# fd
[](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd/actions/workflows/CICD.yml)
[](https://crates.io/crates/fd-find)
[[中文](https://github.com/cha0ran/fd-zh)]
[[한국어](https://github.com/spearkkk/fd-kor)]
`fd` is a program to find entries in your filesystem.
It is a simple, fast and user-friendly alternative to [`find`](https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/).
While it does not aim to support all of `find`'s powerful functionality, it provides sensible
(opinionated) defaults for a majority of use cases.
[Installation](#installation) • [How to use](#how-to-use) • [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
## Features
* Intuitive syntax: `fd PATTERN` instead of `find -iname '*PATTERN*'`.
* Regular expression (default) and glob-based patterns.
* [Very fast](#benchmark) due to parallelized directory traversal.
* Uses colors to highlight different file types (same as `ls`).
* Supports [parallel command execution](#command-execution)
* Smart case: the search is case-insensitive by default. It switches to
case-sensitive if the pattern contains an uppercase
character[\*](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/options.html#'smartcase').
* Ignores hidden directories and files, by default.
* Ignores patterns from your `.gitignore`, by default.
* The command name is *50%* shorter[\*](https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher) than
`find` :-).
## Demo
## How to use
First, to get an overview of all available command line options, you can either run
[`fd -h`](#command-line-options) for a concise help message or `fd --help` for a more detailed
version.
### Simple search
*fd* is designed to find entries in your filesystem. The most basic search you can perform is to
run *fd* with a single argument: the search pattern. For example, assume that you want to find an
old script of yours (the name included `netflix`):
``` bash
> fd netfl
Software/python/imdb-ratings/netflix-details.py
```
If called with just a single argument like this, *fd* searches the current directory recursively
for any entries that *contain* the pattern `netfl`.
### Regular expression search
The search pattern is treated as a regular expression. Here, we search for entries that start
with `x` and end with `rc`:
``` bash
> cd /etc
> fd '^x.*rc$'
X11/xinit/xinitrc
X11/xinit/xserverrc
```
The regular expression syntax used by `fd` is [documented here](https://docs.rs/regex/latest/regex/#syntax).
### Specifying the root directory
If we want to search a specific directory, it can be given as a second argument to *fd*:
``` bash
> fd passwd /etc
/etc/default/passwd
/etc/pam.d/passwd
/etc/passwd
```
### List all files, recursively
*fd* can be called with no arguments. This is very useful to get a quick overview of all entries
in the current directory, recursively (similar to `ls -R`):
``` bash
> cd fd/tests
> fd
testenv
testenv/mod.rs
tests.rs
```
If you want to use this functionality to list all files in a given directory, you have to use
a catch-all pattern such as `.` or `^`:
``` bash
> fd . fd/tests/
testenv
testenv/mod.rs
tests.rs
```
### Searching for a particular file extension
Often, we are interested in all files of a particular type. This can be done with the `-e` (or
`--extension`) option. Here, we search for all Markdown files in the fd repository:
``` bash
> cd fd
> fd -e md
CONTRIBUTING.md
README.md
```
The `-e` option can be used in combination with a search pattern:
``` bash
> fd -e rs mod
src/fshelper/mod.rs
src/lscolors/mod.rs
tests/testenv/mod.rs
```
### Searching for a particular file name
To find files with exactly the provided search pattern, use the `-g` (or `--glob`) option:
``` bash
> fd -g libc.so /usr
/usr/lib32/libc.so
/usr/lib/libc.so
```
### Hidden and ignored files
By default, *fd* does not search hidden directories and does not show hidden files in the
search results. To disable this behavior, we can use the `-H` (or `--hidden`) option:
``` bash
> fd pre-commit
> fd -H pre-commit
.git/hooks/pre-commit.sample
```
If we work in a directory that is a Git repository (or includes Git repositories), *fd* does not
search folders (and does not show files) that match one of the `.gitignore` patterns. To disable
this behavior, we can use the `-I` (or `--no-ignore`) option:
``` bash
> fd num_cpu
> fd -I num_cpu
target/debug/deps/libnum_cpus-f5ce7ef99006aa05.rlib
```
To really search *all* files and directories, simply combine the hidden and ignore features to show
everything (`-HI`) or use `-u`/`--unrestricted`.
### Matching the full path
By default, *fd* only matches the filename of each file. However, using the `--full-path` or `-p` option,
you can match against the full path.
```bash
> fd -p -g '**/.git/config'
> fd -p '.*/lesson-\d+/[a-z]+.(jpg|png)'
```
### Command execution
Instead of just showing the search results, you often want to *do something* with them. `fd`
provides two ways to execute external commands for each of your search results:
* The `-x`/`--exec` option runs an external command *for each of the search results* (in parallel).
