fzf

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder. It reads a list of items from standard input or a configured command, lets the user filter the list interactively with a fuzzy-matching query, and prints the selected item(s) to standard output. It is distributed as a single self-contained Go binary and ships with shell integrations for Bash, Zsh, and Fish, plus a Vim/Neovim plugin.

What it does

Point any list at fzf and you get an interactive picker:

ls | fzf                    # pick a file in the current directory
git log --oneline | fzf     # pick a commit
fzf < /usr/share/dict/words # pick a word

fzf can also walk the file system itself when stdin is a TTY, run an external command to populate or reload the list, render an arbitrary preview of the highlighted item, and act as a TUI building block for other tools through key bindings, the action language, and an HTTP control plane.

Who uses it

• Shell users who want fuzzy Ctrl-T / Ctrl-R / Alt-C key bindings and fuzzy completion for any command.
• Vim/Neovim users via the plugin/fzf.vim runtime plugin.
• Authors of higher-level tools that wrap fzf to build pickers for git, kubernetes, Jira, dotfiles, etc.
• Anyone scripting an interactive prompt in a shell pipeline.

Quick links

• Architecture — how the Reader, Matcher, and Terminal coordinate.
• Getting started — install, build, run, test.
• Glossary — fzf-specific terms (chunk, term, action, placeholder, ...).
• Search syntax — extended-search operators ('exact, ^prefix, suffix$, !neg).
• Key bindings and actions — the action language behind --bind.
• Shell integration — Bash/Zsh/Fish key bindings and completion.
• Reference: configuration — environment variables and option file format.

Repository at a glance

Area	Path	Notes
CLI entry point	main.go	Wires version, embedded shell scripts, and fzf.Run.
Go core	src/	Reader, Matcher, Terminal, options, HTTP server.
Matching algorithms	src/algo/	FuzzyMatchV1, FuzzyMatchV2 (Smith-Waterman), exact/prefix/suffix, normalization.
Terminal renderer	src/tui/	light.go (custom escape-sequence renderer) and tcell.go (tcell backend).
Utilities	src/util/	Event box, char buffers, atomic primitives, OS-specific helpers.
Shell integration	shell/	Bash/Zsh/Fish key bindings and completion scripts.
Vim plugin	plugin/fzf.vim	:FZF command and fzf#run API.
Man page	man/man1/fzf.1	Embedded into the binary via //go:embed.
Integration tests	test/*.rb	Ruby tests driven through tmux.

See overview/architecture for a deeper map.