$ find | grep -i hint

$ hi
./hi
./hindi
./hint

$ hint
./hint

#!/bin/bash
# Set MINLEN to the minimum number of characters needed to start the
# search.
MINLEN=2
clear
echo "Start typing (minimum $MINLEN characters)..."
# get one character without need for return
while read -n 1 -s i
do
    # get ascii value of character to detect backspace
    n=`echo -n $i|od -i -An|tr -d " "`
    if (( $n == 127 )) # if character is a backspace...
    then
        if (( ${#in} > 0 )) # ...and search string is not empty
        then
            in=${in:0:${#in}-1} # shorten search string by one
            # could use ${in:0:-1} for bash >= 4.2
        fi
    elif (( $n == 27 )) # if character is an escape...
    then
        exit 0 # ...then quit
    else # if any other char was typed...
        in=$in$i # add it to the search string
    fi
    clear
    echo "Search: ""$in""" # show search string on top of screen
    if (( ${#in} >= $MINLEN )) # if search string is long enough...
    then
        find "$@" -iname "*$in*" # ...call find, pass it any parameters given
    fi
done

#Produce basic output, dynamically filter it in the terminal,
#and output the final, confirmed results to stdout
vi `find . | terminalFilter`

#!/usr/bin/env bash

##terminalFilter

del=`printf "x7f"` #backspace character

input="`cat`"       #create initial set from all input
#take the filter macro from the first argument or use
# 'grep -F "$pattern"'
filter=${1:-'grep -F "$pattern"'}
pattern=  #what's inputted by the keyboard at any given time

printSelected(){
  echo "$input" | eval "$filter"
}
printScreen(){
  clear
  printSelected
  #Print search pattern at the bottom of the screen
  tput cup $(tput lines);  echo -n "PATTERN: $pattern"
} >/dev/tty
#^only the confirmed results go `stdout`, this goes to the terminal only

printScreen
#read from the terminal as `cat` has already consumed the `stdin`
exec 0</dev/tty
while IFS=$'n' read -s -n1 key; do
  case "$key" in
    "$del") pattern="${pattern%?}";;  #backspace deletes the last character
        "") break;; #enter breaks the loop
         *) pattern="$pattern$key";; #everything else gets appended
                                     #to the pattern string
  esac
  printScreen
done

clear
printSelected