fzf Documentation

Technical Documentation: junegunn/fzf

ℹ️ Provenance: Multi-Tier Ingestion · CodeWiki Reference

Overview (`README.md`) Copy Section

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder and an interactive terminal toolkit.

Whether you're selecting files, browsing command history, previewing data,
navigating complex datasets with fuzzy matching, or creating custom menus and
workflows, fzf provides the building blocks to turn shell scripts into rich
terminal applications.

Highlights Copy Chapter

• Portable // Distributed as a single binary for easy installation
• Fast // Optimized to process millions of items in milliseconds
• Programmable // Event-driven architecture for building custom terminal interfaces and workflows
• Batteries-included // Comes with integrations for Bash, Zsh, Fish, Nushell, Vim, and Neovim

Table of Contents Copy Chapter

• Installation
  • Using Homebrew
  • Using Mise
  • Linux packages
  • Windows packages
  • Using git
  • Binary releases
  • Setting up shell integration
  • Vim/Neovim plugin
• Upgrading fzf
• Building fzf
• Usage
  • Using the finder
  • Display modes
    • --height mode
    • --popup mode
  • Search syntax
  • Environment variables
  • Customizing the look
  • Options
  • Demo
• Examples
• Key bindings for command-line
• Fuzzy completion
  • Files and directories
  • Process IDs
  • Host names
  • Environment variables / Aliases
  • Customizing fuzzy completion for bash and zsh
    • Customizing fzf options for completion
    • Customizing completion source for paths and directories
    • Supported commands (bash)
    • Custom fuzzy completion
  • Fuzzy completion for fish
  • Fuzzy completion for Nushell
• Vim plugin
• Advanced topics
  • Customizing for different types of input
  • Performance
  • Executing external programs
  • Turning into a different process
  • Reloading the candidate list
    • 1. Update the list of processes by pressing CTRL-R
    • 2. Switch between sources by pressing CTRL-D or CTRL-F
    • 3. Interactive ripgrep integration
  • Preview window
  • Previewing an image
• Tips
  • Respecting .gitignore
  • Fish shell
  • fzf Theme Playground
• Related projects
• License
• Goods
• Sponsors :heart:

Installation Copy Chapter

Using Homebrew Copy Section

You can use Homebrew (on macOS or Linux) to install fzf.

brew install fzf

[!IMPORTANT]
To set up shell integration (key bindings and fuzzy completion),
see the instructions below.

fzf is also available via MacPorts: sudo port install fzf

Using Mise Copy Section

You can use mise to install fzf.

mise use -g fzf@latest

Linux packages Copy Section

[!IMPORTANT]
To set up shell integration (key bindings and fuzzy completion),
see the instructions below.

Windows packages Copy Section

On Windows, fzf is available via Chocolatey, Scoop,
Winget, and MSYS2:

Using git Copy Section

Alternatively, you can "git clone" this repository to any directory and run
install script.

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install

The install script will add lines to your shell configuration file to modify
$PATH and set up shell integration.

Binary releases Copy Section

You can download the official fzf binaries from the releases page.

• https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/releases

Setting up shell integration Copy Section

Add the following line to your shell configuration file.

• bash
  sh Copy

  # Set up fzf key bindings and fuzzy completion
  eval "$(fzf --bash)"

• zsh
  sh Copy

  # Set up fzf key bindings and fuzzy completion
  source <(fzf --zsh)

• fish
  fish Copy

  # Set up fzf key bindings
  fzf --fish | source

• Nushell -- Nushell does not support piping into source, so the install
  script generates a file in the autoload directory. If you didn't use the
  install script, you can manually set it up:
  nu Copy

  # Generate the integration script
  mkdir ($nu.default-config-dir | path join "autoload")
  fzf --nushell | save -f ($nu.default-config-dir | path join "autoload" "_fzf_integration.nu")

[!NOTE]
--bash, --zsh, --fish, and --nushell options are only available in
recent versions of fzf. If you have an older version of fzf, or want finer control, you can
source individual script files in the /shell directory. The
location of the files may vary depending on the package manager you use.
Please refer to the package documentation for more information.
(e.g. apt show fzf)

[!TIP]
You can disable CTRL-T, CTRL-R, or ALT-C bindings by setting the
corresponding *_COMMAND variable to an empty string when sourcing the
script. For example, to disable CTRL-R and ALT-C:

• bash: FZF_CTRL_R_COMMAND= FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND= eval "$(fzf --bash)"
• zsh: FZF_CTRL_R_COMMAND= FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND= source <(fzf --zsh)
• fish: fzf --fish | FZF_CTRL_R_COMMAND= FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND= source
• nushell: add to your env.nu:
  $env.FZF_CTRL_R_COMMAND = ""; $env.FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND = ""

Setting the variables after sourcing the script will have no effect.

Vim/Neovim plugin Copy Section

If you use vim-plug, add this to
your Vim configuration file:

Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } }
Plug 'junegunn/fzf.vim'

• junegunn/fzf provides the basic library functions
  • fzf#install() makes sure that you have the latest binary
• junegunn/fzf.vim is a separate project
  that provides a variety of useful commands

To learn more about the Vim integration, see README-VIM.md.

[!TIP]
If you use Neovim and prefer Lua-based plugins, check out
fzf-lua.

Upgrading fzf Copy Chapter

fzf is being actively developed, and you might want to upgrade it once in a
while. Please follow the instruction below depending on the installation
method used.

• git: cd ~/.fzf && git pull && ./install
• brew: brew update; brew upgrade fzf
• macports: sudo port upgrade fzf
• chocolatey: choco upgrade fzf
• vim-plug: :PlugUpdate fzf

Building fzf Copy Chapter

See BUILD.md.

Usage Copy Chapter

fzf will launch interactive finder, read the list from STDIN, and write the
selected item to STDOUT.

find * -type f | fzf > selected

Without STDIN pipe, fzf will traverse the file system under the current
directory to get the list of files.

vim $(fzf)

[!NOTE]
You can override the default behavior

• Either by setting $FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND to a command that generates the desired list
• Or by setting --walker, --walker-root, and --walker-skip options in $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS

[!WARNING]
A more robust solution would be to use xargs but we've presented
the above as it's easier to grasp

sh Copy

fzf --print0 | xargs -0 -o vim

[!TIP]
fzf also has the ability to turn itself into a different process.

sh Copy

fzf --bind 'enter:become(vim {})'

See Turning into a different process
for more information.