* The `-X`/`--exec-batch` option launches the external command once, with *all search results as arguments*.
#### Examples
Recursively find all zip archives and unpack them:
``` bash
fd -e zip -x unzip
```
If there are two such files, `file1.zip` and `backup/file2.zip`, this would execute
`unzip file1.zip` and `unzip backup/file2.zip`. The two `unzip` processes run in parallel
(if the files are found fast enough).
Find all `*.h` and `*.cpp` files and auto-format them inplace with `clang-format -i`:
``` bash
fd -e h -e cpp -x clang-format -i
```
Note how the `-i` option to `clang-format` can be passed as a separate argument. This is why
we put the `-x` option last.
Find all `test_*.py` files and open them in your favorite editor:
``` bash
fd -g 'test_*.py' -X vim
```
Note that we use capital `-X` here to open a single `vim` instance. If there are two such files,
`test_basic.py` and `lib/test_advanced.py`, this will run `vim test_basic.py lib/test_advanced.py`.
To see details like file permissions, owners, file sizes etc., you can tell `fd` to show them
by running `ls` for each result:
``` bash
fd … -X ls -lhd --color=always
```
This pattern is so useful that `fd` provides a shortcut. You can use the `-l`/`--list-details`
option to execute `ls` in this way: `fd … -l`.
The `-X` option is also useful when combining `fd` with [ripgrep](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/) (`rg`) in order to search within a certain class of files, like all C++ source files:
```bash
fd -e cpp -e cxx -e h -e hpp -X rg 'std::cout'
```
Convert all `*.jpg` files to `*.png` files:
``` bash
fd -e jpg -x convert {} {.}.png
```
Here, `{}` is a placeholder for the search result. `{.}` is the same, without the file extension.
See below for more details on the placeholder syntax.
The terminal output of commands run from parallel threads using `-x` will not be interlaced or garbled,
so `fd -x` can be used to rudimentarily parallelize a task run over many files.
An example of this is calculating the checksum of each individual file within a directory.
```
fd -tf -x md5sum > file_checksums.txt
```
#### Placeholder syntax
The `-x` and `-X` options take a *command template* as a series of arguments (instead of a single string).
If you want to add additional options to `fd` after the command template, you can terminate it with a `\;`.
The syntax for generating commands is similar to that of [GNU Parallel](https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/):
- `{}`: A placeholder token that will be replaced with the path of the search result
(`documents/images/party.jpg`).
- `{.}`: Like `{}`, but without the file extension (`documents/images/party`).
- `{/}`: A placeholder that will be replaced by the basename of the search result (`party.jpg`).
- `{//}`: The parent of the discovered path (`documents/images`).
- `{/.}`: The basename, with the extension removed (`party`).
If you do not include a placeholder, *fd* automatically adds a `{}` at the end.
#### Parallel vs. serial execution
For `-x`/`--exec`, you can control the number of parallel jobs by using the `-j`/`--threads` option.
Use `--threads=1` for serial execution.
### Excluding specific files or directories
Sometimes we want to ignore search results from a specific subdirectory. For example, we might
want to search all hidden files and directories (`-H`) but exclude all matches from `.git`
directories. We can use the `-E` (or `--exclude`) option for this. It takes an arbitrary glob
pattern as an argument:
``` bash
> fd -H -E .git …
```
We can also use this to skip mounted directories:
``` bash
> fd -E /mnt/external-drive …
```
.. or to skip certain file types:
``` bash
> fd -E '*.bak' …
```
To make exclude-patterns like these permanent, you can create a `.fdignore` file. They work like
`.gitignore` files, but are specific to `fd`. For example:
``` bash
> cat ~/.fdignore
/mnt/external-drive
*.bak
```
> [!NOTE]
> `fd` also supports `.ignore` files that are used by other programs such as `rg` or `ag`.
If you want `fd` to ignore these patterns globally, you can put them in `fd`'s global ignore file.
This is usually located in `~/.config/fd/ignore` in macOS or Linux, and `%APPDATA%\fd\ignore` in
Windows.
You may wish to include `.git/` in your `fd/ignore` file so that `.git` directories, and their contents
are not included in output if you use the `--hidden` option.
### Deleting files
You can use `fd` to remove all files and directories that are matched by your search pattern.
