANSI_ATTRIBUTES]]...
Color configuration. The name of the base color scheme is
followed by custom color mappings.

BASE SCHEME:
(default: dark on 256-color terminal, otherwise 16; If
NO_COLOR is set, bw)

dark Color scheme for dark 256-color terminal
light Color scheme for light 256-color terminal
16 Color scheme for 16-color terminal
bw No colors (equivalent to --no-color)

COLOR NAMES:
fg Text
selected-fg Selected line text
preview-fg Preview window text
bg Background
selected-bg Selected line background
preview-bg Preview window background
hl Highlighted substrings
selected-hl Highlighted substrings in the selected
line
current-fg (fg+) Text (current line)
current-bg (bg+) Background (current line)
gutter Gutter on the left
current-hl (hl+) Highlighted substrings (current line)
query Query string
disabled Query string when search is disabled
(--disabled)
info Info line (match counters)
border Border around the window (--border and
--preview)
scrollbar Scrollbar
preview-border Border around the preview window
(--preview)
preview-scrollbar Scrollbar
separator Horizontal separator on info line
label Border label (--border-label and
--preview-label)
preview-label Border label of the preview window
(--preview-label)
prompt Prompt
pointer Pointer to the current line
marker Multi-select marker
spinner Streaming input indicator
header Header

ANSI COLORS:
-1 Default terminal foreground/background color
(or the original color of the text)
0 ~ 15 16 base colors
black
red
green
yellow
blue
magenta
cyan
white
bright-black (gray | grey)
bright-red
bright-green
bright-yellow
bright-blue
bright-magenta
bright-cyan
bright-white
16 ~ 255 ANSI 256 colors
#rrggbb 24-bit colors

ANSI ATTRIBUTES: (Only applies to foreground colors)
regular Clears previously set attributes; should
precede the other ones
bold
underline
reverse
dim
italic
strikethrough

EXAMPLES:

# Seoul256 theme with 8-bit colors
# (https://github.com/junegunn/seoul256.vim)
fzf
--color='bg:237,bg+:236,info:143,border:240,spinner:108' \
--color='hl:65,fg:252,header:65,fg+:252' \
--color='pointer:161,marker:168,prompt:110,hl+:108'

# Seoul256 theme with 24-bit colors
fzf
--color='bg:#4B4B4B,bg+:#3F3F3F,info:#BDBB72,border:#6B6B6B,spinner:#98BC99'
\
--color='hl:#719872,fg:#D9D9D9,header:#719872,fg+:#D9D9D9'
\
--color='pointer:#E12672,marker:#E17899,prompt:#98BEDE,hl+:#98BC99'

--highlight-line
Highlight the whole current line

--no-bold
Do not use bold text

--black
Use black background

History

--history=HISTORY_FILE
Load search history from the specified file and update the
file on completion. When enabled, CTRL-N and CTRL-P are
automatically remapped to next-history and prev-history.

--history-size=N
Maximum number of entries in the history file (default: 1000).
The file is automatically truncated when the number of the
lines exceeds the value.

Preview

--preview=COMMAND
Execute the given command for the current line and display the
result on the preview window. {} in the command is the
placeholder that is replaced to the single-quoted string of
the current line. To transform the replacement string, specify
field index expressions between the braces (See FIELD INDEX
EXPRESSION for the details).

e.g.
fzf --preview='head -$LINES {}'
ls -l | fzf --preview="echo user={3} when={-4..-2}; cat
{-1}" --header-lines=1

fzf exports $FZF_PREVIEW_LINES and $FZF_PREVIEW_COLUMNS so
that they represent the exact size of the preview window. (It
also overrides $LINES and $COLUMNS with the same values but
they can be reset by the default shell, so prefer to refer to
the ones with FZF_PREVIEW_ prefix.)

fzf also exports $FZF_PREVIEW_TOP and $FZF_PREVIEW_LEFT so
that the preview command can determine the position of the
preview window.