Using the finder Copy Section

• CTRL-K / CTRL-J (or CTRL-P / CTRL-N) to move cursor up and down
• Enter key to select the item, CTRL-C / CTRL-G / ESC to exit
• On multi-select mode (-m), TAB and Shift-TAB to mark multiple items
• Emacs style key bindings
• Mouse: scroll, click, double-click; shift-click and shift-scroll on
  multi-select mode

Display modes Copy Section

fzf by default runs in fullscreen mode, but there are other display modes.

`--height` mode

With --height HEIGHT[%], fzf will start below the cursor with the given height.

fzf --height 40%

reverse layout and --border goes well with this option.

fzf --height 40% --layout reverse --border

By prepending ~ to the height, you're setting the maximum height.

# Will take as few lines as possible to display the list
seq 3 | fzf --height ~100%
seq 3000 | fzf --height ~100%

Height value can be a negative number.

# Screen height - 3
fzf --height -3

`--popup` mode

With --popup option, fzf will start in a popup window
(requires tmux 3.3+ or Zellij 0.44+).

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

fzf --popup center         # Center, 50% width and height
fzf --popup 80%            # Center, 80% width and height
fzf --popup 100%,50%       # Center, 100% width and 50% height
fzf --popup left,40%       # Left, 40% width
fzf --popup left,40%,90%   # Left, 40% width, 90% height
fzf --popup top,40%        # Top, 40% height
fzf --popup bottom,80%,40% # Bottom, 80% width, 40% height

--popup is silently ignored when you're not on tmux or Zellij.

[!NOTE]
If you're stuck with an old version of tmux that doesn't support popup,
or if you want to open fzf in a regular tmux pane, check out
fzf-tmux script.

[!TIP]
You can add these options to $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS so that they're applied by
default. For example,

sh Copy

# Open in a popup if on tmux or Zellij, otherwise use --height mode
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--height 40% --popup bottom,40% --layout reverse --border top'

Search syntax Copy Section

Unless otherwise specified, fzf starts in "extended-search mode" where you can
type in multiple search terms delimited by spaces. e.g. ^music .mp3$ sbtrkt !fire

If you don't prefer fuzzy matching and do not wish to "quote" every word,
start fzf with -e or --exact option. Note that when --exact is set,
'-prefix "unquotes" the term.

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.

^core go$ | rb$ | py$

Environment variables Copy Section

• FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND
  • Default command to use when input is tty
  • e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f'
• FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS
  • Default options
  • e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--layout=reverse --inline-info"
• FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS_FILE
  • If you prefer to manage default options in a file, set this variable to
    point to the location of the file
  • e.g. export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS_FILE=~/.fzfrc

[!WARNING]
FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND is not used by shell integration due to the
slight difference in requirements.

• CTRL-T runs $FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND to get a list of files and directories
• ALT-C runs $FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND to get a list of directories
• vim ~/**<tab> runs fzf_compgen_path() with the prefix (~/) as the first argument
• cd foo**<tab> runs fzf_compgen_dir() with the prefix (foo) as the first argument

The available options are described later in this document.

Customizing the look Copy Section

The user interface of fzf is fully customizable with a large number of
configuration options. For a quick setup, you can start with one of the style
presets -- default, full, or minimal -- using the --style option.

fzf --style full \
    --preview 'fzf-preview.sh {}' --bind 'focus:transform-header:file --brief {}'

Here's an example based on the full preset:

git ls-files | fzf --style full \
    --border --padding 1,2 \
    --border-label ' Demo ' --input-label ' Input ' --header-label ' File Type ' \
    --preview 'fzf-preview.sh {}' \
    --bind 'result:transform-list-label:
        if [[ -z $FZF_QUERY ]]; then
          echo " $FZF_MATCH_COUNT items "
        else
          echo " $FZF_MATCH_COUNT matches for [$FZF_QUERY] "
        fi
        ' \
    --bind 'focus:transform-preview-label:[[ -n {} ]] && printf " Previewing [%s] " {}' \
    --bind 'focus:+transform-header:file --brief {} || echo "No file selected"' \
    --bind 'ctrl-r:change-list-label( Reloading the list )+reload(sleep 2; git ls-files)' \
    --color 'border:#aaaaaa,label:#cccccc' \
    --color 'preview-border:#9999cc,preview-label:#ccccff' \
    --color 'list-border:#669966,list-label:#99cc99' \
    --color 'input-border:#996666,input-label:#ffcccc' \
    --color 'header-border:#6699cc,header-label:#99ccff'

Options Copy Section

See the man page (fzf --man or man fzf) for the full list of options.

Demo Copy Section

If you learn by watching videos, check out this screencast by @samoshkin to explore fzf features.

Examples Copy Chapter

• Wiki page of examples
  • Disclaimer: The examples on this page are maintained by the community
    and are not thoroughly tested
• Advanced fzf examples

Key bindings for command-line Copy Chapter

By setting up shell integration, you can use
the following key bindings in bash, zsh, fish, and Nushell.

• CTRL-T - Paste the selected files and directories onto the command-line
  • The list is generated using --walker file,dir,follow,hidden option
    • You can override the behavior by setting FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND to a custom command that generates the desired list
    • Or you can set --walker* options in FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS
  • Set FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS to pass additional options to fzf
    sh Copy

    # Preview file content using bat (https://github.com/sharkdp/bat)
    export FZF_CTRL_T_OPTS="
      --walker-skip .git,node_modules,target
      --preview 'bat -n --color=always {}'
      --bind 'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(down|hidden|)'"

  • Can be disabled by setting FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND to an empty string when
    sourcing the script
• CTRL-R - Paste the selected command from history onto the command-line.
  • Select multiple commands with TAB.
  • If you want to see the commands in chronological order, press CTRL-R
    again which toggles sorting by relevance
  • Press ALT-R to toggle "raw" mode where you can see the surrounding items
    of a match. In this mode, you can press CTRL-N and CTRL-P to move
    between the matching items only.
  • Press CTRL-/ or ALT-/ to toggle line wrapping
  • Press SHIFT-DELETE to delete the selected commands (bash and fish)
  • Fish shell only:
    • Press ALT-ENTER to reformat and insert the selected commands
    • Press ALT-T to cycle through command prefix (timestamp, date/time, none)
  • Set FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS to pass additional options to fzf
    sh Copy

    # CTRL-Y to copy the command into clipboard using pbcopy
    export FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS="
      --bind 'ctrl-y:execute-silent(echo -n {2..} | pbcopy)+abort'
      --color header:italic
      --header 'Press CTRL-Y to copy command into clipboard'"

    fish Copy

    # Fish shell: Set date/time as default prefix
    set -gx FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS "--with-nth 1,3.. --bind 'alt-t:change-with-nth(2..|3..|1,3..)'"
    
