How to return currently-typed text as the (only) result?

[PowerUser64]

I would like to make an fzf prompt for opening or creating a file. I have a prompt (below) that will search over the files that already exist, but it doesn't let me create new files because it doesn't allow the user to select the currently-typed text.

Here is my prompt:

fzf -1 -q "$*" --layout=reverse --info=inline --height=20

Here's an example to test the prompt

printf '%s\n' {a,b,c}{a,b,c} | fzf -1 --layout=reverse --info=inline --height=20

If I want to pick ab from this list, I can type ab, press enter, and I'm good to go.

If I want to pick aaa, which isn't in this list, there isn't a way to do it with this prompt. EDIT - same if I type a - there isn't a way to return just a, which also isn't in the list.

I know about the --print-query option, which will add the current query to the output, but it doesn't really solve the problem because there isn't a way to say whether I wanted to use the text from the prompt or the return value from the list.

A workaround is to run a second picker on the results returned by --print-query, to decide whether I wanted to use the prompt or the selected entry, although it's not as clean as if it were to just be part of the results, like how search engines do search suggestions.

Is there a way to do this with fzf? Or, is there maybe a different fuzzy finder that can do this?

[LangLangBart]

Is there a way to do this with fzf?

Try accept-or-print-query action

MANWIDTH=120 fzf --man | col -b | grep -C2 accept-or-print-query
          #  accept                       enter   double-click
          #  accept-non-empty             (same as accept except that it prevents fzf from exiting without selection)
          #  accept-or-print-query        (same as accept except that it prints the query when there's no match)
          #  backward-char                ctrl-b  left
          #  backward-delete-char         ctrl-h ctrl-bspace bspace

seq 5 | fzf --query 'FOOBAR' --bind 'result:accept'

seq 5 | fzf --query 'FOOBAR' --bind 'result:accept-or-print-query'
# FOOBAR

---

Alternative: transform¹ action, run an action based on a condition (for power users)

# If the env variable FZF_MATCH_COUNT (provided by fzf)
# is greater than zero, accept; otherwise, print the query.
seq 5 | fzf \
  --bind 'result:transform:((FZF_MATCH_COUNT)) && echo accept || echo print-query' \
  --query 'FOOBAR' \
  --with-shell 'bash -c'
# FOOBAR

PS: the print-query action still works but the maintainer removed it from the
'man' page². One can use become: echo \{q} instead. Placeholder needs to be
escaped³ in transform actions.

seq 5 | fzf \
  --bind 'result:transform:((FZF_MATCH_COUNT)) && echo accept || echo "become: echo \{q}"' \
  --query 'FOOBAR' \
  --with-shell 'bash -c'
# FOOBAR

Footnotes

1. fzf/CHANGELOG.md at master · junegunn/fzf · GitHub ↩

2. https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/issues/4487#issuecomment-3178791524 ↩

3. https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/blob/master/ADVANCED.md#switching-between-ripgrep-mode-and-fzf-mode-using-a-single-key-binding ↩

[fsc0]

Nice work, @LangLangBart. 👍
I was about to post my own answer to this interesting fzf quiz, but it looks like you've been working on this for a while.
transform and FZF_MATCH_COUNT and accept-or-print-query.
This is the way.

[PowerUser64]

Wow, thanks for the answer! I have two questions about it:

1. How can I use this in a way that I get the fzf menu along with it? These seem to all exit instantly.
2. Is there a way I could also return a string that is also a substring of the result?

Eg. going from my previous example:

printf '%s\n' {a,b,c}{a,b,c} | fzf -1 --layout=reverse --info=inline --height=20

If search for the string a with this, can I return just "a", even though it matches some of the results? I would've included this as an example case in the original post if I had thought of it, so I apologize for not having it there.

---

If it is possible to make custom keybinds with fzf, being able to do something like ctrl+enter to accept the currently-typed text might work. Another possibility would be having the currently-typed text always appear as a search result.

[fsc0]

I thought power users usually enjoy reading tool's manual.
Cause @LangLangBart literally mentioned 'man' page.
No offense, reading fzf's man page is quite worthwhile because of its capability.

Anyway, I don't have a clue what the fzf menu is, but regarding question 2.

printf '%s\n' {a,b,c}{a,b,c} | fzf --bind 'ctrl-y:print-query'

Check AVAILABLE KEYS: (SYNONYMS) section in 'man' page, and choose your own key bind.

[PowerUser64]

Ah, neat! Thanks. I should've read more about --bind.

As for what I mean by the "fzf menu," I mean this:

Just the normal UI for fzf. All of the queries in @LangLangBart's answer return a result immediately without showing it, and I'd like to know how to keep it from being hidden. This could just be a necessary property of how they work though.

I think using @LangLangBart's commands along with the print-query bind is probably the way to go. Thanks for pointing it out.

[LangLangBart]

Nice work, @LangLangBart. 👍

thx

These seem to all exit instantly.

As for what I mean by the "fzf menu," I mean this:

Just the normal UI for fzf. All of the queries in @LangLangBart's answer return a result immediately without showing it, and I'd like to know how to keep it from being hidden. This could just be a necessary property of how they work though.

@PowerUser64

fzf supports several event bindings, such as result, start, and load. I
like to use them in examples to provide a reproducible command with its expected
output, so users can see what the action does without having to interact with
fzf.

Users can then easily change the event bindings to their preferred keys, such as
enter, space, and so on.

I thought power users usually enjoy reading tool's manual.

😀