A placeholder expression starting with + flag will be replaced
to the space-separated list of the selected lines (or the
current line if no selection was made) individually quoted.

e.g.
fzf --multi --preview='head -10 {+}'
git log --oneline | fzf --multi --preview 'git show {+1}'

When using a field index expression, leading and trailing
whitespace is stripped from the replacement string. To
preserve the whitespace, use the s flag.

A placeholder expression with f flag is replaced to the path
of a temporary file that holds the evaluated list. This is
useful when you multi-select a large number of items and the
length of the evaluated string may exceed ARG_MAX.

e.g.
# Press CTRL-A to select 100K items and see the sum of
all the numbers.
# This won't work properly without 'f' flag due to
ARG_MAX limit.
seq 100000 | fzf --multi --bind ctrl-a:select-all \
--preview "awk '{sum+=\$1} END {print
sum}' {+f}"

Also,

* {q} is replaced to the current query string
* {n} is replaced to the zero-based ordinal index of the
current item.
Use {+n} if you want all index numbers when multiple lines
are selected.

Note that you can escape a placeholder pattern by prepending a
backslash.

Preview window will be updated even when there is no match for
the current query if any of the placeholder expressions
evaluates to a non-empty string or {q} is in the command
template.

Since 0.24.0, fzf can render partial preview content before
the preview command completes. ANSI escape sequence for
clearing the display (CSI 2 J) is supported, so you can use it
to implement preview window that is constantly updating.

e.g.
fzf --preview 'for i in $(seq 100000); do
(( i % 200 == 0 )) && printf "\033[2J"
echo "$i"
sleep 0.01
done'

fzf has experimental support for Kitty graphics protocol and
Sixel graphics. The following example uses
https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/blob/master/bin/fzf-preview.sh
script to render an image using either of the protocols inside
the preview window.

e.g.
fzf --preview='fzf-preview.sh {}'


--preview-label[=LABEL]
Label to print on the horizontal border line of the preview
window. Should be used with one of the following
--preview-window options.

* border-rounded (default on non-Windows platforms)
* border-sharp (default on Windows)
* border-bold
* border-double
* border-block
* border-thinblock
* border-horizontal
* border-top
* border-bottom


--preview-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]]
Position of the border label on the border line of the preview
window. Specify a positive integer as the column position from
the left. Specify a negative integer to right-align the label.
Label is printed on the top border line by default, add
:bottom to put it on the border line on the bottom. The
default value 0 (or center) will put the label at the center
of the border line.


--preview-window=[POSITION][,SIZE[%]][,border-BORDER_OPT][,[no]wrap][,[no]follow][,[no]cycle][,[no]info][,[no]hidden][,+SCROLL[OFFSETS][/DENOM]][,~HEADER_LINES][,default][,<SIZE_THRESHOLD(ALTERNATIVE_LAYOUT)]

POSITION: (default: right)
up
down
left
right

Determines the layout of the preview window.

* If the argument contains :hidden, the preview window will be
hidden by default until toggle-preview action is triggered.

* If size is given as 0, preview window will not be visible,
but fzf will still execute the command in the background.

* Long lines are truncated by default. Line wrap can be
enabled with wrap flag.

* Preview window will automatically scroll to the bottom when
follow flag is set, similarly to how tail -f works.

e.g.
fzf --preview-window follow --preview 'for i in
$(seq 100000); do
echo "$i"
sleep 0.01
(( i % 300 == 0 )) && printf "\033[2J"
done'

* Cyclic scrolling is enabled with cycle flag.

* To hide the scroll offset information on the top right
corner, specify noinfo.

* To change the style of the border of the preview window,
specify one of the options for --border with border- prefix.
e.g. border-rounded (border with rounded edges, default),
border-sharp (border with sharp edges), border-left,
border-none, etc.

* [:+SCROLL[OFFSETS][/DENOM]] determines the initial scroll
offset of the preview window.

- SCROLL can be either a numeric integer or a single-field
index expression that refers to a numeric integer or {n} to
refer to the zero-based ordinal index of the current item.