    # Or display no prefix by default
    set -gx FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS "--with-nth 3.. --bind 'alt-t:change-with-nth(2..|1,3..|3..)'"

  • Can be disabled by setting FZF_CTRL_R_COMMAND to an empty string when
    sourcing the script
  • Custom override via a non-empty FZF_CTRL_R_COMMAND is not yet supported and will emit a warning
• ALT-C - cd into the selected directory
  • The list is generated using --walker dir,follow,hidden option
  • Set FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND to override the default command
    • Or you can set --walker-* options in FZF_ALT_C_OPTS
  • Set FZF_ALT_C_OPTS to pass additional options to fzf
    sh Copy

    # Print tree structure in the preview window
    export FZF_ALT_C_OPTS="
      --walker-skip .git,node_modules,target
      --preview 'tree -C {}'"

  • Can be disabled by setting FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND to an empty string when
    sourcing the script

Display modes for these bindings can be separately configured via
FZF_{CTRL_T,CTRL_R,ALT_C}_OPTS or globally via FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS.
(e.g. FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS='--popup bottom,60% --height 60% --border top')

More tips can be found on the wiki page.

Fuzzy completion Copy Chapter

Shell integration also provides fuzzy completion for bash, zsh, fish, and Nushell.

Files and directories Copy Section

Fuzzy completion for files and directories can be triggered if the word before
the cursor ends with the trigger sequence, which is by default **.

• COMMAND [DIRECTORY/][FUZZY_PATTERN]**<TAB>

# Files under the current directory
# - You can select multiple items with TAB key
vim **<TAB>

# Files under parent directory
vim ../**<TAB>

# Files under parent directory that match `fzf`
vim ../fzf**<TAB>

# Files under your home directory
vim ~/**<TAB>


# Directories under current directory (single-selection)
cd **<TAB>

# Directories under ~/github that match `fzf`
cd ~/github/fzf**<TAB>

Process IDs Copy Section

Fuzzy completion for PIDs is provided for kill command.

# Can select multiple processes with <TAB> or <Shift-TAB> keys
kill -9 **<TAB>

Host names Copy Section

For ssh command, fuzzy completion for hostnames is provided. The names are
extracted from /etc/hosts and ~/.ssh/config.

ssh **<TAB>

Environment variables / Aliases Copy Section

# bash and zsh
unset **<TAB>
export **<TAB>
unalias **<TAB>

# fish
set <SHIFT-TAB>

Customizing fuzzy completion for bash and zsh Copy Section

Customizing fzf options for completion

# Use ~~ as the trigger sequence instead of the default **
export FZF_COMPLETION_TRIGGER='~~'

# Options to fzf command
export FZF_COMPLETION_OPTS='--border --info=inline'

# Options for path completion (e.g. vim **<TAB>)
export FZF_COMPLETION_PATH_OPTS='--walker file,dir,follow,hidden'

# Options for directory completion (e.g. cd **<TAB>)
export FZF_COMPLETION_DIR_OPTS='--walker dir,follow'

# Advanced customization of fzf options via _fzf_comprun function
# - The first argument to the function is the name of the command.
# - You should make sure to pass the rest of the arguments ($@) to fzf.
_fzf_comprun() {
  local command=$1
  shift

  case "$command" in
    cd)           fzf --preview 'tree -C {} | head -200'   "$@" ;;
    export|unset) fzf --preview "eval 'echo \$'{}"         "$@" ;;
    ssh)          fzf --preview 'dig {}'                   "$@" ;;
    *)            fzf --preview 'bat -n --color=always {}' "$@" ;;
  esac
}

Customizing completion source for paths and directories

# Use fd (https://github.com/sharkdp/fd) for listing path candidates.
# - The first argument to the function ($1) is the base path to start traversal
# - See the source code (completion.{bash,zsh}) for the details.
_fzf_compgen_path() {
  fd --hidden --follow --exclude ".git" . "$1"
}

# Use fd to generate the list for directory completion
_fzf_compgen_dir() {
  fd --type d --hidden --follow --exclude ".git" . "$1"
}

Supported commands (bash)

On bash, fuzzy completion is enabled only for a predefined set of commands
(complete | grep _fzf to see the list). But you can enable it for other
commands as well by using _fzf_setup_completion helper function.

# usage: _fzf_setup_completion path|dir|var|alias|host COMMANDS...
_fzf_setup_completion path ag git kubectl
_fzf_setup_completion dir tree

Custom fuzzy completion

(Custom completion API is experimental and subject to change)

For a command named "COMMAND", define _fzf_complete_COMMAND function using
_fzf_complete helper.

# Custom fuzzy completion for "doge" command
#   e.g. doge **<TAB>
_fzf_complete_doge() {
  _fzf_complete --multi --reverse --prompt="doge> " -- "$@" < <(
    echo very
    echo wow
    echo such
    echo doge
  )
}

• The arguments before -- are the options to fzf.
• After --, simply pass the original completion arguments unchanged ("$@").
• Then, write a set of commands that generates the completion candidates and
  feed its output to the function using process substitution (< <(...)).

zsh will automatically pick up the function using the naming convention but in
bash you have to manually associate the function with the command using the
complete command.

[ -n "$BASH" ] && complete -F _fzf_complete_doge -o default -o bashdefault doge

If you need to post-process the output from fzf, define
_fzf_complete_COMMAND_post as follows.

