Reference #

This is a Markdown rendition of the fzf man page. For the same content in your terminal, run fzf --man.

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-insensitive 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 after 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 prioritize matches occurring in the tail element of a file path.

history

Scoring scheme well suited for command history or any input where chronological ordering is important. No additional 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. Otherwise, it chooses default scheme.

--algo=TYPE #

Fuzzy matching algorithm (default: v2)

-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 expressions. 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: 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}'

change-with-nth action is only available when --with-nth is set. When --with-nth is used, fzf retains the original input lines in memory so they can be re-transformed on the fly (e.g. --with-nth .. to keep the original presentation). This increases memory usage, so only use --with-nth when you actually need field transformation.

--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 expressions (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 selector interface rather than a “fuzzy finder”. You can later enable the search using enable-search or toggle-search action.

--tiebreak=CRI[,..] #

Comma-separated list of sort criteria to apply when the scores are tied.

• 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,result:up,focus:change-header:Ready

--no-tty-default #

Make fzf search for the current TTY device via standard error instead of defaulting to /dev/tty. This option avoids issues when launching emacsclient from within fzf. Alternatively, you can change the default TTY device by setting --tty-default=DEVICE_NAME.

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 followed by custom color mappings. Each entry is separated by a comma and/or whitespaces.

BASE SCHEME:

(default: dark on 256-color terminal, otherwise base16; If NO_COLOR is set, bw)

dark    Color scheme for dark terminal
light   Color scheme for light terminal
base16  Color scheme using base 16 colors (alias: 16)
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
  header-bg           Header window background
  footer-bg           Footer window background
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)
alt-bg                Alternate background color to create striped lines
alt-gutter            Alternate gutter color to create the striped pattern
query (input-fg)      Query string
  ghost               Ghost text (--ghost, dim applied by default)
  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 (--input-border)
  header-border       Border around the header window (--header-border)
  footer-border       Border around the footer window (--footer-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 (--input-label)
  header-label        Border label of the header window (--header-label)
  footer-label        Border label of the footer window (--footer-label)
prompt                Prompt
pointer               Pointer to the current line
marker                Multi-select marker
spinner               Streaming input indicator
header (header-fg)   Header
footer (footer-fg)   Footer
nth                   Parts of the line specified by --nth (only supports attributes)
nomatch               Non-matching items in raw mode (default: dim)

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           Clear previously set attributes; should precede the other ones
strip             Remove colors
bold
underline
underline-double
underline-curly
underline-dotted
underline-dashed
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,border:#6B6B6B,spinner:#98BC99' \
    --color='hl:#719872,fg:#D9D9D9,header:#719872,fg+:#D9D9D9' \
    --color='pointer:#E12672,marker:#E17899,prompt:#98BEDE,hl+:#98BC99'

# Seoul256 light theme with 24-bit colors, each entry separated by whitespaces
fzf --style full --color='
  fg:#616161 fg+:#616161
  bg:#ffffff bg+:#e9e9e9 alt-bg:#f1f1f1
  hl:#719872 hl+:#719899
  pointer:#e12672 marker:#e17899
  header:#719872
  spinner:#719899 info:#727100
  prompt:#0099bd query:#616161
  border:#e1e1e1
'

--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. You can combine ~ with a negative value.

# Will not take up 100% of the screen
seq 5 | fzf --height=~100%

# Adapt to input size, up to terminal height minus 1
seq 5 | fzf --height=~-1

Adaptive height has the following limitations:

• Cannot be used with top/bottom margin and padding given in percent size
• 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 specified or set as an absolute value.

--popup[=[center|top|bottom|left|right][,SIZE[%]][,SIZE[%]][,border-native]] #

Start fzf in a tmux popup or in a Zellij floating pane (default center,50%). Requires tmux 3.3+ or Zellij 0.44+. This option is ignored if you are not running fzf inside tmux or Zellij. --tmux is an alias for this option.

e.g.

# Popup in the center with 70% width and height
fzf --popup 70%

# Popup on the left with 40% width and 100% height
fzf --popup right,40%

# Popup on the bottom with 100% width and 30% height
fzf --popup bottom,30%

# Popup on the top with 80% width and 40% height
fzf --popup top,80%,40%

# Popup with a native tmux or Zellij border in the center with 80% width and height
fzf --popup center,80%,border-native

LAYOUT #

--layout=LAYOUT #

Choose the layout (default: default)

--reverse #

A synonym for --layout=reverse

--margin=MARGIN #

Comma-separated expression for margins around the finder.

