Start showing results only when query is non-empty

[mooreye]

Is it possible to make it so that fzf show results only if query is not empty, but if it's empty then it shows no results instead of all of them?

[LangLangBart]

It depends on what exactly you are trying to achieve.

If you have a specific command that should only run when the fzf query changes and should take the fzf query as input, then the following example should give you an idea of how to do it.

fzf \
  --bind 'change:transform:((#FZF_QUERY)) && echo "reload:seq ${#FZF_QUERY}" || echo "reload(:)"' \
  --bind 'start:reload(:)' \
  --disabled \
  --preview 'seq ${#FZF_QUERY}' \
  --with-shell 'zsh -c'

On change, a transform action is triggered, which evaluates the exported env variable FZF_QUERY from fzf and conditionally executes one of the action.

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If, for any reason, you want to change fzf's default behavior when it starts, it can be a bit more complicated. The following example works, but the reload causes the input list to refresh using the given command every time you press a key. With a large set of files, you may notice a delay.

fzf \
  --bind 'start:reload(:)' \
  --bind 'change:transform:((#FZF_QUERY)) && echo "reload(</dev/tty FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND= fzf --filter= --walker file)" || echo "reload(:)"' \
  --ghost 'Please enter a search query' \
  --prompt "Custom fzf > " \
  --with-shell 'zsh -c'

The part with reload(</dev/tty FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND= fzf --filter= --walker file) is a workaround.

Ref: #4062

You can also use a command like fd --hidden --follow, but if you want to use the built-in fzf walker, you'll need this workaround. Currently, there is no way to access the fzf walker directly with an action.

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more context would be good (my context window is unlimited, but my time to read it isn't)