If you only want to remove files, you can use the `--exec-batch`/`-X` option to call `rm`. For
example, to recursively remove all `.DS_Store` files, run:
``` bash
> fd -H '^\.DS_Store$' -tf -X rm
```
If you are unsure, always call `fd` without `-X rm` first. Alternatively, use `rm`s "interactive"
option:
``` bash
> fd -H '^\.DS_Store$' -tf -X rm -i
```
If you also want to remove a certain class of directories, you can use the same technique. You will
have to use `rm`s `--recursive`/`-r` flag to remove directories.
> [!NOTE]
> There are scenarios where using `fd … -X rm -r` can cause race conditions: if you have a
path like `…/foo/bar/foo/…` and want to remove all directories named `foo`, you can end up in a
situation where the outer `foo` directory is removed first, leading to (harmless) *"'foo/bar/foo':
No such file or directory"* errors in the `rm` call.
### Command-line options
This is the output of `fd -h`. To see the full set of command-line options, use `fd --help` which
also includes a much more detailed help text.
```
Usage: fd [OPTIONS] [pattern] [path]...
Arguments:
[pattern] the search pattern (a regular expression, unless '--glob' is used; optional)
[path]... the root directories for the filesystem search (optional)
Options:
-H, --hidden Search hidden files and directories
-i, --ignore-case Case-insensitive search (default: smart case)
-g, --glob Glob-based search (default: regular expression)
-a, --absolute-path Show absolute instead of relative paths
-l, --list-details Use a long listing format with file metadata
-L, --follow Follow symbolic links
-p, --full-path Search full abs. path (default: filename only)
-d, --max-depth <depth> Set maximum search depth (default: none)
-E, --exclude <pattern> Exclude entries that match the given glob pattern
-t, --type <filetype> Filter by type: file (f), directory (d/dir), symlink (l),
executable (x), empty (e), socket (s), pipe (p), char-device
(c), block-device (b)
-e, --extension <ext> Filter by file extension
-S, --size <size> Limit results based on the size of files
--changed-within <date|dur> Filter by file modification time (newer than)
--changed-before <date|dur> Filter by file modification time (older than)
-o, --owner <user:group> Filter by owning user and/or group
--format <fmt> Print results according to template
-x, --exec <cmd>... Execute a command for each search result
-X, --exec-batch <cmd>... Execute a command with all search results at once
-c, --color <when> When to use colors [default: auto] [possible values: auto,
always, never]
--hyperlink[=<when>] Add hyperlinks to output paths [default: never] [possible
values: auto, always, never]
-h, --help Print help (see more with '--help')
-V, --version Print version
```
## Benchmark
Let's search my home folder for files that end in `[0-9].jpg`. It contains ~750.000
subdirectories and about a 4 million files. For averaging and statistical analysis, I'm using
[hyperfine](https://github.com/sharkdp/hyperfine). The following benchmarks are performed
with a "warm"/pre-filled disk-cache (results for a "cold" disk-cache show the same trends).
Let's start with `find`:
```
Benchmark 1: find ~ -iregex '.*[0-9]\.jpg$'
Time (mean ± σ): 19.922 s ± 0.109 s
Range (min … max): 19.765 s … 20.065 s
```
`find` is much faster if it does not need to perform a regular-expression search:
```
Benchmark 2: find ~ -iname '*[0-9].jpg'
Time (mean ± σ): 11.226 s ± 0.104 s
Range (min … max): 11.119 s … 11.466 s
```
Now let's try the same for `fd`. Note that `fd` performs a regular expression
search by default. The options `-u`/`--unrestricted` option is needed here for
a fair comparison. Otherwise `fd` does not have to traverse hidden folders and
ignored paths (see below):
```
Benchmark 3: fd -u '[0-9]\.jpg$' ~
Time (mean ± σ): 854.8 ms ± 10.0 ms
Range (min … max): 839.2 ms … 868.9 ms
```
For this particular example, `fd` is approximately **23 times faster** than `find -iregex`
and about **13 times faster** than `find -iname`. By the way, both tools found the exact
same 546 files :smile:.
**Note**: This is *one particular* benchmark on *one particular* machine. While we have
performed a lot of different tests (and found consistent results), things might
be different for you! We encourage everyone to try it out on their own. See
[this repository](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd-benchmarks) for all necessary scripts.
Concerning *fd*'s speed, a lot of credit goes to the `regex` and `ignore` crates that are
also used in [ripgrep](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep) (check it out!).
## Troubleshooting
### `fd` does not find my file!
Remember that `fd` ignores hidden directories and files by default. It also ignores patterns
from `.gitignore` files. If you want to make sure to find absolutely every possible file, always
use the options `-u`/`--unrestricted` option (or `-HI` to enable hidden and ignored files):
``` bash
> fd -u …
```
### Colorized output
`fd` can colorize files by extension, just like `ls`. In order for this to work, the environment
variable [`LS_COLORS`](https://linux.die.net/man/5/dir_colors) has to be set. Typically, the value
of this variable is set by the `dircolors` command which provides a convenient configuration format
to define colors for different file formats.
