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fzf

A command-line fuzzy finder

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Search & Filter Productivity Shell & Terminal linuxmacoswindows Go MIT

Description

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder. It's an interactive filter for any kind of list: files, command history, processes, hostnames, bookmarks, git commits, etc. It's fast, portable, and has a flexible layout.

Install

homebrewbrew install fzf
aptsudo apt install fzf
pacmansudo pacman -S fzf
gogo install github.com/junegunn/fzf@latest

AI Summary

Interactive fuzzy-matching filter for the terminal. Pipe any list in, user narrows by typing. Essential for interactive selection from large datasets.

Capabilities

  • + Interactive fuzzy search over arbitrary line-based input
  • + File finder (replaces find + manual filtering)
  • + Preview pane for file contents or command output
  • + Multi-select mode for choosing multiple items
  • + Shell keybinding integration (Ctrl-R for history, Ctrl-T for files, Alt-C for cd)
  • + Customizable layout, colors, and key bindings

Use When

  • → User needs to interactively pick one or more items from a large list
  • → Building a selector/picker UI in a shell script
  • → Enhancing shell history search
  • → Creating interactive file navigation workflows

Avoid When

  • x Non-interactive / headless environments (CI pipelines)
  • x Input is already small enough that a simple grep suffices
  • x Need programmatic filtering without user interaction

Usage Patterns

Find and open a file

vim $(fzf)

Lists all files, user picks one, opens in vim

Search command history

history | fzf

Fuzzy search through shell history

Interactive git branch checkout

git branch | fzf | xargs git checkout

Pick a branch interactively, then check it out

Kill a process interactively

ps aux | fzf | awk '{print $2}' | xargs kill

Select a process from the list and kill it

Input / Output

stdin: Any line-based text (one item per line)
stdout: The selected line(s)
Exit codes:
0 Item selected
1 No match
2 Error
130 Interrupted (Ctrl-C)

Typical Pipelines

fd --type f | fzf --preview 'bat --color=always {}' | xargs vim
rg --files-with-matches pattern | fzf --preview 'rg --color=always pattern {}'
docker ps | fzf | awk '{print $1}' | xargs docker logs -f

Related Tools

ripgrep complementary

rg finds content, fzf filters results interactively
fd complementary

fd finds files, fzf provides interactive selection
bat complementary

bat provides syntax-highlighted previews inside fzf
View AGENTS.md for fzf