mangelozzi/rgflow.nvim

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CREATED

2020-07-15

UPDATED

2025-08-11

---

rgflow.nvim

Get in the flow with RipGrep. The more you use this plugin, the better you become at using RipGrep from the CLI. Not simply a wrapper which could be replaced by a few lines of config. It's a very simple to use tool aspiring to the Unix philosophy.

• A pop up window has 3 lines:
  1. Flags/options
  2. Pattern
  3. Path
• Use vim motions to edit them, then hit ENTER in normal mode to start the search

3 second intro:

Showing more of the features:

QuickStart Guide (TL;DR)

1. Ensure you have RipGrep installed
2. Set your plugin manager to use mangelozzi/nvim-rgflow.lua and install the plugin.
3. Create a file for the configuration, e.g. ~/.config/nvim/after/plugin/rgflow.lua
4. Paste in the minimal configuration code:

require('rgflow').setup(
    {
        -- Set the default rip grep flags and options for when running a search via
        -- RgFlow. Once changed via the UI, the previous search flags are used for 
        -- each subsequent search (until Neovim restarts).
        cmd_flags = "--smart-case --fixed-strings --ignore --max-columns 200",

        -- Mappings to trigger RgFlow functions
        default_trigger_mappings = true,
        -- These mappings are only active when the RgFlow UI (panel) is open
        default_ui_mappings = true,
        -- QuickFix window only mapping
        default_quickfix_mappings = true,
    }
)

5. After restarting Neovim, press <leader>rg to open the RgFlow UI
6. Type in a search pattern and press <ENTER>
   • Note: <BS> (Backspace) or - will go up a dir
7. A search will run and populate the QuickFix window
8. Press dd to delete a QuickFix entry, or select a visual range and press d
9. Press TAB to mark a line and <S-TAB> to unmark a line, a line can be marked more than once
10. Press c/C to :Cfilter/:Cfilter then type a pattern to filter the quickfix results. If you like this plugin please give it a :star:!

Bonus note: Pressing <TAB> when the UI panel is open provides autocomplete for the line you are on (rip grep flags/cwords/filepaths)

Why

• Main purpose: Perform a RipGrep with interface that is very close to the CLI, yet intuitive, and place those results in the QuickFix list
  • The more you use this plugin, the better you should become at using RipGrep from the CLI.
• I can never remember include/exclude globs, this helps.
• Tested on Linux and Windows

• Ripgrep
  • Autocomplete for RipGrep flags/options with descriptions
  • Bring up RipGrep help in a buffer, so you can navigate/search it Vim style.
• QuickFix:
  • Delete results operator, e.g. dd, or 3dj and friends
  • Mark/unmark results operator, e.g. <TAB> to mark a result (can be marked more than once), and <S-TAB> to unmark a result.
  • The operators also have a visual range counter variants.
• Find search results asynchronously
• Populates the QuickFix windows in batches so it seems like it's none blocking.
• Highlights the search term, so even if :noh the search terms are still highlighted
  • Even if used a regex as the search term
• You can set it's theme colours. However if you are someone you likes to change color scheme a lot, if you use the defaults they will update to some sane defaults based on the applied scheme.
• Searches are appended to your command history, so you can easily repeat previous searches
  • E.g. :<up>
• To limit searching to use only the list of files from your current quickfix list, use the magic string qf.
  • E.g. Say you searched for the pattern foo in ~/codebase, and you get a list of result in your quickfix list, now you wish to search for the phrase bar, but only search in the files that already had foo in them. By setting the path to qf, the path will be replaced with a list of filenames generated from the current quickfix list.
• You can search for foo OR bar with a pattern like:
  • foo -e bar
  • foo --regexp bar
  • foo --regexp bar
  • -e foo -e bar
  • -e bar -e foo
  • --regexp foo --regexp bar

Installation

Use your favourite plugin manager, e.g. with Packer:

use("mangelozzi/nvim-rgflow.lua")

And then :PackerSync etc. to install it.

