FZF: Tips and Tricks

Posted on 23 Mar, 2021
​fzf is a recent addition to my CLI utilities, below are some common use-cases.
Ignoring unnecessary directories
Following bash script helps ignoring some directory paths while searching files via fzf.
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#!/usr/bin/env bash
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​
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EXCLUDE_DIRS=(
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    "! -path /*.git/*"
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    "! -path /*go/*"
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    "! -path /*.bundle/*"
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    "! -path /*.cache/*"
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    "! -path /*.local/*"
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    "! -path /*.themes/*"
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    "! -path /*.config/*"
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    "! -path /*.codeintel/*"
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    "! -path /*python2.7/*"
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    "! -path /*python3.6/*"
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    "! -path /*__pycache__/*"
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)
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​
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find $HOME -type f ${EXCLUDE_DIRS[@]} | fzf --height 40% --reverse
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Note that for some reason you won't able to ignore bin directory paths (like in python venv's etc).
If you prefer the locate command instead, make sure to update your /etc/updatedb.conf file with following PRUNENAMES
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PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS="yes"
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PRUNENAMES=".git .cache .bundle .local .config node_modules __pycache__ python3.6 go"
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PRUNEPATHS="/tmp /var/spool /media /var/lib/os-prober /var/lib/ceph /home/.ecryptfs /var/lib/schroot"
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PRUNEFS="NFS nfs nfs4 rpc_pipefs afs binfmt_misc proc smbfs autofs iso9660 ncpfs coda devpts ftpfs devfs devtmpfs fuse.mfs shfs sysfs cifs lustre tmpfs usbfs udf fuse.glusterfs fuse.sshfs curlftpfs ceph fuse.ceph fuse.rozofs ecryptfs fusesmb"
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or include any other directories you don't want like .DS_Store etc. Then run sudo updatedb to update the mlocate database. After that you can just pipe the output to fzf.
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# look for any path in you $HOME directory
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locate -ei "$HOME" | fzf --height 40% --reverse
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In vim you can create a custom command, make sure you have fzf.vim installed.
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command! -nargs=1 -bang Locate call fzf#run(fzf#wrap({'source': 'locate -ei $HOME'}, <bang>0))
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Changing Directories.
If you followed the previous tip then using this is a no brainer
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# faster but limited
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cd "$(locate "$HOME" | fzf --height 40% --reverse)"
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# bit slower but better
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cd "$(find ~ -maxdepth 5 -not -path '*/\.git/*' -type d | fzf --height 40% --reverse)"
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Save this in your .bashrc:
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fcd() {
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    cd "$(find ~ -maxdepth 5 -not -path '*/\.git/*' -type d | fzf --height 40% --reverse)"
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}
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Opening files from terminal using your file-manager 🗃️
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# xdg-open for X11
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# open for Mac
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browse "$(locate -ei "$HOME" | fzf --height 40% --reverse)"
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A better version using xargs
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alias bro="locate -ei "$HOME" | fzf --height 40% --reverse | xargs browse 2>/dev/null"
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Switching Git branches
fzf can be used as a nice prompt for showing git branches:
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#!/usr/bin/env sh
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​
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choice=$(git for-each-ref --format='%(refname:short)' refs/heads/* | fzf \
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  --prompt="Switch branch: " \
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  --header="Select a branch to switch to" \
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  --height 40% --reverse
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)
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​
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git switch $choice
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Interactively stage files in Git
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#!/usr/bin/env bash
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​
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readarray -t choices < <(git ls-files --other --modified --exclude-standard | fzf \
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  --prompt="Stage Files: " \
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  --height 40% --reverse --multi \
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  --header="Choose files to stage (TAB to select multiple files)"
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)
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​
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git add "${choices[@]}"
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Deleting unused branches interactively
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#!/usr/bin/env sh
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​
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header="Select branches to delete"
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​
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choices=$(git for-each-ref --format='%(refname:short)' refs/heads/* | fzf \
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  --prompt="Delete Branches: " --pointer='🡆'\
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  --header="Press TAB to select choices" \
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  --multi --height 30% --reverse
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)
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​
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git branch -d $choices
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Diff(ing) files across branches
Useful in cases when your working with multiple people and want to compare files that are changed while building a feature.
