`fzf` using `--no-clear` and `execute`

[Hiren Hiranandani]

• I have read through the manual page (man fzf)
• I have the latest version of fzf
• I have searched through the existing issues

Info

• OS
  • Linux
  • Mac OS X
  • Windows
  • Etc.
• Shell
  • bash
  • zsh (iTerm & Alacritty)
  • fish

Problem / Steps to reproduce

Run this command (tried execute-silent also):

fzf --no-clear --bind 'enter:execute(fzf)'

When pressing Enter, I expect the fzf -> fzf transition to be seamless, instead I see a blinking of my terminal.

It seems that --no-clear is great if you exit fzf and re-run it. In this case, building "stacking" fzf's is not possible.

[Florian]

Hi, I found this trick to invoke fzf from within --bind with no flickering:

1. use execute-silent to prevent any screen switching
2. redirect stderr to /dev/tty so that your "internal" fzf displays ok
3. use clear-screen after your command to repaint the "initial" fzf finder

Everything then displays on alternate screen with no screen flashing.
Here's one example (press F1):
find . -type f | fzf --bind 'f1:execute-silent(cat {} | fzf 2>/dev/tty)+clear-screen'

Best Regards,
Florian

[Junegunn Choi]

execute by design runs the command in the alternate screen which is not affected by --no-clear. I would recommend that you implement the "stacking" using shell script outside of fzf, rather than circumventing the limitations of execute bindings.

But the solution @notevenodd posted is quite clever.