comprehensive patterns from junegunn choi's everything.fzf ollection

fzf_patterns.md

fzf reference guide

comprehensive patterns from junegunn choi's everything.fzf collection

bind actions

action types

• execute:CMD - run command in terminal, show output
• execute-silent:CMD - run command, hide output
• become:CMD - replace fzf process with command
• reload:CMD - refresh list with new command output
• transform:CONDITION - conditional action based on state
• ignore - do nothing (useful for disabling default enter behavior)

common action patterns

# open selected items
--bind 'enter:execute-silent(for url in {+1}; do open "$url"; done)+clear-selection'

# copy to clipboard and give feedback
--bind 'ctrl-y:execute-silent(echo -n {+2} | pbcopy)+bell+deselect-all'

# reload with different data source
--bind 'ctrl-h:reload(ruby script.rb --list h)+change-multi+change-border-label( History )+top'

# conditional action based on fzf state
--bind 'ctrl-w:transform:
  [[ $FZF_BORDER_LABEL =~ Tabs ]] || exit
  chrome-cli close -t {3} > /dev/null
  echo "reload:ruby script.rb --list t"'

# replace fzf with command output
--bind 'enter:become:gh pr checkout {1}'

# click header word as trigger
--bind 'click-header:transform:
  [[ $FZF_CLICK_HEADER_WORD =~ CTRL ]] && echo "trigger(${FZF_CLICK_HEADER_WORD%:})"'

special variables

selection placeholders

• {} - current line
• {+} - all selected items (or current if none selected)
• {1}, {2}, etc. - specific fields (with --delimiter)
• {+1}, {+2} - field from all selections
• {q} - current query string
• {f} - all selected items as paths (for quickfix)
• {*f2} - all lines, second field (for aggregation)

fzf environment variables

• $FZF_PREVIEW_COLUMNS - preview pane width
• $FZF_BORDER_LABEL - current border label
• $FZF_CLICK_HEADER_WORD - word clicked in header
• $FZF_CLICK_HEADER_NTH - column number clicked
• $FZF_MATCH_COUNT - number of matches
• $FZF_TOTAL_COUNT - total items
• $FZF_SELECT_COUNT - number of selected items

event bindings

lifecycle events you can bind to:

--bind 'start:reload:initial-command'        # on fzf startup
--bind 'load:change-list-label:'             # after list loads
--bind 'change:reload:search-command'        # on query change
--bind 'result:bg-transform-footer:...'      # on search results update

practical event patterns

# show loading message then reload
--bind 'start:preview(echo Loading...)+reload:gh pr list'

# exit if no results
--bind 'load:transform:(( FZF_TOTAL_COUNT )) || echo become:echo No items found'

# update footer with aggregated stats
--bind 'result:bg-transform-footer:[[ $FZF_MATCH_COUNT -gt 0 ]] && sort {*f2} | uniq -c'

delimiters and field selection

# use custom delimiter (default is whitespace)
--delimiter "\t"           # tab-separated
--delimiter ":"            # colon-separated
--delimiter "\a"           # bell character (for URLs with colons)
--delimiter " {2,}"        # two or more spaces (regex)

# control which fields to display
--with-nth 2..             # show from field 2 onward
--with-nth ..4             # show up to field 4
--with-nth "{1}\n · {2}"   # custom format with newline

# field for searching
--nth 1                    # search only first field
--nth 2..                  # search from second field onward

preview window

basic preview

--preview 'bat --color=always --highlight-line {2} {1}'
--preview-window 'up,border-bottom,~3,+{2}+3/3'

preview window options

• position: up, down, left, right
• size: 60%, 100 (lines)
• border: border-bottom, border-top, border-left, border-right
• scroll: +{2} (scroll to line), +{2}+3/3 (offset)
• wrap: wrap, nowrap
• follow: follow (auto-scroll to end)
• hidden: hidden (start hidden, toggle with ctrl-/)
• ~3 - keep 3 lines at top visible when scrolling

dynamic preview

# use query in preview
--preview 'figlet -f {+} {q}'

# conditional preview based on selection
--preview 'if [[ {3} ]]; then chrome-cli activate -t {3}; fi'

# use environment variable for width
--preview 'gh gist view {1}' GH_FORCE_TTY=$FZF_PREVIEW_COLUMNS

multi-selection

# enable multi-selection
--multi

# disable multi for specific reload
--bind 'ctrl-t:reload(cmd)+change-multi(0)'  # disable
--bind 'ctrl-b:reload(cmd)+change-multi'     # enable

