Provided by: vifm_0.14-3_amd64 
NAME
vifm - vi file manager
SYNOPSIS
vifm [OPTION]...
vifm [OPTION]... path
vifm [OPTION]... path path
DESCRIPTION
Vifm is an ncurses based file manager with vi like keybindings. If you use vi, vifm gives you complete
keyboard control over your files without having to learn a new set of commands.
OPTIONS
vifm starts in the current directory unless it is given a different directory on the command line or
'vifminfo' option includes "savedirs" (in which case last visited directories are used as defaults).
- Read list of files from standard input stream and compose custom view out of them (see "Custom
views" section). Current working directory is used as a base for relative paths.
<path> Starts Vifm in the specified path.
<path> <path>
Starts Vifm in the specified paths.
Specifying two directories triggers split view even when vifm was in single-view mode on finishing
previous run. To suppress this behaviour :only command can be put in the vifmrc file.
When only one path argument is found on command-line, the left/top pane is automatically set as the
current view.
Paths to files are also allowed in case you want vifm to start with some archive opened.
--select <path>
Open parent directory of the given path and select specified file in it.
-f Makes vifm instead of opening files write selection to $VIFM/vimfiles and quit.
--choose-files <path>|-
Sets output file to write selection into on exit instead of opening files. "-" means standard
output. Use empty value to disable it.
--choose-dir <path>|-
Sets output file to write last visited directory into on exit. "-" means standard output. Use
empty value to disable it.
--delimiter <delimiter>
Sets separator for list of file paths written out by vifm. Empty value means null character.
Default is new line character.
--on-choose <command>
Sets command to be executed on selected files instead of opening them. The command may use any of
macros described in "Command macros" section below. The command is executed once for whole
selection.
--plugins-dir <path>
Additional plugins directory (can appear multiple times). The last one added has the highest
priority.
--logging[=<startup log path>]
Log some operational details to $XDG_DATA_HOME/vifm/log or $VIFM/log. If the optional startup log
path is specified and permissions allow one to open it for writing, then logging of early
initialization (before configuration directories are determined) is put there.
--server-list
List available server names and exit.
--server-name <name>
Name of target or this instance (sequential numbers are appended on name conflict).
--remote
Sends the rest of the command line to another instance of vifm, --server-name is treated just like
any other argument and should precede --remote on the command line. When there is no server,
quits silently. There is no limit on how many arguments can be processed. One can combine
--remote with -c <command> or +<command> to execute commands in already running instance of vifm.
See also "Client-Server" section below.
--remote-expr
passes expression to vifm server and prints result. See also "Client-Server" section below.
-c <command> or +<command>
Run command-line mode <command> on startup. Commands in such arguments are executed in the order
they appear in command line. Commands with spaces or special symbols must be enclosed in double
or single quotes or all special symbols should be escaped (the exact syntax strongly depends on
shell). "+" argument is equivalent to "$" and thus picks last item of of the view.
--help, -h
Show a brief command summary and exit vifm.
--version, -v
Show version information and quit.
--no-configs
Skip reading vifmrc and vifminfo.
See "Startup" section below for the explanations on $VIFM.
General keys
Ctrl-C or Escape
cancel most operations (see "Cancellation" section below), clear all selected files.
Ctrl-L clear and redraw the screen. Can also reload file list in appropriate modes (like normal and
visual).
Basic Movement
The basic vi key bindings are used to move through the files and pop-up windows.
k, gk, or Ctrl-P
move cursor up one line.
j, gj or Ctrl-N
move cursor down one line.
h when 'lsview' is off move up one directory (moves to parent directory node in tree view),
otherwise move left one file.
l when 'lsview' is off move into a directory or launch a file, otherwise move right one file. See
"Selection" section below.
gg move to the first line of the file list.
G move to the last line in the file list.
gh go up one directory regardless of view representation (regular, ls-like). Also can be used to
leave custom views including tree view.
gl or Enter
enter directory or launch a file. See "Selection" section below.
H move to the first file in the window.
M move to the file in the middle of the window.
L move to the last file in the window.
Ctrl-F or Page Down
move forward one page.
Ctrl-B or Page Up
move back one page.
Ctrl-D jump back one half page.
Ctrl-U jump forward one half page.
n% move to the file that is n percent from the top of the list (for example 25%).
0 or ^ move cursor to the first column. See 'lsview' option description.
$ move cursor to the last column. See 'lsview' option description.
Space switch file lists.
gt switch to the next tab (wrapping around).
{n}gt switch to the tab number {n} (wrapping around).
gT switch to the previous tab (wrapping around).
{n}gT switch to {n}-th previous tab.
Movement with Count
Most movement commands also accept a count, 12j would move down 12 files.