Setup

• For a minimal config refer to the Quick start guide.

cmd_flags

• The parameter of most interest is probably cmd_flags
  • The default value is cmd_flags = "--smart-case --fixed-strings --no-fixed-strings --no-ignore --ignore --max-columns 500"
  • The reason it contains opposing settings (e.g. --no-ignore vs --ignore), is because then one can quickly deletes options as required
  • E.g. since the later option "wins", deleting --ignore will make the --no-ignore flag take effect

Mappings

• By default RgFlow will not change your editors current behaviour or modify any mappings.
  • You have to opt in to use the default mappings

    mappings = {
        trigger = {
            -- Normal mode maps
            n = {
                ["<leader>rG"] = "open_blank",      -- Open UI - search pattern = blank
                ["<leader>rp"] = "open_paste",      -- Open UI - search pattern = First line of unnamed register as the search pattern
                ["<leader>rg"] = "open_cword",      -- Open UI - search pattern = <cword>
                ["<leader>rw"] = "open_cword_path", -- Open UI - search pattern = <cword> and path = current file's directory
                ["<leader>rs"] = "search",          -- Run a search with the current parameters
                ["<leader>ra"] = "open_again",      -- Open UI - search pattern = Previous search pattern
                ["<leader>rx"] = "abort",           -- Close UI / abort searching / abortadding results
                ["<leader>rc"] = "print_cmd",       -- Print a version of last run rip grep that can be pasted into a shell
                ["<leader>r?"] = "print_status",    -- Print info about the current state of rgflow (mostly useful for deving on rgflow)
            },
            -- Visual/select mode maps
            x = {
                ["<leader>rg"] = "open_visual", -- Open UI - search pattern = current visual selection
            },
        },
        -- Mappings that are local only to the RgFlow UI
        ui = {
            -- Normal mode maps
            n = {
                ["<CR>"]  = "start",         -- With the ui open, start a search with the current parameters
                ["<ESC>"] = "close",         -- With the ui open, discard and close the UI window
                ["?"]     = "show_rg_help",  -- Show the rg help in a floating window, which can be closed with q or <ESC> or the usual <C-W><C-C>
                ["<BS>"]  = "parent_path",   -- Change the path to parent directory
                ["-"]     = "parent_path",   -- Change the path to parent directory
                ["<C-^>"] = "edit_alt_file", -- Switch to the alternate file
                ["<C-6>"] = "edit_alt_file", -- Switch to the alternate file
                ["<C-^>"] = "nop",           -- No operation
                ["<C-6>"] = "nop",           -- No operation
            },
            -- Insert mode maps
            i = {
                ["<CR>"]  = "start",         -- With the ui open, start a search with the current parameters (from insert mode)
                ["<TAB>"] = "auto_complete", -- Start autocomplete if PUM not visible, if visible use own hotkeys to select an option
                ["<C-N>"] = "auto_complete", -- Start autocomplete if PUM not visible, if visible use own hotkeys to select an option
                ["<C-P>"] = "auto_complete", -- Start autocomplete if PUM not visible, if visible use own hotkeys to select an option
            },
        },
        -- Mapping that are local only to the QuickFix window
        quickfix = {
            -- Normal
            n = {
                ["d"] = "qf_delete",        -- QuickFix normal mode delete operator
                ["dd"] = "qf_delete_line",  -- QuickFix delete a line from quickfix
                ["<TAB>"] = "qf_mark",      -- QuickFix mark a line in the quickfix
                ["<S-TAB>"] = "qf_unmark",  -- QuickFix unmark a line in the quickfix window
                ["<BS>"]  = "nop", -- No operation
                ["<C-^>"] = "nop", -- No operation - Probably don't want to switch to a buffer in the little quickfix window
                ["<C-6>"] = "nop", -- No operation
            },
            -- Visual/select mode maps
            x = {
                ["d"] = "qf_delete_visual",       -- QuickFix visual mode delete operator
                ["<TAB>"] = "qf_mark_visual",     -- QuickFix visual mode mark operator
                ["<S-TAB>"] = "qf_unmark_visual", -- QuickFix visual mode unmark operator
            }
        },
    }

