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
-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-in-
sensitive 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 af-
ter 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 pri-
oritize matches occurring in the tail element of a file
path.
history
Scoring scheme well suited for command history or any in-
put where chronological ordering is important. No addi-
tional 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. Oth-
erwise, 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 (per-
formance)
-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 ex-
pressions. For advanced transformation, you can provide a tem-
plate 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 tem-
plate 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}'
--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 ex-
pressions (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 se-
lector interface rather than a "fuzzy finder". You can later en-
able 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 begin-
ning
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,re-
sult:up,focus:change-header:Ready
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 fol-
lowed 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
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 (--input-bor-
der)
header-bg Header window background (--header-bor-
der)
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 (input-fg) Query string
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 (--in-
put-border)
header-border Border around the header window
(--header-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 (--in-
put-label)
header-label Border label of the header window
(--header-label)
prompt Prompt
pointer Pointer to the current line
marker Multi-select marker
spinner Streaming input indicator
header (header-fg) Header
nth Parts of the line specified by --nth
(only supports attributes)
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,bor-
der:#6B6B6B,spinner:#98BC99' \
--color='hl:#719872,fg:#D9D9D9,header:#719872,fg+:#D9D9D9'
\
--color='pointer:#E12672,marker:#E17899,prompt:#98BEDE,hl+:#98BC99'
--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.
# 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 per-
cent 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 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 speci-
fied or set as an absolute value.
--tmux[=[center|top|bottom|left|right][,SIZE[%]][,SIZE[%]][,border-na-
tive]]
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 in-
side 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%
# Popup with a native tmux border in the center with 80% width
and height
fzf --tmux 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 rela-
tive 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
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 ╟" --bor-
der-label-pos=3 --color=label:italic:black
# Right-aligned (negative integer) on the bottom line (:bottom)
fzf --height=10 --border --border-label="╢ $label ╟" --bor-
der-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 posi-
tive integer as the column position from the left. Specify a neg-
ative 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 Enable line wrap
--wrap-sign=INDICATOR
Indicator for wrapped lines. The default is '↳ ' or '> ' depend-
ing on --no-unicode.
--no-multi-line
Disable multi-line display of items when using --read0
--track
Make fzf track the current selection when the result list is up-
dated. 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
--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).
--keep-right
Keep the right end of the line visible when it's too long. Effec-
tive 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.
--jump-labels=CHARS
Label characters for jump mode.
--pointer=STR
Pointer to the current line (default: '▌' or '>' depending on
--no-unicode)
--marker=STR
Multi-select marker (default: '┃' or '>' depending on --no-uni-
code)
--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
--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 syn-
chronously and blocks the UI until completion, so make sure that
it's fast. ANSI color codes are supported. $FZF_INFO variable is
set to the original info text. For additional environment vari-
ables available to the command, see the section ENVIRONMENT VARI-
ABLES EXPORTED TO CHILD PROCESSES.
e.g.
# Prepend the current cursor position in yellow
fzf --info-command='echo -e
"\x1b[33;1m$FZF_POS\x1b[m/$FZF_INFO 💛"'
--no-info
A synonym for --info=hidden
--separator=STR
The given string will be repeated to form the horizontal separa-
tor on the info line (default: '─' or '-' depending on --no-uni-
code).
ANSI color codes are supported.
--no-separator
Do not display horizontal separator on the info line. A synonym
for --separator=''
--filepath-word
Make word-wise movements and actions respect path separators. The
following actions are affected:
backward-kill-word
backward-word
forward-word
kill-word
--input-border[=STYLE]
Draw border around the input section
--input-label[=LABEL]
Label to print on the input border
--input-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]]
Position of the input label
PREVIEW WINDOW
--preview=COMMAND
Execute the given command for the current line and display the
result on the preview window. {} in the command is the place-
holder that is replaced to the single-quoted string of the cur-
rent line. To transform the replacement string, specify field in-
dex expressions between the braces (See FIELD INDEX EXPRESSION
for the details).
e.g.
fzf --preview='head -$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 white-
space 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
* {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. In addition to the other
styles, line style is also supported for preview border, which
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 win-
dow. 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[%]][,bor-
der-STYLE][,[no]wrap][,[no]follow][,[no]cycle][,[no]info][,[no]hid-
den][,+SCROLL[OFFSETS][/DENOM]][,~HEADER_LINES][,default][,<SIZE_THRESH-
OLD(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, spec-
ify 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 off-
set of the preview window.
- SCROLL can be either a numeric integer or a single-field in-
dex 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-win-
dow '+{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 sec-
ond 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,bor-
der-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
--header-border[=STYLE]
Draw border around the header 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.
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 ex-
pect 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 ac-
tion.
e.g.
fzf --multi \
--bind 'enter:print()+accept,ctrl-y:se-
lect-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, other-
wise sh -c. On Windows, the default value is cmd /s/c when
$SHELL is not set.
--listen[=[ADDR:]PORT] --listen-unsafe[=[ADDR:]PORT]
Start HTTP server and listen on the given address. It allows ex-
ternal processes to send actions to perform via POST method.
