flexible, simple tools for minibuffer completion in Emacs

This repository contains:

Ivy, a generic completion mechanism for Emacs.

Counsel, a collection of Ivy-enhanced versions of common Emacs commands.

Swiper, an Ivy-enhanced alternative to Isearch.

Ivy

Ivy is a generic completion mechanism for Emacs. While it operates similarly to other completion schemes such as icomplete-mode, Ivy aims to be more efficient, smaller, simpler, and smoother to use yet highly customizable.

To try Ivy, just call M-x ivy-mode. This will enable generic Ivy completion, including specific completion for file and buffer names.

Installation

Install the ivy package from GNU ELPA or MELPA.

Users of Debian ≥10 (and derivatives such as Ubuntu ≥18.04) can install Ivy, Counsel, and Swiper with sudo apt install elpa-counsel. To add Hydra support sudo apt install elpa-ivy-hydra.

Documentation

Manual

The manual is available as HTML.

Installing ivy from GNU ELPA or MELPA also installs the manual under the (ivy) Info node.

The source file for the Info page is here.

Wiki

Ivy and Swiper wiki is here: the wiki.

Small config example

(ivy-mode)
(setq ivy-use-virtual-buffers t)
(setq enable-recursive-minibuffers t)
;; enable this if you want `swiper' to use it
;; (setq search-default-mode #'char-fold-to-regexp)
(global-set-key "\C-s" 'swiper)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-r") 'ivy-resume)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f6>") 'ivy-resume)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'counsel-M-x)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-f") 'counsel-find-file)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f1> f") 'counsel-describe-function)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f1> v") 'counsel-describe-variable)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f1> o") 'counsel-describe-symbol)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f1> l") 'counsel-find-library)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f2> i") 'counsel-info-lookup-symbol)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f2> u") 'counsel-unicode-char)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c g") 'counsel-git)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c j") 'counsel-git-grep)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c k") 'counsel-ag)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x l") 'counsel-locate)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-o") 'counsel-rhythmbox)
(define-key minibuffer-local-map (kbd "C-r") 'counsel-minibuffer-history)

Note: parts of this config can be replaced by using counsel-mode.

Counsel

ivy-mode ensures that any Emacs command using completing-read-function uses ivy for completion.

Counsel takes this further, providing versions of common Emacs commands that are customised to make the best use of Ivy. For example, counsel-find-file has some additional keybindings. Pressing DEL will move you to the parent directory.

Enabling counsel-mode remaps built-in Emacs functions that have counsel replacements:

Emacs command	Counsel equivalent
execute-extended-command	counsel-M-x
describe-bindings	counsel-descbinds
describe-function	counsel-describe-function
describe-variable	counsel-describe-variable
apropos-command	counsel-apropos
describe-face	counsel-describe-face
list-faces-display	counsel-faces
find-file	counsel-find-file
find-library	counsel-find-library
imenu	counsel-imenu
load-library	counsel-load-library
load-theme	counsel-load-theme
yank-pop	counsel-yank-pop
info-lookup-symbol	counsel-info-lookup-symbol
pop-to-mark-command	counsel-mark-ring
bookmark-jump	counsel-bookmark

Swiper

Swiper is an alternative to isearch that uses Ivy to show an overview of all matches.

A Helm version of Swiper is also available: swiper-helm.

Screenshots

There's also a ten minute video demo.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How do I enter an input that matches one of the candidates instead of this candidate? Example: create a file bar when a file barricade exists in the current directory.

A: Press C-M-j. Alternatively, you can make the prompt line selectable with (setq ivy-use-selectable-prompt t).

Contributing

Please see the guidelines for reporting issues and opening pull requests.