ff
A fast command-line utility to recursively find files by name using regular expressions.
What is ff?
Find Files (ff) is a fast command-line utility that recursively searches for files by name using regular expressions. It solves the problem of quickly locating files in a directory tree with flexible pattern matching, offering performance comparable to or better than traditional tools like `find` and `fd`. It provides a modern, user-friendly interface with sensible defaults for everyday file searching tasks.
Developers, system administrators, and power users who frequently search for files from the command line and need a fast, regex-capable alternative to `find`. It's especially useful for those working in large codebases or directory structures.
Developers choose ff for its combination of speed, regex support, and intuitive defaults. It outperforms traditional `find` commands in benchmarks, offers parallel processing, and includes useful features like gitignore awareness and hidden file control out of the box.
Overview
Find files (ff) by name, fast!
Use Cases
Best For
- Quickly finding files by extension (e.g., all .js or .png files)
- Searching for files containing specific substrings in their names
- Excluding node_modules or other gitignored directories from search results
- Limiting search depth to avoid scanning entire deep directory trees
- Case-insensitive file searches without complex command syntax
- Filtering out directories to show only file paths in results
Not Ideal For
- When searching for files based on content rather than name (e.g., using grep for text inside files)
- For scripts requiring POSIX-compliant find commands for cross-platform portability
- If you only need simple glob patterns without regex complexity (standard find -name might suffice)
- When advanced file metadata filtering is required (e.g., by modification time, size, or permissions)
Pros & Cons
Pros
Benchmarks show ff matches or beats fd in speed, utilizing parallel processing and optimized regex matching for efficient searches.
Supports full regular expressions for file name matching, enabling complex patterns like ".*\.(png|jpg)$" beyond simple globs.
Case-insensitive by default and includes gitignore awareness with flags, reducing common friction points for everyday use.
Offers options to exclude directories, limit search depth, and hide hidden files, allowing precise result filtering without clutter.
Cons
Lacks filtering by file metadata (e.g., size, date) or command execution on results, which traditional find supports natively.
README admits fd can sometimes be slightly faster, indicating speed may depend on specific use cases or system conditions.
Requires manual setup via Cargo or binary downloads, unlike the universally available find command in Unix-like systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
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grexA command-line tool and Rust library with Python bindings for generating regular expressions from user-provided test cases
MelodyMelody is a language that compiles to regular expressions and aims to be more readable and maintainable
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