Practical Modern CLI Tools — Speed Up Your Work with ripgrep, fd, fzf, and bat

What Are Modern CLI Tools?

grep, find, and cat have been terminal staples for decades. They are still powerful, but their options are finicky, they are slow on large repositories, and their output is crude. Tools recently rewritten in languages like Rust do the same jobs faster, with more sensible defaults, and with nicer output.

It is better to treat these as complements you reach for first in day-to-day work, rather than as full "replacements" for the classic tools.

Installation

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install ripgrep fd fzf bat

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install ripgrep fd-find bat
# fzf to
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf && ~/.fzf/install

# Arch
sudo pacman -S ripgrep fd fzf bat

ripgrep (rg) — Code Search That Replaces grep

rg searches directories recursively, automatically excluding .gitignore, .ignore, and hidden files. That makes it a good fit for codebase search with no extra flags.

# grep method: + + set
grep -rn --color "TODO" .

# rg method:
rg TODO

Commonly used options:

rg "fetchUser" -t js # JavaScript file (-t )
rg "error" -i # when
rg "config" -g "*.yaml" # glob file
rg "deprecated" -l # file
rg "handler" -A 3 -B 1 # 1, 3
rg "v\\d+\\.\\d+" -o #
rg --hidden --no-ignore "key" # file·when fileto

fd — File Search That Replaces find

find is highly expressive but verbose. fd makes the most common patterns short and intuitive.

# find:
find . -type f -name "*.log"

# fd: ( , )
fd "\\.log$"
fd config # config

Commonly used options:

fd -e log # log (-e)
fd -t f report # file (-t f), -t d
fd -H secret # file (-H)
fd -I node_modules # .gitignore when (-I)
fd pattern src/ #
fd -e tmp -x rm {} # run (-x, find -exec )

bat — File Viewer That Replaces cat

bat prints files like cat, but adds syntax highlighting, line numbers, and Git change markers. If the output is longer than the screen, it automatically pipes into a pager (less).

bat src/app.js # +
bat -p log.txt # plain ( without, cat)
bat -A config.txt # · when when
bat -r 10:30 server.log # 10~30
bat -l yaml deploy.tpl # set

To keep color inside a pipe, use --color=always.

rg -l "TODO" | xargs bat

fzf — Interactive Fuzzy Finder

fzf is a different kind of tool from the ones above. It is a universal filter that lets you interactively narrow down (fuzzy-match) a list from standard input and pick an item. It shines when you combine it with the output of other commands.

# file vim
vim $(fzf)

# fd Result fzf bat
fd -t f | fzf --preview 'bat --color=always {}'

# git after
git branch | fzf | xargs git checkout

# quit
ps -ef | fzf | awk '{print $2}' | xargs kill

As you type, it matches even if the substring is scattered; then you pick a candidate with the arrow keys and press Enter.

Shell Integration — Where the Real Speed Comes From

fzf's install script registers shell keybindings and completion. Add the following to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc.

# bash
[ -f ~/.fzf.bash ] && source ~/.fzf.bash
# zsh
[ -f ~/.fzf.zsh ] && source ~/.fzf.zsh

That enables the following keybindings.

Switching fzf's file-search backend to fd makes it faster and also respects .gitignore.

export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --hidden --exclude .git'
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND="$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND"
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--height 40% --reverse --border"

Example of a handy function alias:

# when rg +
rgf() {
  rg --line-number --no-heading --color=always "${1:-}" |
    fzf --ansi --preview 'bat --color=always {1} --highlight-line {2}'
}

Example Workflows Combining the Tools

# 1) "deprecated" file , , check
rg -l deprecated | fzf --preview 'bat --color=always {}'

# 2) .log file
fd -e log /var/log | fzf | xargs tail -n 50

# 3)
rg "function " -n | fzf

Wrap-up

Each of these four tools is useful on its own, but they are most powerful when combined in a pipeline, as in rg | fzf --preview bat. You do not need to throw away the classic tools. Split the roles: use grep/find/cat when script compatibility and portability matter, and use the modern tools for everyday interactive exploration.