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fzf (fuzzy finder) is a command-line fuzzy finder for filtering and selecting from lists. Extremely fast and versatile for navigating files, command history, and more.

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Basic Usage

• fzf - Fuzzy find from stdin

• ls | fzf - Fuzzy find from file list

• find . -type f | fzf - Fuzzy find from find results

• fzf <dir> - Fuzzy find files in directory

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Interactive Commands

• Ctrl+C, Esc - Exit

• Enter - Select and exit

• Tab - Select multiple items (multi-select)

• Shift+Tab - Unselect

• Up/Down Arrow or Ctrl+P/N - Navigate up/down

• Page Up/Down or Ctrl+V/B - Navigate page up/down

• Alt+Up/Down - Navigate half page up/down

• Ctrl+A - Select all

• Ctrl+D - Deselect all

• Ctrl+T - Toggle all

• Ctrl+L - Clear input

• ? - Toggle preview window

• Alt+W - Toggle preview wrap

• Alt+? - Toggle help

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Search Patterns

• `word` - Match lines containing word

• `'word` - Exact match (disables fuzzy matching)

• `^word` - Prefix match (starts with word)

• `word$` - Suffix match (ends with word)

• `!word` - Negation (exclude lines with word)

• `'word1 | 'word2` - OR operator

• `word1 word2` - AND operator (both must match)

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Preview Window

• fzf --preview='cat {}' - Preview file contents

• fzf --preview='head -100 {}' - Preview first 100 lines

• fzf --preview='ls -lah {}' - Preview file details

• fzf --preview-window=right:40% - Custom preview window size

• fzf --preview-window=hidden - Hide preview initially

• ? - Toggle preview (in fzf)

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Common Use Cases

File Navigation

• fzf - Find files in current directory

• find . -type f | fzf - Find all files recursively

• fzf --type f - Files only

• fzf --type d - Directories only

Command History

• history | fzf - Search command history

• Ctrl+R - fzf search through history (if configured)

Process Selection

• ps aux | fzf - Search and select process

• ps aux | fzf | awk '{print $2}' - Get PID from selection

Git Operations

• git log --oneline | fzf - Browse git commits

• git branch | fzf - Select branch

• git stash list | fzf - Select stash

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Shell Integration

Bash/Zsh Key Bindings

Add to `~/.bashrc` or `~/.zshrc`:

# Use fzf for Ctrl+R history search
if command -v fzf >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    source /usr/share/fzf/shell/key-bindings.bash  # or .zsh
fi

After setup:

• Ctrl+R - Search command history

• Ctrl+T - Find and insert file path

• Alt+C - Change directory (cd)

Fish Shell

fzf_key_bindings

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Useful Aliases

Add to your shell config:

# File operations
alias fcd='cd $(find . -type d | fzf)'
alias fvim='vim $(fzf)'
alias fcat='cat $(fzf)'

# Git with fzf
alias fco='git checkout $(git branch | fzf | sed "s/^..//")'

# Process kill
alias fkill='kill -9 $(ps aux | fzf | awk "{print \$2}")'

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Advanced Options

• fzf --height 40% - Set height

• fzf --reverse - Reverse layout (top to bottom)

• fzf --border - Show border

• fzf --header='Select file:' - Custom header

• fzf --multi - Enable multi-select

• fzf --bind='ctrl-a:select-all' - Custom key bindings

• fzf --exact - Exact match mode

• fzf --extended - Extended search mode (default)

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Configuration

Config File Location

• `~/.fzfrc` - fzf configuration

• `~/.fzf.bash` - Bash integration (if installed)

• `~/.fzf.zsh` - Zsh integration (if installed)

• `/usr/share/fzf/` - Default installation directory

Example Configuration

# fzf options
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--height 40% --reverse --border'
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f'  # Use fd instead of find
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND='fd --type f'
export FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS='--preview "bat --color=always --style=numbers {}"'

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Tips

• Use single quotes `'word'` for exact matches when fuzzy matching fails

• Combine with other tools using pipes: `find . | fzf | xargs vim`

• Use preview window to see file contents before selecting

• Configure shell bindings for Ctrl+R, Ctrl+T, Alt+C

• Use multi-select (Tab) to select multiple files

• Install ripgrep or fd for faster file finding with fzf

• Customize colors and layout with FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS

• Use fzf in scripts for interactive selection

• Combine with vim (fzf.vim plugin) for file navigation

• Great for browsing logs: `tail -f /var/log/syslog | fzf`

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