- The optional OFFSETS part is for adjusting the base
offset. It should be given as a series of signed integers
(-INTEGER or +INTEGER).

- The final /DENOM part is for specifying a fraction of the
preview window height.

* ~HEADER_LINES keeps the top N lines as the fixed header so
that they are always visible.

* default resets all options previously set to the default.

e.g.
# Non-default scroll window positions and sizes
fzf --preview="head {}" --preview-window=up,30%
fzf --preview="file {}" --preview-window=down,1

# Initial scroll offset is set to the line number
of each line of
# git grep output *minus* 5 lines (-5)
git grep --line-number '' |
fzf --delimiter : --preview 'nl {1}'
--preview-window '+{2}-5'

# Preview with bat, matching line in the middle of
the window below
# the fixed header of the top 3 lines
#
# ~3 Top 3 lines as the fixed header
# +{2} Base scroll offset extracted from the
second field
# +3 Extra offset to compensate for the
3-line header
# /2 Put in the middle of the preview area
#
git grep --line-number '' |
fzf --delimiter : \
--preview 'bat --style=full --color=always
--highlight-line {2} {1}' \
--preview-window '~3,+{2}+3/2'

# Display top 3 lines as the fixed header
fzf --preview 'bat --style=full --color=always {}'
--preview-window '~3'

* You can specify an alternative set of options that are used
only when the size
of the preview window is below a certain threshold. Note
that only one
alternative layout is allowed.

e.g.
fzf --preview 'cat {}' --preview-window
'right,border-left,<30(up,30%,border-bottom)'

Scripting

-q, --query=STR
Start the finder with the given query

-1, --select-1
If there is only one match for the initial query (--query), do
not start interactive finder and automatically select the only
match

-0, --exit-0
If there is no match for the initial query (--query), do not
start interactive finder and exit immediately

-f, --filter=STR
Filter mode. Do not start interactive finder. When used with
--no-sort, fzf becomes a fuzzy-version of grep.

--print-query
Print query as the first line

--expect=KEY[,..]
Comma-separated list of keys that can be used to complete fzf
in addition to the default enter key. When this option is set,
fzf will print the name of the key pressed as the first line
of its output (or as the second line if --print-query is also
used). The line will be empty if fzf is completed with the
default enter key. If --expect option is specified multiple
times, fzf will expect the union of the keys. --no-expect will
clear the list.

e.g.
fzf --expect=ctrl-v,ctrl-t,alt-s --expect=f1,f2,~,@

This option is not compatible with --bind on the same key and will
take precedence over it. To combine the two, use print action.

e.g.
fzf --multi --bind
'enter:print()+accept,ctrl-y:select-all+print(ctrl-y)+accept'

--read0
Read input delimited by ASCII NUL characters instead of
newline characters

--print0
Print output delimited by ASCII NUL characters instead of
newline characters

--no-clear
Do not clear finder interface on exit. If fzf was started in
full screen mode, it will not switch back to the original
screen, so you'll have to manually run tput rmcup to return.
This option can be used to avoid flickering of the screen when
your application needs to start fzf multiple times in order.
(Note that in most cases, it is preferable to use reload
action instead.)

e.g.
foo=$(seq 100 | fzf --no-clear) || (
# Need to manually switch back to the main screen when
cancelled
tput rmcup
exit 1
) && seq "$foo" 100 | fzf


--sync Synchronous search for multi-staged filtering. If specified,
fzf will launch the finder only after the input stream is
complete and the initial filtering and the associated actions
(bound to any of start, load, result, or focus) are complete.

e.g. # Avoid rendering both fzf instances at the same time
fzf --multi | fzf --sync

# fzf will not render intermediate states
(sleep 1; seq 1000000; sleep 1) |
fzf --sync --query 5 --listen --bind
start:up,load:up,result:up,focus:change-header:Ready

--with-shell=STR
Shell command and flags to start child processes with. On *nix
Systems, the default value is $SHELL -c if $SHELL is set,
otherwise sh -c. On Windows, the default value is cmd /s/c
when $SHELL is not set.

e.g. gem list | fzf --with-shell 'ruby -e' --preview 'pp
Gem::Specification.find_by_name({1})'

--listen[=[ADDR:]PORT] --listen-unsafe[=[ADDR:]PORT]
Start HTTP server and listen on the given address. It allows
external processes to send actions to perform via POST method.

