fzf

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

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

-x, --extended

Extended-search mode. 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

--smart-case

Smart-case match (default). In this mode, the search is case-insensitive by default, but it becomes case-sensitive if the query contains any uppercase letters.

--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. This also sets --tiebreak=pathname,length, to prioritize matches occurring in the tail element of a file path.

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.

fzf chooses path scheme when the input is a TTY device, where fzf would start its built-in walker or run $FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND, and there is no reload or transform action bound to start event. Otherwise, it chooses default scheme.

--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[,..] or TEMPLATE

Transform the presentation of each line using the field index expressions. For advanced transformation, you can provide a template containing field index expressions in curly braces. When you use a template, the trailing delimiter is stripped from each expression, giving you more control over the output. {n} in template evaluates to the zero-based ordinal index of the line.

e.g.
     # Single expression: drop the first field
     echo foo bar baz | fzf --with-nth 2..

     # Use template to rearrange fields
     echo foo,bar,baz | fzf --delimiter , --with-nth '{n},{1},{3},{2},{1..2}'

change-with-nth action is only available when --with-nth is set. When --with-nth is used, fzf retains the original input lines in memory so they can be re-transformed on the fly (e.g. --with-nth .. to keep the original presentation). This increases memory usage, so only use --with-nth when you actually need field transformation.

--accept-nth=N[,..] or TEMPLATE

Define which fields to print on accept. The last delimiter is stripped from the output. For advanced transformation, you can provide a template containing field index expressions in curly braces. When you use a template, the trailing delimiter is stripped from each expression, giving you more control over the output. {n} in template evaluates to the zero-based ordinal index of the line.

e.g.
     # Single expression
     echo foo bar baz | fzf --accept-nth 2

     # Template
     echo foo bar baz | fzf --accept-nth 'Index: {n}, 1st: {1}, 2nd: {2}, 3rd: {3}'

+s, --no-sort

Do not sort the result

-d, --delimiter=STR

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

--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

--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.

--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)
pathname Prefers line with matched substring in the file name of the path
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

INPUT/OUTPUT

--read0

Read input delimited by ASCII NUL characters instead of newline characters

--print0

Print output delimited by ASCII NUL characters instead of newline characters

--ansi

Enable processing of ANSI color codes

--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

--no-tty-default

Make fzf search for the current TTY device via standard error instead of defaulting to /dev/tty. This option avoids issues when launching emacsclient from within fzf. Alternatively, you can change the default TTY device by setting --tty-default=DEVICE_NAME.

GLOBAL STYLE

--style=PRESET

Apply a style preset [default|minimal|full[:BORDER_STYLE]]

--color=[BASE_SCHEME][,COLOR_NAME[:ANSI_COLOR][:ANSI_ATTRIBUTES]]...

Color configuration. The name of the base color scheme is followed by custom color mappings. Each entry is separated by a comma and/or whitespaces.

BASE SCHEME:
    (default: dark on 256-color terminal, otherwise base16; If NO_COLOR is set, bw)

    dark    Color scheme for dark terminal
    light   Color scheme for light terminal
    base16  Color scheme using base 16 colors (alias: 16)
    bw      No colors (equivalent to --no-color)

COLOR NAMES:
    fg                    Text
      list-fg             Text in the list section
        selected-fg       Selected line text
      preview-fg          Preview window text
    bg                    Background
      list-bg             List section background
        selected-bg       Selected line background
      preview-bg          Preview window background
      input-bg            Input window background
      header-bg           Header window background
      footer-bg           Footer 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)
    alt-bg                Alternate background color to create striped lines
    alt-gutter            Alternate gutter color to create the striped pattern
    query (input-fg)      Query string
      ghost               Ghost text (--ghost, dim applied by default)
      disabled            Query string when search is disabled (--disabled)
    info                  Info line (match counters)
    border                Border around the window (--border and --preview)
      list-border         Border around the list section (--list-border)
        scrollbar         Scrollbar
        separator         Horizontal separator on info line
        gap-line          Horizontal line on each gap
      preview-border      Border around the preview window (--preview)
        preview-scrollbar Scrollbar
      input-border        Border around the input window (--input-border)
      header-border       Border around the header window (--header-border)
      footer-border       Border around the footer window (--footer-border)
    label                 Border label (--border-label, --list-label, --input-label, and --preview-label)
      list-label          Border label of the list section (--list-label)
      preview-label       Border label of the preview window (--preview-label)
      input-label         Border label of the input window (--input-label)
      header-label        Border label of the header window (--header-label)
      footer-label        Border label of the footer window (--footer-label)
    prompt                Prompt
    pointer               Pointer to the current line
    marker                Multi-select marker
    spinner               Streaming input indicator
    header (header-fg)   Header
    footer (footer-fg)   Footer
    nth                   Parts of the line specified by --nth (only supports attributes)
    nomatch               Non-matching items in raw mode (default: dim)

