Fd

fd - Fast File and Directory Search

Overview

fd is a program to find entries in your filesystem. It is a fast, ergonomic alternative to find: you type fd PATTERN and it recursively searches the current directory for entries whose name matches PATTERN. The pattern is a regular expression by default.

Key characteristics:

• Fast: Parallel directory traversal; typically much faster than find
• Sensible defaults: Smart-case matching, colorized output, and .gitignore/.fdignore/hidden-file awareness out of the box
• Ergonomic syntax: fd foo instead of find -iname '*foo*'
• Composable: Run a command per result (-x) or batched (-X), or pipe into fzf, ripgrep, xargs, and git

When to Use This Skill

Use fd when:

• Finding files/directories by name: fd readme, fd '\.rs$'
• Replacing find: Any find-style traversal — fd is faster and the syntax is simpler
• Filtering by metadata: by type (-t), extension (-e), size (-S), or modified time (--changed-within)
• Respecting (or ignoring) VCS rules: skip .gitignored files by default, or include them with -I/-u
• Running a command per result: fd -e jpg -x convert {} {.}.png or batched with -X
• Feeding other tools: as a fast source list for fzf, ripgrep, xargs, or GNU parallel

Disambiguation: This skill documents the fd command-line tool. It is unrelated to the file-search MCP server plugin (which exposes search_files/filter_files tools).

Prerequisites

CRITICAL: Before proceeding, you MUST verify that fd is installed:

fd --version

The binary name varies by platform:

• On most systems the binary is fd.
• On Debian/Ubuntu the package is fd-find and the binary is installed as fdfind (the name fd is used by another package). Either invoke fdfind, or add an alias: alias fd=fdfind.

Version note: This skill is documented against fd 10.4.x (source: v10.4.2). Long-standing basics work on any recent fd; features added in a specific release are annotated inline as (fd X.Y+). For the version that introduced any specific flag, see references/version-features.md. Always confirm on the running system with fd --version.

If fd is not installed:

• DO NOT attempt to install it automatically
• STOP and inform the user that fd is required
• RECOMMEND manual installation with the following instructions:

# macOS
brew install fd

# Debian/Ubuntu (binary is `fdfind`)
sudo apt install fd-find

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S fd

# Fedora
sudo dnf install fd-find

# Cargo (any platform)
cargo install fd-find

# Other systems: see https://github.com/sharkdp/fd#installation

If fd is not available, exit gracefully and do not proceed with the workflow below.

Basic Usage

# Recursively search the current directory for entries matching a regex
fd PATTERN

# Search within a specific directory (pattern first, path second)
fd PATTERN path/to/dir

# List everything under the current directory (no pattern = match all)
fd

# List everything under a given directory
fd . path/to/dir

Smart-case is the default: the search is case-insensitive unless the pattern contains an uppercase letter, in which case it becomes case-sensitive. Override with -s/--case-sensitive or -i/--ignore-case.

By default, the pattern matches against the file name only (not the full path), as a substring/regex match — fd app matches app.js, myapp/, and mapping.txt.

Pattern Syntax

Regex (default)

The pattern is a regular expression (Rust regex crate syntax):

fd '^x'           # names starting with x
fd '\.py$'        # names ending in .py (escape the dot)
fd '[0-9]{4}'     # names containing 4 consecutive digits

Glob mode (-g/--glob)

Switch to glob patterns with -g. Use --regex to switch back (handy if you alias fd='fd --glob').

fd -g '*.txt'
fd -g 'test_*.py'

Match against the full path (-p/--full-path)

By default fd matches the file name. With -p, the pattern is tested against the full path:

fd -p '.*/test/.*\.py$'          # regex over the whole path
fd -p -g '**/src/**/*.rs'        # glob over the whole path

With -g and -p together, a single * no longer matches /; use ** to cross directory separators (fd 8.0+).