- If the port number is omitted or given as 0, fzf will
automatically choose a port and export it as FZF_PORT
environment variable to the child processes

- If FZF_API_KEY environment variable is set, the server would
require sending an API key with the same value in the
x-api-key HTTP header

- FZF_API_KEY is required for a non-localhost listen address

- To allow remote process execution, use --listen-unsafe

e.g.
# Start HTTP server on port 6266
fzf --listen 6266

# Send action to the server
curl -XPOST localhost:6266 -d 'reload(seq
100)+change-prompt(hundred> )'

# Get program state in JSON format (experimental)
# * Make sure NOT to access this endpoint from
execute/transform actions
# as it will result in a timeout
curl localhost:6266

# Start HTTP server on port 6266 with remote connections
allowed
# * Listening on non-localhost address requires using an
API key
export FZF_API_KEY="$(head -c 32 /dev/urandom | base64)"
fzf --listen 0.0.0.0:6266

# Send an authenticated action
curl -XPOST localhost:6266 -H "x-api-key: $FZF_API_KEY"
-d 'change-query(yo)'

# Choose port automatically and export it as $FZF_PORT to
the child process
fzf --listen --bind 'start:execute-silent:echo $FZF_PORT
> /tmp/fzf-port'

Help

--version
Display version information and exit

--help Show help message

--man Show man page

Directory traversal

--walker=[file][,dir][,follow][,hidden]
Determines the behavior of the built-in directory walker that
is used when $FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND is not set. The default
value is file,follow,hidden.

* file: Include files in the search result
* dir: Include directories in the search result
* hidden: Include and follow hidden directories
* follow: Follow symbolic links


--walker-root=DIR [...]
List of directory names to start the built-in directory
walker. The default value is the current working directory.


--walker-skip=DIRS
Comma-separated list of directory names to skip during the
directory walk. The default value is .git,node_modules.

Shell integration

--bash Print script to set up Bash shell integration

e.g. eval "$(fzf --bash)"


--zsh Print script to set up Zsh shell integration

e.g. source <(fzf --zsh)


--fish Print script to set up Fish shell integration

e.g. fzf --fish | source

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND
Default command to use when input is tty. On *nix systems, fzf
runs the command with $SHELL -c if SHELL is set, otherwise
with sh -c, so in this case make sure that the command is
POSIX-compliant.

FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS
Default options.
e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--layout=reverse --border
--cycle"

FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS_FILE
The location of the file that contains the default options.
e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS_FILE=~/.fzfrc

FZF_API_KEY
Can be used to require an API key when using --listen option.
If not set, no authentication will be required by the server.
You can set this value if you need to protect against DNS
rebinding and privilege escalation attacks.

EXIT STATUS

0 Normal exit
1 No match
2 Error
126 Permission denied error from become action
127 Invalid shell command for become action
130 Interrupted with CTRL-C or ESC

FIELD INDEX EXPRESSION

A field index expression can be a non-zero integer or a range
expression ([BEGIN]..[END]). --nth and --with-nth take a comma-
separated list of field index expressions.

Examples

1 The 1st field
2 The 2nd field
-1 The last field
-2 The 2nd to last field
3..5 From the 3rd field to the 5th field
2.. From the 2nd field to the last field
..-3 From the 1st field to the 3rd to the last field
.. All the fields

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES EXPORTED TO CHILD PROCESSES

fzf exports the following environment variables to its child
processes.