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

--border[=STYLE] #

Draw border around the finder

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.

line style draws a single separator line at the top when --height is used.

--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 ╟" --border-label-pos=3 --color=label:italic:black

# Right-aligned (negative integer) on the bottom line (:bottom)
fzf --height=10 --border --border-label="╢ $label ╟" --border-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 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.

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[=MODE] #

Enable line wrap. MODE can be char (default) or word. word mode wraps lines at word boundaries (spaces and tabs) instead of at arbitrary character positions. --wrap-word is a synonym for --wrap=word.

--wrap-sign=INDICATOR #

Indicator for wrapped lines. The default is ↳ or > depending on --no-unicode.

--no-multi-line #

Disable multi-line display of items when using --read0

--raw #

Enable raw mode where non-matching items are also displayed in a dimmed color.

--track #

Make fzf track the current selection when the result list is updated. 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.

When --id-nth is also set, fzf enables field-based tracking across reloads. See --id-nth for details.

Without --id-nth, --track uses index-based tracking that does not persist across reloads.

e.g.

# Index-based tracking (does not persist across reloads)
git log --oneline --graph --color=always | nl |
    fzf --ansi --track --no-sort --layout=reverse-list

# Track by first field (e.g. pod name) across reloads
kubectl get pods | fzf --track --id-nth 1 --header-lines=1 \
    --bind 'ctrl-r:reload:kubectl get pods'

--id-nth=N[,..] #

Define item identity fields for cross-reload operations. When set, fzf uses the specified fields to identify items across reload and reload-sync.

With --track, fzf extracts the tracking key from the current item using the nth expression and searches for a matching item in the reloaded list. While searching, the UI is blocked (query input and cursor movement are disabled, and the prompt is dimmed). With reload, the blocked state clears as soon as the match is found in the stream. With reload-sync, the blocked state persists until the entire stream is complete. Press Escape or Ctrl-C to cancel the blocked state without quitting fzf.

The info line shows +T* (or +t* for one-off tracking) while the search is in progress.

With --multi, selected items are preserved across reload-sync by matching their identity fields in the reloaded list.

e.g.

# Track and preserve selections by pod name across reloads
kubectl get pods | fzf --multi --track --id-nth 1 --header-lines=1 \
    --bind 'ctrl-r:reload-sync:kubectl get pods'

--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).

--freeze-left=N #

Number of fields to freeze on the left.

--freeze-right=N #

Number of fields to freeze on the right.

--keep-right #

Keep the right end of the line visible when it’s too long. Effective only when the query string is empty. Use --freeze-right=1 instead if you want the last field to be always visible even with a non-empty query.

--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.

--gutter=CHAR #

Character used for the gutter column (default: ▌ unless --no-unicode is given)

--gutter-raw=CHAR #

Character used for the gutter column in raw mode (default: ▖ unless --no-unicode is given)

--pointer=STR #

Pointer to the current line (default: ▌ or > depending on --no-unicode)

--marker=STR #

Multi-select marker (default: ┃ or > depending on --no-unicode)

--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. line style is not supported for this border.

--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.)

--info-command=COMMAND #

Command to generate the finder info line. The command runs synchronously 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 variables available to the command, see the section ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES EXPORTED TO CHILD PROCESSES.

e.g.

# Prepend the current cursor position in yellow
fzf --info-command='printf "\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 separator on the info line (default: ─ or - depending on --no-unicode).

ANSI color codes are supported.

--no-separator #

Do not display horizontal separator on the info line. A synonym for --separator=''

--ghost=TEXT #

Ghost text to display when the input is empty

--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. line style draws a single separator line between the input section and the list 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 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.)

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 items (or the current item if no selection was made) individually quoted.

e.g.

fzf --multi --preview='head -10 {+}'
git log --oneline | fzf --multi --preview 'git show {+1}'

Similarly, a placeholder expression starting with * flag will be replaced to the space-separated list of all matched items individually quoted.

Each expression expands to a quoted string, so that it’s safe to pass it as an argument to an external command. So you should not manually add quotes around the curly braces. But if you don’t want this behavior, you can put r flag (raw) in the expression (e.g. {r}, {r1}, etc). Use it with caution as unquoted output can lead to broken commands.

