Gitignore Magic

fd respects .gitignore by default. This makes searches in projects actually useful.

The Difference

With find, searching for JavaScript files gives you thousands of results including all of node_modules. With fd, you only get your code.

fd skips node_modules automatically because it's in .gitignore.

Override Ignore

Sometimes you need to see ignored files:

# Include ignored files
fd -I .js

# Include hidden files
fd -H config

# Both
fd -I -H .env

Ignore Sources

fd respects:

• .gitignore
• .git/info/exclude
• Global gitignore
• .fdignore (fd-specific)

Create .fdignore for fd-specific exclusions:

*.log
temp/
cache/

Example

Finding Python files:

# With find - manually exclude everything
find . -name "*.py" -not -path "*/.venv/*" -not -path "*/__pycache__/*"

# With fd - automatic
fd .py

If .gitignore has venv/ and __pycache__/, fd already knows to skip them.