_fzf_complete_foo() {
  _fzf_complete --multi --reverse --header-lines=3 -- "$@" < <(
    ls -al
  )
}

_fzf_complete_foo_post() {
  awk '{print $NF}'
}

[ -n "$BASH" ] && complete -F _fzf_complete_foo -o default -o bashdefault foo

Fuzzy completion for fish Copy Section

Fuzzy completion for fish differs from bash and zsh in that:

• It doesn't require a trigger sequence like **. Instead, if activates
  on Shift-TAB (replacing the native pager search mode), while TAB preserves
  fish's native completion behavior.
• It relies on fish's native completion system to populate the candidate list,
  rather than performing a recursive file system traversal. For recursive
  searching, use the CTRL-T binding instead.
• If the current command line token is a wildcard pattern, it performs search on
  the wildcard expansion path list (instead of the native behavior of inserting
  all the results in command line). Because the shell is used for the expansion,
  there is a limit in the number of results.
• The only supported configuration variables are FZF_COMPLETION_OPTS and
  FZF_EXPANSION_OPS.
• The function that is used by custom completion functions is named
  fzf_complete, which only accepts fzf options as arguments, and can be also
  called without any redirected input, to just modify fzf options while
  presenting the native completion results. For compatibility with other shells,
  a function named _fzf_complete is provided, that can accept -- $argv in
  its command line arguments, after fzf options.

For commands that are not covered by fish completions, it is better to create
regular fish completion functions (which will work for both TAB and
Shift-TAB), and create fzf completion functions only when needing to modify
fzf options for a specific command or want different results for Shift-TAB:

# Customize git completion
function _fzf_complete_git
  # Show header text with active branch for all git completions
  set -lx -- FZF_COMPLETION_OPTS --header="'"(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null)"'"

  # No other changes when less than 3 arguments, or when completing options
  if not set -q argv[3]; or string match -q -- '-*' $argv[-1]
    fzf_complete
    return
  end

  # Check subcommand
  switch $argv[2]
    case checkout diff log show
      # Set preview and display all branches and commits for subcommands: checkout, diff, log, show
      begin
        git branch --all --format='%(refname:short)'
        git log --all --oneline --color=always
      end | fzf_complete --no-multi --ansi --accept-nth=1 --query=$argv[-1] --preview='git show --color=always {1}'

    case add rm mv
      # Only set preview for subcommands: add, rm, mv
      # Special characters in fish completion lists are escaped, so the r flag must be used.
      fzf_complete --preview="git diff --color=always {r1}"

    case '*'
      # No changes for other subcommands
      fzf_complete
  end
end

Similar to bash and zsh, the output of fzf can be processed before inserted in
command line, by defining a function named _fzf_complete_COMMAND_post or
_fzf_post_complete_COMMAND:

function _fzf_complete_foo
  ls -sh --zero --color=always | fzf_complete --read0 --print0 --ansi --no-multi-line --header-lines=1
end

function _fzf_post_complete_foo
  while read -lz result
    string escape -n -- $result | string trim -l -c '\ ' | string split -m 1 -f 2 ' '
  end
end

Fuzzy completion for Nushell Copy Section

Fuzzy completion in Nushell works via the
external completer
mechanism. There are some differences compared to bash and zsh:

• On Nushell >= 0.103.0, the external completer is no longer called for
  built-in commands (e.g. cd, ls). Fuzzy completion with **<TAB> only
  works for external commands.
• Custom completers can be defined via the $env.FZF_COMPLETERS record in
  your config.nu. Each entry is a closure that receives the prefix and the
  command spans, and returns either a list of candidate strings or a record
  { candidates: [...], opts: [...] } for custom fzf options:
  nu Copy

  $env.FZF_COMPLETERS = {
      pacman: {|prefix, spans|
          let sub = $spans | skip 1 | first
          let candidates = (if ($sub =~ "-[SF]") { ^pacman -Slq | lines
          } else if ($sub =~ "-[QR]") { ^pacman -Qq | lines
          } else { [] })
          { candidates: $candidates, opts: ["--preview", "pacman -Si {}"] }
      }
  }

  See shell/completion-examples.nu for more
  examples.
• The following environment variables are supported:
  FZF_COMPLETION_TRIGGER, FZF_COMPLETION_OPTS,
  FZF_COMPLETION_PATH_OPTS, FZF_COMPLETION_DIR_OPTS,
  FZF_COMPLETION_DIR_COMMANDS.

Vim plugin Copy Chapter

See README-VIM.md.

Advanced topics Copy Chapter

Customizing for different types of input Copy Section

Since fzf is a general-purpose text filter, its algorithm was designed to
"generally" work well with any kind of input. However, admittedly, there is no
true one-size-fits-all solution, and you may want to tweak the algorithm and
some of the settings depending on the type of the input. To make this process
easier, fzf provides a set of "scheme"s for some common input types.

(See fzf --man for the details)

Performance Copy Section

fzf is fast. Performance should not be a problem in most use cases. However,
you might want to be aware of the options that can affect performance.

• --ansi tells fzf to extract and parse ANSI color codes in the input, and it
  makes the initial scanning slower. So it's not recommended that you add it
  to your $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS.
• --nth makes fzf slower because it has to tokenize each line.
• A plain string --delimiter should be preferred over a regular expression
  delimiter.
• --with-nth makes fzf slower as fzf has to tokenize and reassemble each
  line.

Executing external programs Copy Section

You can set up key bindings for starting external processes without leaving
fzf (execute, execute-silent).

# Press F1 to open the file with less without leaving fzf
# Press CTRL-Y to copy the line to clipboard and aborts fzf (requires pbcopy)
fzf --bind 'f1:execute(less -f {}),ctrl-y:execute-silent(echo {} | pbcopy)+abort'

See KEY/EVENT BINDINGS section of the man page for details.

Turning into a different process Copy Section

become(...) is similar to execute(...)/execute-silent(...) described
above, but instead of executing the command and coming back to fzf on
complete, it turns fzf into a new process for the command.

fzf --bind 'enter:become(vim {})'

Compared to the seemingly equivalent command substitution vim "$(fzf)", this
approach has several advantages:

• Vim will not open an empty file when you terminate fzf with
  CTRL-C
• Vim will not open an empty file when you press ENTER on an empty
  result
• Can handle multiple selections even when they have whitespaces
  sh Copy

  fzf --multi --bind 'enter:become(vim {+})'

To be fair, running fzf --print0 | xargs -0 -o vim instead of vim "$(fzf)"
resolves all of the issues mentioned. Nonetheless, become(...) still offers
additional benefits in different scenarios.

