'Ripgrep integration, a walkthrough' article doesn't explain setting FS path context ("--walker-root" for fzf and just 1st arg for ripgrep)

[Drugoy]

Hello!
First of all, I wanted to say that I enjoyed reading the Ripgrep integration, a walkthrough! I loved the way you explained things by going 1 step at a time from the simplest call to the more and more complex ones.

However, I've noticed that the whole article basically builds a complex command that, while working nicely, does so only under current directory (recursively). This means that if a user is interested in searching only under a specific dir - they have to cd there first and that's... not comfy.

Instead, I'd like to stay in my current directory, but be able to search under another directory.
fzf has --walker-root arg for that.
ripgrep expects the path to just be the 2nd arg.

Could you, please, improve the article by adding support and explanation of setting search path?

[ShreeChaturvedi]

You do not need to cd first. Wire the search root into both sides of the integration: rg’s path argument and, when fzf is listing files itself, --walker-root.

1. Ripgrep + fzf (search under another directory)

rg takes the path as a normal operand (not a flag). Thread the same root through reload:

# usage: rfg [root_dir] [initial_query]
rfg() {
  local root="${1:-.}"
  local query="${2:-}"
  shift $(( $# > 0 ? 1 : 0 ))
  shift $(( $# > 0 ? 1 : 0 )) 2>/dev/null

  local rg_base=(rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case)

  FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="${rg_base[*]} -- '$query' '$root'" \
  fzf --ansi \
      --disabled \
      --query "$query" \
      --bind "change:reload:sleep 0.05; ${rg_base[*]} -- {q} '$root' || true" \
      --delimiter : \
      --preview 'bat --style=numbers --color=always --highlight-line {2} {1}' \
      --preview-window 'up,60%,border-bottom,+{2}+3/3,~3'
}

Example: stay in $HOME, search only in a project:

rfg ~/src/my-project "TODO"

Key point from the walkthrough’s reload pattern: every rg invocation in FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND / change:reload must include the same path operand ('$root' above).

2. Pure fzf file walk under another root

When you are not using rg as the input command:

fzf --walker-root=/path/to/dir
# multiple roots:
fzf --walker-root=/path/one /path/two

3. Combined pattern (files from root, then filter)

root=~/src/my-project
fzf --walker-root="$root" --bind "ctrl-g:reload(rg --files '$root')"

Doc suggestion

A short subsection on the walkthrough would help:

• rg: extra path args after the pattern (rg [opts] PATTERN [PATH...])
• fzf walker: --walker-root=DIR
• reload: keep the same PATH / --walker-root in every command string so changing the query does not snap back to .

That matches the “one step at a time” style of the article without forcing a cd.