[count]%
move to percent of the file list.
[count]j
move down [count] files.
[count]k
move up [count] files.
[count]G or [count]gg
move to list position [count].
[count]h
go up [count] directories.
Scrolling panes
zt redraw pane with file in top of list.
zz redraw pane with file in center of list.
zb redraw pane with file in bottom of list.
Ctrl-E scroll pane one line down or column right (in transposed ls-like view).
Ctrl-Y scroll pane one line up or column left (in transposed ls-like view).
Pane manipulation
Second character can be entered with or without Control key.
Ctrl-W H
move the pane to the far left.
Ctrl-W J
move the pane to the very bottom.
Ctrl-W K
move the pane to the very top.
Ctrl-W L
move the pane to the far right.
Ctrl-W h
switch to the left pane.
Ctrl-W j
switch to the pane below.
Ctrl-W k
switch to the pane above.
Ctrl-W l
switch to the right pane.
Ctrl-W b
switch to bottom-right window.
Ctrl-W t
switch to top-left window.
Ctrl-W p
switch to previous window.
Ctrl-W w
switch to other pane.
Ctrl-W o
leave only one pane.
Ctrl-W s
split window horizontally.
Ctrl-W v
split window vertically.
Ctrl-W x
exchange panes.
Ctrl-W z
quit preview pane or view modes.
Ctrl-W -
decrease size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W +
increase size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W <
decrease size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W >
increase size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W |
set current view size to count.
Ctrl-W _
set current view size to count.
Ctrl-W =
make size of two views equal.
For Ctrl-W +, Ctrl-W -, Ctrl-W <, Ctrl-W >, Ctrl-W | and Ctrl-W _ commands count can be given before
and/or after Ctrl-W. The resulting count is a multiplication of those two. So "2 Ctrl-W 2 -" decreases
window size by 4 lines or columns.
Ctrl-W | and Ctrl-W _ maximise current view by default.
Marks
Marks are set the same way as they are in vi.
You can use these characters for marks [a-z][A-Z][0-9].
m[a-z][A-Z][0-9]
set a mark for the file at the current cursor position.
'[a-z][A-Z][0-9]
navigate to the file set for the mark.
There are also several special marks that can't be set manually:
- ' (single quote) - previously visited directory of the view, thus hitting '' allows switching between
two last locations
- < - the first file of the last visually selected block
- > - the last file of the last visually selected block
Searching
/regular expression pattern
search for files matching regular expression in forward direction and advance cursor to next
match.
/ perform forward search with top item of search pattern history.
?regular expression pattern
search for files matching regular expression in backward direction and advance cursor to previous
match.
? perform backward search with top item of search pattern history.
Trailing slash for directories is taken into account, so /\/ searches for directories and symbolic links
to directories. At the moment // works too, but this can change in the future, so consider escaping the
slash if not typing pattern by hand.
Matches are automatically selected if 'hlsearch' is set. Enabling 'incsearch' makes search interactive.
'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options affect case sensitivity of search queries as well as local filter
and other things detailed in the description of 'caseoptions'.
[count]n
go to the next file matching last search pattern. Takes last search direction into account.
[count]N
go to the previous file matching last search pattern. Takes last search direction into account.
If 'hlsearch' option is set, hitting n/N to perform a search and go to a matching item can reset existing
selection in normal mode. It happens when there are no prior search results (i.e., no files with
highlighting of the matched part), otherwise the selection is left as is. Resetting search matches in
any way (like running :nohlsearch or pressing Escape) will force the search next time n/N is pressed and
cause matching files to be selected.
See also "Regular expressions" section.
[count]f[character]
search forward for file with [character] as first character in name. Search wraps around the end
of the list.
[count]F[character]
search backward for file with [character] as first character in name. Search wraps around the end
of the list.
[count];
find the next match of f or F.
[count],
find the previous match of f or F.
Note: f, F, ; and , wrap around list beginning and end when they are used alone and they don't wrap when
they are used as selectors.
File Filters
There are three basic file filters:
- dot files filter (does not affect "." and ".." special directories, whose appearance is controlled by
the 'dotdirs' option), see 'dotfiles' option;
- permanent filter;
- local filter (see description of the "=" normal mode command).
Permanent filter essentially allows defining a group of files names which are not desirable to be seen by
default, like temporary or backup files, which might be created alongside normal ones. Just like you
don't usually need to see hidden dot files (files starting with a dot). Local filter on the other hand
is for temporary immediate filtering of file list at hand, to get rid of uninterested files in the view
or to make it possible to use % range in a :command.
For the purposes of more deterministic editing permanent filter is split into two parts:
- one edited explicitly via :filter command;
- another one which is edited implicitly via zf shortcut.
