fzf-alfred-workflow

An Alfred workflow fo fuzzy find files/directories using fzf and fd.

Features

• ⚡️ Fuzzy Search: You can enter search keys that partially match file/directory paths in any order.
• 🧠 Memorization: Alfred manages the order of items according to past usage.
• 🗂 Folder Action: Search directory can be set in user preferences or specified dynamically in a folder action.
• 📝 Editable Search History: Search history is automatically recorded and can be edited lator.

Change Log

• 1.6.2: Notification on first run after macos startup
• 1.5.3: fzf and fd detection improved
• 1.5.2: fzf-history and fzf-edit-history commands added
• 1.4.0: Better performance; Alfred Gallery](https://alfred.app/workflows/yohasebe/fzf/) inclusion
• 1.3.2: fzf and fd installation is automatically detected
• 1.3.1: fzf-cd-module hotkey feature added (thanks to pSpitzner)
• 1.3.0: check-for-update has been removed (in preparation for application to Alfred Gallery)
• 1.2.2: check-for-update command has been added
• 1.1.1: File and directory searches can be set with -f and -d, respectively (in addition to ^f and ^d).
• 1.1.0: Memorize order option (memorize) is added and set default to true
• 1.0.2: Search path option (search_path) is set default to ~ (home directory)
• 1.0.1: User configuration made available for Alfred 5

Installation

There are two ways to install this workflow:

1. Automatic Installation via Alfred Gallery
2. Manual Installation (see below)

Downloads

Current Version: 1.6.1

• ⤓ Download Workflow for Alfred 5

Dependencies

Installation of fzf and fd is only required if the workflow is installed manually.

• Alfred Powerpack
• fzf: a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder
• fd: a simple, fast and user-friendly alternative to find

Using homebrew:

brew install fzf
brew install fd

Setting Up

Set values to the following options in User Configuration (Alfred 5):

* Search directory can be also specified dynamically in a folder action.

Note Multiple paths may be specified in "Search path(s)" separated by semicolons. If a home directory is specified, ~/Library will be ignored for better performance; to search within a cloud storage folder such as Dropbox or OneDrive, specify ~/Library/CloudStorage/. (e.g. ~; ~/Library/CloudStorage/)

File/Directory Search

Fallback search

Setup: Features → Default Results → Setup fallback results → Add Workflow Trigger "FZF Search"

Type in search keys and select "FZF Search"

Folder action

Setup: Features → Universal Actions → Actions → Check Workflow File Actions

Select a folder in the Finder and launch File Action "FZF Search from Here". The selected folder will be the search path that temporarily overrides the search path specified in the user settings.

Using keyword

Type in fzf and enter search keys

Using user-specified hotkey

Setup: Features → Workflows → fzf-alfred-workflow → Double click "fzf workflow activation hotkey"

Press the hotkey specified and type enter search keys

Repeated Directory Change

fzf-cd hotkey

Setup: Features → Workflows → fzf-alfred-workflow → Double click "fzf-cd hotkey"

Select a folder in a Finder window or Alfred folder browser. Then press the hotkey. You can do this repeatedly until you finally reach the target file or directory.

Thanks to Paul Spitzner for suggesting this.

List and Edit Search History

The search key is automatically recorded in a file name (fzf-search-history.txt) in the workflow data directory (only if more than one search result is found).

Using keyword

The fzf-history command reads this file and allows you to select one of your previous searches and repeat it.

Using user-specified hotkey

Setup: Features → Workflows → fzf-alfred-workflow → Double click "fzf history search hotkey".

Editing Search History

The fzf-edit-history command sends the path to the history file to Alfred, allowing you to edit it in the app of your choice. The history file contains lines of text, each consisting of the date and time of a past search, followed by the search key separated by a single vertical line (|).

Example: 2023-05-13 20:14:51 +0900 | search string

Hotkey Setup: Features → Workflows → fzf-alfred-workflow → Double click "fzf history edit hotkey".

Example Usage

Suppose you have an mp3 music folder and Metallica's Master of Puppets album in it, just for instance.

File/Directory Search

fzf metallica puppets

The above will fetch you both files and directories. The order of search keys (metallica and puppets) does not matter.

/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/01-battery.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/02-master-of-puppets.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/03-the-thing-that-should-not-be.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/04-welcome-home.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/05-disposable-heroes.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/06-leper-messiah.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/07-orion.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/08-damage-inc.mp3

You can narrow them down by adding search keys. Again, the order of search keys does not matter.

fzf metallica puppets damage

/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/08-damage-inc.mp3

File Only Search

Use ^f or -f directive to search files only.

fzf metallica puppets ^f

/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/01-battery.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/02-master-of-puppets.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/03-the-thing-that-should-not-be.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/04-welcome-home.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/05-disposable-heroes.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/06-leper-messiah.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/07-orion.mp3
/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/08-damage-inc.mp3

Directory Only Search

Use ^d or -d directive to search directories only.

fzf metallica puppets ^d

/music/metallica/master-of-puppets/

Acknowledgments

The icon of this workflow is used under Simplified Pixabay License

Author

Yoichiro Hasebe ([email protected])

License

The MIT License

Disclaimer

The author of this software takes no responsibility for any damage that may result from using it.