FZF_LINES Number of lines fzf takes up excluding padding
and margin
FZF_COLUMNS Number of columns fzf takes up excluding padding
and margin
FZF_TOTAL_COUNT Total number of items
FZF_MATCH_COUNT Number of matched items
FZF_SELECT_COUNT Number of selected items
FZF_POS Vertical position of the cursor in the list
starting from 1
FZF_QUERY Current query string
FZF_PROMPT Prompt string
FZF_PREVIEW_LABEL Preview label string
FZF_BORDER_LABEL Border label string
FZF_ACTION The name of the last action performed
FZF_KEY The name of the last key pressed
FZF_PORT Port number when --listen option is used
FZF_PREVIEW_TOP Top position of the preview window
FZF_PREVIEW_LEFT Left position of the preview window
FZF_PREVIEW_LINES Number of lines in the preview window
FZF_PREVIEW_COLUMNS Number of columns in the preview window

EXTENDED SEARCH MODE

Unless specified otherwise, fzf will start in "extended-search mode".
In this mode, you can specify multiple patterns delimited by spaces,
such as: 'wild ^music .mp3$ sbtrkt !rmx

You can prepend a backslash to a space (\ ) to match a literal space
character.


Exact-match (quoted)
A term that is prefixed by a single-quote character (') is
interpreted as an "exact-match" (or "non-fuzzy") term. fzf will
search for the exact occurrences of the string.


Anchored-match
A term can be prefixed by ^, or suffixed by $ to become an anchored-
match term. Then fzf will search for the lines that start with or end
with the given string. An anchored-match term is also an exact-match
term.


Exact-boundary-match (quoted both ends)
A single-quoted term is interpreted as an "exact-boundary-match". fzf
will search for the exact occurrences of the string with both ends at
the word boundaries. Unlike in regular expressions, this also sees an
underscore as a word boundary. But the words around underscores are
ranked lower and appear later in the result than the other words
around the other types of word boundaries.

1. xxx foo xxx (highest score)
2. xxx foo_xxx
3. xxx_foo xxx
4. xxx_foo_xxx (lowest score)

Negation

If a term is prefixed by !, fzf will exclude the lines that satisfy
the term from the result. In this case, fzf performs exact match by
default.


Exact-match by default
If you don't prefer fuzzy matching and do not wish to "quote"
(prefixing with ') every word, start fzf with -e or --exact option.
Note that when --exact is set, '-prefix "unquotes" the term.

OR operator

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.

e.g. ^core go$ | rb$ | py$


KEY/EVENT BINDINGS
--bind option allows you to bind a key or an event to one or more
actions. You can use it to customize key bindings or implement
dynamic behaviors.

--bind takes a comma-separated list of binding expressions. Each
binding expression is KEY:ACTION or EVENT:ACTION.

e.g.
fzf --bind=ctrl-j:accept,ctrl-k:kill-line


AVAILABLE KEYS: (SYNONYMS)
ctrl-[a-z]
ctrl-space
ctrl-delete
ctrl-\
ctrl-]
ctrl-^ (ctrl-6)
ctrl-/ (ctrl-_)
ctrl-alt-[a-z]
alt-[*] (Any case-sensitive single character is allowed)
f[1-12]
enter (return ctrl-m)
space
backspace (bspace bs)
alt-up
alt-down
alt-left
alt-right
alt-enter
alt-space
alt-backspace (alt-bspace alt-bs)
tab
shift-tab (btab)
esc
delete (del)
up
down
left
right
home
end
insert
page-up (pgup)
page-down (pgdn)
shift-up
shift-down
shift-left
shift-right
shift-delete
alt-shift-up
alt-shift-down
alt-shift-left
alt-shift-right
left-click
right-click
double-click
scroll-up
scroll-down
preview-scroll-up
preview-scroll-down
shift-left-click
shift-right-click
shift-scroll-up
shift-scroll-down
or any single character


AVAILABLE EVENTS:
start
Triggered only once when fzf finder starts. Since fzf consumes
the input stream asynchronously, the input list is not
available unless you use --sync.

e.g.
# Move cursor to the last item and select all items
seq 1000 | fzf --multi --sync --bind
start:last+select-all

load
Triggered when the input stream is complete and the initial
processing of the list is complete.

