OFFERINGS

by Steve Dondley

⬅ Notes listing

Author's note: The note below is part of a digital garden. Therefore, it is likely incomplete, inaccurate or both. In other words, it's just like other information sources but perhaps to a higher degree. That said, it may still be worth exploring.

fzf

   Updated:

What is fzf and how does it work, exactly?

  • It’s a filter and a finder
    • Uh, what does that mean?
      • it helps you find stuff by filtering out the other stuff you’re not interested in
      • imagine you have a box of dirt and you want to find a large gold nugget inside it
        • fzf is like a sieve you shake the dirt through to help you find the nugget

What stuff does it filter and find? Gold?

  • Nope, items in a list
    • what kind of list items?
      • items that can be represented as strings of text
        • examples:
          • a list of file names
          • words in a dictionary
          • your bash history
          • lines in files
      • by default, fzf will help you filter a list of all the files in your current directory and subdirectory to help you find the files you are looking for
        • Well, OK, not quite all the files
          • by default, it ignores certain files
            • you change what fzf ignores

How does it filter items in a list?

  • Based on what your input to the fzf prompt
    • prompt is also called the “interactive finder”
    • let’s say you run fzf on a list contains the words “fire,” “water,” “earth” with this on the command line:
      • echo -e 'fire\nwater\nearth' | fzf
      • Then you type in “fi”
        • “water” and “earth” get filtered out
          • they do not match what you typed in
          • leaves only “fire” behind
        • but it’s a fuzzy match
          • this means it doesn’t have to be an exact match
            • it filters out based on approximate matches
            • imperfect but close matches are not filtered out
            • better matches appear fist, at the bottom of the list so you can select them quickly
          • it also means the match doesn’t have the begin at the start of a word
          • if you type in the letter “a” into the prompt, “fire” will be removed and the other two words will remain because those words have an “a”
          • you can tell fzf to do an exact match, too, if you wish

How do I create other kinds of lists for fzf to filter and how do I get fzf to do something useful with the string of text I select?

  • You use it in combination with other commands
  • See the usage section below for more details

Don’t I already have a find command? What do I need fzf for?

  • A few big reasons
    • It’s interactive
    • It’s fuzzy
    • It’s easier
    • It’s more flexible
    • You can make it work much faster than find by using it conjunction with other command line utilities

Notes on the fzf project

Consists of 4 components

  • the fzf executable
  • a script for called fzf-tmux for launching fzf in a tmux pane
  • shell extensions
    • key bindings
    • fuzzy auto-completion
  • vim/neovim plugin

install (for macOS)

  • brew install fzf
  • to use in vim:
    • add to vimrc (may have different path on your machine):
      • set rtp+=/usr/local/opt/fzf
    • install vim plugins:
      • Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } }
      • Plug 'junegunn/fzf.vim'
  • to install useful key bindings and fuzzy completion
    • run /usr/local/opt/fzf/install command
    • answer yes to the prompts
    • restart shell

uninstall

Usage

Basic command line usage

  • typing fzf launches an interactive finder
    • it reads the list of text string from STDIN
    • it writes out the user’s selection to STDOUT
  • simplest usage
    1. type fzf at command line
      • uses the find command, by default, to list all files in current directory and in all subdirectories
      • you can tell fzf to use other commands besides find
        • more on this later
    2. now type in a few letters
      • file names will be filtered out based on what you type
    3. use c-n or c-p (or c-j and c-k) to move up and down the file list to select one
    4. when you have the file you want selected, hit return
      • fzf will now print the name of the selected file to stdout

Using fzf with other commands

  • unlock the real power of fzf by using it with other commands:
    • Simple examples:
      • vim $(fzf)
        • this lets you quickly find and edit a file that might be buried somewhere deeply in your directory tree structure
          • This eliminates the need to tediously type, <tab>, type, <tab>, type, <tab> with tab completion to get to your file
          • if you aren’t familiar with shell scripting, surrounding fzf with $() replaces it with whatever is returned by the fzf command
            • In this case, it is the file you selected
      • Example of fzf with pipes
        • To list file details about a deeply nested file, you can do this:
          • fzf | xargs ls -l
            • this command “pipes” in the output of fzf into the input of xargs ls -l command
        • it’s essential that you are comfortable with the syntax of piping one command into the next to get the real benefit of fzf
          • seek out a good tutorial on using pipes to familiarize yourself with pipes or refresh your memory

Real world usage of fzf

  • typically, you don’t type fzf directly into the command line prompt
    • usually used as part of a shell alias or shell script
    • <c-t> binding supplied with the fzf project can also be used
      • instead of vim $(fzf) like in the example above, do:
        • vim <c-t> to activate fzf
  • fzf is often used as part of shell aliases
    • Example:
      • alias vf='vim $(fzf)'
        • quickly edit a file with vim
  • shell scripts can leverage fzf to do some really neat stuff

Elsewhere

Other notes linking here:

Diary entry for 2020-07-18

Diary entry for 2020-07-19

How This Site Works

fzf vim plugin

macOS

fzf

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