telescope.nvim

Gaze deeply into unknown regions using the power of the moon.

What is Telescope?

Telescope is a highly extendable fuzzy finder over lists. Items are shown in a popup with a prompt to search over.

Support for:

• LSP (references, document symbols, workspace symbols)
• Treesitter
• Grep
• Files (git, fd, rg)
• Vim (command history, quickfix, loclist)

What is Telescope? (Video)

More advanced configuration (Video)

Example video

Telescope Table of Contents

• Requirements
• Installation
• Examples
• Mappings
• API
• Goals
• Other Examples

Requirements

Neovim Nightly (0.5)

Best experience on Neovim Nightly with LSP configured.

Installation

Plug 'nvim-lua/popup.nvim'
Plug 'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim'
Plug 'nvim-lua/telescope.nvim'

Optional

• bat (preview)
• ripgrep (finder)
• Treesitter (nvim-treesitter) (finder/preview)
• fd (sharkdp/fd) (finder)
• git (picker)
• neovim LSP (picker)
• devicons

Usage

Most actions are activated via keybinds. Attach these functions as described more in the Examples

-- Fuzzy find over git files in your directory
require('telescope.builtin').git_files()

-- Grep files as you type (requires rg currently)
require('telescope.builtin').live_grep()

-- Use builtin LSP to request references under cursor. Fuzzy find over results.
require('telescope.builtin').lsp_references()

-- Convert currently quickfixlist to telescope
require('telescope.builtin').quickfix()

-- Convert currently loclist to telescope
require('telescope.builtin').loclist()

Options can be passed directly to the above functions, or set defaults with telescope.setup.

-- Optional way to set default values
require('telescope').setup{
  defaults = {
    -- Example:
    shorten_path = true -- currently the default value is true
  }
}

Default Configuration Keys

• ( Missing configuration description for many items here, but I'm trying 😄 )
• file_ignore_patterns:
  • List of strings that are Lua patterns that, if any are matched, will make result be ignored.
  • Please note, these are Lua patterns. See: Lua Patterns
  • Example:
    • file_ignore_patterns = { "scratch/.*", "%.env" }
    • This will ignore anything in scratch/ folders and any files named .env

Examples

nnoremap <Leader>p <cmd>lua require'telescope.builtin'.git_files{}<CR>

Searches over files in a git folder. Note: This does not work outside a git repo folder.

nnoremap <Leader>p <cmd>lua require'telescope.builtin'.find_files{}<CR>

Search over files in your cwd current working directory.

nnoremap <silent> gr <cmd>lua require'telescope.builtin'.lsp_references{}<CR>

Search over variable references from your Language Server.

nnoremap <Leader>en <cmd>lua require'telescope.builtin'.find_files{ cwd = "~/.config/nvim/" }<CR>

Find all the files in your nvim config.

Available keys for defaults

• generic_sorter:
  • Description: The sorter to be used for generic searches.
  • default: `require('telescope.sorters').get_generic_fuzzy_sorter
• file_sorter:
  • Description: The sorter to be used for file based searches.
  • default: `require('telescope.sorters').get_fuzzy_file

Full Example

lua <<EOF
-- totally optional to use setup
require('telescope').setup {
  defaults = {
    shorten_path = false -- currently the default value is true
  }
}
EOF

nnoremap <c-p> :lua require'telescope.builtin'.find_files{}<CR>
nnoremap <silent> gr <cmd>lua require'telescope.builtin'.lsp_references{ shorten_path = true }<CR>

What this does:

• Make the paths full size by default. On LSP references we are shortening paths.
• Bind <ctrl-p> for a common mapping to find files.
  • Using telescope.builtin.git_files is better in git directories. You can make a toggle to detect if it's a git directory.
• Bind gr to find references in LSP.
  • telescope.builtin.lsp_workspace_symbols and telescope.builtin.lsp_document_symbols are also good to bind for LSP.

Mappings

Mappings are fully customizable. Many familiar mapping patterns are setup as defaults.

<C-n>  <C-p> next | previous
<Down> <Up>  next | previous
j      k     next | previous (in normal mode)
<CR>         go to file selection

<C-x>        go to file selection as a split
<C-v>        go to file selection as a vertical split
<C-t>        go to a file in a new tab

<C-u>        scroll up in preview window
<C-d>        scroll down in preview window

<C-c>        close telescope
<Esc>        close telescope (in normal mode)

To see the full list of mappings, check out lua/telescope/mappings.lua and the default_mappings table.

To override ALL of the default mappings, you can use the default_mappings key in the setup table.

 To disable a keymap, put [map] = false

        So, to not map "<C-n>", just put 

            ...,
            ["<C-n>"] = false,
            ...,

        Into your config.

 Otherwise, just set the mapping to the function that you want it to be.

            ...,
            ["<C-i>"] = actions.goto_file_selection_split
            ...,

A full example:

local actions = require('telescope.actions')

require('telescope').setup {
  defaults = {
    mappings = {
      i = {
        -- Disable the default <c-x> mapping
        ["<c-x>"] = false,

        -- Create a new <c-s> mapping
        ["<c-s>"] = actions.goto_file_selection_split,
      },
    },
  }
}

To override only SOME of the default mappings, you can use the attach_mappings key in the setup table. For example:

function my_custom_picker(results)
  pickers.new(opts, {
    prompt_title = 'Custom Picker',
    finder = finders.new_table(results),
    sorter = sorters.fuzzy_with_index_bias(),
    attach_mappings = function(_, map)
      -- Map "<CR>" in insert mode to the funciton, actions.set_command_line
      map('i', '<CR>', actions.set_command_line)

      return true
    end,
  }):find()
end

Additionally, the prompt's filetype will be TelescopePrompt. You can customize the filetype as you would normally.