• You can set up multiple bindings to handle the result in different ways
  without any wrapping script
  sh Copy

  fzf --bind 'enter:become(vim {}),ctrl-e:become(emacs {})'

  • Previously, you would have to use --expect=ctrl-e and check the first
    line of the output of fzf
• You can easily build the subsequent command using the field index
  expressions of fzf
  sh Copy

  # Open the file in Vim and go to the line
  git grep --line-number . |
      fzf --delimiter : --nth 3.. --bind 'enter:become(vim {1} +{2})'

Reloading the candidate list Copy Section

By binding reload action to a key or an event, you can make fzf dynamically
reload the candidate list. See https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/issues/1750 for
more details.

1. 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 \
      --height=50% --layout=reverse

2. Switch between sources by pressing CTRL-D or CTRL-F

FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='find . -type f' \
  fzf --bind 'ctrl-d:reload(find . -type d),ctrl-f:reload(eval "$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND")' \
      --height=50% --layout=reverse

3. Interactive ripgrep integration

The following example uses fzf as the selector interface for ripgrep. We bound
reload action to change event, so every time you type on fzf, the ripgrep
process will restart with the updated query string denoted by the placeholder
expression {q}. Also, note that we used --disabled option so that fzf
doesn't perform any secondary filtering.

: | rg_prefix='rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case' \
    fzf --bind 'start:reload:$rg_prefix ""' \
        --bind 'change:reload:$rg_prefix {q} || true' \
        --bind 'enter:become(vim {1} +{2})' \
        --ansi --disabled \
        --height=50% --layout=reverse

If ripgrep doesn't find any matches, it will exit with a non-zero exit status,
and fzf will warn you about it. To suppress the warning message, we added
|| true to the command, so that it always exits with 0.

See "Using fzf as interactive Ripgrep launcher"
for more sophisticated examples.

Preview window Copy Section

When the --preview option is set, fzf automatically starts an external process
with the current line as the argument and shows the result in the split window.
Your $SHELL is used to execute the command with $SHELL -c COMMAND.
The window can be scrolled using the mouse or custom key bindings.

# {} is replaced with the single-quoted string of the focused line
fzf --preview 'cat {}'

Preview window supports ANSI colors, so you can use any program that
syntax-highlights the content of a file, such as
Bat or
Highlight:

fzf --preview 'bat --color=always {}' --preview-window '~3'

You can customize the size, position, and border of the preview window using
--preview-window option, and the foreground and background color of it with
--color option. For example,

fzf --height 40% --layout reverse --info inline --border \
    --preview 'file {}' --preview-window up,1,border-horizontal \
    --bind 'ctrl-/:change-preview-window(50%|hidden|)' \
    --color 'fg:#bbccdd,fg+:#ddeeff,bg:#334455,preview-bg:#223344,border:#778899'

See the man page (man fzf) for the full list of options.

More advanced examples can be found here.

[!WARNING]
Since fzf is a general-purpose text filter rather than a file finder, it is
not a good idea to add --preview option to your $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS.

sh Copy

# *********************
# ** DO NOT DO THIS! **
# *********************
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--preview "bat --style=numbers --color=always --line-range :500 {}"'

# bat doesn't work with any input other than the list of files
ps -ef | fzf
seq 100 | fzf
history | fzf

Previewing an image Copy Section

fzf can display images in the preview window using one of the following protocols:

• Kitty graphics protocol
• iTerm2 inline images protocol
• Sixel

See bin/fzf-preview.sh script for more information.

fzf --preview 'fzf-preview.sh {}'

Tips Copy Chapter

Respecting `.gitignore` Copy Section

You can use fd,
ripgrep, or the silver
searcher to traverse the file
system while respecting .gitignore.

# Feed the output of fd into fzf
fd --type f --strip-cwd-prefix | fzf

# Setting fd as the default source for fzf
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --strip-cwd-prefix'

# Now fzf (w/o pipe) will use the fd command to generate the list
fzf

# To apply the command to CTRL-T as well
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND="$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND"

If you want the command to follow symbolic links and don't want it to exclude
hidden files, use the following command:

export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --strip-cwd-prefix --hidden --follow --exclude .git'

Fish shell Copy Section

CTRL-T key binding of fish, unlike those of bash and zsh, will use the last
token on the command-line as the root directory for the recursive search. For
instance, hitting CTRL-T at the end of the following command-line

ls /var/

will list all files and directories under /var/.

When using a custom FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND, use the unexpanded $dir variable to
make use of this feature. $dir defaults to . when the last token is not a
valid directory. Example:

set -g FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND "command find -L \$dir -type f 2> /dev/null | sed '1d; s#^\./##'"

fzf Theme Playground Copy Section

fzf Theme Playground created by
Vitor Mello is a webpage where you can
interactively create fzf themes.

Related projects Copy Chapter

https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/wiki/Related-projects

[License](LICENSE) Copy Chapter

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2013-2026 Junegunn Choi

Goods Copy Chapter

Grab fzf T-shirts, mugs, and stickers here: https://commitgoods.com/collections/fzf

Sponsors :heart: Copy Chapter

I would like to thank all the sponsors of this project who make it possible for me to continue to improve fzf.

If you'd like to sponsor this project, please visit https://github.com/sponsors/junegunn.

Doc Fzf (`doc/fzf.txt`) Copy Section

fzf.txt fzf Last change: February 15 2024 FZF - TABLE OF CONTENTS *fzf* *fzf-toc*

FZF Vim integration |fzf-vim-integration|
Installation |fzf-installation|
Summary |fzf-summary|
:FZF[!] |:FZF|
Configuration |fzf-configuration|
Examples |fzf-examples|
Explanation of g:fzf_colors |fzf-explanation-of-gfzfcolors|
fzf#run |fzf#run|
fzf#wrap |fzf#wrap|
Global options supported by fzf#wrap |fzf-global-options-supported-by-fzf#wrap|
Tips |fzf-tips|
fzf inside terminal buffer |fzf-inside-terminal-buffer|
Starting fzf in a Vim popup window |fzf-starting-fzf-in-a-vim-popup-window|
Starting fzf in a tmux/Zellij popup window |fzf-starting-fzf-in-a-tmuxzellij-popup-window|
Hide statusline |fzf-hide-statusline|
License |fzf-license|

FZF VIM INTEGRATION *fzf-vim-integration*

INSTALLATION *fzf-installation*

Once you have fzf installed, you can enable it inside Vim simply by adding the
directory to 'runtimepath' in your Vim configuration file. The path may differ
depending on the package manager.