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           Clear previously set attributes; should precede the other ones
    strip             Remove colors
    bold
    underline
    underline-double
    underline-curly
    underline-dotted
    underline-dashed
    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'

     # Seoul256 light theme with 24-bit colors, each entry separated by whitespaces
     fzf --style full --color='
       fg:#616161 fg+:#616161
       bg:#ffffff bg+:#e9e9e9 alt-bg:#f1f1f1
       hl:#719872 hl+:#719899
       pointer:#e12672 marker:#e17899
       header:#719872
       spinner:#719899 info:#727100
       prompt:#0099bd query:#616161
       border:#e1e1e1
     '

--no-color

Disable colors

--no-bold

Do not use bold text

--black

Use black background

DISPLAY MODE

--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. You can combine ~ with a negative value.

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

  # Adapt to input size, up to terminal height minus 1
  seq 5 | fzf --height=~-1

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

--min-height=HEIGHT[+]

Minimum height when --height is given as a percentage. Add + to automatically increase the value according to the other layout options so that the specified number of items are visible in the list section (default: 10+). Ignored when --height is not specified or set as an absolute value.

--popup[=[center|top|bottom|left|right][,SIZE[%]][,SIZE[%]][,border-native]]

Start fzf in a tmux popup or in a Zellij floating pane (default center,50%). Requires tmux 3.3+ or Zellij 0.44+. This option is ignored if you are not running fzf inside tmux or Zellij. --tmux is an alias for this option.

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

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

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

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

  # Popup with a native tmux or Zellij border in the center with 80% width and height
  fzf --popup center,80%,border-native

LAYOUT

--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

--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

--border[=STYLE]

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
line Single line border (position automatically determined)
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.

line style draws a single separator line at the top when --height is used.

--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.

LIST SECTION

-m, --multi[=MAX]

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

--highlight-line

Highlight the whole current line

--cycle

Enable cyclic scroll

--wrap[=MODE]

Enable line wrap. MODE can be char (default) or word. word mode wraps lines at word boundaries (spaces and tabs) instead of at arbitrary character positions. --wrap-word is a synonym for --wrap=word.

--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

--raw

Enable raw mode where non-matching items are also displayed in a dimmed color.

--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.

When --id-nth is also set, fzf enables field-based tracking across reloads. See --id-nth for details.

Without --id-nth, --track uses index-based tracking that does not persist across reloads.

e.g.
     # Index-based tracking (does not persist across reloads)
     git log --oneline --graph --color=always | nl |
         fzf --ansi --track --no-sort --layout=reverse-list

     # Track by first field (e.g. pod name) across reloads
     kubectl get pods | fzf --track --id-nth 1 --header-lines=1 \
         --bind 'ctrl-r:reload:kubectl get pods'

--id-nth=N[,..]

Define item identity fields for cross-reload operations. When set, fzf uses the specified fields to identify items across reload and reload-sync.

With --track, fzf extracts the tracking key from the current item using the nth expression and searches for a matching item in the reloaded list. While searching, the UI is blocked (query input and cursor movement are disabled, and the prompt is dimmed). With reload, the blocked state clears as soon as the match is found in the stream. With reload-sync, the blocked state persists until the entire stream is complete. Press Escape or Ctrl-C to cancel the blocked state without quitting fzf.

The info line shows +T* (or +t* for one-off tracking) while the search is in progress.

With --multi, selected items are preserved across reload-sync by matching their identity fields in the reloaded list.

e.g.
     # Track and preserve selections by pod name across reloads
     kubectl get pods | fzf --multi --track --id-nth 1 --header-lines=1 \
         --bind 'ctrl-r:reload-sync:kubectl get pods'

--tac

Reverse the order of the input

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

--gap[=N]

Render empty lines between each item

--gap-line[=STR]

The given string will be repeated to draw a horizontal line on each gap (default: '┈' or '-' depending on --no-unicode).

--freeze-left=N

Number of fields to freeze on the left.