Files are tested against both parts and a match counts if at least one of the parts matched.
Each file list has its own copy of each filter.
Filtered files are not checked in / search or :commands.
Files and directories are filtered separately. This is done by appending a slash to a directory name
before testing whether it matches the filter. Examples:
" filter directories which names end with '.files'
:filter /^.*\.files\/$/
" filter files which names end with '.d'
:filter {*.d}
" filter files and directories which names end with '.o'
:filter /^.*\.o\/?$/
See also "Regular expressions" and "Patterns" sections.
The basic Vim folding key bindings are used for managing filters.
za toggle visibility of dot files.
zo show dot files.
zm hide dot files.
zf add selected files to permanent filter.
zO reset permanent filter.
zR save and reset all filters.
zr clear local filter.
zM restore all filters (undoes last zR).
zd exclude selection or current file from a custom view. Does nothing for regular view. For tree
view excluding directory excludes that sub-tree. For compare views zd hides group of adjacent
identical files, count can be specified as 1 to exclude just single file or selected items
instead. Files excluded this way are not counted as filtered out and can't be returned unless
view is reloaded.
=regular expression pattern
filter out files that don't match regular expression. Whether view is updated as regular
expression is changed depends on the value of the 'incsearch' option. This kind of filter is
automatically reset when directory is changed.
Tree-related Keys
While some of the keys make sense outside of tree-view, they are most useful in trees.
[z go to first sibling of current entry.
]z go to last sibling of current entry.
zj go to next directory sibling of current entry or do nothing.
zk go to previous directory sibling of current entry or do nothing.
zx toggle fold under the cursor or parent entry of the current file if cursor is not on a directory.
Other Normal Mode Keys
[count]:
enter command line mode. [count] generates range.
q: open external editor to prompt for command-line command. See "Command line editing" section for
details.
q/ open external editor to prompt for search pattern to be searched in forward direction. See
"Command line editing" section for details.
q? open external editor to prompt for search pattern to be searched in backward direction. See
"Command line editing" section for details.
q= open external editor to prompt for filter pattern. See "Command line editing" section for
details. Unlike other q{x} commands this one doesn't work in Visual mode.
[count]!! and [count]!<selector>
enter command line mode with entered ! command. [count] modifies range.
Ctrl-O go backwards through directory history of current view. Nonexistent directories are automatically
skipped.
Ctrl-I if 'cpoptions' contains "t" flag, <tab> and <c-i> switch active pane just like <space> does,
otherwise it goes forward through directory history of current view. Nonexistent directories are
automatically skipped.
Ctrl-G show a dialog with detailed information about current file. See "Menus and dialogs" section for
controls.
Shift-Tab
enter view mode (works only after activating view pane with :view command).
ga calculate directory size. Uses cached directory sizes when possible for better performance. As a
special case calculating size of ".." entry results in calculation of size of current directory.
gA like ga, but force update. Ignores old values of directory sizes.
If file under cursor is selected, each selected item is processed, otherwise only current file is
updated.
gf find link destination (like l with 'followlinks' off, but also finds directories). On Windows
additionally follows .lnk-files.
gF Same as gf, but resolves final path of the chain of symbolic links.
gr only for MS-Windows
same as l key, but tries to run program with administrative privileges.
av go into visual mode for updating current selection, any existing selection is preserved.
gv go into visual mode restoring last selection.
[reg]gs
if register is present, then all files listed in that register that are visible in current view
are selected.
When no register is specified, restore the last selection saved for this view (similar to what gv
does for visual mode selection). When you leave a directory, its saved selection is remembered
for that path and visiting the directory again restores it. Selection for up to 10 distinct file-
system locations are remembered.
gu<selector>
make names of selected files lowercase.
[count]guu and [count]gugu
make names of [count] files starting from the current one lowercase. Without [count] only current
file is affected.
gU<selector>
make names of selected files uppercase.
[count]gUU and [count]gUgU
make names of [count] files starting from the current one uppercase. Without [count] only current
file is affected.
e explore file in the current pane.
i handle file (even if it's an executable and 'runexec' option is set).
cw change word is used to rename a file or files. If multiple files are selected, behaves as :rename
command run without arguments.
cW change WORD is used to change only name of file (without extension).
cl change link target. If multiple files are selected, an editor is spawn to edit paths.
co only for *nix
change file owner.
cg only for *nix
change file group.
[count]cp
change file attributes (permission on *nix and properties on Windows). If [count] is specified,
it's treated as numerical argument for non-recursive `chmod` command (of the form [0-7]{3,4}).
See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
[count]C
clone file [count] times.
[count]dd
move files to trash directory if 'trash' option is set, otherwise delete them permanently. See
"Trash directory" section below.
