CLI tools — Khai

A running list of command-line tools I use as a software engineer, with the setup and shortcuts worth remembering.

fzf

fzf is a general-purpose fuzzy finder for the command line. On its own it filters whatever you pipe into it, but the shell integration is what makes it useful day to day: it adds key bindings and Tab completion to your shell.

Install

1
brew install fzf

Other package managers (apt, pacman, choco, scoop, winget, mise) are listed in the fzf README.

Enable shell integration

Add one line to your shell config file:

Shell	Line
bash	`eval "$(fzf --bash)"`
zsh	`source <(fzf --zsh)`
fish	`fzf --fish \| source`

These flags need a recent fzf version. See shell integration setup.

Key bindings

Binding	What it does
`Ctrl+R`	Search command history and paste the selection. Press `Tab` to select several commands. Press `Ctrl+R` again to toggle between relevance and chronological order.
`Ctrl+T`	Fuzzy search files and directories and paste the selection onto the command line.
`Alt+C`	Fuzzy search directories and `cd` into the selection.

To disable a binding, set its *_COMMAND variable to an empty string before sourcing the script. For example, in bash: FZF_CTRL_R_COMMAND= FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND= eval "$(fzf --bash)". Setting the variable after sourcing has no effect. See key bindings.

Fuzzy completion

In bash and zsh, type ** after a command and press Tab:

1
vim **<Tab>          # files under the current directory
2
cd **<Tab>           # directories under the current directory
3
cd ~/github/fzf**<Tab>   # directories under ~/github matching "fzf"
4
kill -9 **<Tab>      # processes (Tab or Shift-Tab to multi-select)
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ssh **<Tab>          # hosts from /etc/hosts and ~/.ssh/config
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unset **<Tab>        # environment variables (also export, unalias)

The general pattern is COMMAND [DIRECTORY/][FUZZY_PATTERN]**<Tab>. Fish has no trigger and uses Shift+Tab instead. To change the trigger, set FZF_COMPLETION_TRIGGER, for example export FZF_COMPLETION_TRIGGER='~~'. See fuzzy completion.

Sources

Setup, key bindings, and completion details come from the fzf README. The README does not say how Alt+C behaves on macOS terminals, so verify that in your own terminal before relying on it.