TITLE: FZF in vim and bash
DATE: 2021-05-05
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
====================================================================


I took some time to get my notes in order and to properly implement 
FZF, both in Bash and Vim. I have known about FZF for a long time, 
and use it regularly to choose internet radio stations, but I know 
that it's a very adapatable program, and I'd seen some cool FZF 
applications online, so I wanted to try and use it more deeply for 
myself.

  [choose internet radio stations]: /2020/03/25/radio.html

First are the default variables. Like many others I use ripgrep to 
list files faster within FZF. By default I choose to show hidden 
files (--hidden), but exclude files inside .git directories (--glob 
"!.git/*"). I enable multi-selection with (-m) and enable ANSI 
colour codes (--ansi). These variables live in my ~/.bashrc.

  [ripgrep]: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep

    export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='rg --files --hidden --glob 
"!.git/*"'
    export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="-m --ansi"

I have a file-picker script, which smply lists files in the 
directory tree, with a preview window:

    #!/usr/bin/env bash

    files=($(fzf \
        --query="$1" \
        --multi \
        --select-1 \
        --exit-0 \
        --preview='bat --color=always --line-range=:100 {}' \
        --preview-window 'right:50%:sharp:+{2}-/3:~3'))
    [ -n "$files" ]] && ${EDITOR:-vim} "${files[@

I have the same functionality in vim using junegunn/fzf.vim, with 
nnoremap <Leader>p :Files<CR>, like the old ctrl-p plugin.

I have a similar script which instead searches both the contents 
and names of files:

    files=($(rg --line-number --no-heading --color=always 
--smart-case --hidden --glob "!.git/*" "${*:-}" | 
        fzf \
        --multi \
        --delimiter=: \
        --preview='bat --color=always {1} --highlight-line={2}' \
        --preview-window 'right:50%:sharp:+{2}-/3:~3' | 
        sed 's/:.*//'))
    [ -n "$files" ]] && ${EDITOR} "${files[@

In vim this is accomplished by nnoremap <Leader>f :Rg<CR>.

  ![File contents search](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/fzf/f.png)

A neat extra feature I have in vim is to search from the root of a 
git repository:

    command! -bang -nargs=* ProjRg
        \ call fzf#vim#grep(
        \ "rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always 
--smart-case --hidden --glob \"!.git/*\" -- 
".shellescape(<q-args>), 1,
        \ fzf#vim#with_preview({'dir': systemlist('git rev-parse 
--show-toplevel')[0]}), <bang>0)
    nnoremap <Leader>g :ProjRg<CR>

This bash script searches the macOS Applications directory to allow 
me to open GUI apps from the terminal:

    #!/usr/bin/env bash

    open "$(find /Applications -name '*app' -maxdepth 1 |\
        sed 's|\/Applications\/\(.*\).app|\1|' |\
        fzf |\
        sed 's|$|.app|' |\
        sed 's|^|\/Applications\/|')"

  ![macOS application 
launcher](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/fzf/fapp.png)