Code Search & File Tree Browsing

Fast, efficient utilities for searching code and browsing file hierarchies.

Tools Overview

ripgrep (rg)

Ultra-fast grep alternative that respects .gitignore by default.

Common usage:

rg <pattern> [<path>]              # Search for pattern in files
rg -t <type> <pattern>             # Search files of specific type
rg --no-ignore <pattern>           # Search ignoring .gitignore
rg -w <pattern>                    # Match whole word
rg -C <num> <pattern>              # Show context lines

fd

Faster, simpler alternative to find with better defaults and colorized output.

Common usage:

fd <pattern> [<path>]              # Find files matching pattern
fd -e <ext> <pattern>              # Find by extension
fd -t f <pattern>                  # Find files only
fd -t d <pattern>                  # Find directories only
fd --follow <pattern>              # Follow symlinks

bat

Syntax-highlighting cat with git integration and line numbers.

Common usage:

bat <file>                         # View file with syntax highlighting
bat --line-range <start:end> <file>  # Show specific line range
rg <pattern> | bat --file-name <path>  # Syntax highlight search results

fzf

Fuzzy filtering and pattern matching for command pipelines.

Common usage:

<command> | fzf --filter <pattern>  # Filter output by pattern (non-interactive)
echo -e "file1\nfile2\nfile3" | fzf --filter "file"  # Match lines containing "file"
rg <pattern> | fzf --filter <secondary-pattern>  # Further filter search results

tree

Display directory structure in tree format.

Common usage:

tree [<path>]                      # Show tree structure
tree -L <depth> [<path>]           # Limit depth
tree -I '<pattern>'                # Exclude pattern
tree -a                            # Include hidden files

Common Workflows

Filter search results by secondary pattern

rg <primary-pattern> | fzf --filter <secondary-pattern>

Search code and show context

rg -C 3 <pattern>

Search specific file types

rg -t ts <pattern>      # TypeScript files
rg -t py <pattern>      # Python files
rg -t go <pattern>      # Go files

List directory tree

tree -L 3