A Script for Fast Directory Navigation Using fzf

2024-11-24

This article presents a script to make directory navigation faster, continuing the series on reducing cognitive complexity.

You often need to move between several directories in one or many projects. Remembering paths and locating files becomes an unnecessary effort.

One solution is to keep a list of the most recently visited directories so you can switch between them quickly. Dave Eddy implemented this idea in his cdstack.

Inspired by that approach, I built my own version, better suited to the way I work.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

CD_STACK_MAX="${CD_STACK_MAX:-15}"
CD_STACK_LAST=""

declare -a _CD_STACK=("$PWD")

_cd_save_env() {
    {
        declare -p _CD_STACK
        declare -p CD_STACK_LAST
    } > ~/.cd_stack_fzf.tmp && \
        mv ~/.cd_stack_fzf.tmp ~/.cd_stack_fzf
}

_cd_load_env() {
    [[ -f ~/.cd_stack_fzf ]] && \
        source ~/.cd_stack_fzf
}

cd() {
    CD_STACK_LAST=${PWD}
    builtin cd "$@" || return "$?"

    _CD_STACK=("$CD_STACK_LAST" "${_CD_STACK[@]}")

    [ "${#_CD_STACK[@]}" -gt "$CD_STACK_MAX" ] && \
        unset '_CD_STACK[-1]'

    _CD_STACK=($(printf "%s\n" "${_CD_STACK[@]}" | \
        awk '!x[$0]++'))

    _cd_save_env
    return 0
}

b() {
    _cd_load_env
    cd "${CD_STACK_LAST}" || return "$?"
    _cd_save_env
}

s() {
    _cd_load_env
    local selected
    local formatted_dirs=()

    for dir in "${_CD_STACK[@]}"; do
        formatted_dirs+=("${dir/#"$HOME"/~}")
    done

    selected=$(printf '%s\n' "${formatted_dirs[@]}" | \
        fzf --prompt=": " \
            --height 40% \
            --layout=reverse)

    [[ -z "$selected" ]] && return 0

    local dir="${selected/#\~/$HOME}"
    cd "$dir" || return "$?"
    return 0
}

_initialize_cd_stack_fzf() {
    _CD_STACK=(
        "/Users/crg"
        "/Users/crg/Projects"
    )
    _cd_load_env
}

_initialize_cd_stack_fzf

Source code

My version uses fzf to build a menu, letting you type a few characters to pick the directory you want. By the way, fzf is a great tool for creating quick menus in shell scripts.