Fd is a simple, fast, and user-friendly alternative to the traditional Unix find command, written in Rust. It provides an intuitive syntax for searching files and directories, replacing find's verbose flag-based interface with a straightforward pattern-based approach where you simply type fd PATTERN instead of find -iname '*PATTERN*'. Fd addresses the common frustration with find's complex and error-prone syntax by offering sensible defaults that cover the majority of everyday file search use cases.
Fd is approximately seven times faster than find in regex searches and three times faster in name-based searches, thanks to parallel directory traversal and Rust's performance characteristics. It automatically ignores hidden files, directories, and patterns from .gitignore by default, uses smart case sensitivity that switches to case-sensitive when the pattern contains uppercase characters, and provides colorized output similar to ls. Fd supports regular expressions, Unicode-aware matching, and parallel command execution with a syntax similar to GNU Parallel.
Fd is ideal for developers who frequently search for files in codebases and want a faster, more intuitive alternative to find. It integrates well with other modern CLI tools, particularly fzf for interactive file selection, and respects project-level ignore files for cleaner search results in version-controlled repositories. Available on macOS, Linux, and Windows, fd has become a staple of the modern developer's terminal toolkit alongside other Rust-based replacements like ripgrep, bat, and eza.
