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🔭 Telescope for Neovim

Shaik Zahid
7 min readFeb 7, 2023

--

Fuzzy finder for Neovim

Telescope is a highly extendable fuzzy finder over lists. Built on the latest awesome features from Neovim core. Telescope is centered around modularity, allowing for easy customization.

Requirements

Installation

  • Add references to our plugins.lua file in lua directory.
return {

    -- Bufferline
    {
        'akinsho/bufferline.nvim',
        dependencies = {
            'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons'
        },
    },

    -- Colorscheme
    {
        'folke/tokyonight.nvim',
    },

    -- Hop (Better Navigation)
    {
        "phaazon/hop.nvim",
        lazy = true,
    },


    -- Lualine
    {
        'nvim-lualine/lualine.nvim',
        dependencies = {
            'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons'
        },
    },

    -- Nvimtree (File Explorer)
    {
        'nvim-tree/nvim-tree.lua',
        lazy = true,
        dependencies = {
            'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons',
        },
    },

    -- Telescope (Fuzzy Finder)
    -- Added these plugins to install Telescope
    {
        'nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim',
        lazy = true,
        dependencies = {
            {'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim'},
        }
    },

    -- Which-key
    {
        'folke/which-key.nvim',
        lazy = true,
    },

}
  • Now invoke Lazy(Package Manager) using Space + p command in Normal mode to install Telescope and its dependencies.
  • Install the plugins using “shift + i” and we can go on to the next steps of configuring Telescope.

Configuration

  • Create a new file telescope-config.lua in your lua directory and add this code.
-- telescope-config.lua

local status_ok, telescope = pcall(require, "telescope")
if not status_ok then
  return
end


local actions = require("telescope.actions")
require('telescope').setup{
  defaults = {
    -- Default configuration for telescope goes here:
    -- config_key = value,

    prompt_prefix = " ",
    selection_caret = " ",
    path_display = { "smart" },


    mappings = {
      i = {
        ["<C-n>"] = actions.cycle_history_next,
        ["<C-p>"] = actions.cycle_history_prev,

        ["<C-j>"] = actions.move_selection_next,
        ["<C-k>"] = actions.move_selection_previous,

        ["<C-c>"] = actions.close,

        ["<Down>"] = actions.move_selection_next,
        ["<Up>"] = actions.move_selection_previous,

        ["<CR>"] = actions.select_default,
        ["<C-x>"] = actions.select_horizontal,
        ["<C-v>"] = actions.select_vertical,
        ["<C-t>"] = actions.select_tab,

        ["<C-u>"] = actions.preview_scrolling_up,
        ["<C-d>"] = actions.preview_scrolling_down,

        ["<PageUp>"] = actions.results_scrolling_up,
        ["<PageDown>"] = actions.results_scrolling_down,

        ["<Tab>"] = actions.toggle_selection + actions.move_selection_worse,
        ["<S-Tab>"] = actions.toggle_selection + actions.move_selection_better,
        ["<C-q>"] = actions.send_to_qflist + actions.open_qflist,
        ["<M-q>"] = actions.send_selected_to_qflist + actions.open_qflist,
        ["<C-l>"] = actions.complete_tag,
        ["<C-_>"] = actions.which_key, -- keys from pressing <C-/>
      },

      n = {
        ["<esc>"] = actions.close,
        ["<CR>"] = actions.select_default,
        ["<C-x>"] = actions.select_horizontal,
        ["<C-v>"] = actions.select_vertical,
        ["<C-t>"] = actions.select_tab,

        ["<Tab>"] = actions.toggle_selection + actions.move_selection_worse,
        ["<S-Tab>"] = actions.toggle_selection + actions.move_selection_better,
        ["<C-q>"] = actions.send_to_qflist + actions.open_qflist,
        ["<M-q>"] = actions.send_selected_to_qflist + actions.open_qflist,

        ["j"] = actions.move_selection_next,
        ["k"] = actions.move_selection_previous,
        ["H"] = actions.move_to_top,
        ["M"] = actions.move_to_middle,
        ["L"] = actions.move_to_bottom,

