Provided by: fzf_0.29.0-1ubuntu0.1_amd64 
NAME
fzf - a command-line fuzzy finder
SYNOPSIS
fzf [options]
DESCRIPTION
fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder.
OPTIONS
Search mode
-x, --extended
Extended-search mode. Since 0.10.9, this is enabled by default. You can disable it with +x or
--no-extended.
-e, --exact
Enable exact-match
-i Case-insensitive match (default: smart-case match)
+i Case-sensitive match
--literal
Do not normalize latin script letters for matching.
--algo=TYPE
Fuzzy matching algorithm (default: v2)
v2 Optimal scoring algorithm (quality)
v1 Faster but not guaranteed to find the optimal result (performance)
-n, --nth=N[,..]
Comma-separated list of field index expressions for limiting search scope. See FIELD INDEX
EXPRESSION for the details.
--with-nth=N[,..]
Transform the presentation of each line using field index expressions
-d, --delimiter=STR
Field delimiter regex for --nth and --with-nth (default: AWK-style)
--disabled
Do not perform search. With this option, fzf becomes a simple selector interface rather than a
"fuzzy finder". You can later enable the search using enable-search or toggle-search action.
Search result
+s, --no-sort
Do not sort the result
--tac Reverse the order of the input
e.g.
history | fzf --tac --no-sort
--tiebreak=CRI[,..]
Comma-separated list of sort criteria to apply when the scores are tied.
length Prefers line with shorter length
begin Prefers line with matched substring closer to the beginning
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
Interface
-m, --multi
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
--no-mouse
Disable mouse
--bind=KEYBINDS
Comma-separated list of custom key bindings. See KEY/EVENT BINDINGS for the details.
--cycle
Enable cyclic scroll
--keep-right
Keep the right end of the line visible when it's too long. Effective 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:
0).
--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.
--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
--jump-labels=CHARS
Label characters for jump and jump-accept
Layout
--height=HEIGHT[%]
Display fzf window below the cursor with the given height instead of using the full screen.
--min-height=HEIGHT
Minimum height when --height is given in percent (default: 10). Ignored when --height is not
specified.
--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
--border[=STYLE]
Draw border around the finder
rounded Border with rounded corners (default)
sharp Border with sharp corners
horizontal Horizontal lines above and below the finder
vertical Vertical lines on each side of the finder
top
bottom
left
right
none
--no-unicode
Use ASCII characters instead of Unicode box drawing characters to draw border
--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 relative 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
--info=STYLE
Determines the display style of finder info.
default Display on the next line to the prompt
inline Display on the same line
hidden Do not display finder info
--no-info
A synonym for --info=hidden
--prompt=STR
Input prompt (default: '> ')
--pointer=STR
Pointer to the current line (default: '>')
--marker=STR
Multi-select marker (default: '>')
--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
Display
--ansi Enable processing of ANSI color codes
--tabstop=SPACES
Number of spaces for a tab character (default: 8)
--color=[BASE_SCHEME][,COLOR_NAME[:ANSI_COLOR][:ANSI_ATTRIBUTES]]...
Color configuration. The name of the base color scheme is followed by custom color mappings.
BASE SCHEME:
(default: dark on 256-color terminal, otherwise 16)
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
bg Background
preview-fg Preview window text
preview-bg Preview window background
hl Highlighted substrings
fg+ Text (current line)
bg+ Background (current line)
gutter Gutter on the left (defaults to bg+)
hl+ Highlighted substrings (current line)
query Query string
disabled Query string when search is disabled
info Info line (match counters)
border Border around the window (--border and --preview)
prompt Prompt
pointer Pointer to the current line
marker Multi-select marker
spinner Streaming input indicator
header Header
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
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,border:#6B6B6B,spinner:#98BC99' \
--color='hl:#719872,fg:#D9D9D9,header:#719872,fg+:#D9D9D9' \
--color='pointer:#E12672,marker:#E17899,prompt:#98BEDE,hl+:#98BC99'
--no-bold
Do not use bold text
--black
Use black background
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 previous-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.
Preview
--preview=COMMAND
Execute the given command for the current line and display the result on the preview window. {} in
the command is the placeholder that is replaced to the single-quoted string of the current line.
To transform the replacement string, specify field index 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.)
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 whitespace is stripped from the
replacement string. To preserve the whitespace, use the s flag.
Also, {q} is replaced to the current query string, and {n} is replaced to zero-based ordinal index
of the line. Use {+n} if you want all index numbers when multiple lines are selected.
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+=} END {print sum}' {+f}"
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.
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'
--preview-window=[POSITION][,SIZE[%]][,border-
BORDER_OPT][,[no]wrap][,[no]follow][,[no]cycle][,[no]hidden][,+SCROLL[OFFSETS][/DENOM]][,~HEADER_LINES][,default]
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 change the style of the border of the preview window, specify 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.
* [:+SCROLL[OFFSETS][/DENOM]] determines the initial scroll offset of the preview window.
- SCROLL can be either a numeric integer or a single-field index expression that refers to a
numeric integer.