- If the port number is omitted or given as 0, fzf will automati-
cally choose a port and export it as FZF_PORT environment vari-
able to the child processes
- If FZF_API_KEY environment variable is set, the server would
require sending an API key with the same value in the x-api-key
HTTP header
- FZF_API_KEY is required for a non-localhost listen address
- To allow remote process execution, use --listen-unsafe
e.g.
# Start HTTP server on port 6266
fzf --listen 6266
# Send action to the server
curl -XPOST localhost:6266 -d 'reload(seq
100)+change-prompt(hundred> )'
# Get program state in JSON format (experimental)
# * Make sure NOT to access this endpoint from exe-
cute/transform actions
# as it will result in a timeout
curl localhost:6266
# Start HTTP server on port 6266 with remote connections al-
lowed
# * Listening on non-localhost address requires using an API
key
export FZF_API_KEY="$(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'
DIRECTORY TRAVERSAL
--walker=[file][,dir][,follow][,hidden]
Determines the behavior of the built-in directory walker that is
used when $FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND is not set. The default value is
file,follow,hidden.
* file: Include files in the search result
* dir: Include directories in the search result
* hidden: Include and follow hidden directories
* follow: Follow symbolic links
--walker-root=DIR [...]
List of directory names to start the built-in directory walker.
The default value is the current working directory.
--walker-skip=DIRS
Comma-separated list of directory names to skip during the direc-
tory walk. The default value is .git,node_modules.
HISTORY
--history=HISTORY_FILE
Load search history from the specified file and update the file
on completion. When enabled, CTRL-N and CTRL-P are automatically
remapped to next-history and prev-history.
--history-size=N
Maximum number of entries in the history file (default: 1000).
The file is automatically truncated when the number of the lines
exceeds the value.
e.g. gem list | fzf --with-shell 'ruby -e' --preview 'pp
Gem::Specification.find_by_name({1})'
SHELL INTEGRATION
--bash Print script to set up Bash shell integration
e.g. eval "$(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 charac-
ters (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 sys-
tems, fzf runs the command with $SHELL -c if SHELL is set, other-
wise 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_INPUT_STATE Current input state (enabled, disabled, hidden)
FZF_NTH Current --nth option
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 ac-
tions. You can use it to customize key bindings or implement dynamic be-
haviors.
--bind takes a comma-separated list of binding expressions. Each binding
expression is KEY:ACTION or EVENT:ACTION. You can bind actions to multi-
ple 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)
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 pro-
cessing 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 be-
cause 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 move-
ment 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 [ {} ] | lol-
cat -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 com-
parable to --select-1 option, but the difference is that --se-
lect-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 $RAN-
DOM)+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> "
)'
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
bell (ring the terminal bell)
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-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-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
exclude (exclude the current item from the re-
sult)
exclude-multi (exclude the selected items or the cur-
rent 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-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-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 mid-
dle 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 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 : tog-
gle+down)
toggle-out (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+down : tog-
gle+up)
toggle-bind
toggle-header
toggle-hscroll
toggle-input
toggle-multi-line
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+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 exter-
nal command)
transform-header(...) (transform header using an external
command)
transform-header-label(...) (transform header label using an exter-
nal command)
transform-input-label(...) (transform input label using an exter-
nal command)
transform-list-label(...) (transform list label using an external
command)
transform-nth(...) (transform nth using an external com-
mand)
transform-preview-label(...) (transform preview label using an ex-
ternal command)
transform-prompt(...) (transform prompt string using an ex-
ternal command)
transform-query(...) (transform query string using an exter-
nal command)
transform-search(...) (trigger fzf search with the output of
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'
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 expres-
sion. In that case, you can use any of the following alternative nota-
tions 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 inter-
ested 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 execu-
tion, start your command as a background process (i.e. appending &).
On *nix systems, fzf runs the command with $SHELL -c if SHELL is set,
otherwise with sh -c, so in this case make sure that the command is
POSIX-compliant.
become(...) action is similar to execute(...), but it replaces the cur-
rent fzf process with the specified command using execve(2) system call.
fzf --bind "enter:become(vim {})"
RELOAD INPUT
reload(...) action is used to dynamically update the input list without
restarting fzf. It takes the same command template with placeholder ex-
pressions as execute(...).
See https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/issues/1750 for more info.
e.g.
# Update the list of processes by pressing CTRL-R
ps -ef | fzf --bind 'ctrl-r:reload(ps -ef)' --header 'Press CTRL-R
to reload' \
--header-lines=1 --layout=reverse
# Integration with ripgrep
RG_PREFIX="rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always
--smart-case "
INITIAL_QUERY="foobar"
FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="$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)+un-
bind(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 se-
ries 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 mul-
tiple sets of options separated by '|' characters.
e.g.
# Rotate through the options using CTRL-/
fzf --preview 'cat {}' --bind 'ctrl-/:change-preview-win-
dow(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(hid-
den|)'
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 0.60.3 Mar 2025 fzf(1)
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