        ["<Down>"] = actions.move_selection_next,
        ["<Up>"] = actions.move_selection_previous,
        ["gg"] = actions.move_to_top,
        ["G"] = actions.move_to_bottom,

        ["<C-u>"] = actions.preview_scrolling_up,
        ["<C-d>"] = actions.preview_scrolling_down,

        ["<PageUp>"] = actions.results_scrolling_up,
        ["<PageDown>"] = actions.results_scrolling_down,

        ["?"] = actions.which_key,
      },
    }
  },
  pickers = {
    -- Default configuration for builtin pickers goes here:
    -- picker_name = {
    --   picker_config_ key = value,
    --   ...
    -- }
    -- Now the picker_config_key will be applied every time you call this
    -- builtin picker
  },
  extensions = {
    -- Your extension configuration goes here:
    -- extension_name = {
    --   extension_config_key = value,
    -- }
    -- please take a look at the readme of the extension you want to configure
  }
}

Update the Main Configuration

-- init.lua

require "options"
require "keymaps"
require "lazy-config"
require "bufferline-config"
require "hop-config"
require "nvim-tree-config"
require "lualine-config"
require "telescope-config" -- Added this line to initial file
require "whichkey"

Telescope Keybindings in Which-key

  • Update the mappings variable in whichkey.lua with Telescope keys

    -- Telescope
    f = {
        name = "File Search",
        c = { "<cmd>Telescope colorscheme<cr>", "Colorscheme" },
        f = { "<cmd>lua require('telescope.builtin').find_files()<cr>", "Find files" },
        t = { "<cmd>Telescope live_grep <cr>", "Find Text Pattern In All Files" },
        r = { "<cmd>Telescope oldfiles<cr>", "Open Recent File" },
    },
    
    s = {
        name = "Search",
        h = { "<cmd>Telescope help_tags<cr>", "Find Help" },
        m = { "<cmd>Telescope man_pages<cr>", "Man Pages" },
        r = { "<cmd>Telescope registers<cr>", "Registers" },
        k = { "<cmd>Telescope keymaps<cr>", "Keymaps" },
        c = { "<cmd>Telescope commands<cr>", "Commands" },
    },


  • The updated whichkey.lua file will look like this…
-- whichkey.lua

local status_ok, which_key = pcall(require, "which-key")
if not status_ok then
    return
end

local setup = {
    plugins = {
        marks = true, -- shows a list of your marks on ' and `
        registers = true, -- shows your registers on " in NORMAL or <C-r> in INSERT mode
        spelling = {
            enabled = true, -- enabling this will show WhichKey when pressing z= to select spelling suggestions
            suggestions = 20, -- how many suggestions should be shown in the list?
        },
        -- the presets plugin, adds help for a bunch of default keybindings in Neovim
        -- No actual key bindings are created
        presets = {
            operators = false, -- adds help for operators like d, y, ... and registers them for motion / text object completion
            motions = true, -- adds help for motions
            text_objects = true, -- help for text objects triggered after entering an operator
            windows = true, -- default bindings on <c-w>
            nav = true, -- misc bindings to work with windows
            z = true, -- bindings for folds, spelling and others prefixed with z
            g = true, -- bindings for prefixed with g
        },
    },
    -- add operators that will trigger motion and text object completion
    -- to enable all native operators, set the preset / operators plugin above
    -- operators = { gc = "Comments" },
    key_labels = {
        -- override the label used to display some keys. It doesn't effect WK in any other way.
        -- For example:
        -- ["<space>"] = "SPC",
        -- ["<cr>"] = "RET",
        -- ["<tab>"] = "TAB",
    },
    icons = {
        breadcrumb = "»", -- symbol used in the command line area that shows your active key combo
        separator = "➜", -- symbol used between a key and it's label
        group = "+", -- symbol prepended to a group
    },
    popup_mappings = {
        scroll_down = "<c-d>", -- binding to scroll down inside the popup
        scroll_up = "<c-u>", -- binding to scroll up inside the popup
    },
    window = {
        border = "rounded", -- none, single, double, shadow
        position = "bottom", -- bottom, top
        margin = { 1, 0, 1, 0 }, -- extra window margin [top, right, bottom, left]
        padding = { 2, 2, 2, 2 }, -- extra window padding [top, right, bottom, left]
        winblend = 0,
    },
    layout = {
        height = { min = 4, max = 25 }, -- min and max height of the columns
        width = { min = 20, max = 50 }, -- min and max width of the columns
        spacing = 3, -- spacing between columns
        align = "left", -- align columns left, center or right
    },
    ignore_missing = true, -- enable this to hide mappings for which you didn't specify a label
    hidden = { "<silent>", "<cmd>", "<Cmd>", "<CR>", "call", "lua", "^:", "^ " }, -- hide mapping boilerplate
    show_help = true, -- show help message on the command line when the popup is visible
    triggers = "auto", -- automatically setup triggers
    -- triggers = {"<leader>"} -- or specify a list manually
    triggers_blacklist = {
        -- list of mode / prefixes that should never be hooked by WhichKey
        -- this is mostly relevant for key maps that start with a native binding
        -- most people should not need to change this
        i = { "j", "k" },
        v = { "j", "k" },
    },
}