Literal strings (-F/--fixed-strings)

Treat the pattern as a literal string, not a regex:

fd -F 'file(1).txt'

Filtering

By type (-t/--type)

fd -t f PATTERN    # files only
fd -t d PATTERN    # directories only  (-t dir also works, fd 10.0+)
fd -t l PATTERN    # symlinks
fd -t x PATTERN    # executable files            (fd 7.0+)
fd -t e PATTERN    # empty files/directories      (fd 7.1+)
fd -t s            # sockets (fd 8.0+);  -t p pipes (fd 8.0+)
fd -t b / -t c     # block / char devices         (fd 9.0+)

Multiple -t values are OR'd: fd -t f -t l matches files and symlinks.

By extension (-e/--extension)

fd -e txt                 # all .txt files
fd -e jpg -e png          # .jpg or .png (repeatable)
fd -e py PATTERN          # combine with a pattern

Hidden and ignored files

By default fd skips hidden files/directories and anything matched by .gitignore/.fdignore/.ignore.

fd -H PATTERN     # include hidden files (--hidden)
fd -I PATTERN     # ignore .gitignore/.fdignore rules (--no-ignore)
fd -u PATTERN     # unrestricted: -u = -HI; -uu also disables --ignore-vcs

.git/ behavior: in fd 10.x, .git/ is not auto-ignored when you use -H (this reverts a 9.0 change). Add .git/ to your global fdignore file if you want it skipped. (fd 10.0+)

Custom ignore files: --ignore-file <path> (fd 7.0+) adds a .gitignore-format file. --no-ignore-vcs disables only VCS ignore files. --no-require-git (fd 8.7+) applies git-ignore rules even outside a repository.

By depth

fd -d 2 PATTERN              # --max-depth: descend at most 2 levels
fd --min-depth 3 PATTERN     # at least 3 levels deep      (fd 8.0+)
fd --exact-depth 2 PATTERN   # exactly 2 levels deep        (fd 8.0+)
fd --prune PATTERN           # match dirs but don't descend (fd 8.2+)

By size (-S/--size) (fd 7.1+)

Format is <+-><NUM><UNIT>. + means "at least", - means "at most"; an exact size (no sign) is also accepted (fd 8.2+).

fd -S +1M           # larger than 1 MiB
fd -S -100k         # smaller than 100 KiB
fd -S +10M -S -1G   # between 10 MiB and 1 GiB

Units: b, k/m/g/t (decimal SI) and ki/mi/gi/ti (binary).

By modification time (fd 7.2+)

fd --changed-within 2weeks   # modified in the last 2 weeks (alias --newer)
fd --changed-before 1d       # modified more than 1 day ago (alias --older)
fd --changed-within 2025-01-01
fd --changed-before @1704067200   # Unix-epoch timestamp (fd 10.0+)

Duration units changed in fd 10.3+: M no longer means "month" (it's ambiguous with minutes). Use mo/month/months. This affects --changed-within/--changed-before.

Command Execution

fd can run a command for each result instead of printing it. Use -x/-X, not find's -exec — fd does not support -exec (it was removed in fd 8.0).

Per-result, in parallel (-x/--exec)

Runs the command once per result, in parallel:

fd -e zip -x unzip                 # unzip each .zip file
fd -e jpg -x convert {} {.}.png    # convert each .jpg to .png
fd -t f -x echo                    # echo each result (implicit {} at end)

Use --threads=1 (or -j 1) for sequential execution. Multiple -x blocks may be given in one invocation (fd 8.4+).

Batched (-X/--exec-batch)

Runs the command once, passing all results as arguments (like xargs):

fd -e rs -X wc -l            # count lines across all .rs files
fd -g 'test_*.py' -X vim     # open all matches in one editor session

Cap arguments per invocation with --batch-size <n> (fd 8.3+).

Placeholders

These are substituted in the command template (for both -x and -X). If no placeholder is present, an implicit {} is appended.

