fd — Modern find Replacement

Repo: https://github.com/sharkdp/fd

fd is a simple, fast alternative to find. It uses Rust regex for pattern matching, respects .gitignore by default, colorizes output, and has an intuitive interface. Replaces the majority of find use cases with far less typing.

When to Activate

Manual triggers:

• "How do I use fd?"
• "Find files by name / extension / type"
• "Find files changed recently"
• "Run a command on all files matching a pattern"

Auto-detect triggers:

• User wants to locate files in a project tree
• User wants to filter by file extension, size, or modification time
• User wants to run a command on every matched file
• User is building a pipeline with ripgrep, bat, or fzf

Key Commands

Basic Search

fd                                  # list all non-hidden files recursively
fd 'config'                         # files whose name contains "config" (regex)
fd '^config\.'                      # name starts with "config."
fd 'test' src/                      # search only in src/
fd 'README' ~ /tmp                  # search multiple directories

Filter by Extension and Type

fd -e ts                            # only TypeScript files (-e, --extension)
fd -e ts -e tsx                     # multiple extensions
fd -t f                             # files only (-t f)
fd -t d                             # directories only (-t d)
fd -t l                             # symlinks only (-t l)
fd -t x                             # executable files (-t x)
fd -t e                             # empty files/directories (-t e)
fd -e json -t f 'schema'            # .json files with "schema" in name

Hidden & Ignored Files

fd -H 'dotfile'                     # include hidden files (dotfiles)
fd -I 'node_modules'                # disable .gitignore (--no-ignore)
fd -HI '.env'                       # include hidden AND ignored files
fd --no-ignore-vcs 'build'          # ignore .gitignore but honor .fdignore

Depth & Size

fd -d 2 'config'                    # max depth 2 from current dir
fd --min-depth 2 'test'             # skip top-level results
fd --size +1mb -t f                 # files larger than 1 MB
fd --size -10kb -e log              # log files smaller than 10 KB
fd --size +100kb --size -1mb -t f   # files between 100 KB and 1 MB

Time-Based Filtering

fd --changed-within 1d              # files modified in last 24 hours
fd --changed-within '1 week'        # modified in last week
fd --changed-before '2024-01-01'    # modified before a date
fd -e log --changed-within 1h       # log files touched in last hour

Excluding Paths

fd -E node_modules                  # exclude a directory
fd -E '*.test.ts'                   # exclude by pattern
fd -E '.git' -E dist -E node_modules  # multiple exclusions
# Persist exclusions in .fdignore or .gitignore

Executing Commands on Results

-x — Run command per file (parallel by default)

fd -e png -x convert {} {.}.jpg          # convert each PNG to JPG
fd -e py -x black {}                     # format each Python file
fd 'Makefile' -x make -C {//}           # run make in each dir containing Makefile
fd -e ts -x wc -l                        # count lines in each TS file

Exec Placeholders

-X — Batch exec (all results as one invocation)

fd -e ts -X eslint                   # pass all .ts files to eslint at once
fd -e md -X prettier --write         # format all markdown files
fd -t f -e log -X rm                 # delete all log files (careful!)
fd -e ts -X wc -l | sort -rn | head  # total lines; sort largest first

Pipe to xargs

fd -e json | xargs jq '.version'             # print version from each package.json
fd -e ts -0 | xargs -0 grep -l 'useEffect'  # safe with spaces via NUL separator
fd -e ts | xargs -P4 tsc --noEmit            # parallel type-check with 4 workers

Advanced Patterns

Bulk Rename

# Rename all .jpeg to .jpg
fd -e jpeg -x mv {} {.}.jpg

# Add a prefix to all test files
fd 'spec\.ts$' -x mv {} {//}/new_{/}

# Use prename/rename for complex patterns
fd -e ts | xargs rename 's/Component/Widget/g'

Bulk Archive / Copy

# Copy all .env.example files, stripping .example
fd '.env.example' -x cp {} {.}

# Archive all markdown docs
fd -e md -X tar czf docs.tar.gz

Find Large Directories (disk usage)

fd -t d -d 1 | xargs du -sh | sort -rh | head -20

Count Files by Extension

fd -t f | sed 's/.*\.//' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -15

Find Duplicate Filenames

fd -t f -x basename {} | sort | uniq -d

Search, Then Open in Editor

# Find a TypeScript file and open in VS Code
code $(fd -e ts 'UserService')

# Multi-select with fzf
fd -e ts | fzf -m | xargs code

Integration with ripgrep

# Find .ts files then search inside them (useful for large monorepos)
fd -e ts --changed-within 1d | xargs rg 'TODO'

# Files without tests (no .test. counterpart) — rough check
fd -e ts -E '*.test.ts' -E '*.spec.ts' src/ | while read f; do
  [[ ! -f "${f%.ts}.test.ts" ]] && echo "missing test: $f"
done

Practical Examples

Pre-commit Cleanup

# Delete all compiled output before commit
fd -e js -E 'node_modules' dist/ -X rm
fd __pycache__ -t d -X rm -rf

Watch for New Files (poll approach)

while true; do
  fd --changed-within 5s -e ts | xargs -r npx tsc --noEmit
  sleep 5
done

List Files Ignored by Git (find what .gitignore hides)

fd -I --type f | rg --files-without-match '.' --no-ignore
# Simpler: git status --short | grep '^ ' | awk '{print $2}'

Quick Project Stats

echo "=== File counts by type ==="
for ext in ts js py go rs; do
  count=$(fd -e $ext -t f | wc -l)
  echo "  .$ext: $count"
done

Configuration (.fdignore)

# .fdignore — same syntax as .gitignore, placed at project root or ~/.config/fd/ignore
node_modules/
dist/
.next/
.cache/
*.min.js
*.d.ts
coverage/

Chaining with Other Skills

• ripgrep (cli-ripgrep): Use fd to select files (by type, date, size), then pipe to rg for content search — cleaner and faster than rg -g globs for complex file filters.
• bat: fd -e md | xargs bat --language=md — syntax-highlighted preview of all markdown files.
• fzf (cli-fzf): Set FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --hidden --follow --exclude .git' so fzf uses fd for file listing; also pipe fd results into fzf for interactive selection.