# act on selections
--bind 'enter:execute-silent(for item in {+1}; do echo "$item"; done)'

# handle zero selections in become
--bind 'enter:become:
  if [[ $FZF_SELECT_COUNT -eq 0 ]]; then
    "$EDITOR" {1}
  else
    "$EDITOR" {+1}
  fi'

layout and styling

basic layout

--height 100%              # full screen
--tmux 80%,100%            # tmux popup (width, height)
--reverse                  # top-to-bottom
--layout reverse           # same as --reverse
--border                   # show border
--gap                      # gap between list and preview

labels and headers

--border-label ' TITLE '
--list-label ' Loading... '
--header '╱ CTRL-Y: Copy ╱ CTRL-/: Toggle ╱'
--header-lines 1           # treat first N lines as header
--header-border            # show border under header
--header-first             # header at top (default bottom)

colors and styling

--style full               # enable all styling
--ansi                     # interpret ANSI colors in input
--color 'fg:dim,nth:regular'
--highlight-line           # highlight current line
--wrap                     # wrap long lines
--wrap-sign ' ↳ '         # indicator for wrapped lines

data input/output

input formats

--read0                    # null-separated input (\0)
--delimiter "\t"           # tab-separated
--tabstop 16              # tab stop width

input modes

--disabled                 # start with search disabled (for reload binding)
--query "initial"          # set initial query
--listen                   # enable HTTP API
--sync                     # synchronous search

output

fzf | while read item; do  # read selections
  echo "Selected: $item"
done

# with IO.popen in Ruby
IO.popen(fzf_cmd, 'r+') do |io|
  io.puts(data)           # write to fzf
  io.close_write
  io.gets                 # read selection
end

advanced patterns

chaining actions

# multiple actions with +
--bind 'ctrl-y:execute-silent(echo {+} | pbcopy)+bell+clear-selection'

# reload after action
--bind 'ctrl-w:execute(delete-item {1})+reload:list-items'

dynamic UI updates

# change border label
--bind 'ctrl-t:change-border-label( New Label )'

# change list label
--bind 'load:change-list-label:'

# jump to top after reload
--bind 'ctrl-r:reload(cmd)+top'

# refresh preview only
--bind 'ctrl-r:refresh-preview'

shell integration

--with-shell 'bash -c'     # use bash for execute/become commands

# multi-line commands
--bind 'enter:become:
  if [[ {3} ]]; then
    command1
  else
    command2
  fi'

sorting and filtering

--tiebreak begin           # prefer matches at beginning
--tiebreak index           # preserve input order
--scheme history           # history-based scoring
--accept-nth 1             # only accept field 1

complete examples

interactive reload with mode switching

fzf --bind 'ctrl-t:reload(list-tabs)+change-multi(0)+change-border-label( Tabs )' \
    --bind 'ctrl-h:reload(list-history)+change-multi+change-border-label( History )' \
    --bind 'ctrl-b:reload(list-bookmarks)+change-multi+change-border-label( Bookmarks )'

search with live reload

RELOAD='reload:rg --column --color=always {q} || :'
fzf --disabled --ansi \
    --bind "start,change:$RELOAD" \
    --bind "enter:become:$EDITOR {1} +{2}"

conditional preview toggle

fzf --preview 'file-preview {1}' \
    --preview-window 'right:60%:wrap' \
    --bind 'ctrl-/:toggle-preview' \
    --bind 'ctrl-w:change-preview-window(80%,border-bottom|hidden|)'

transform with state checking

fzf --bind 'ctrl-w:transform:
  [[ $FZF_BORDER_LABEL =~ Tabs ]] || exit
  close-tab {3}
  echo "reload:list-tabs"'

tips and tricks

1. use become for final action - cleaner than execute + kill fzf
2. combine +clear-selection after actions to reset
3. +bell for feedback on silent actions
4. transform: for conditional logic without external scripts
5. --read0 with \x0 for items containing newlines
6. --disabled + reload bindings for search-as-you-type
7. --header-first + --reverse for natural top-to-bottom flow
8. {+f} for vim quickfix when opening multiple files
9. --tiebreak index to preserve input order
10. $FZF_PREVIEW_COLUMNS for responsive preview commands