When using a field index expression, leading and trailing whitespace 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 pass a large number of items and the length of the evaluated string may exceed ARG_MAX.

e.g.

# See the sum of all the matched numbers
# This won't work properly without 'f' flag due to ARG_MAX limit.
seq 100000 | fzf --preview "awk '{sum+=\$1} END {print sum}' {*f}"

# Use {+f} to get the selected items as a line-separated list
seq 100 | fzf --multi --bind 'enter:become:cat {+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. line style 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 window. 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-dashed
• border-block
• border-thinblock
• border-horizontal
• border-top
• border-bottom

--preview-wrap-sign=INDICATOR #

Indicator for wrapped lines in the preview window. If not set, the value of --wrap-sign is used.

--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[%]][,border-STYLE][,[no]wrap][,wrap-word][,[no]follow][,[no]cycle][,[no]info][,[no]hidden][,+SCROLL[OFFSETS][/DENOM]][,~HEADER_LINES][,default][,<SIZE_THRESHOLD(ALTERNATIVE_LAYOUT)] #

POSITION: (default: right)

up
down
left
right
next

Determines the layout of the preview window.

• next places the preview window adjacent to the input section, on the list side: above the input in the default layout, below the input in --layout=reverse.

• 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. wrap-word flag enables word-level wrapping, which breaks lines at word boundaries instead of mid-word.

• 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, 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.

• 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 offset of the preview window.

- SCROLL can be either a numeric integer or a single-field index 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-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'

• 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,border-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. When both normal header and header lines (--header-lines) are present, this applies only to the normal header.

--header-border[=STYLE] #

Draw border around the header section. line style draws a single separator line between the header window and the list section. inline style embeds the header inside the list border frame, joined to the list section by a horizontal separator; it requires a --list-border shape that has both top and bottom segments (rounded / sharp / bold / double / dashed / block / thinblock / horizontal) and falls back to line otherwise. When the list border also has side segments, the separator joins them with T-junctions; horizontal has no side borders, so the separator is drawn without T-junction endpoints. Takes precedence over --header-first (the section stays inside the list frame), and when --header-lines is also set --header-lines-border must also be inline.

--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. line style draws a single separator line between the header lines and the list section. inline style embeds the header lines inside the list border frame with a horizontal separator; it requires a --list-border shape that has both top and bottom segments, falls back to line otherwise.

FOOTER #

--footer=STR #

The given string will be printed as the sticky footer. 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.

--footer-border[=STYLE] #

Draw border around the footer section. line style draws a single separator line between the footer and the list section. inline style embeds the footer inside the list border frame with a horizontal separator; it requires a --list-border shape that has both top and bottom segments and falls back to line otherwise.

--footer-label[=LABEL] #

Label to print on the footer border

--footer-label-pos[=N[:top|bottom]] #

Position of the footer label

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,~,@

This option is not compatible with --bind on the same key and will take precedence over it. To combine the two, use print action.

e.g.

fzf --multi \
    --bind 'enter:print()+accept,ctrl-y:select-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, otherwise sh -c. On Windows, the default value is cmd /s/c when $SHELL is not set.

--listen[=SOCKET_PATH|[ADDR:]PORT] --listen-unsafe[=[ADDR:]PORT] #

Start HTTP server and listen on the given address or Unix socket. It allows external processes to send actions to perform via POST method and query the program state via GET method. For the argument to be recognized as a socket path, it must have .sock extension.

• If the port number is omitted or given as 0, fzf will automatically choose a port and export it as FZF_PORT environment variable to the child processes.

• If a Unix socket path is given, fzf will create a Unix domain socket at the given path. The existing file will be removed. The path to the socket file is exported as FZF_SOCK environment variable.

• 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> )'

# Start HTTP server on port 6266 with remote connections allowed
# * 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'

# Get program state in JSON format (experimental)
# - GET Parameters:
#    - limit: number of items to return (default: 100)
#    - offset: number of items to skip (default: 0)
curl localhost:6266

# Automatically select items with .txt extension
fzf --multi --sync --listen --bind 'load:transform:
  pos=1
  curl -s localhost:$FZF_PORT?limit=1000 | jq -r .matches[].text | while read -r text; do
    if [[ $text =~ \.txt$ ]]; then
      echo -n "+pos($pos)+select"
    fi
    pos=$((pos + 1))
  done
  echo +first
'

Here is an example script that uses a Unix socket instead of a TCP port.

fzf --listen=/tmp/fzf.sock

# GET
curl --unix-socket /tmp/fzf.sock http

# POST
curl --unix-socket /tmp/fzf.sock http -d up

--threads=N #

Number of matcher threads to use. The default value is min(8 * NUM_CPU, 32).