When "s" is present in 'cpoptions', operates on selected files or, in the absence of selection,
the current one. When the flag isn't set, always operates on the current file only.
d[count]<selector>
like dd, but accepts motions/selectors.
[count]DD or D[count]<selector>
like dd and d<selector>, but always omits trash directory (even when 'trash' option is set).
Affected by "s" flag in 'cpoptions'.
[count]Y or [count]yy
yank files.
When "s" is present in 'cpoptions', operates on selected files or, in the absence of selection,
the current one. When the flag isn't set, always operates on the current file only.
y[count]<selector>
yank files specified by motion/selector.
p copy yanked files to the current directory or move the files to the current directory if they were
deleted with dd or :d[elete] or if the files were yanked from trash directory. See "Trash
directory" section below.
P move the last yanked files. The advantage of using P instead of d followed by p is that P moves
files only once. This isn't important in case you're moving files in the same file system where
your home directory is, but using P to move files on some other file system (or file systems, in
case you want to move files from fs1 to fs2 and your home is on fs3) can save your time.
al put symbolic links with absolute paths.
rl put symbolic links with relative paths.
t select or unselect (tag) the current file.
u undo last change.
Ctrl-R redo last change.
dp in compare view of "ofboth grouppaths" kind makes corresponding entries of the other pane equal to
the current one. If at least one file is selected, the command processes selection, otherwise
current file.
The semantics is as follows:
- nothing is done for identical entries
- if file is missing in current view, its pair gets removed
- if file is missing or differs in other view, it's replaced
- file pairs are defined by matching relative paths
File removal obeys 'trash' option. When the option is enabled, the operation can be undone/redone
(although results won't be visible automatically).
Unlike in Vim, this operation is performed on a single line rather than a set of adjacent changes.
do same as dp, but applies changes in the opposite direction.
v or V enter visual mode, clears current selection.
[count]Ctrl-A
increment first number in file name by [count] (1 by default).
[count]Ctrl-X
decrement first number in file name by [count] (1 by default).
ZQ same as :quit!.
ZZ same as :quit.
. repeat last command-line command (not normal mode command) of this run (does nothing right after
startup or :restart command). The command doesn't depend on command-line history and can be used
with completely disabled history.
( go to previous group. Groups are defined by primary sorting key. For name and iname members of
each group have same first letter, for all other sorting keys vifm uses size, uid, ...
) go to next group. See ( key description above.
{ speeds up navigation to closest previous entry of the opposite type by moving to the first file
backwards when cursor is on a directory and to the first directory backwards when cursor is on a
file. This is essentially a special case of ( that is locked on "dirs".
} same as {, but in forward direction.
[c go to previous mismatched entry in directory comparison view or do nothing.
]c go to next mismatched entry in directory comparison view or do nothing.
[d go to previous directory entry or do nothing.
]d go to next directory entry or do nothing.
[r same as :siblprev.
]r same as :siblnext.
[R same as :siblprev!.
]R same as :siblnext!.
[s go to the previous selected entry or do nothing.
]s go to the next selected entry or do nothing.
[S same as [s, but wraps.
]S same as ]s, but wraps.
Using Count
You can use count with commands like yy.
[count]yy
yank count files starting from current cursor position downward.
Or you can use count with motions passed to y, d or D.
d[count]j
delete (count + 1) files starting from current cursor position downward.
Registers
vifm supports multiple registers for temporary storing list of yanked or deleted files.
Registers should be specified by hitting double quote key followed by a register name. Count is
specified after register name. By default commands use unnamed register, which has double quote as its
name.
Though all commands accept registers, most of commands ignores them (for example H or Ctrl-U). Other
commands can fill register or append new files to it.
Presently vifm supports ", _, a-z and A-Z characters as register names.
As mentioned above " is unnamed register and has special meaning of the default register. Every time
when you use named registers (a-z and A-Z) unnamed register is updated to contain same list of files as
the last used register.
_ is black hole register. It can be used for writing, but its list is always empty.
Registers with names from a to z and from A to Z are named ones. Lowercase registers are cleared before
adding new files, while uppercase aren't and should be used to append new files to the existing file list
of appropriate lowercase register (A for a, B for b, ...).
Registers can be changed on :empty command if they contain files under trash directory (see "Trash
directory" section below).
Registers do not contain one file more than once.
Example:
"a2yy
puts names of two files to register a (and to the unnamed register),
"Ad
removes one file and append its name to register a (and to the unnamed register),
p or "ap or "Ap
inserts previously yanked and deleted files into current directory.
Selectors
y, d, D, !, gu and gU commands accept selectors. You can combine them with any of selectors below to
quickly remove or yank several files.
