Queries

Matchmaker uses a powerful fuzzy matcher (based on Nucleo) to filter and rank items. It implements fzf-style scoring with smart case, consecutive match boosting, and start-of-word preference.

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How Matching Works

1. Fuzzy Matching: Characters match in order but not necessarily consecutively. Shorter gaps and consecutive runs score higher.
2. Multiple Tokens: Split by spaces. Each token must match independently (logical AND).
   • Example: foo bar matches items containing both foo and bar.
3. Smart Case:
   • Lowercase query → case-insensitive.
   • Uppercase letters → case-sensitive.

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Query Syntax and Operators

Operator	Meaning	Example
abc	Fuzzy match	abc matches alphabetic
'abc	Literal substring	'foo matches hello foo but not f_o_o
^abc	Match prefix	^src matches items starting with src
abc$	Match suffix	bar$ matches items ending with bar
^abc$	Exact match	^foo$ matches exactly foo
!abc	Exclude	foo !test matches foo but not test
\	Escape space	foo\ bar matches literal space

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Columns

Configuration

• columns.split: Defines how input lines are parsed into columns.
  • None: No splitting (single column).
  • Delimiter(regex): Splits line by a regex (e.g., \s+ or ,).
    • Capture groups are supported:
      • If the regex contains named groups, each named match is assigned to the column with the corresponding name.
      • If there are unnamed groups, matches are assigned to columns in sequence (first group → first column, etc.).
      • Example:

        (?P<name>\w+),(?P<age>\d+),(\w+)
        

        • name → column "name"
        • age → column "age"
        • Third unnamed group → third column in order
  • Regexes([regex]): Uses a sequence of regexes to capture specific parts of the line.
• columns.names: A list of column settings (name, filter, hidden).
  • If names are provided, you can filter by them.
  • If unspecified, columns are automatically named 1, 2, ... (or 0, 1, ... if names_from_zero is true).

Note: Beware that any columns after columns.max are inaccessible!

Column Filtering

Filter a specific column using %name or any abbreviation thereof:

• %path .toml: Matches items where the path column ends with .toml.
• helix %p .toml !lang: Match helix, path ends in .toml, exclude lang.

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Miscellaneous

Exit codes

• 125: EventLoopClosed
• 404: No Match
• 11: Start Error
• 100: Signal to resume from BecomeOrConfirm (when emitted by spawned scripts)