--freeze-right=N

Number of fields to freeze on the right.

--keep-right

Keep the right end of the line visible when it's too long. Effective only when the query string is empty. Use --freeze-right=1 instead if you want the last field to be always visible even with a non-empty query.

--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.

--jump-labels=CHARS

Label characters for jump mode.

--gutter=CHAR

Character used for the gutter column (default: '▌' unless --no-unicode is given)

--gutter-raw=CHAR

Character used for the gutter column in raw mode (default: '▖' unless --no-unicode is given)

--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)

--ellipsis=STR

Ellipsis to show when line is truncated (default: '··')

--tabstop=SPACES

Number of spaces for a tab character (default: 8)

--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=''

--list-border[=STYLE]

Draw border around the list section. line style is not supported for this border.

--list-label[=LABEL]

Label to print on the list border

--list-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]]

Position of the list label

INPUT SECTION

--no-input

Disable and hide the input section. You can no longer type in queries. To trigger a search, use search action. You can later show the input section using show-input or toggle-input action, and hide it again using hide-input, or toggle-input.

--prompt=STR

Input prompt (default: '> ')

--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='printf "\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=''

--ghost=TEXT

Ghost text to display when the input is empty

--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

--input-border[=STYLE]

Draw border around the input section. line style draws a single separator line between the input section and the list section.

--input-label[=LABEL]

Label to print on the input border

--input-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]]

Position of the input label

PREVIEW WINDOW

--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 items (or the current item if no selection was made) individually quoted.

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

Similarly, a placeholder expression starting with * flag will be replaced to the space-separated list of all matched items individually quoted.

Each expression expands to a quoted string, so that it's safe to pass it as an argument to an external command. So you should not manually add quotes around the curly braces. But if you don't want this behavior, you can put r flag (raw) in the expression (e.g. {r}, {r1}, etc). Use it with caution as unquoted output can lead to broken commands.

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 pass a large number of items and the length of the evaluated string may exceed ARG_MAX.

e.g.
     # See the sum of all the matched numbers
     # This won't work properly without 'f' flag due to ARG_MAX limit.
     seq 100000 | fzf --preview "awk '{sum+=\$1} END {print sum}' {*f}"

     # Use {+f} to get the selected items as a line-separated list
     seq 100 | fzf --multi --bind 'enter:become:cat {+f}'

Also,

* {q} is replaced to the current query string
* {q} can contain field index expressions. e.g. {q:1}, {q:2..}, etc.
* {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-border[=STYLE]

Short for --preview-window=border-STYLE. line style draws a single separator line between the preview window and the rest of the interface.

--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-wrap-sign=INDICATOR

Indicator for wrapped lines in the preview window. If not set, the value of --wrap-sign is used.

--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-STYLE][,[no]wrap][,wrap-word][,[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. wrap-word flag enables word-level wrapping, which breaks lines at word boundaries instead of mid-word.

* 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.

* In addition to the other border styles, border-line style is also supported, which draws a single separator line between the preview window and the rest of the interface.

* [:+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)'

HEADER

--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. When both normal header and header lines (--header-lines) are present, this applies only to the normal header.

--header-border[=STYLE]

Draw border around the header section. line style draws a single separator line between the header window and the list section.

--header-label[=LABEL]

Label to print on the header border

--header-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]]

Position of the header label

--header-lines-border[=STYLE]

Display header from --header-lines with a separate border. Pass none to still separate the header lines but without a border. To combine two headers, use --no-header-lines-border. line style draws a single separator line between the header lines and the list section.

FOOTER

--footer=STR

The given string will be printed as the sticky footer. 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.

--footer-border[=STYLE]

Draw border around the footer section. line style draws a single separator line between the footer and the list section.

--footer-label[=LABEL]

Label to print on the footer border

--footer-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]]

Position of the footer label

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'

--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

KEY/EVENT BINDING

--bind=BINDINGS

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

ADVANCED

--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.

--listen[=SOCKET_PATH|[ADDR:]PORT] --listen-unsafe[=[ADDR:]PORT]

Start HTTP server and listen on the given address or Unix socket. It allows external processes to send actions to perform via POST method and query the program state via GET method. For the argument to be recognized as a socket path, it must have .sock extension.

- 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 a Unix socket path is given, fzf will create a Unix domain socket at the
  given path. The existing file will be removed. The path to the socket file
  is exported as FZF_SOCK environment variable.

