Interactive bookmarks menu v2

In this post, I am going to improve the interactive bookmark I created in a previous post.

Requirements

• Linux (I'm using Elementary OS, a Ubuntu-based distro, try it!)
• fzf command-line fuzzy finder
• Remember to add execution permissions to the scripts through chmod +x
• This article improves the interactive bookmark menu implemented in the previous post: Create an interactive bookmarks menu in your terminal

Improvements introduced

1. Add one directory layer
2. Open VS Code in the repository

Add one directory layer

I have a global path for all the repositories I clone locally, it is /home/cangulo/repos. As I have a lot, I grouped them into folders per organization or custom name.

Organization/ custom name	Repository
cangulo-actions	cangulo.nuke.prcommitsvalidations
cangulo-actions	cangulo.nuke.releasecreator
cangulo-actions	workflows
cangulo-nugets	cangulo.changelog
cangulo-nugets	cangulo.changelog.github.io
cangulo-nugets	cangulo.common.testing
old-projects	cangulo.build
old-projects	cangulo.cicd
old-projects	cangulo.cicd-gh-action
temps	any temporary repository

The organization / custom name will be the first layer, while the repositories are the second one. Next is the folder structure:

├── cangulo-actions
│   ├── cangulo.nuke.prcommitsvalidations
│   ├── cangulo.nuke.releasecreator
│   └── workflows
├── cangulo-nugets
│   ├── cangulo.changelog
│   ├── cangulo.changelog.github.io
│   └── cangulo.common.testing
├── old-projects
│   ├── cangulo.build
│   ├── cangulo.cicd
│   └── cangulo.cicd-gh-action
└── temp
    ├── dotnet-docker
    └── gsd

Open VS Code in the repository

Once I choose a repository, I would like to open it using VS Code.

Demo

Implementation

listBookmarks() {
    local selectedBookmark=$(
        cat $BOOKMARKS_FILE |
            jq -r '["NAME", "PATH"], (.[] |
            [.name,.path]) |
            @tsv' |
            column -t |
            fzf --tac
    )

    if [[ -n $selectedBookmark ]]; then
        local bookmarkPath=$(
            echo $selectedBookmark |
                tr -s ' ' |
                cut -f2 -d ' '
        )
        cd $bookmarkPath
        lsf "code"
    else
        cd $LOCAL_REPOS
    fi
}
export listBookmarks

lsf() {
    local command=$1

    local chosenDir=$(ls | fzf)
    if [[ -n $chosenDir ]]; then
        cd $chosenDir
        if [[ -n $command ]]; then
            eval "\$command ."
        fi
    fi
}
export lsf

listBookmarks function

Let me write down the changes introduced:

1. Bookmarks now have two properties: name and path.

    {
        "name": "Actions",
        "path": "/home/cangulo/repos/cangulo-actions"
    },

• name: string to identify the organization / custom name folder. Without spaces. e.g. for cangulo-actions -> Actions
• path: full path to first layer directories mentioned before.

Full Bookmark file

[

    {
        "name": "Actions",
        "path": "/home/cangulo/repos/cangulo-actions"
    },
    {
        "name": "Nugets",
        "path": "/home/cangulo/repos/cangulo-nugets"
    },
    {
        "name": "oldprojects",
        "path": "/home/cangulo/repos/old-projects"
    },
    {
        "name": "temp",
        "path": "/home/cangulo/repos/temp"
    }
]

bookmarks

2. The path to the bookmarks file is set in the environment variable $BOOKMARKS_FILE. We don't have it hardcoded in the function.

        cat $BOOKMARKS_FILE |

3. I now use jq to query both attributes (.[] | [.name,.path]) and output them in the columns ["NAME", "PATH"] as a tab-separated-value @tsv:

        cat $BOOKMARKS_FILE |
            jq -r '["NAME", "PATH"], (.[] |
            [.name,.path]) |
            @tsv' |

Problem: columns are not aligned (see oldprojects row)

4. In order to align the jq output before piping it to fzf, I use the column -t command. Reference

        cat $BOOKMARKS_FILE |
            jq -r '["NAME", "PATH"], (.[] |
            [.name,.path]) |
            @tsv' |
            column -t |
            fzf --tac

5. Once a bookmark is selected, the full row is returned. I

Then, I have to extract the path. First, I delete the repeated spaces (tr -s ' '). Secondly, I choose the second column(cut -f2 -d ' '). The -d ' ' parameter is to set columns delimiter to a whitespace.

5. I have created the function lsf to list the current directories using fzf, navigate to the one selected and execute a command provided as first parameter $1. In our case code.

lsf() {
    local command=$1

    local chosenDir=$(ls | fzf)
    if [[ -n $chosenDir ]]; then
        cd $chosenDir
        if [[ -n $command ]]; then
            eval "\$command ."
        fi
    fi
}

Please note the eval "\$command ." statement for executing the command provided.

Adding this to your Terminal Profile

You can add this into your Bash / Zsh profile. You can follow the next steps:

1. Define your bookmarks in a json file following the name,path model
2. In your profile, append its path in the $BOOKMARKS_FILE variable
3. Append the functions listBookmarks and lsf.
4. Append a call to the listBookmarks function at the end of the profile, so every time you open a terminal it execute it.

lsf function

I just want to mention you can use the lsf function separately to make navigation through directories faster. Also, remember it accepts as a parameter a command to execute in the directory selected. Give it a try and add import it in your profile.

Final Notes

Do you see any other improvement to include? What commands would you provide when using lsf ? Share them in the comments below.

via GIPHY

About me

I'm a Senior Platform Engineer. I build and evolve Internal Developer Platforms — golden paths, self-service tooling, and paved roads spanning AWS governance, CI/CD standardization, and developer enablement — so engineering teams ship faster, safer, and more autonomously, with less cognitive load. My core stack is AWS, Terraform, and GitHub Actions, and I'm an AWS Certified Solutions Architect. I care deeply about paved roads, productivity, and documenting implementations so knowledge scales with the team (yes, I'm an engineer who likes to document 🧑‍💻).

You can check my experience here.

Personal Blog - cangulo.github.io GitHub - Carlos Angulo Mascarell - cangulo
LinkedIn - Carlos Angulo Mascarell

Did you like it? Share It!

Comments