fzf – command-line fuzzy finder

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder released under an open source license. It’s an interactive Unix filter for command-line that can be used with any list; files, command history, processes, hostnames, bookmarks, git commits, and much more.

This tool will launch curses-based finder, read the list from STDIN, and write the selected item to STDOUT. It accepts a list — by default, the list of files in the current directory tree — and allows selection by way of fuzzy finding.

fzf by default starts in fullscreen mode.

fzf project consists of the following components:

• fzf executable
• fzf-tmux script for launching fzf in a tmux pane
• Shell extensions
  • Key bindings (CTRL-T, CTRL-R, and ALT-C) (bash, zsh, fish)
  • Fuzzy auto-completion (bash, zsh)
• Vim/Neovim plugin

Key Features

• Very fast, clean, colourful, and easy to use.
• Good range of features.
• Fuzzy completion for files and directories, bash, zsh, process IDs, host names, and more. You can type in multiple search terms delimited by spaces.
• Flexible layout. You can run the utility in fullscreen or horizontal/vertical split.
• Vim/Neovim plugin, key bindings and fuzzy auto-completion.
• Execute arbitrary commands without leaving fzf.
• Runs asynchronously.
• Preview window – fzf automatically starts external process with the current line as the argument and shows the result in the split window. Preview window supports ANSI colors.
• Key bindings.
• Portable, no dependencies.
• fzf-tmux is a bash script that opens fzf in a tmux pane.
• Can run inside GVim.
• Basic support for Cygwin environment.
• Cross-platform support.

Website: github.com/junegunn/fzf
Support: GitHub
Developer: Junegunn Choi
License: The MIT License

fzf is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

Related Software

Read our verdict in the software roundup. You’ll also find other similar software explored in these other roundups: Return to CLI Navigation Tools | Return to Small Console Menu Tools | Alternatives to find

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