--bench=DURATION #

Repeatedly run --filter for the given duration and print timing statistics. Must be used with --filter.

e.g.

cat /usr/share/dict/words | fzf --filter abc --bench 10s

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 directory 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 characters (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 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="--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 #

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 #

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES EXPORTED TO CHILD PROCESSES #

fzf exports the following environment variables to its child processes.

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 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. You can bind actions to multiple 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] (ctrl-alt-h is ctrl-alt-backspace on non-Windows)
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-home
alt-end
alt-backspace (alt-bspace alt-bs)
alt-delete
alt-page-up
alt-page-down
alt-enter
alt-space
tab
shift-tab (btab)
esc
delete (del)
up
down
left
right
home
end
insert
page-up (pgup)
page-down (pgdn)
ctrl-up
ctrl-down
ctrl-left
ctrl-right
ctrl-home
ctrl-end
ctrl-backspace (ctrl-bspace ctrl-bs)
ctrl-delete
ctrl-page-up
ctrl-page-down
shift-up
shift-down
shift-left
shift-right
shift-home
shift-end
shift-delete
shift-page-up
shift-page-down
alt-shift-up
alt-shift-down
alt-shift-left
alt-shift-right
alt-shift-home
alt-shift-end
alt-shift-delete
alt-shift-page-up
alt-shift-page-down
ctrl-alt-up
ctrl-alt-down
ctrl-alt-left
ctrl-alt-right
ctrl-alt-home
ctrl-alt-end
ctrl-alt-backspace (ctrl-alt-bspace ctrl-alt-bs) (ctrl-alt-h (non-Windows))
ctrl-alt-delete
ctrl-alt-page-up
ctrl-alt-page-down
ctrl-shift-up
ctrl-shift-down
ctrl-shift-left
ctrl-shift-right
ctrl-shift-home
ctrl-shift-end
ctrl-shift-delete
ctrl-shift-page-up
ctrl-shift-page-down
ctrl-alt-shift-up
ctrl-alt-shift-down
ctrl-alt-shift-left
ctrl-alt-shift-right
ctrl-alt-shift-home
ctrl-alt-shift-end
ctrl-alt-shift-delete
ctrl-alt-shift-page-up
ctrl-alt-shift-page-down
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

Note that some terminal emulators may not support ctrl-* bindings.

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 processing 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 because 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 movement 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 [ {} ] | lolcat -f' --preview 'cat {}'

# Beware not to introduce an infinite loop
seq 10 | fzf --bind 'focus:up' --cycle

multi

Triggered when the multi-selection has changed.

one

Triggered when there’s only one match. one:accept binding is comparable to --select-1 option, but the difference is that --select-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 $RANDOM)+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> "
                     )'

click-footer

Triggered when a mouse click occurs within the footer. Sets FZF_CLICK_FOOTER_LINE and FZF_CLICK_FOOTER_COLUMN environment variables starting from 1. It optionally sets FZF_CLICK_FOOTER_WORD if clicked on a word.

every(N)

Triggered every N seconds (N can be a fractional number, e.g. 0.5). The minimum interval is 0.01 seconds; values are floored to that.

Combine with the FZF_IDLE_TIME (whole seconds) and FZF_IDLE_TIME_MS (milliseconds) environment variables to build idle-based behavior without a separate event.

e.g.