- 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> )'

     # 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'

     # Get program state in JSON format (experimental)
     # - GET Parameters:
     #    - limit: number of items to return (default: 100)
     #    - offset: number of items to skip (default: 0)
     curl localhost:6266

     # Automatically select items with .txt extension
     fzf --multi --sync --listen --bind 'load:transform:
       pos=1
       curl -s localhost:$FZF_PORT?limit=1000 | jq -r .matches[].text | while read -r text; do
         if [[ $text =~ \.txt$ ]]; then
           echo -n "+pos($pos)+select"
         fi
         pos=$((pos + 1))
       done
       echo +first
     '
     

Here is an example script that uses a Unix socket instead of a TCP port.

    
    fzf --listen=/tmp/fzf.sock

    # GET
    curl --unix-socket /tmp/fzf.sock http

    # POST
    curl --unix-socket /tmp/fzf.sock http -d up
    

--threads=N

Number of matcher threads to use. The default value is min(8 * NUM_CPU, 32).

--bench=DURATION

Repeatedly run --filter for the given duration and print timing statistics. Must be used with --filter.

e.g.
     cat /usr/share/dict/words | fzf --filter abc --bench 10s

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.

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.

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

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

OTHERS

--no-mouse

Disable mouse

--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.

HELP

--version

Display version information and exit

--help

Show help message

--man

Show man page

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND

Default command to use when input is a TTY device. 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

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

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_DIRECTION Direction of the list (up or down)
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_WRAP The line wrapping mode (char, word) when enabled
FZF_QUERY Current query string
FZF_INPUT_STATE Current input state (enabled, disabled, hidden)
FZF_NTH Current --nth option
FZF_WITH_NTH Current --with-nth option
FZF_PROMPT Prompt string
FZF_GHOST Ghost string
FZF_POINTER Pointer string
FZF_PREVIEW_LABEL Preview label string
FZF_BORDER_LABEL Border label string
FZF_LIST_LABEL List label string
FZF_INPUT_LABEL Input label string
FZF_HEADER_LABEL Header 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_SOCK Unix socket path 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
FZF_RAW Only in raw mode. 1 if the current item matches, 0 otherwise

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)

Anchored-match

Exact-boundary-match (quoted both ends)

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

Negation

Exact-match by default

OR operator

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

KEY/EVENT BINDINGS

--bind takes a comma-separated list of binding expressions. Each binding expression is KEY:ACTION or EVENT:ACTION. You can bind actions to multiple keys and events by writing comma-separated list of keys and events before the colon. e.g. KEY1,KEY2,EVENT1,EVENT2:ACTION.

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

     # Load 'ps -ef' output on start and reload it on CTRL-R
     fzf --bind 'start,ctrl-r:reload:ps -ef'

AVAILABLE KEYS: (SYNONYMS)

Note that some terminal emulators may not support ctrl-* bindings.

AVAILABLE EVENTS:

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)"'

Triggered whenever the query string is changed

e.g.
     # Move cursor to the first entry whenever the query is changed
     fzf --bind change:first

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

Triggered when the multi-selection has changed.

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. It optionally sets FZF_CLICK_HEADER_WORD and FZF_CLICK_HEADER_NTH if clicked on a word.

e.g.
     # Click on the header line to limit search scope
     ps -ef | fzf --style full --layout reverse --header-lines 1 \
                  --header-lines-border bottom --no-list-border \
                  --color fg:dim,nth:regular \
                  --bind 'click-header:transform-nth(
                            echo $FZF_CLICK_HEADER_NTH
                          )+transform-prompt(
                            echo "$FZF_CLICK_HEADER_WORD> "
                          )'

click-footer

Triggered when a mouse click occurs within the footer. Sets FZF_CLICK_FOOTER_LINE and FZF_CLICK_FOOTER_COLUMN environment variables starting from 1. It optionally sets FZF_CLICK_FOOTER_WORD if clicked on a word.