Most of selectors are like vi motions: j, k, gg, G, H, L, M, %, f, F, ;, comma, ', ^, 0 and $. But there
are some additional ones.
a all files in current view.
s selected files.
S all files except selected.
Examples:
- dj - delete file under cursor and one below;
- d2j - delete file under cursor and two below;
- y6gg - yank all files from cursor position to 6th file in the list.
When you pass a count to whole command and its selector they are multiplied. So:
- 2d2j - delete file under cursor and four below;
- 2dj - delete file under cursor and two below;
- 2y6gg - yank all files from cursor position to 12th file in the list.
Visual Mode
Visual mode has two generic operating submodes:
- plain selection as it is in Vim;
- selection editing submode.
Both modes select files in range from cursor position at which visual mode was entered to current cursor
position (let's call it "selection region"). Each of two borders can be adjusted by swapping them via
"o" or "O" keys and updating cursor position with regular cursor motion keys. Obviously, once initial
cursor position is altered this way, real start position becomes unavailable.
Plain Vim-like visual mode starts with cleared selection, which is not restored on rejecting selection
("Escape", "Ctrl-C", "v", "V"). Contrary to it, selection editing doesn't clear previously selected
files and restores them after reject. Accepting selection by performing an operation on selected items
(e.g. yanking them via "y") moves cursor to the top of current selection region (not to the top most
selected file of the view).
In turn, selection editing supports three types of editing (look at status bar to know which one is
currently active):
- append - amend selection by selecting elements in selection region;
- remove - amend selection by deselecting elements in selection region;
- invert - amend selection by inverting selection of elements in selection region.
No matter how you activate selection editing it starts in "append". One can switch type of operation (in
the order given above) via "Ctrl-G" key.
Almost all normal mode keys work in visual mode, but instead of accepting selectors they operate on
selected items.
Enter save selection and go back to normal mode not moving cursor.
av leave visual mode if in amending mode (restores previous selection), otherwise switch to amending
selection mode.
gv restore previous visual selection.
v, V, Ctrl-C or Escape
leave visual mode if not in amending mode, otherwise switch to normal visual selection.
Ctrl-G switch type of amending by round robin scheme: append -> remove -> invert.
: enter command line mode. Selection is cleared on leaving the mode.
o switch active selection bound.
O switch active selection bound.
gu, u make names of selected files lowercase.
gU, U make names of selected files uppercase.
cl change target of symbolic link(s).
cw same as running :rename command without arguments.
View Mode
This mode tries to imitate the less program. List of builtin shortcuts can be found below. Shortcuts
can be customized using :qmap, :qnoremap and :qunmap command-line commands.
Shift-Tab, Tab, q, Q, ZZ
return to normal mode.
[count]e, [count]Ctrl-E, [count]j, [count]Ctrl-N, [count]Enter
scroll forward one line (or [count] lines).
[count]y, [count]Ctrl-Y, [count]k, [count]Ctrl-K, [count]Ctrl-P
scroll backward one line (or [count] lines).
[count]f, [count]Ctrl-F, [count]Ctrl-V, [count]Space
scroll forward one window (or [count] lines).
[count]b, [count]Ctrl-B, [count]Alt-V
scroll backward one window (or [count] lines).
[count]z
scroll forward one window (and set window to [count]).
[count]w
scroll backward one window (and set window to [count]).
[count]Alt-Space
scroll forward one window, but don't stop at end-of-file.
[count]d, [count]Ctrl-D
scroll forward one half-window (and set half-window to [count]).
[count]u, [count]Ctrl-U
scroll backward one half-window (and set half-window to [count]).
r, Ctrl-R, Ctrl-L
repaint screen.
R reload view preserving scroll position.
F toggle automatic forwarding. Roughly equivalent to periodic file reload and scrolling to the
bottom. The behaviour is similar to `tail -F` or F key in less.
a switch to the next viewer. Does nothing for preview constructed via %q macro.
A switch to the previous viewer. Does nothing for preview constructed via %q macro.
i toggle raw mode (ignoring of defined viewers). Does nothing for preview constructed via %q macro.
[count]/pattern
search forward for ([count]‐th) matching line.
[count]?pattern
search backward for ([count]‐th) matching line.
[count]n
repeat previous search (for [count]‐th occurrence).
[count]N
repeat previous search in reverse direction (for [count]‐th occurrence).
[count]g, [count]<, [count]Alt-<
scroll to the first line of the file (or line [count]).
[count]G, [count]>, [count]Alt->
scroll to the last line of the file (or line [count]).
[count]p, [count]%
scroll to the beginning of the file (or N percent into file).
v invoke an editor to edit the current file being viewed. The command for editing is taken from the
'vicmd' or 'vixcmd' option value and extended with middle line number prepended by a plus sign and
name of the current file.
