Fuzzy File Search: Bring Powers of fzf to Alfred

[Mr Pennyworth]

Instant Fuzzy File Search: Download

 

List all the files inside a folder using fd, and instantly fuzzy-search through all of them using fzf, all from inside Alfred with a single keyword: fzf.

Screenshots

Invoke with fzf

Search through tens of thousands of files

Fuzzy search shows most relevant results

There's a folder action too!

Search even inside apps

Manually create folder-specific keywords

 

Alternative and comparison
Fuzzy Folders is another fuzzy search workflow that is more configurable and customizable. Instant Fuzzy File Search doesn’t have any plans to match all the features supported by Fuzzy Folders. Neither does it aim to be as easy to customize. Take a look at the table below for a quick comparison between the two.

 

 

[deanishe]

17 minutes ago, Mr Pennyworth said:

Take a look at the table below for a quick comparison between the two.

 

Fuzzy Folders is also really slow. I'd imagine your workflow is much faster.

[Mr Pennyworth]

12 minutes ago, deanishe said:

Fuzzy Folders is also really slow.

Oh interesting!
Is it because of python or mdfind?

I couldn't really use Fuzzy Folders because most of the files I keep searching for reside in symlinked folders which spotlight does not index.

 

14 minutes ago, deanishe said:

I'd imagine your workflow is much faster.

Haven't done a comparison, but it does give a satisfying "instantly update search results as you type each letter" (instantly meaning less than 90 milliseconds on my 2013 mbp to search through 15k files)

[deanishe]

42 minutes ago, Mr Pennyworth said:

Is it because of python or mdfind?

 

Bit of both. It fetches everything that matches the last word in your query via mdfind, then throws away everything that doesn’t match the rest of the query. That can be terribly slow in the worst cases, but it typically beats crawling the file tree in Python.

[40-02]

@Mr PennyworthThank you so much! It seems like what I was looking for many times! 

 

I'm not sure if it is worth point here, but help with installation notes looks like this now. Probably that was expected, as everything is readable there. But still. 

[40-02]

Is it possible to search in several folders in one search?
In examples I see that only one folder is provided. 
I'm not sure that I need it, but asking out of curiosity. 

[Mr Pennyworth]

2 hours ago, 40-02 said:

It seems like what I was looking for many times! 

Glad you find it useful!

 

2 hours ago, 40-02 said:

I'm not sure if it is worth point here, but help with installation notes looks like this now. Probably that was expected, as everything is readable there. But still. 

That's a good point! I should change it when I get around to it

 

2 hours ago, 40-02 said:

Is it possible to search in several folders in one search?

Nope, that's not possible right now, and unlikely to be implemented. That's because I haven't yet found the need where I frequently search inside multiple folders. Especially given that it is fuzzy search, most of the time, just searching the parent folder should do.

[woz_one]

This is awesome @Mr Pennyworth!! Thank you!

 

Only thing I can't figure out for the life of me is how to simple open a result (file, in this case) simply by hitting enter? The Open file action doesn't seem to be working.

 

I'm probably missing something painfully obvious...

[Mr Pennyworth]

@woz_one glad you find it useful!

 

Can you provide debugger output along with the name and full path of file you want to open?

I just tried and it opens file as expected, so need as much info as I can get

[woz_one]

@Mr Pennyworth 

 

Made a quick video:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/efoptat6iaj98nb/quick video.mov?dl=0

 

I think this might be the way it is supposed to work, but maybe I'm wrong. Thanks for taking a look! Seems simple enough to click enter to open without first having to hit tab. Idk tho.

 

[12:25:10.908] Fuzzy Finder 2[File Filter] Processing complete
[12:25:10.918] Fuzzy Finder 2[File Filter] Passing output '/Users/anodigital/Dropbox/Ableton/User Library/MAX FOR LIVE/M4L Staging/Needs Sorting/_P4R - Arm-Me audio v1.5.amxd' to Arg and Vars
[12:25:10.919] Fuzzy Finder 2[Arg and Vars] Processing complete
[12:25:10.919] Fuzzy Finder 2[Arg and Vars] Passing output '/Users/anodigital/Dropbox/Ableton/User Library/MAX FOR LIVE/M4L Staging/Needs Sorting/_P4R - Arm-Me audio v1.5.amxd' to Run Script
[12:25:11.053] STDERR: Fuzzy Finder 2[Run Script] /Users/anodigital/Dropbox/Alfred.alfredpreferences/workflows/user.workflow.A5BA3D11-5D17-448F-B840-490CB08D6C36/scripts/listfiles.sh:cd:6: not a directory: /Users/anodigital/Dropbox/Ableton/User Library/MAX FOR LIVE/M4L Staging/Needs Sorting/_P4R - Arm-Me audio v1.5.amxd
[12:25:11.062] Fuzzy Finder 2[Run Script] Processing complete
[12:25:11.063] Fuzzy Finder 2[Run Script] Passing output '18' to Open File

 

[Mr Pennyworth]

Would it be possible to export your modified "Fuzzy Finder 2" workflow, upload it somewhere and share it?

 

I have a suspicion that the bug is in the modification.

Also, can you check if the unmodified version of the workflow works correctly?

[woz_one]

@Mr Pennyworth Sure thing. Here you go. https://www.dropbox.com/s/3tts9m708shb3bo/Fuzzy Finder 2 (export test).alfredworkflow?dl=0

 

I jsut tried re-installing the fresh workflow and I'm getting the same behavior - hitting enter on a search result tries to search within that file, rather than opening it (intended action).

 

Apprecaite your help with this!

[Mr Pennyworth]

This is how the workflow and the connections inside should look:

 

This is how the one you exported looks like:

 

The original workflow doesn't support arbitrary modifications.
The only supported modification is:

1. copy a pair of yellow nodes

2. edit the keyword in the copied big yellow node and the "searchdir" variable in small yellow node

3. just like the other yellow nodes are connected, (big yellow -> small yellow -> (white and orange)) establish exactly the same connections in your copied nodes too

 

Right now it looks like you have customized/modified the workflow beyond the intended way of modification.

Do tell me if you have any questions or need further clarification or explanation