On most distributions, `LS_COLORS` should be set already. If you are on Windows or if you are looking
for alternative, more complete (or more colorful) variants, see [here](https://github.com/sharkdp/vivid),
[here](https://github.com/seebi/dircolors-solarized) or
[here](https://github.com/trapd00r/LS_COLORS).
`fd` also honors the [`NO_COLOR`](https://no-color.org/) environment variable.
### `fd` doesn't seem to interpret my regex pattern correctly
A lot of special regex characters (like `[]`, `^`, `$`, ..) are also special characters in your
shell. If in doubt, always make sure to put single quotes around the regex pattern:
``` bash
> fd '^[A-Z][0-9]+$'
```
If your pattern starts with a dash, you have to add `--` to signal the end of command line
options. Otherwise, the pattern will be interpreted as a command-line option. Alternatively,
use a character class with a single hyphen character:
``` bash
> fd -- '-pattern'
> fd '[-]pattern'
```
### "Command not found" for `alias`es or shell functions
Shell `alias`es and shell functions can not be used for command execution via `fd -x` or
`fd -X`. In `zsh`, you can make the alias global via `alias -g myalias="…"`. In `bash`,
you can use `export -f my_function` to make available to child processes. You would still
need to call `fd -x bash -c 'my_function "$1"' bash`. For other use cases or shells, use
a (temporary) shell script.
## Integration with other programs
### Using fd with `fzf`
You can use *fd* to generate input for the command-line fuzzy finder [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf):
``` bash
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type file'
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND="$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND"
```
Then, you can type `vim <Ctrl-T>` on your terminal to open fzf and search through the fd-results.
Alternatively, you might like to follow symbolic links and include hidden files (but exclude `.git` folders):
``` bash
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type file --follow --hidden --exclude .git'
```
You can even use fd's colored output inside fzf by setting:
``` bash
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="fd --type file --color=always"
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--ansi"
```
For more details, see the [Tips section](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#tips) of the fzf README.
### Using fd with `rofi`
[*rofi*](https://github.com/davatorium/rofi) is a graphical launch menu application that is able to create menus by reading from *stdin*. Piping `fd` output into `rofi`s `-dmenu` mode creates fuzzy-searchable lists of files and directories.
#### Example
Create a case-insensitive searchable multi-select list of *PDF* files under your `$HOME` directory and open the selection with your configured PDF viewer. To list all file types, drop the `-e pdf` argument.
``` bash
To modify the list that is presented by rofi, add arguments to the `fd` command. To modify the search behaviour of rofi, add arguments to the `rofi` command.
### Using fd with `emacs`
The emacs package [find-file-in-project](https://github.com/technomancy/find-file-in-project) can
use *fd* to find files.
After installing `find-file-in-project`, add the line `(setq ffip-use-rust-fd t)` to your
`~/.emacs` or `~/.emacs.d/init.el` file.
In emacs, run `M-x find-file-in-project-by-selected` to find matching files. Alternatively, run
`M-x find-file-in-project` to list all available files in the project.
### Printing the output as a tree
To format the output of `fd` as a file-tree you can use the `tree` command with
`--fromfile`:
```bash
This can be more useful than running `tree` by itself because `tree` does not
ignore any files by default, nor does it support as rich a set of options as
`fd` does to control what to print:
```bash
├── build.rs
└── src
├── app.rs
└── error.rs
```
On bash and similar you can simply create an alias:
```bash
❯ alias as-tree='tree --fromfile'
```
### Using fd with `xargs` or `parallel`
Note that `fd` has a builtin feature for [command execution](#command-execution) with
its `-x`/`--exec` and `-X`/`--exec-batch` options. If you prefer, you can still use
it in combination with `xargs`:
``` bash
> fd -0 -e rs | xargs -0 wc -l
```
Here, the `-0` option tells *fd* to separate search results by the NULL character (instead of
newlines). In the same way, the `-0` option of `xargs` tells it to read the input in this way.
## Installation
[](https://repology.org/project/fd-find/versions)
### On Ubuntu
*... and other Debian-based Linux distributions.*
If you run Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco Dingo) or newer, you can install the
[officially maintained package](https://packages.ubuntu.com/fd-find):
```
apt install fd-find
```
Note that the binary is called `fdfind` as the binary name `fd` is already used by another package.
It is recommended that after installation, you add a link to `fd` by executing command
`ln -s $(which fdfind) ~/.local/bin/fd`, in order to use `fd` in the same way as in this documentation.