All "Ctrl-W x" keys work the same was as in Normal mode. Active mode is automatically changed on
navigating among windows. When less-like mode activated on file preview is left using one by "Ctrl-W x"
keys, its state is stored until another file is displayed using preview (it's possible to leave the mode,
hide preview pane, do something else, then get back to the file and show preview pane again with
previously stored state in it).
Command line Mode
These keys are available in all submodes of the command line mode: command, search, prompt and filtering.
Down, Up, Left, Right, Home, End and Delete are extended keys and they are not available if vifm is
compiled with --disable-extended-keys option.
Esc, Ctrl-C
leave command line mode, cancels input. Cancelled input is saved into appropriate history and can
be recalled later.
Ctrl-M, Enter
execute command and leave command line mode.
Ctrl-I, Tab
complete command or its argument on editing of a :command, complete file names in file name
prompts, move cursor onto the next search match in file search prompt (including in navigation)
when 'incsearch' is set.
Shift-Tab
complete in reverse order or move cursor onto the previous file search match.
Ctrl-_ stop completion and restore original input.
Ctrl-B, Left
move cursor to the left.
Ctrl-F, Right
move cursor to the right.
Ctrl-A, Home
go to line beginning.
Ctrl-E, End
go to line end.
Alt-B go to the beginning of previous word.
Alt-F go to the end of next word.
Ctrl-U remove characters from cursor position till the beginning of line.
Ctrl-K remove characters from cursor position till the end of line.
Ctrl-H, Backspace
remove character before the cursor.
Ctrl-D, Delete
remove character under the cursor.
Ctrl-W remove characters from cursor position till the beginning of previous word.
Alt-D remove characters from cursor position till the beginning of next word.
Ctrl-T swap the order of current and previous character and move cursor forward or, if cursor past the
end of line, swap the order of two last characters in the line.
Alt-. insert last part of previous command to current cursor position. Each next call will insert last
part of older command.
Ctrl-G edit command-line content in external editor. See "Command line editing" section for details.
Ctrl-N recall more recent command-line from history.
Ctrl-P recall older command-line from history.
Up recall more recent command-line from history, that begins as the current command-line.
Down recall older command-line from history, that begins as the current command-line.
Ctrl-] trigger abbreviation expansion.
Ctrl-R =
insert result of evaluating an expression. Expression is to be entered via nested command-line
prompt (where this key does nothing). Expansion of an erroneous expression is empty.
Fast navigation
In order to streamline navigation through directory tree, you can enter a special form of command-line
mode from search or local filter prompt. Once activated, pressing Enter opens currently selected
directory and clears the prompt in anticipation of the next component of the path. If entry under the
cursor is a file, it is opened and the mode is finished.
This behaviour is embedded in a command-line mode, but doesn't update input histories nor expands
abbreviations and redefines some of the mode's mappings for the purpose of faster navigation through the
file system rather than command-line editing. When on, prompt gets "nav" prefix.
You can enable this behaviour on search by default via a mapping like:
nnoremap / /<c-y>
Ctrl-Y enter navigation mode. Works only for search and local filter started from a normal mode and only
when 'incsearch' is set ('wrapscan' is also nice to have set for search).
Ctrl-Y return to a regular command-line mode.
Enter, Right
either enter a directory under the cursor without leaving the mode and clear the prompt or leave
the mode for files. If 'navoptions' specifies "open:all" a file under the cursor is opened after
leaving the mode.
Ctrl-O, Left
go to parent directory.
Ctrl-J leave the mode without undoing cursor position or filter state.
Ctrl-N, Down
move view cursor down.
Ctrl-P, Up
move view cursor up.
Page Down
scroll view down.
Page Up
scroll view up.
Home move view cursor to the first item.
End move view cursor to the last item.
Pasting special values
The shortcuts listed below insert specified values into current cursor position. Last key of every
shortcut references value that it inserts:
- c - [c]urrent file
- d - [d]irectory path
- e - [e]xtension of a file name
- r - [r]oot part of a file name
- t - [t]ail part of directory path
- a - [a]utomatic filter
- m - [m]anual filter
- = - local filter, which is bound to "=" in normal mode
Values related to filelist in current pane are available through Ctrl-X prefix, while values from the
other pane have doubled Ctrl-X key as their prefix (doubled Ctrl-X is presumably easier to type than
uppercase letters; it's still easy to remap the keys to correspond to names of similar macros).
Ctrl-X c
name of the current file of the active pane.
Ctrl-X d
path to the current directory of the active pane.
Ctrl-X e
extension of the current file of the active pane.
Ctrl-X r
name root of current file of the active pane.