" If installed using Homebrew
set rtp+=/usr/local/opt/fzf

" If installed using Homebrew on Apple Silicon
set rtp+=/opt/homebrew/opt/fzf

" If you have cloned fzf on ~/.fzf directory
set rtp+=~/.fzf

<
If you use {vim-plug}{1}, the same can be written as:

" If installed using Homebrew
Plug '/usr/local/opt/fzf'

" If installed using Homebrew on Apple Silicon
Plug '/opt/homebrew/opt/fzf'

" If you have cloned fzf on ~/.fzf directory
Plug '~/.fzf'

<
But if you want the latest Vim plugin file from GitHub rather than the one
included in the package, write:

Plug 'junegunn/fzf'

<
The Vim plugin will pick up fzf binary available on the system. If fzf is not
found on $PATH, it will ask you if it should download the latest binary for
you.

To make sure that you have the latest version of the binary, set up
post-update hook like so:

*fzf#install*

Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } }

<
{1} https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug

SUMMARY *fzf-summary*

The Vim plugin of fzf provides two core functions, and :FZF command which is
the basic file selector command built on top of them.

1. fzf#run([spec dict])

• Starts fzf inside Vim with the given spec
• :call fzf#run({'source': 'ls'})

2. fzf#wrap([spec dict]) -> (dict)

• Takes a spec for fzf#run and returns an extended version of it with
  additional options for addressing global preferences (g:fzf_xxx)
  • :echo fzf#wrap({'source': 'ls'})
• We usually wrap a spec with fzf#wrap before passing it to fzf#run
  • :call fzf#run(fzf#wrap({'source': 'ls'}))

3. :FZF [fzf_options string] [path string]

• Basic fuzzy file selector
• A reference implementation for those who don't want to write VimScript to
  implement custom commands
• If you're looking for more such commands, check out {fzf.vim}{2} project.

The most important of all is fzf#run, but it would be easier to understand
the whole if we start off with :FZF command.

{2} https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.vim

:FZF[!]

*:FZF*

" Look for files under current directory
:FZF

" Look for files under your home directory
:FZF ~

" With fzf command-line options
:FZF --reverse --info=inline /tmp

" Bang version starts fzf in fullscreen mode
:FZF!

<
Similarly to {ctrlp.vim}{3}, use Enter key, CTRL-T, CTRL-X or CTRL-V to open
selected files in the current window, in new tabs, in horizontal splits, or in
vertical splits respectively.

Note that the environment variables FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND and
FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS also apply here.

{3} https://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim

< Configuration >_____________________________________________________________~
fzf-configuration

*g:fzf_action* *g:fzf_layout* *g:fzf_colors* *g:fzf_history_dir*

• g:fzf_action
  • Customizable extra key bindings for opening selected files in different
    ways
• g:fzf_layout
  • Determines the size and position of fzf window
• g:fzf_colors
  • Customizes fzf colors to match the current color scheme
• g:fzf_history_dir
  • Enables history feature

Examples~
fzf-examples

" This is the default extra key bindings
let g:fzf_action = {
  \ 'ctrl-t': 'tab split',
  \ 'ctrl-x': 'split',
  \ 'ctrl-v': 'vsplit' }

" An action can be a reference to a function that processes selected lines
function! s:build_quickfix_list(lines)
  call setqflist(map(copy(a:lines), '{ "filename": v:val, "lnum": 1 }'))
  copen
  cc
endfunction

let g:fzf_action = {
  \ 'ctrl-q': function('s:build_quickfix_list'),
  \ 'ctrl-t': 'tab split',
  \ 'ctrl-x': 'split',
  \ 'ctrl-v': 'vsplit' }

" Default fzf layout
if exists('$TMUX') || exists('$ZELLIJ')
  " The Vim plugin will try to open fzf in a tmux or Zellij popup
  " if possible (requires recent fzf and tmux/zellij) using --popup option,
  " with the following argument:
  let g:fzf_layout = { 'popup': '90%,60%' }
else
  " If --popup option is not available, it will open in a popup window inside
  " Vim (center of the screen)
  let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': { 'width': 0.9, 'height': 0.6 } }
endif

" Here are some more layout examples:

" - Tmux or Zellij popup at the bottom 40%
let g:fzf_layout = { 'popup': 'bottom,40%' }

" - Tmux or Zellij popup at the top with a different size
let g:fzf_layout = { 'popup': 'top,90%,40%' }

" - Vim popup window: at the center of the current window (relative)
let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': { 'width': 0.9, 'height': 0.6, 'relative': v:true } }

" - Vim popup window: anchored to the bottom of the current window
let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': { 'width': 0.9, 'height': 0.6, 'relative': v:true, 'yoffset': 1.0 } }

" - Vim split window: down / up / left / right
let g:fzf_layout = { 'down': '40%' }

" - Vim window using a Vim command
let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': 'enew' }
let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': '-tabnew' }
let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': '10new' }

" Customize fzf colors to match your color scheme
" - fzf#wrap translates this to a set of `--color` options
let g:fzf_colors =
\ { 'fg':      ['fg', 'Normal'],
  \ 'bg':      ['bg', 'Normal'],
  \ 'hl':      ['fg', 'Comment'],
  \ 'fg+':     ['fg', 'CursorLine', 'CursorColumn', 'Normal'],
  \ 'bg+':     ['bg', 'CursorLine', 'CursorColumn'],
  \ 'hl+':     ['fg', 'Statement'],
  \ 'info':    ['fg', 'PreProc'],
  \ 'border':  ['fg', 'Ignore'],
  \ 'prompt':  ['fg', 'Conditional'],
  \ 'pointer': ['fg', 'Exception'],
  \ 'marker':  ['fg', 'Keyword'],
  \ 'spinner': ['fg', 'Label'],
  \ 'header':  ['fg', 'Comment'] }

" Enable per-command history
" - History files will be stored in the specified directory
" - When set, CTRL-N and CTRL-P will be bound to 'next-history' and
"   'previous-history' instead of 'down' and 'up'.
let g:fzf_history_dir = '~/.local/share/fzf-history'

<

Explanation of g:fzf_colors~
fzf-explanation-of-gfzfcolors

g:fzf_colors is a dictionary mapping fzf elements to a color specification
list:

element: [ component, group1 [, group2, ...] ]