e.g.
# Change the prompt to "loaded" when the input stream is
complete
(seq 10; sleep 1; seq 11 20) | fzf --prompt 'Loading> '
--bind 'load:change-prompt:Loaded> '

resize
Triggered when the terminal size is changed.

e.g.
fzf --bind 'resize:transform-header:echo Resized:
${FZF_COLUMNS}x${FZF_LINES}'

result
Triggered when the filtering for the current query is complete
and the result list is ready.

e.g.
# Put the cursor on the second item when the query string
is empty
# * Note that you can't use 'change' event in this case
because the second position may not be available
fzf --sync --bind 'result:transform:[[ -z {q} ]] && echo
"pos(2)"'
change
Triggered whenever the query string is changed

e.g.
# Move cursor to the first entry whenever the query is
changed
fzf --bind change:first
focus
Triggered when the focus changes due to a vertical cursor
movement or a search result update.

e.g.
fzf --bind 'focus:transform-preview-label:echo [ {} ]'
--preview 'cat {}'

# Any action bound to the event runs synchronously and
thus can make the interface sluggish
# e.g. lolcat isn't one of the fastest programs, and
every cursor movement in
# fzf will be noticeably affected by its execution
time
fzf --bind 'focus:transform-preview-label:echo [ {} ] |
lolcat -f' --preview 'cat {}'

# Beware not to introduce an infinite loop
seq 10 | fzf --bind 'focus:up' --cycle

one
Triggered when there's only one match. one:accept binding is
comparable to --select-1 option, but the difference is that
--select-1 is only effective before the interactive finder
starts but one event is triggered by the interactive finder.

e.g.
# Automatically select the only match
seq 10 | fzf --bind one:accept

zero
Triggered when there's no match. zero:abort binding is
comparable to --exit-0 option, but the difference is that
--exit-0 is only effective before the interactive finder
starts but zero event is triggered by the interactive finder.

e.g.
# Reload the candidate list when there's no match
echo $RANDOM | fzf --bind 'zero:reload(echo
$RANDOM)+clear-query' --height 3

backward-eof
Triggered when the query string is already empty and you try
to delete it backward.

e.g.
fzf --bind backward-eof:abort

jump
Triggered when successfully jumped to the target item in jump
mode.

e.g.
fzf --bind space:jump,jump:accept

jump-cancel
Triggered when jump mode is cancelled.

e.g.
fzf --bind space:jump,jump:accept,jump-cancel:abort

click-header
Triggered when a mouse click occurs within the header. Sets
FZF_CLICK_HEADER_LINE and FZF_CLICK_HEADER_COLUMN environment
variables starting from 1.

e.g.
printf "head1\nhead2" | fzf --header-lines=2 --bind
'click-header:transform-prompt:printf
${FZF_CLICK_HEADER_LINE}x${FZF_CLICK_HEADER_COLUMN}'


AVAILABLE ACTIONS:
A key or an event can be bound to one or more of the following
actions.