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#!/usr/bin/env bash
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​
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# FZF Wrapper over git to interactively diff files across branches
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​
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readarray -t git_files < <(git ls-files | fzf \
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  --prompt="Choose File(s): " \
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  --height 40% --reverse --multi \
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  --header="Choose files to diff (TAB to select multiple files)"
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)
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​
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target_branch=$(git for-each-ref --format='%(refname:short)' refs/heads/* | fzf \
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  --prompt="Select target branch: " \
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  --header="Select branch to compare the files against" \
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  --height 40% --reverse
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)
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​
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# get current branch
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current_branch=$(git branch | grep \\* | cut -d ' ' -f2)
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​
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printf "%s\n" "Viewing diff for following files against $(tput bold)$target_branch$(tput sgr0)"
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printf "$(tput bold)$(tput setaf 208)%s$(tput sgr0)\n" "${git_files[@]}"
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echo
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​
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git diff "$current_branch".."$target_branch" -- "${git_files[@]}"
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Replacing gitmoji-cli with fzf
I like the idea of using emojis in commit messages but I am not ready to install node/npm and 10 other dependencies for a CLI.
We can use fzf to create a nice gitmoji like prompt. Here is a simple bash script that does the job. First download the gimojis.csv file and change the path to the csv file in the script.
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#!/usr/bin/env bash
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​
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gitmoji_path="$HOME/.config/gitmojis.csv"
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​
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emoji=$(cat $gitmoji_path | fzf --prompt="Choose gitmoji: " --height 40% --reverse | awk '{print $1}')
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printf "Emoji: %s\n" "$emoji"
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​
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read -erp "Enter Commit Title: " title
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echo -e "Enter Commit Message (Ctrl+d when done):"
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msg=$(</dev/stdin)
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echo
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read -erp "Issue / PR ref #: " issue_ref
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if [[ "$issue_ref" ]]; then
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    git commit -m "$emoji $title (#$issue_ref)" -m "$msg"
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else
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    git commit -m "$emoji $title" -m "$msg"
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fi
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ofc credits goes to gitmoji 💚️
Preview files & directories 📂️
For files you may want to check the filetype, size & permissions.
First create a bash function like this
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fino () { 
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    declare filepath=${1:-$(</dev/stdin)};
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    if [[ -f "$filepath" ]]; then
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        echo -e "$(basename "$filepath")";
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        info=$(file "$filepath" | awk -F ":" '{print $2}');
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        echo -e "$info";
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        ls -alh "$filepath" | awk '{print $1 "\nSize: " $5 "\nLast Modify: " $6 " " $7 " " $8}';
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    fi
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}
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export -f fino
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Now just use the --preview option in fzf.
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locate -ei "$HOME" | fzf --preview "fino {}" --height 40% --reverse
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Previewing directories may include listing its contents
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# Notice the [[ -d ... ]] means only run when the path is a directory
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locate -ei "$HOME" | fzf --preview "[[ -d {} ]] && tree -C {} | head -200" --height 40% --reverse
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Beautifying fzf?
fzf offers very minimal but satisfying enough features to tweak around
1.Changing pointers (default '>'). Below are some valid pointer styles
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fzf --prompt='Open File: ' --pointer='ᐅ'
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fzf --prompt='Open File: ' --pointer='🡆'
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fzf --prompt='Open File: ' --pointer='🠲'
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fzf --prompt='Open File: ' --pointer='⮞'
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fzf --prompt='Open File: ' --pointer='🢂'
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fzf --prompt='Open File: ' --pointer='➡'
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2.Colors 💅️ (WIP)
A full list of color rules can be found here or on man fzf. Below are some nice colorscheme combinations you might like
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# Inspired from ayu colorscheme Vim
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--color 'fg:#E6E1CF,fg+:#ddeeff,bg:#0F1419,pointer:#FF8400,header:#70B650,query:#FCD363'
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# Inspired from afterglow theme Vim
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--color 'fg:#E6E1CF,fg+:#ddeeff,bg:#1A1A1A,bg+:#393939,pointer:#FF8400,header:#717879'
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# Inspired from sonokai theme Vim
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--color 'fg:#E6E1CF,fg+:#ddeeff,bg:#2C2E34,bg+:#3C3E48,pointer:#EB4B48,header:#7F8490'
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# Inspired from Monokai Pro
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--color 'fg:#E6E1CF,fg+:#ddeeff,bg:#2B292E,bg+:#3D3B40,prompt:#A9DC76,pointer:#FF6188,header:#AB9DF2,query:#FFD866'
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