Ctrl-X t
the last component of path to the current directory of the active pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X c
name of the current file of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X d
path to the current directory of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X e
extension of the current file of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X r
name root of current file of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X t
the last component of path to the current directory of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X a
value of implicit permanent filter (old name "automatic") of the active pane.
Ctrl-X m
value of explicit permanent filter (old name "manual") of the active pane.
Ctrl-X =
value of local filter of the active pane.
Ctrl-X /
last pattern from search history.
Command line editing
vifm provides a facility to edit several kinds of data, that is usually edited in command-line mode, in
external editor (using command specified by 'vicmd' or 'vixcmd' option). This has at least two
advantages over built-in command-line mode:
- one can use full power of Vim to edit text;
- finding and reusing history entries becomes possible.
The facility is supported by four input submodes of the command-line:
- command;
- forward search;
- backward search;
- file rename (see description of cw and cW normal mode keys).
Editing command-line using external editor is activated by the Ctrl-G shortcut. It's also possible to do
almost the same from Normal and Visual modes using q:, q/ and q? commands.
Temporary file created for the purpose of editing the line has the following structure:
1. First line, which is either empty or contains text already entered in command-line.
2. 2nd and all other lines with history items starting with the most recent one. Altering this lines
in any way won't change history items stored by vifm.
After editing application is finished the first line of the file is taken as the result of operation,
when the application returns zero exit code. If the application returns an error (see :cquit command in
Vim), all the edits made to the file are ignored, but the initial value of the first line is saved in
appropriate history.
More Mode
This is the mode that appears when status bar content is so big that it doesn't fit on the screen. One
can identify the mode by "-- More --" message at the bottom.
The following keys are handled in this mode:
Enter, Ctrl-J, j or Down
scroll one line down.
Backspace, k or Up
scroll one line up.
d scroll one page (half of a screen) down.
u scroll one page (half of a screen) up.
Space, f or PageDown
scroll down a screen.
b or PageUp
scroll up a screen.
G scroll to the bottom.
g scroll to the top.
q, Escape or Ctrl-C
quit the mode.
: switch to command-line mode.
Commands
Commands are executed with :command_name<Enter>
Commented out lines should start with the double quote symbol ("), which may be preceded by whitespace
characters intermixed with colons. Inline comments can be added at the end of the line after double
quote symbol, only last line of a multi-line command can contain such comment. Not all commands support
inline comments as their syntax conflicts with names of registers and fields where double quotes are
allowed.
Most of the commands have two forms: complete and the short one. Example:
:noh[lsearch]
This means the complete command is nohlsearch, and the short one is noh.
Most of command-line commands completely reset selection in the current view. However, there are several
exceptions:
- `:invert s` most likely leaves some files selected;
- :view command;
- :normal command (when it doesn't leave command-line mode);
- :if and :else commands don't affect selection on successful execution.
'|' can be used to separate commands, so you can give multiple commands in one line. If you want to use
'|' in an argument, precede it with '\'.
These commands see '|' as part of their arguments even when it's escaped:
:[range]!
:amap
:anoremap
:autocmd
:cabbrev
:cmap
:cnoreabbrev
:cnoremap
:command
:dmap
:dnoremap
:filetype
:fileviewer
:filextype
:keepsel
:map
:mmap
:mnoremap
:nmap
:nnoremap
:noremap
:normal
:qmap
:qnoremap
:vmap
:vnoremap
:wincmd
:windo
:wingo
:winrun
To be able to use another command after one of these, wrap it with the :execute command. An example:
if filetype('.') == 'reg' | execute '!!echo regular file' | endif
:[count]
:number
move to the file number.
:12 would move to the 12th file in the list.
:0 move to the top of the list.
:$ move to the bottom of the list.
:[count]command
The only builtin :[count]command are :[count]d[elete] and :[count]y[ank].
:d3 would delete three files starting at the current file position moving down.
:3d would delete one file at the third line in the list.
:command [args]
:[range]!program
execute command via shell. Accepts macros.
:[range]!command &
same as above, but the command is run in the background using vifm's means.
Programs that write to stderr create error dialogs showing errors of the command.
Note the space before ampersand symbol, if you omit it, command will be run in the background using job
control of your shell.
Accepts macros.
:!!
:[range]!!command
same as :!, but pauses before returning.
:!! repeat the last command.
:alink
:[range]alink[!?]
create absolute symbolic links to files in directory of inactive view. With "?" prompts for
destination file names in an editor. "!" forces overwrite.
:[range]alink[!] path
create absolute symbolic links to files in directory specified by the path (absolute or relative
to directory of inactive view).
:[range]alink[!] name1 name2...
create absolute symbolic links of files in directory of other view giving each next link a
corresponding name from the argument list.