<

• element is an fzf element to apply a color to:

----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------
Element | Description ~
----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------
fg / bg / hl | Item (foreground / background / highlight)
fg+ / bg+ / hl+ | Current item (foreground / background / highlight)
preview-fg / preview-bg | Preview window text and background
gutter | Background of the gutter on the left
pointer | Pointer to the current line ( > )
marker | Multi-select marker ( > )
border | Border around the window ( --border and --preview )
header | Header ( --header or --header-lines )
info | Info line (match counters)
spinner | Streaming input indicator
query | Query string
disabled | Query string when search is disabled
prompt | Prompt before query ( > )
----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------

• component specifies the component (fg / bg) from which to extract the
  color when considering each of the following highlight groups
• group1 [, group2, ...] is a list of highlight groups that are searched (in
  order) for a matching color definition

For example, consider the following specification:

'prompt':  ['fg', 'Conditional', 'Comment'],

<
This means we color the prompt - using the fg attribute of the Conditional
if it exists, - otherwise use the fg attribute of the Comment highlight
group if it exists, - otherwise fall back to the default color settings for
the prompt.

You can examine the color option generated according to the setting by printing
the result of fzf#wrap() function like so:

:echo fzf#wrap()

<

FZF#RUN

*fzf#run*

fzf#run() function is the core of Vim integration. It takes a single
dictionary argument, a spec, and starts fzf process accordingly. At the very
least, specify sink option to tell what it should do with the selected
entry.

call fzf#run({'sink': 'e'})

<
We haven't specified the source, so this is equivalent to starting fzf on
command line without standard input pipe; fzf will traverse the file system
under the current directory to get the list of files. (If
$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND is set, fzf will use the output of the command
instead.) When you select one, it will open it with the sink, :e command. If
you want to open it in a new tab, you can pass :tabedit command instead as
the sink.

call fzf#run({'sink': 'tabedit'})

<
You can use any shell command as the source to generate the list. The
following example will list the files managed by git. It's equivalent to
running git ls-files | fzf on shell.

call fzf#run({'source': 'git ls-files', 'sink': 'e'})

<
fzf options can be specified as options entry in spec dictionary.

call fzf#run({'sink': 'tabedit', 'options': '--multi --reverse'})

<
You can also pass a layout option if you don't want fzf window to take up the
entire screen.

" up / down / left / right / window are allowed
call fzf#run({'source': 'git ls-files', 'sink': 'e', 'left': '40%'})
call fzf#run({'source': 'git ls-files', 'sink': 'e', 'window': '30vnew'})

<
source doesn't have to be an external shell command, you can pass a Vim
array as the source. In the next example, we pass the names of color schemes
as the source to implement a color scheme selector.

call fzf#run({'source': map(split(globpath(&rtp, 'colors/*.vim')),
            \               'fnamemodify(v:val, ":t:r")'),
            \ 'sink': 'colo', 'left': '25%'})

<
The following table summarizes the available options.

---------------------------+---------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------
Option name | Type | Description ~
---------------------------+---------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------
source | string | External command to generate input to fzf (e.g. find . )
source | list | Vim list as input to fzf
sink | string | Vim command to handle the selected item (e.g. e , tabe )
sink | funcref | Function to be called with each selected item
sinklist (or sink* ) | funcref | Similar to sink , but takes the list of output lines at once
exit | funcref | Function to be called with the exit status of fzf (e.g. 0, 1, 2, 130)
options | string/list | Options to fzf
dir | string | Working directory
up / down / left / right | number/string | (Layout) Window position and size (e.g. 20 , 50% )
popup / tmux | string | (Layout) --popup options (e.g. 90%,70% )
window (Vim 8 / Neovim) | string | (Layout) Command to open fzf window (e.g. vertical aboveleft 30new )
window (Vim 8 / Neovim) | dict | (Layout) Popup window settings (e.g. {'width': 0.9, 'height': 0.6} )
---------------------------+---------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------

options entry can be either a string or a list. For simple cases, string
should suffice, but prefer to use list type to avoid escaping issues.

call fzf#run({'options': '--reverse --prompt "C:\\Program Files\\"'})
call fzf#run({'options': ['--reverse', '--prompt', 'C:\Program Files\']})

<
When window entry is a dictionary, fzf will start in a popup window. The
following options are allowed:

• Required:
  • width [float range [0 ~ 1]] or [integer range [8 ~ ]]
  • height [float range [0 ~ 1]] or [integer range [4 ~ ]]
• Optional:
  • yoffset [float default 0.5 range [0 ~ 1]]
  • xoffset [float default 0.5 range [0 ~ 1]]
  • relative [boolean default v:false]
  • border [string default rounded (sharp on Windows)]: Border style
    • rounded / sharp / horizontal / vertical / top / bottom / left / right / no[ne]

FZF#WRAP

*fzf#wrap*

We have seen that several aspects of :FZF command can be configured with a
set of global option variables; different ways to open files (g:fzf_action),
window position and size (g:fzf_layout), color palette (g:fzf_colors),
etc.

So how can we make our custom fzf#run calls also respect those variables?
Simply by "wrapping" the spec dictionary with fzf#wrap before passing it to
fzf#run.

• fzf#wrap([name string], [spec dict], [fullscreen bool]) -> (dict)
  • All arguments are optional. Usually we only need to pass a spec
    dictionary.
  • name is for managing history files. It is ignored if g:fzf_history_dir
    is not defined.
  • fullscreen can be either 0 or 1 (default: 0).

fzf#wrap takes a spec and returns an extended version of it (also a
dictionary) with additional options for addressing global preferences. You can
examine the return value of it like so:

echo fzf#wrap({'source': 'ls'})

<
After we "wrap" our spec, we pass it to fzf#run.

call fzf#run(fzf#wrap({'source': 'ls'}))

<
Now it supports CTRL-T, CTRL-V, and CTRL-X key bindings (configurable via
g:fzf_action) and it opens fzf window according to g:fzf_layout setting.

To make it easier to use, let's define LS command.

command! LS call fzf#run(fzf#wrap({'source': 'ls'}))

<
Type :LS and see how it works.

We would like to make :LS! (bang version) open fzf in fullscreen, just like
:FZF!. Add -bang to command definition, and use value to set the
last fullscreen argument of fzf#wrap (see :help ).