Status (Unstable API)

While the underlying API & Infrastructure (A.K.A. Spaghetti Code) is still very much WIP and will probably change quite a bit, the functions in builtin should be relatively stable (as in, you can report bugs if they don't work, you should be able to keep them around in your config even if everything inside of those functions is rewritten. They provide pretty simple, easy to use wrappers over common tasks).

API

builtin

require'telescope.builtin'.builtin{
  -- Optional
  -- hide_filename = true
  -- ignore_filename = true
}

Handy documentation, showcase of all tools available in Telescope.

Files

require'telescope.builtin'.git_files{}

Search your files in a git repo. Ignores files in your .gitignore. You can optionally override the find command.

Note: Requires the cwd to be a git directory.

require'telescope.builtin'.find_files{
  -- Optional
  -- cwd = "/home/tj/"
  -- find_command = { "rg", "-i", "--hidden", "--files", "-g", "!.git" }
}

Searches files in your working directory.

require'telescope.builtin'.grep_string{
  -- Optional
  -- search = false -- Search term or <cword>
}

Searches your string with a grep. Note: Requires rg.

require'telescope.builtin'.live_grep{}

Searches all your files (respecting .gitignore) using grep. Note: Requires rg

Vim

require'telescope.builtin'.oldfiles{}

Searches the vim oldfiles. See :help v:oldfiles

require'telescope.builtin'.quickfix{}

Search on the quickfix. See :help quickfix

require'telescope.builtin'.loclist{}

Search on the current window's location list.

require'telescope.builtin'.command_history{}

Search the vim command history.

require'telescope.builtin'.buffers{
    -- Optional
    -- show_all_buffers = true -- Show unloaded buffers aswell
}

Search on vim buffers list.

LSP

require'telescope.builtin'.lsp_references{}

Search on LSP references.

require'telescope.builtin'.lsp_document_symbols{}

Search on LSP Document Symbols in the current document.

require'telescope.builtin'.lsp_workspace_symbols{}

Search on all workspace symbols.

Treesitter

require'telescope.builtin'.treesitter{
  -- Optional
  -- bufnr = Buffer number
}

Search on function names, variables, from Treesitter!

Note: Requires nvim-treesitter

Telescope

require'telescope.builtin'.planets{}

Use the telescope.

Themes

Common groups of settings can be setup to allow for themes. We have some built in themes but are looking for more cool options.

Dropdown

nnoremap <Leader>f :lua require'telescope.builtin'.find_files(require('telescope.themes').get_dropdown({}))<cr>

Then you can put your configuration into get_dropdown({})

nnoremap <Leader>f :lua require'telescope.builtin'.find_files(require('telescope.themes').get_dropdown({ winblend = 10 }))<cr>

Themes should work with every telescope.builtin function.

If you wish to make theme, check out lua/telescope/themes.lua. If you need more features, make an issue :).

Configuration

Display

Resolvable:

1. 0 <= number < 1:
   • This means total height as a percentage
2. 1 <= number:
   • This means total height as a fixed number
3. function(picker, columns, lines):
   • returns one of the above options
   • return max.min(110, max_rows * .5)

layout_strategies.horizontal = function(self, max_columns, max_lines)
  local layout_config = validate_layout_config(self.layout_config or {}, {
    width_padding = "How many cells to pad the width",
    height_padding = "How many cells to pad the height",
    preview_width = "(Resolvable): Determine preview width",
  })
  ...
end

Goals

Pipeline Different Objects

(Please note, this section is still in progress)

"finder":

• executable: rg, git ls-files, ...
• things in lua already
• vim things

-- lua/telescope/finders.lua
Finder:new{
  entry_maker     = function(line) end,
  fn_command      = function() { command = "", args  = { "ls-files" } } end,
  static          = false,
  maximum_results = false
}

Sorter:

• A Sorter is called by the Picker on each item returned by the Finder.
• Sorters return a number, which is equivalent to the "distance" between the current prompt and the entry returned by a finder.
  • Currently, it's not possible to delay calling the Sorter until the end of the execution, it is called on each item as we receive them.
  • This was done this way so that long running / expensive searches can be instantly searchable and we don't have to wait til it completes for things to start being worked on.
  • However, this prevents using some tools, like FZF easily.
  • In the future, I'll probably add a mode where you can delay the sorting til the end, so you can use more traditional sorting tools.

"picker":

• fzf
• sk
• does this always need to be fuzzy?
  • you'll map what you want to do with vimscript / lua mappings

Defaults:

Picker

-- lua/telescope/pickers.lua
Picker:new{
  prompt_title       = "", -- REQUIRED
  finder             = FUNCTION, -- see lua/telescope/finder.lua
  sorter             = FUNCTION, -- see lua/telescope/sorter.lua
  previewer          = FUNCTION, -- see lua/telescope/previewer.lua
  selection_strategy = "reset", -- follow, reset, line
  border             = {},
  borderchars        = {"─", "│", "─", "│", "┌", "┐", "┘", "└"},
  preview_cutoff     = 120,
}

"previewer":

• sometimes built-in
• sometimes a lua callback

As an example, you could pipe your inputs into fzf, and then it can sort them for you.

Other Examples