local opts = {
    mode = "n", -- NORMAL mode
    prefix = "<leader>",
    buffer = nil, -- Global mappings. Specify a buffer number for buffer local mappings
    silent = true, -- use `silent` when creating keymaps
    noremap = true, -- use `noremap` when creating keymaps
    nowait = true, -- use `nowait` when creating keymaps
}

local mappings = {

    ["e"] = { "<cmd>NvimTreeToggle<cr>", "Explorer" }, -- File Explorer
    ["k"] = { "<cmd>bdelete<CR>", "Kill Buffer" },  -- Close current file
    ["p"] = { "<cmd>Lazy<CR>", "Plugin Manager" }, -- Invoking plugin manager
    ["q"] = { "<cmd>wqall!<CR>", "Quit" }, -- Quit Neovim after saving the file
    ["w"] = { "<cmd>w!<CR>", "Save" }, -- Save current file

    -- Telescope
    f = {
        name = "File Search",
        c = { "<cmd>Telescope colorscheme<cr>", "Colorscheme" },
        f = { "<cmd>lua require('telescope.builtin').find_files()<cr>", "Find files" },
        t = { "<cmd>Telescope live_grep <cr>", "Find Text Pattern In All Files" },
        r = { "<cmd>Telescope oldfiles<cr>", "Open Recent File" },
    },

    s = {
        name = "Search",
        h = { "<cmd>Telescope help_tags<cr>", "Find Help" },
        m = { "<cmd>Telescope man_pages<cr>", "Man Pages" },
        r = { "<cmd>Telescope registers<cr>", "Registers" },
        k = { "<cmd>Telescope keymaps<cr>", "Keymaps" },
        c = { "<cmd>Telescope commands<cr>", "Commands" },
    },
}

which_key.setup(setup)
which_key.register(mappings, opts)

  • Which-key looks like this…

Telescope Keybindings

  • Space + f + c :- List available colorschemes
  • Space + f + f :- Find files
  • Space + f + t :- Find text pattern anywhere
  • Space + f + r :- Explore recent files
  • Space + s + h :- List help Docs
  • Space + s + m :- List man pages
  • Space + s + k :- List available keys with their description.
  • Space + s + c :- List all commands.

Telescope Alternatives

Neovim From Scratch

  • If you want a complete installation and configuration of Neovim from Scratch, then you can head over to my NEOVIM SERIES.
  • This series is updated regularly, with updates and inclusion of newer plugins which improves the wholesome IDE experience of Neovim.
Vim
Neovim
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Fuzzy Finder
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--

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Shaik Zahid

Written by Shaik Zahid

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