" On :LS!,  evaluates to '!', and '!0' becomes 1
command! -bang LS call fzf#run(fzf#wrap({'source': 'ls'}, 0))

<
Our :LS command will be much more useful if we can pass a directory argument
to it, so that something like :LS /tmp is possible.

command! -bang -complete=dir -nargs=? LS
    \ call fzf#run(fzf#wrap({'source': 'ls', 'dir': <q-args>}, 0))

<
Lastly, if you have enabled g:fzf_history_dir, you might want to assign a
unique name to our command and pass it as the first argument to fzf#wrap.

" The query history for this command will be stored as 'ls' inside g:fzf_history_dir.
" The name is ignored if g:fzf_history_dir is not defined.
command! -bang -complete=dir -nargs=? LS
    \ call fzf#run(fzf#wrap('ls', {'source': 'ls', 'dir': <q-args>}, 0))

<

< Global options supported by fzf#wrap >______________________________________~
fzf-global-options-supported-by-fzf#wrap

• g:fzf_layout
• g:fzf_action
  • Works only when no custom sink (or sinklist) is provided
    • Having custom sink usually means that each entry is not an ordinary
      file path (e.g. name of color scheme), so we can't blindly apply the
      same strategy (i.e. tabedit some-color-scheme doesn't make sense)
• g:fzf_colors
• g:fzf_history_dir

TIPS *fzf-tips*

< fzf inside terminal buffer >________________________________________________~
fzf-inside-terminal-buffer

When fzf is configured to start in a terminal buffer inside Vim or Neovim, you
may find the default ANSI colors to be different. In that case, configure the
colors using g:terminal_ansi_colors in regular Vim or g:terminal_color_x
in Neovim.

" Terminal colors for seoul256 color scheme
if has('nvim')
  let g:terminal_color_0 = '#4e4e4e'
  let g:terminal_color_1 = '#d68787'
  let g:terminal_color_2 = '#5f865f'
  let g:terminal_color_3 = '#d8af5f'
  let g:terminal_color_4 = '#85add4'
  let g:terminal_color_5 = '#d7afaf'
  let g:terminal_color_6 = '#87afaf'
  let g:terminal_color_7 = '#d0d0d0'
  let g:terminal_color_8 = '#626262'
  let g:terminal_color_9 = '#d75f87'
  let g:terminal_color_10 = '#87af87'
  let g:terminal_color_11 = '#ffd787'
  let g:terminal_color_12 = '#add4fb'
  let g:terminal_color_13 = '#ffafaf'
  let g:terminal_color_14 = '#87d7d7'
  let g:terminal_color_15 = '#e4e4e4'
else
  let g:terminal_ansi_colors = [
    \ '#4e4e4e', '#d68787', '#5f865f', '#d8af5f',
    \ '#85add4', '#d7afaf', '#87afaf', '#d0d0d0',
    \ '#626262', '#d75f87', '#87af87', '#ffd787',
    \ '#add4fb', '#ffafaf', '#87d7d7', '#e4e4e4'
  \ ]
endif

<

< Starting fzf in a Vim popup window >________________________________________~
fzf-starting-fzf-in-a-vim-popup-window

You can configure fzf to start in a Vim popup window by setting the window
key in g:fzf_layout.

" Required:
" - width [float range [0 ~ 1]] or [integer range [8 ~ ]]
" - height [float range [0 ~ 1]] or [integer range [4 ~ ]]
"
" Optional:
" - xoffset [float default 0.5 range [0 ~ 1]]
" - yoffset [float default 0.5 range [0 ~ 1]]
" - relative [boolean default v:false]
" - border [string default 'rounded']: Border style
"   - 'rounded' / 'sharp' / 'horizontal' / 'vertical' / 'top' / 'bottom' / 'left' / 'right'
let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': { 'width': 0.9, 'height': 0.6 } }

<

< Starting fzf in a tmux/Zellij popup window >________________________________~
fzf-starting-fzf-in-a-tmuxzellij-popup-window

fzf can also start in a popup of the multiplexer instead of a window inside
Vim, by putting a --popup option value in the popup key. tmux is
accepted as a synonym, just as --tmux is an alias of --popup.

The layout works on tmux 3.3 or above, or on Zellij 0.44 or above with fzf
0.71.0 or above. It is the default on tmux 3.7 or above with fzf 0.74.0 or
above, and on Zellij, where the pane is not modal: Vim keeps the window fzf
was started from visible, and you can switch to it while fzf is open. Below
those versions tmux gives a popup that cannot be left, so a window inside Vim
is the default there. On tmux, an explicit --border style also gives a modal
popup rather than a floating pane, because the native border of a tmux
floating pane cannot be removed. Drop --border to keep the floating pane and
its native border. Zellij keeps the floating pane either way, and hides its
native border when fzf draws one. Set g:fzf_layout yourself to choose either
one.

if exists('$TMUX') || exists('$ZELLIJ')
  " See `--popup` option in `man fzf` for available options
  " [center|top|bottom|left|right][,SIZE[%]][,SIZE[%]]
  let g:fzf_layout = { 'popup': '90%,70%' }
else
  " Configure the Vim popup window in case not on the multiplexer
  let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': { 'width': 0.9, 'height': 0.7 } }
endif

<

< Hide statusline >___________________________________________________________~
fzf-hide-statusline

When fzf starts in a terminal buffer, the file type of the buffer is set to
fzf. So you can set up FileType fzf autocmd to customize the settings of
the window. This applies to the layouts that open inside Vim, not to the tmux
or Zellij pane the default uses, which is not a buffer.

For example, if you open fzf on the bottom on the screen (e.g. {'down': '40%'}), you might want to temporarily disable the statusline for a cleaner
look.

let g:fzf_layout = { 'down': '30%' }
autocmd! FileType fzf
autocmd  FileType fzf set laststatus=0 noshowmode noruler
  \| autocmd BufLeave  set laststatus=2 showmode ruler

<

LICENSE *fzf-license*

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2013-2026 Junegunn Choi

==============================================================================
vim:tw=78:sw=2:ts=2:ft=help:norl:nowrap:

--- METRICS ---

• Files Extracted: 2
• Estimated Token Budget: ~16326 tokens
• Canonical Reference: https://codewiki.google/github.com/junegunn/fzf