fzf: Keyboard shortcuts don't work unless I explicitly `source ~/.bashrc`

Category
- fzf binary
- fzf-tmux script
- Key bindings
- Completion
- Vim
- Neovim
- Etc.
OS
- Linux
- Mac OS X
- Windows
- Etc.
Shell
- bash
- zsh
- fish

I did

$ brew install fzf
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/fzf-0.15.5.el_capitan.bottle.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Users/pt/Library/Caches/Homebrew/fzf-0.15.5.el_capitan.bottle.tar.gz
==> Pouring fzf-0.15.5.el_capitan.bottle.tar.gz
==> Caveats
To install useful keybindings and fuzzy completion:
  /usr/local/opt/fzf/install

To use fzf in Vim, add the following line to your .vimrc:
  set rtp+=/usr/local/opt/fzf
==> Summary
🍺  /usr/local/Cellar/fzf/0.15.5: 17 files, 3.5M
$ /usr/local/opt/fzf/install
Downloading bin/fzf ...
  - Already exists
  - Checking fzf executable ... 0.15.5
Do you want to enable fuzzy auto-completion? ([y]/n)

Do you want to enable key bindings? ([y]/n)


Generate ~/.fzf.bash ... OK
Generate ~/.fzf.zsh ... OK

Do you want to update your shell configuration files? ([y]/n)


Update /Users/pt/.bashrc:
  - [ -f ~/.fzf.bash ] && source ~/.fzf.bash
    - Already exists: line #112

Update /Users/pt/.zshrc:
  - [ -f ~/.fzf.zsh ] && source ~/.fzf.zsh
    - Already exists: line #3

Finished. Restart your shell or reload config file.
   source ~/.bashrc  # bash
   source ~/.zshrc   # zsh

Use uninstall script to remove fzf.

For more information, see: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf

and then it works great in that window. If I reopen it thought, when I press CTRL + R it just puts

$ `__fzf_history__`

as my terminal. If I press Enter it works and brings up a list, but I select one I get:

$ `__fzf_history__`
-bash: !884: command not found

The same thing happens for CTRL + T.

If I type source ~/.bashrc in that same window, now everything works again. Is something you are doing expecting me to source bashrc instead of just doing whatever bash normally does?

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 8 years ago
Reactions: 3
Comments: 16 (6 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

@MuschPusch I’m not sure what’s going on there. It seems like the bindings from fzf are overridden. Is there any set command after the line that loads fzf script?

Excerpt from https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#key-bindings-for-command-line

If you use vi mode on bash, you need to add set -o vi before source ~/.fzf.bash in your .bashrc, so that it correctly sets up key bindings for vi mode.

Does this help?

junegunn on Jan 7, 2017

For anyone who comes here with a similar problem for zsh, I found that I needed to run the fzf scripts after the completion system initializes, and then it works. If I ran the fzf stuff first, neither the key bindings or the expansion worked.

jonbarksdale on Oct 22, 2017

Reading through the comments, I suspect different users are seeing slightly different problems, but anyway… (@MuschPusch I think we’re having the same issue.)

Arch Linux/Bash. Re-sourcing ~/.bashrc sometimes works for me - it’s not consistent for some reason. Key bindings always work if I’m logged into a virtual console.

I normally have vi mode enabled - I set it in ~/.inputrc, not ~/.bashrc. @junegunn asked if any set commands were made after sourcing fzf’s scripts - in my case there were not. I’m beginning to suspect Bash reads ~/.inputrc last, preventing key-bindings.bash from figuring out how to configure itself.

If I also enable vi mode in my ~/.bashrc, any issues go away. (I still enable vi mode in my ~/.inputrc for other programs that use Readline.)

zwolbers on Nov 19, 2018

For anyone who comes here with a similar problem for zsh, I found that I needed to run the fzf scripts after the completion system initializes, and then it works. If I ran the fzf stuff first, neither the key bindings or the expansion worked.

In my case (MacOS 10.14.6 with bash 3.2.7) key bindings are not problematic, but expansion did not work until I changed the order as described by @jonbarksdale!

Relevant excerpt FROM my .bash_profile:

[ -f ~/.fzf.bash ] && source ~/.fzf.bash # <- placed here, **TAB does NOT work as advertised (CTRL+T and CTRL+R does work though)
# homebrew bash completion
[[ -r "/usr/local/etc/profile.d/bash_completion.sh" ]] && . "/usr/local/etc/profile.d/bash_completion.sh"
[ -f ~/.fzf.bash ] && source ~/.fzf.bash # <- placed here, **TAB DOES work as advertised (CTRL+T and CTRL+R still works)

For clarity I tested with the [[ test ]] directly added to .bash_profile (as opposed to being sourced from .bashrc). The result - naturally - is the same…!

tve@TvE-iMac27:~$ bash --version
bash --version
GNU bash, version 3.2.57(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin18)

@junegunn asked if any set commands were made after sourcing fzf’s scripts - also in my case there were none of these.

PS.: fzf = fantastic tool, I am so happy to have discovered it (!)

tveyben on Feb 17, 2020

On OSX you typically need to source ~/.bashrc from ~/.bash_profile

http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/13019 http://hayne.net/MacDev/Notes/unixFAQ.html#shellStartup

mjwestcott on Oct 25, 2016

If I type source ~/.bashrc in that same window, now everything works again. Is something you are doing expecting me to source bashrc instead of just doing whatever bash normally does?

No. If you start a new shell, ~/.bashrc is automatically loaded, so you don’t have to do it manually. Close your terminal emulator completely and restart it and see if it helps.

junegunn on Oct 25, 2016