sharkdp/fd · warning · anyhow::Error

The pattern(s) seems to only match files with a leading…

Error message

The pattern(s) seems to only match files with a leading dot, but hidden files are filtered by default. Consider adding -H/--hidden to search hidden files as well or adjust your search pattern(s).

What it means

ensure_use_hidden_option_for_leading_dot_pattern (main.rs:521) uses pattern_matches_strings_with_leading_dot to detect a regex that starts with '^\.' (start anchor followed by a literal dot) and therefore can only ever match hidden/dotfiles. Since fd filters hidden files by default, such a pattern would silently return nothing; fd errors instead with a hint to add -H. Unix-only.

Solutions

1. Add -H/--hidden to include hidden files: `fd -H '^.gitignore'`.
2. If you did not intend to search dotfiles, adjust the pattern (e.g. drop the leading '^\.').
3. Use --no-hidden explicitly if you want to confirm the filter is intentional, or --hidden to disable filtering.

Example fix

# before
fd '^.gitignore'

# after
fd -H '^.gitignore'

if printf '%s' "$PATTERN" | grep -Eq '^\\^\\\.'; then
  fd -H "$PATTERN"  # leading-dot pattern: include hidden
else
  fd "$PATTERN"
fi

When it happens

Trigger: Running `fd '^.gitignore'`, `fd '^\.config'`, or any pattern the HIR analysis detects as start-anchored-on-dot, while hidden files are filtered (the default, no -H). The detector (regex_helper.rs:40) only catches the simple ^\.literal form.

Common situations: Searching for dotfiles without realizing -H is required; scripts ported from `find . -name '.git*'` that assume hidden files are searched by default.

Related errors

• Note: You can search for literal substrings with…
• more than one ':' present in owner string
• The search pattern ' ' contains a path-separation character…
• A path separator must be exactly one byte, but the given…
• Could not retrieve current directory (has it been deleted?).

AI-assisted analysis of sharkdp/fd@ee20f426dd (2026-08-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/29fd16f5c61623a8. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/main.rs:531

                "'{}' is not a valid date or duration. See 'fd --help'.",
                t
            ));
        }
    }
    Ok(time_constraints)
}

fn ensure_use_hidden_option_for_leading_dot_pattern(
    config: &Config,
    pattern_regexps: &[String],
) -> Result<()> {
    if cfg!(unix)
        && config.ignore_hidden
        && pattern_regexps
            .iter()
            .any(|pat| pattern_matches_strings_with_leading_dot(pat))
    {
        Err(anyhow!(
            "The pattern(s) seems to only match files with a leading dot, but hidden files are \
            filtered by default. Consider adding -H/--hidden to search hidden files as well \
            or adjust your search pattern(s)."
        ))
    } else {
        Ok(())
    }
}

fn build_regex(pattern_regex: String, config: &Config) -> Result<regex::bytes::Regex> {
    RegexBuilder::new(&pattern_regex)
        .case_insensitive(!config.case_sensitive)
        .dot_matches_new_line(true)
        .build()
        .map_err(|e| {
            anyhow!(
                "{}\n\nNote: You can search for literal substrings with '--fixed-strings' \
                 or literal strings with '--exact' options (instead of a regular expression). \

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