ACTION: DEFAULT BINDINGS (NOTES):
abort ctrl-c ctrl-g ctrl-q esc
accept enter double-click
accept-non-empty (same as accept except that it
prevents fzf from exiting without selection)
accept-or-print-query (same as accept except that it
prints the query when there's no match)
backward-char ctrl-b left
backward-delete-char ctrl-h bspace
backward-delete-char/eof (same as backward-delete-char except
aborts fzf if query is empty)
backward-kill-word alt-bs
backward-word alt-b shift-left
become(...) (replace fzf process with the
specified command; see below for the details)
beginning-of-line ctrl-a home
cancel (clear query string if not empty,
abort fzf otherwise)
change-border-label(...) (change --border-label to the given
string)
change-header(...) (change header to the given string;
doesn't affect --header-lines)
change-multi (enable multi-select mode with no
limit)
change-multi(...) (enable multi-select mode with a
limit or disable it with 0)
change-preview(...) (change --preview option)
change-preview-label(...) (change --preview-label to the given
string)
change-preview-window(...) (change --preview-window option;
rotate through the multiple option sets separated by '|')
change-prompt(...) (change prompt to the given string)
change-query(...) (change query string to the given
string)
clear-screen ctrl-l
clear-selection (clear multi-selection)
close (close preview window if open, abort
fzf otherwise)
clear-query (clear query string)
delete-char del
delete-char/eof ctrl-d (same as delete-char except
aborts fzf if query is empty)
deselect
deselect-all (deselect all matches)
disable-search (disable search functionality)
down ctrl-j ctrl-n down
enable-search (enable search functionality)
end-of-line ctrl-e end
execute(...) (see below for the details)
execute-silent(...) (see below for the details)
first (move to the first match; same as
pos(1))
forward-char ctrl-f right
forward-word alt-f shift-right
ignore
jump (EasyMotion-like 2-keystroke
movement)
kill-line
kill-word alt-d
last (move to the last match; same as
pos(-1))
next-history (ctrl-n on --history)
next-selected (move to the next selected item)
page-down pgdn
page-up pgup
half-page-down
half-page-up
hide-header
hide-preview
offset-down (similar to CTRL-E of Vim)
offset-up (similar to CTRL-Y of Vim)
offset-middle (place the current item is in the
middle of the screen)
pos(...) (move cursor to the numeric
position; negative number to count from the end)
prev-history (ctrl-p on --history)
prev-selected (move to the previous selected item)
preview(...) (see below for the details)
preview-down shift-down
preview-up shift-up
preview-page-down
preview-page-up
preview-half-page-down
preview-half-page-up
preview-bottom
preview-top
print(...) (add string to the output queue and
print on exit)
put (put the character to the prompt)
put(...) (put the given string to the prompt)
refresh-preview
rebind(...) (rebind bindings after unbind)
reload(...) (see below for the details)
reload-sync(...) (see below for the details)
replace-query (replace query string with the
current selection)
select
select-all (select all matches)
show-header
show-preview
toggle (right-click)
toggle-all (toggle all matches)
toggle+down ctrl-i (tab)
toggle-header
toggle-in (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+up :
toggle+down)
toggle-out (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+down :
toggle+up)
toggle-preview
toggle-preview-wrap
toggle-search (toggle search functionality)
toggle-sort
toggle-track (toggle global tracking option
(--track))
toggle-track-current (toggle tracking of the current
item)
toggle-wrap ctrl-/ alt-/
toggle+up btab (shift-tab)
track-current (track the current item;
automatically disabled if focus changes)
transform(...) (transform states using the output
of an external command)
transform-border-label(...) (transform border label using an
external command)
transform-header(...) (transform header using an external
command)
transform-preview-label(...) (transform preview label using an
external command)
transform-prompt(...) (transform prompt string using an
external command)
transform-query(...) (transform query string using an
external command)
unbind(...) (unbind bindings)
unix-line-discard ctrl-u
unix-word-rubout ctrl-w
untrack-current (stop tracking the current item; no-
op if global tracking is enabled)
up ctrl-k ctrl-p up
yank ctrl-y

ACTION COMPOSITION

Multiple actions can be chained using + separator.

e.g.
fzf --multi --bind 'ctrl-a:select-all+accept'
fzf --multi --bind 'ctrl-a:select-all' --bind 'ctrl-a:+accept'

ACTION ARGUMENT

An action denoted with (...) suffix takes an argument.

e.g.
fzf --bind 'ctrl-a:change-prompt(NewPrompt> )'
fzf --bind 'ctrl-v:preview(cat {})' --preview-window hidden

If the argument contains parentheses, fzf may fail to parse the
expression. In that case, you can use any of the following
alternative notations to avoid parse errors.

action-name[...]
action-name{...}
action-name<...>
action-name~...~
action-name!...!
action-name@...@
action-name#...#
action-name$...$
action-name%...%
action-name^...^
action-name&...&
action-name*...*
action-name;...;
action-name/.../
action-name|...|
action-name:...
The last one is the special form that frees you from parse
errors as it does not expect the closing character. The catch
is that it should be the last one in the comma-separated list
of key-action pairs.