Make sure that `$HOME/.local/bin` is in your `$PATH`.
If you use an older version of Ubuntu, you can download the latest `.deb` package from the
[release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd/releases) and install it via:
``` bash
dpkg -i fd_9.0.0_amd64.deb # adapt version number and architecture
```
Note that the .deb packages on the release page for this project still name the executable `fd`.
### On Debian
If you run Debian Buster or newer, you can install the
[officially maintained Debian package](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/rust-fd-find):
```
apt-get install fd-find
```
Note that the binary is called `fdfind` as the binary name `fd` is already used by another package.
It is recommended that after installation, you add a link to `fd` by executing command
`ln -s $(which fdfind) ~/.local/bin/fd`, in order to use `fd` in the same way as in this documentation.
Make sure that `$HOME/.local/bin` is in your `$PATH`.
Note that the .deb packages on the release page for this project still name the executable `fd`.
### On Fedora
Starting with Fedora 28, you can install `fd` from the official package sources:
``` bash
dnf install fd-find
```
### On Alpine Linux
You can install [the fd package](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages?name=fd)
from the official sources, provided you have the appropriate repository enabled:
```
apk add fd
```
### On Arch Linux
You can install [the fd package](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/fd/) from the official repos:
```
pacman -S fd
```
You can also install fd [from the AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fd-git).
### On Gentoo Linux
You can use [the fd ebuild](https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/sys-apps/fd) from the official repo:
```
emerge -av fd
```
### On openSUSE Linux
You can install [the fd package](https://software.opensuse.org/package/fd) from the official repo:
```
zypper in fd
```
### On Void Linux
You can install `fd` via xbps-install:
```
xbps-install -S fd
```
### On ALT Linux
You can install [the fd package](https://packages.altlinux.org/en/sisyphus/srpms/fd/) from the official repo:
```
apt-get install fd
```
### On Solus
You can install [the fd package](https://github.com/getsolus/packages/tree/main/packages/f/fd) from the official repo:
```
eopkg install fd
```
### On RedHat Enterprise Linux 8/9 (RHEL8/9), Almalinux 8/9, EuroLinux 8/9 or Rocky Linux 8/9
You can install [the `fd` package](https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/tkbcopr/fd/) from Fedora Copr.
```bash
dnf copr enable tkbcopr/fd
dnf install fd
```
A different version using the [slower](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd/pull/481#issuecomment-534494592) malloc [instead of jemalloc](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2216193#c1) is also available from the EPEL8/9 repo as the package `fd-find`.
### On macOS
You can install `fd` with [Homebrew](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/fd):
```
brew install fd
```
… or with MacPorts:
```
port install fd
```
### On Windows
You can download pre-built binaries from the [release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd/releases).
Alternatively, you can install `fd` via [Scoop](http://scoop.sh):
```
scoop install fd
```
Or via [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org):
```
choco install fd
```
Or via [Winget](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/):
```
winget install sharkdp.fd
```
### On GuixOS
You can install [the fd package](https://guix.gnu.org/en/packages/fd-8.1.1/) from the official repo:
```
guix install fd
```
### On NixOS / via Nix
You can use the [Nix package manager](https://nixos.org/nix/) to install `fd`:
```
nix-env -i fd
```
### Via Flox
You can use [Flox](https://flox.dev) to install `fd` into a Flox environment:
```
flox install fd
```
### On FreeBSD
You can install [the fd-find package](https://www.freshports.org/sysutils/fd) from the official repo:
```
pkg install fd-find
```
### From npm
On Linux and macOS, you can install the [fd-find](https://npm.im/fd-find) package:
```
npm install -g fd-find
```
### From source
With Rust's package manager [cargo](https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo), you can install *fd* via:
```
cargo install fd-find
```
Note that rust version *1.77.2* or later is required.
`make` is also needed for the build.
### From binaries
The [release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd/releases) includes precompiled binaries for Linux, macOS and Windows. Statically-linked binaries are also available: look for archives with `musl` in the file name.
## Development
```bash
git clone https://github.com/sharkdp/fd
# Build
cd fd
cargo build
# Run unit tests and integration tests
cargo test
# Install
cargo install --path .
```
## Maintainers
- [sharkdp](https://github.com/sharkdp)
- [tmccombs](https://github.com/tmccombs)
- [tavianator](https://github.com/tavianator)
## License
`fd` is distributed under the terms of both the MIT License and the Apache License 2.0.
See the [LICENSE-APACHE](LICENSE-APACHE) and [LICENSE-MIT](LICENSE-MIT) files for license details.