# Live process list, refreshed every 2 seconds.
# --track --id-nth 2 keeps the cursor on the same PID across reloads.
fzf --header-lines 1 --track --id-nth 2 \
    --bind 'start,every(2):reload-sync:ps -ef'

# Auto-accept after 10 seconds of inactivity, with a countdown in the footer after 5s.
fzf --bind 'every(1):bg-transform:
  if   [[ $FZF_IDLE_TIME -lt 5  ]]; then echo change-footer:
  elif [[ $FZF_IDLE_TIME -lt 10 ]]; then echo "change-footer:auto-accept in $((10 - FZF_IDLE_TIME))s"
  else echo accept
  fi'

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 ctrl-bspace bspace
  backward-delete-char/eof     (same as backward-delete-char except aborts fzf if query is empty)
  backward-kill-subword
  backward-kill-word           alt-bs
  backward-subword
  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)
  best                         (move to the best match; same as first if raw mode is disabled)
  bg-cancel                    (cancel background transform processes)
  cancel                       (clear query string if not empty, abort fzf otherwise)
  change-border-label(...)     (change --border-label to the given string)
  change-ghost(...)            (change ghost text to the given string)
  change-header(...)           (change header to the given string; doesn't affect --header-lines)
  change-header-lines(N)       (change the number of --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-with-nth(...)         (change --with-nth option; rotate through the multiple options separated by '|')
  change-pointer(...)          (change --pointer option)
  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-multi                  (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; to also clear non-matching selections, use clear-multi)
  disable-raw                  (disable raw mode)
  disable-search               (disable search functionality)
  down                         ctrl-j  down
  down-match                   ctrl-n  alt-down (move to the match below the cursor)
  down-selected                (move to the selected item below the cursor)
  enable-raw                   (enable raw mode)
  enable-search                (enable search functionality)
  end-of-line                  ctrl-e  end
  exclude                      (exclude the current item from the result)
  exclude-multi                (exclude the selected items or the current 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-subword
  forward-word                 alt-f   shift-right
  ignore
  jump                         (EasyMotion-like 2-keystroke movement)
  kill-line
  kill-subword
  kill-word                    alt-d
  last                         (move to the last match; same as pos(-1))
  next-history                 (ctrl-n on --history)
  next-selected                (synonym to down-selected)
  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 middle 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                (synonym to up-selected)
  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 : toggle+down)
  toggle-out                   (--layout=reverse* ? toggle+down : toggle+up)
  toggle-bind
  toggle-header
  toggle-hscroll
  toggle-input
  toggle-multi-line
  toggle-preview
  toggle-preview-wrap
  toggle-preview-wrap-word
  toggle-raw                   (toggle raw mode for displaying non-matching items)
  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
  toggle-wrap-word             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 external command)
  transform-ghost(...)         (transform ghost text using an external command)
  transform-header(...)        (transform header using an external command)
  transform-header-lines(...)  (transform the number of --header-lines using an external command)
  transform-header-label(...)  (transform header label using an external command)
  transform-input-label(...)   (transform input label using an external command)
  transform-list-label(...)    (transform list label using an external command)
  transform-nth(...)           (transform nth using an external command)
  transform-with-nth(...)      (transform with-nth using an external command)
  transform-pointer(...)       (transform pointer using an external command)
  transform-preview-label(...) (transform preview label using an external command)
  transform-prompt(...)        (transform prompt string using an external command)
  transform-query(...)         (transform query string using an external command)
  transform-search(...)        (trigger fzf search with the output of an external command)
  trigger(...)                 (trigger actions bound to a comma-separated list of keys and events)
  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  up
  up-match                     ctrl-p  alt-up (move to the match above the cursor)
  up-selected                  (move to the selected item above the cursor)
  yank                         ctrl-y

Each transform* action has a corresponding bg-transform* variant that runs the command in the background.

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 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/.../
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.

become(...) action is similar to execute(...), but it replaces the current 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 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"

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)+unbind(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 series 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
printf "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"'

A common mistake when writing a transform action is not escaping placeholder expressions when passing them back to fzf. In the following example, if you don’t escape {}, fzf will immediately replace it with the single-quoted string of the current item. This causes single quotes to appear in the header and footer, and the script will break if any item contains double-quote characters.

fzf --bind 'focus:transform:[[ $FZF_ACTION =~ up ]] &&
            echo "change-header()+transform-footer:echo \{}" ||
            echo "change-footer()+transform-header:echo \{}"'

TRANSFORM IN THE BACKGROUND #

Transform actions are synchronous, meaning fzf becomes unresponsive while the command runs. To avoid this, each transform* action has a corresponding bg-transform* variant that runs in the background. Unless you need to chain multiple transform actions where later ones depend on earlier results, prefer using the bg variant. To cancel currently running background transform processes, use bg-cancel action.

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