COMMAND EXECUTION

With execute(...) action, you can execute arbitrary commands without
leaving fzf. For example, you can turn fzf into a simple file browser
by binding enter key to less command like follows.

fzf --bind "enter:execute(less {})"

You can use the same placeholder expressions as in --preview.

fzf switches to the alternate screen when executing a command.
However, if the command is expected to complete quickly, and you are
not interested in its output, you might want to use execute-silent
instead, which silently executes the command without the switching.
Note that fzf will not be responsive until the command is complete.
For asynchronous execution, start your command as a background
process (i.e. appending &).

On *nix systems, fzf runs the command with $SHELL -c if SHELL is set,
otherwise with sh -c, so in this case make sure that the command is
POSIX-compliant.

become(...) action is similar to execute(...), but it replaces the
current fzf process with the specified command using execve(2) system
call.

fzf --bind "enter:become(vim {})"

RELOAD INPUT

reload(...) action is used to dynamically update the input list
without restarting fzf. It takes the same command template with
placeholder expressions as execute(...).

See https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/issues/1750 for more info.

e.g.
# 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 --layout=reverse

# Integration with ripgrep
RG_PREFIX="rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always
--smart-case "
INITIAL_QUERY="foobar"
FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="$RG_PREFIX '$INITIAL_QUERY'" \
fzf --bind "change:reload:$RG_PREFIX {q} || true" \
--ansi --disabled --query "$INITIAL_QUERY"

reload-sync(...) is a synchronous version of reload that replaces the
list only when the command is complete. This is useful when the
command takes a while to produce the initial output and you don't
want fzf to run against an empty list while the command is running.


e.g.
# You can still filter and select entries from the initial list
for 3 seconds
seq 100 | fzf --bind 'load:reload-sync(sleep 3; seq
1000)+unbind(load)'

TRANSFORM ACTIONS

Actions with transform- prefix are used to transform the states of
fzf using the output of an external command. The output of these
commands are expected to be a single line of text.

e.g.
fzf --bind 'focus:transform-header:file --brief {}'

transform(...) action runs an external command that should print a
series of actions to be performed. The output should be in the same
format as the payload of HTTP POST request to the --listen server.

e.g.
# Disallow selecting an empty line
echo -e "1. Hello\n2. Goodbye\n\n3. Exit" |
fzf --height '~100%' --reverse --header 'Select one' \
--bind 'enter:transform:[[ -n {} ]] &&
echo accept ||
echo "change-header:Invalid selection"'

PREVIEW BINDING

With preview(...) action, you can specify multiple different preview
commands in addition to the default preview command given by
--preview option.

e.g.
# Default preview command with an extra preview binding
fzf --preview 'file {}' --bind '?:preview:cat {}'

# A preview binding with no default preview command
# (Preview window is initially empty)
fzf --bind '?:preview:cat {}'

# Preview window hidden by default, it appears when you first
hit '?'
fzf --bind '?:preview:cat {}' --preview-window hidden

CHANGE PREVIEW WINDOW ATTRIBUTES

change-preview-window action can be used to change the properties of
the preview window. Unlike the --preview-window option, you can
specify multiple sets of options separated by '|' characters.

e.g.
# Rotate through the options using CTRL-/
fzf --preview 'cat {}' --bind
'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(right,70%|down,40%,border-horizontal|hidden|right)'

# The default properties given by `--preview-window` are
inherited, so an empty string in the list is interpreted as the
default
fzf --preview 'cat {}' --preview-window 'right,40%,border-left'
--bind 'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(70%|down,border-top|hidden|)'

# This is equivalent to toggle-preview action
fzf --preview 'cat {}' --bind
'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(hidden|)'

AUTHOR

Junegunn Choi (junegunn.c@gmail.com)

SEE ALSO

Project homepage:
https://github.com/junegunn/fzf

Extra Vim plugin:
https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.vim

LICENSE

MIT

fzf 0.57.0 Dec 2024 fzf(1)