AVAILABLE 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 ctrl-bspace bspace
    backward-delete-char/eof     (same as backward-delete-char except aborts fzf if query is empty)
    backward-kill-subword
    backward-kill-word           alt-bs
    backward-subword
    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
    bell                         (ring the terminal bell)
    best                         (move to the best match; same as first if raw mode is disabled)
    bg-cancel                    (cancel background transform processes)
    cancel                       (clear query string if not empty, abort fzf otherwise)
    change-border-label(...)     (change --border-label to the given string)
    change-ghost(...)            (change ghost text to the given string)
    change-header(...)           (change header to the given string; doesn't affect --header-lines)
    change-header-lines(N)       (change the number of --header-lines)
    change-header-label(...)     (change --header-label to the given string)
    change-input-label(...)      (change --input-label to the given string)
    change-list-label(...)       (change --list-label to the given string)
    change-multi                 (enable multi-select mode with no limit)
    change-multi(...)            (enable multi-select mode with a limit or disable it with 0)
    change-nth(...)              (change --nth option; rotate through the multiple options separated by '|')
    change-with-nth(...)         (change --with-nth option; rotate through the multiple options separated by '|')
    change-pointer(...)          (change --pointer option)
    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-multi                  (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; to also clear non-matching selections, use clear-multi)
    disable-raw                  (disable raw mode)
    disable-search               (disable search functionality)
    down                         ctrl-j  down
    down-match                   ctrl-n  alt-down (move to the match below the cursor)
    down-selected                (move to the selected item below the cursor)
    enable-raw                   (enable raw mode)
    enable-search                (enable search functionality)
    end-of-line                  ctrl-e  end
    exclude                      (exclude the current item from the result)
    exclude-multi                (exclude the selected items or the current item from the result)
    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-subword
    forward-word                 alt-f   shift-right
    ignore
    jump                         (EasyMotion-like 2-keystroke movement)
    kill-line
    kill-subword
    kill-word                    alt-d
    last                         (move to the last match; same as pos(-1))
    next-history                 (ctrl-n on --history)
    next-selected                (synonym to down-selected)
    page-down                    pgdn
    page-up                      pgup
    half-page-down
    half-page-up
    hide-header
    hide-input
    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                (synonym to up-selected)
    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 normal 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)
    search(...)                  (trigger fzf search with the given string)
    select
    select-all                   (select all matches)
    show-header
    show-input
    show-preview
    toggle                       (right-click)
    toggle-all                   (toggle all matches)
    toggle-in                    (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+up : toggle+down)
    toggle-out                   (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+down : toggle+up)
    toggle-bind
    toggle-header
    toggle-hscroll
    toggle-input
    toggle-multi-line
    toggle-preview
    toggle-preview-wrap
    toggle-preview-wrap-word
    toggle-raw                   (toggle raw mode for displaying non-matching items)
    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
    toggle-wrap-word             ctrl-/  alt-/
    toggle+down                  ctrl-i  (tab)
    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-ghost(...)         (transform ghost text using an external command)
    transform-header(...)        (transform header using an external command)
    transform-header-lines(...)  (transform the number of --header-lines using an external command)
    transform-header-label(...)  (transform header label using an external command)
    transform-input-label(...)   (transform input label using an external command)
    transform-list-label(...)    (transform list label using an external command)
    transform-nth(...)           (transform nth using an external command)
    transform-with-nth(...)      (transform with-nth using an external command)
    transform-pointer(...)       (transform pointer 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)
    transform-search(...)        (trigger fzf search with the output of an external command)
    trigger(...)                 (trigger actions bound to a comma-separated list of keys and events)
    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  up
    up-match                     ctrl-p  alt-up (move to the match above the cursor)
    up-selected                  (move to the selected item above the cursor)
    yank                         ctrl-y

Each transform* action has a corresponding bg-transform* variant that runs the command in the background.

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'

Any action after a terminal action that exits fzf, such as accept or abort, is ignored.

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
    printf "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"'
    

A common mistake when writing a transform action is not escaping placeholder expressions when passing them back to fzf. In the following example, if you don't escape {}, fzf will immediately replace it with the single-quoted string of the current item. This causes single quotes to appear in the header and footer, and the script will break if any item contains double-quote characters.

    fzf --bind 'focus:transform:[[ $FZF_ACTION =~ up ]] &&
                echo "change-header()+transform-footer:echo \{}" ||
                echo "change-footer()+transform-header:echo \{}"'

TRANSFORM IN THE BACKGROUND

Transform actions are synchronous, meaning fzf becomes unresponsive while the command runs. To avoid this, each transform* action has a corresponding bg-transform* variant that runs in the background. Unless you need to chain multiple transform actions where later ones depend on earlier results, prefer using the bg variant. To cancel currently running background transform processes, use bg-cancel action.

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

SEE ALSO

https://github.com/junegunn/fzf

Extra Vim plugin:

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

LICENSE