Full configuration options

• The configuration covers
  • Custom highlight colors (colour scheme)
  • Key maps
  • Various other preferences

For the full list of configurable settings refer to Default settings

Example Config

This is my personnel configuration:

require("rgflow").setup(
    {
        default_trigger_mappings = true,
        default_ui_mappings = true,
        default_quickfix_mappings = true,
        quickfix = {
            open_qf_cmd_or_func = "botright copen", -- Open the quickfix window across the full bottom edge
        },

        -- WARNING !!! Glob for '-g *{*}' will not use .gitignore file: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/2252
        cmd_flags = ("--smart-case -g *.{*,py} -g !*.{min.js,pyc} --fixed-strings --no-fixed-strings --no-ignore -M 500"
            -- Exclude globs
            .. " -g !**/.angular/"
            .. " -g !**/node_modules/"
            .. " -g !**/static/*/jsapp/"
            .. " -g !**/static/*/wcapp/"
        )
    }
)

Lua Commands

• If you wish to create your own mappings, the below functions are provided.
• None of these commands require args except setup and search, however open can take optional args.

Open Options

• The open function signature looks like this:
  • require('rgflow').open(pattern, flags, path, options)
• The options parameter is a lua table with the following keys (for now only one key):

  • callback

    • Run a custom function once searching has been completed, e.g.

    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>RG", function()
        require('rgflow').open(nil, nil, nil, {
            callback = function() print('Callback ran... have a nice day!') end
        })
    end, {noremap = true})
    

  • custom_start

    • Useful for using Rgflow's UI to gather the search info, then call one's own tool.
    • The parameter is a function that receives the pattern/flags/path (3 x strings) from UI, and performs it's own custom function, e.g. within a keymap:

    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>RG", function()
        -- Here we open UI with the default pattern/flags/path by passing in nil, nil, nil
        require('rgflow').open(nil, nil, nil, {
            custom_start = function(pattern, flags, path)
                print('Pattern:'..pattern..' Flags:'..flags..' Path:'..path)
            end
        })
    end, {noremap = true})
    

Bonus Tips

• This plugin compliments :Cfilter very well.
  • :Cfilter is built into Vim/Neovim for filtering your QuickFix lists.
  • Although it comes with Neovim, it must first be enabled with: vim.cmd('packadd cfilter')
  • :Cfilter foo will limit your QuickFix results to only those that contain the phrase foo
  • :Cfilter! foo does the inverse, only those that don't contain foo are kept.
    • If you use the default Rgflow quickfix keymap, these will be mapped to c/C.
    • If you wish to map it yourself you can do something like:

      vim.keymap.set("n", "c", ":Cfilter ",  {noremap = true, buffer = true, nowait = true, desc ="(c)filter"})
      vim.keymap.set("n", "C", ":Cfilter! ", {noremap = true, buffer = true, desc ="(C)filter!"})
      

• By using Cfilter and this plugin's delete function, you can quickly massage your QuickFix list, making it ready to unleash a :cdo and :cfdo ... unlocking all sorts of super powers.
  • e.g. To substitute the word foo for bar on each QuickFix match then save the modified file:
    • :cdo s/foo/bar/ | update
• Check out @towry-archived's integration with FZF-lua to use this plugin's UI to collect args for running a FZF search:
  • https://github.com/mangelozzi/rgflow.nvim/issues/10
• Use the magic string qf to limit a search to files form the current qf list, as explained in the Features section,

Contributing

PR's are welcome!

License

Copyright (c) Michael Angelozzi. Distributed under the same terms as Neovim itself. See :help license.