- 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-window '+{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 second 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'
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
expect the union of the keys. --no-expect will clear the list.
e.g.
fzf --expect=ctrl-v,ctrl-t,alt-s --expect=f1,f2,~,@
--read0
Read input delimited by ASCII NUL characters instead of newline characters
--print0
Print output delimited by ASCII NUL characters instead of newline characters
--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.
--sync Synchronous search for multi-staged filtering. If specified, fzf will launch ncurses finder only
after the input stream is complete.
e.g. fzf --multi | fzf --sync
--version
Display version information and exit
Note that most options have the opposite versions with --no- prefix.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND
Default command to use when input is tty. On *nix systems, fzf runs the command with $SHELL -c if
SHELL is set, otherwise with sh -c, so in this case make sure that the command is POSIX-compliant.
FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS
Default options. e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--extended --cycle"
EXIT STATUS
0 Normal exit
1 No match
2 Error
130 Interrupted with CTRL-C or ESC
FIELD INDEX EXPRESSION
A field index expression can be a non-zero integer or a range expression ([BEGIN]..[END]). --nth and
--with-nth take a comma-separated list of field index expressions.
Examples
1 The 1st field
2 The 2nd field
-1 The last field
-2 The 2nd to last field
3..5 From the 3rd field to the 5th field
2.. From the 2nd field to the last field
..-3 From the 1st field to the 3rd to the last field
.. All the fields
EXTENDED SEARCH MODE
Unless specified otherwise, fzf will start in "extended-search mode". In this mode, you can specify
multiple patterns delimited by spaces, such as: 'wild ^music .mp3$ 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.
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 actions. You can use it to customize
key bindings or implement dynamic behaviors.
--bind takes a comma-separated list of binding expressions. Each binding expression is KEY:ACTION or
EVENT:ACTION.
e.g.
fzf --bind=ctrl-j:accept,ctrl-k:kill-line
AVAILABLE KEYS: (SYNONYMS)
ctrl-[a-z]
ctrl-space
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
bspace (bs)
alt-up
alt-down
alt-left
alt-right
alt-enter
alt-space
alt-bspace (alt-bs)
tab
btab (shift-tab)
esc
del
up
down
left
right
home
end
insert
pgup (page-up)
pgdn (page-down)
shift-up
shift-down
shift-left
shift-right
alt-shift-up
alt-shift-down
alt-shift-left
alt-shift-right
left-click
right-click
double-click
or any single character
AVAILABLE EVENTS:
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
backward-eof
Triggered when the query string is already empty and you try to delete it backward.
e.g.
fzf --bind backward-eof:abort
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)
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
beginning-of-line ctrl-a home
cancel (clear query string if not empty, abort fzf otherwise)
change-preview(...) (change --preview option)
change-preview-window(...) (change --preview-window option; rotate through the multiple option sets
separated by '|')
change-prompt(...) (change prompt 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
execute(...) (see below for the details)
execute-silent(...) (see below for the details)
first (move to the first match)
forward-char ctrl-f right
forward-word alt-f shift-right
ignore
jump (EasyMotion-like 2-keystroke movement)
jump-accept (jump and accept)
kill-line
kill-word alt-d
last (move to the last match)
next-history (ctrl-n on --history)
page-down pgdn
page-up pgup
half-page-down
half-page-up
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
previous-history (ctrl-p on --history)
print-query (print query and exit)
put (put the character to the prompt)
refresh-preview
reload(...) (see below for the details)
replace-query (replace query string with the current selection)
select
select-all (select all matches)
toggle (right-click)
toggle-all (toggle all matches)
toggle+down ctrl-i (tab)
toggle-in (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+up : toggle+down)
toggle-out (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+down : toggle+up)
toggle-preview
toggle-preview-wrap
toggle-search (toggle search functionality)
toggle-sort
toggle+up btab (shift-tab)
unbind(...) (unbind bindings)
unix-line-discard ctrl-u
unix-word-rubout ctrl-w
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'
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 expression. In that case, you can use any
of the following alternative notations 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:...
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 interested 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 execution, start your command as a background process (i.e.
appending &).
On *nix systems, fzf runs the command with $SHELL -c if SHELL is set, otherwise with sh -c, so in this
case make sure that the command is POSIX-compliant.
RELOAD INPUT
reload(...) action is used to dynamically update the input list without restarting fzf. It takes the same
command template with placeholder expressions as execute(...).
See https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/issues/1750 for more info.
e.g.
# Update the list of processes by pressing CTRL-R
ps -ef | fzf --bind 'ctrl-r:reload(ps -ef)' --header 'Press CTRL-R to reload' \
--header-lines=1 --layout=reverse
# Integration with ripgrep
RG_PREFIX="rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case "
INITIAL_QUERY="foobar"
FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="$RG_PREFIX '$INITIAL_QUERY'" \
fzf --bind "change:reload:$RG_PREFIX {q} || true" \
--ansi --disabled --query "$INITIAL_QUERY"
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 multiple sets of options separated by '|' characters.
e.g.
# Rotate through the options using CTRL-/
fzf --preview 'cat {}' --bind 'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(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(hidden|)'
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 0.29.0 Dec 2021 fzf(1)