Escape literal braces with {{ and }}. fd has no {n} numbered-field placeholder (that is an fzf feature, not fd).

fd -e md -x echo '{//}'    # print each match's parent directory
fd -e log -x mv {} {//}/archive/{/}

Under -x/-X/-0, fd prefixes paths with ./. Strip it with --strip-cwd-prefix (fd 8.3+; takes an optional =always|never|auto arg in fd 10.1+).

Output

fd -l PATTERN              # ls -l-style long listing       (fd 8.0+)
fd -0 PATTERN              # NUL-separated output (--print0), pairs with xargs -0
fd -a PATTERN              # print absolute paths (--absolute-path)
fd -1 PATTERN              # quit after the first match (= --max-results=1, fd 8.0+)
fd --max-results 5 PATTERN # stop after N matches             (fd 8.0+)
fd -q PATTERN              # quiet: print nothing, exit 0 if any match (fd 8.3+)

Format templates (--format) (fd 10.1+)

Print each result through a template using the same placeholders as -x ({}, {/}, {//}, {.}, {/.}) — without spawning a process:

fd -e flac --format '{/.}'             # just the basenames, no extension
fd -e mp3 --format 'file://{}'         # build URIs

Color and hyperlinks

fd -c always PATTERN       # force color (auto|always|never); NO_COLOR is honored
fd --hyperlink PATTERN     # OSC 8 terminal hyperlinks on paths (fd 10.2+)

Common Workflows

# Delete all .DS_Store files
fd -H -t f -g '.DS_Store' -X rm

# Find large files (>50 MiB) modified in the last week
fd -t f -S +50M --changed-within 1week

# List every directory two levels down
fd -t d --exact-depth 2

# Find TODO-containing Rust files, edit them all at once
fd -e rs -X grep -l TODO | xargs $EDITOR

# Touch-rebuild: re-run a build command per changed source file
fd -e c --changed-within 10min -x cc -c {}

Integration

fd shines as a fast file-list source for other tools.

# fzf — fd as the source list (also the recommended FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND)
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --hidden --follow --exclude .git'
fd -t f | fzf

# ripgrep — restrict a content search to fd-selected files (NUL-safe)
fd -e py -0 | xargs -0 rg 'def main'

# xargs — always pair fd -0 with xargs -0 to handle spaces/newlines
fd -e tmp -0 | xargs -0 rm

# GNU parallel — one job per result
fd -e png -0 | parallel -0 optipng {}

# git — operate on tracked-but-matching files
fd -e js -X git add

Prefer fd -0 | xargs -0 … over fd … | xargs … whenever paths may contain spaces or newlines. For one command per result, fd -x is usually simpler than piping to xargs.

Troubleshooting

"Command not found: fd"

• On Debian/Ubuntu the binary is fdfind — try fdfind --version, or alias fd=fdfind.
• Otherwise fd is not installed. See Prerequisites for manual installation. Do NOT auto-install.

"My file isn't found":

• It may be hidden or .gitignored. Add -H (hidden), -I (ignore VCS rules), or -u/-uu (unrestricted).
• The pattern matches the name, not the path — use -p/--full-path to match against the whole path.
• The pattern is a regex by default; special characters like ., (, + need escaping, or use -F for a literal string / -g for a glob.

"fd -exec doesn't work":

• fd has no -exec (a find-ism, removed in 8.0). Use -x (per result) or -X (batched).

"Too many / unexpected results":

• Constrain with -t (type), -e (extension), -d (max depth), or --max-results.

A flag from older docs is missing or behaves differently:

• See references/version-features.md for version introductions and changed defaults (e.g. the ./-prefix history, .git/ ignoring, M→mo duration change).

References

For exhaustive detail, see the bundled reference files:

• references/options.md — complete flag reference (every option, grouped by area)
• references/recipes.md — command-execution patterns, integrations, and worked recipes
• references/version-features.md — which fd version introduced each feature, plus removed/changed defaults (minimum-version lookup)

Resources

• Man page: man fd or fd --help
• GitHub: https://github.com/sharkdp/fd
• User guide (README): https://github.com/sharkdp/fd#how-to-use