:[range]alink[!?] -skip ...
see "-skip parameter" section below.
:apropos
:apropos keyword...
create a menu of items returned by the apropos command. Selecting an item in the menu opens
corresponding man page. By default the command relies on the external "apropos" utility, which
can be customized by altering value of the 'aproposprg' option. See "Menus and dialogs" section
for controls.
:autocmd
:au[tocmd] {event} {pat} {cmd}
register autocommand for the {event}, which can be:
- DirEnter - triggered after directory is changed
Event name is case insensitive.
{pat} is a comma-separated list of modified globs patterns, which can contain tilde or environment
variables. All paths use slash ('/') as directory separator. The pattern can start with a '!',
which negates it. Patterns that do not contain slashes are matched against the last item of the
path only (e.g. "dir" in "/path/dir"). Literal comma can be entered by doubling it. Two
modifications to globs matching are as follows:
- * - never matches a slash (i.e., can signify single directory level)
- ** - matches any character (i.e., can match path of arbitrary depth)
{cmd} is a :command or several of them separated with '|'.
Examples of patterns:
- conf.d - matches conf.d directory anywhere
- *.d - matches directories ending with ".d" anywhere
- **.git - matches something.git, but not .git anywhere
- **/.git/** - matches /path/.git/objects, but not /path/.git
- **/.git/**/ - matches /path/.git/ only (because of trailing slash)
- /etc/* - matches /etc/conf.d/, /etc/X11, but not /etc/X11/fs
- /etc/**/*.d - matches /etc/conf.d, /etc/X11/conf.d, etc.
- /etc/**/* - matches /etc/ itself and any file below it
- /etc/**/** - matches /etc/ itself and any file below it
:au[tocmd] [{event}] [{pat}]
list those autocommands that match given event-pattern combination.
{event} and {pat} can be omitted to list all autocommands. To list any autocommands for specific
pattern one can use * placeholder in place of {event}.
:au[tocmd]! [{event}] [{pat}]
remove autocommands that match given event-pattern combination. Syntax is the same as for listing
above.
:apropos
repeat last :apropos command.
:bmark
:bmark tag1 [tag2 [tag3...]]
bookmark current directory with specified tags.
:bmark! path tag1 [tag2 [tag3...]]
same as :bmark, but allows bookmarking specific path instead of current directory. This is for
use in vifmrc and for bookmarking files.
Path can contain macros that expand to single path (%c, %C, %d, %D) or those that can expand to
multiple paths, but contain only one (%f, %F, %rx). The latter is done for convenience on using
the command interactively. Complex macros that include spaces (e.g. "%c:gs/ /_") should be
escaped.
:bmarks
:bmarks
display all bookmarks in a menu.
:bmarks [tag1 [tag2...]]
display menu of bookmarks that include all of the specified tags. See "Menus and dialogs" section
for controls.
:bmgo
:bmgo [tag1 [tag2...]]
when there are more than one match acts exactly like :bmarks, otherwise navigates to single match
immediately (and fails if there is no match).
:cabbrev
:ca[bbrev]
display menu of command-line mode abbreviations. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:ca[bbrev] lhs-prefix
display command-line mode abbreviations which left-hand side starts with specified prefix.
:ca[bbrev] lhs rhs
register new or overwrites existing abbreviation for command-line mode. rhs can contain spaces
and any special sequences accepted in rhs of mappings (see "Mappings" section below).
Abbreviations are expanded non-recursively.
:call
:cal[l] {function}([{expr1}, ...])
invoke a {function} discarding its return value.
Unlike in Vim, a call expression followed by trailing characters is not invoked.
:chistory
:chi[story]
display menu of saved menus. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls, also see "Menus
history" section.
:cnoreabbrev
:cnorea[bbrev]
display menu of command-line mode abbreviations. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:cnorea[bbrev] lhs-prefix
display command-line mode abbreviations which left-hand side starts with specified prefix.
:cnorea[bbrev] lhs rhs
same as :cabbrev, but mappings in rhs are ignored during expansion.
:cd
:cd or :cd ~ or :cd $HOME
change to home directory.
:cd - go to the last visited directory.
:cd ~/dir
change directory to ~/dir.
:cd /curr/dir /other/dir
change directory of the current pane to /curr/dir and directory of the other pane to /other/dir.
Relative paths are assumed to be relative to directory of current view. Command won't fail if one
of directories is invalid. All forms of the command accept macros.
:cd! /dir
same as :cd /dir /dir.
:cds
:cds[!] pattern string
navigate to path obtained by substituting first match in current path. Arguments can include
slashes, but starting first argument with a separator will activate below form of the command.
Specifying "!" changes directory of both panes.
Available flags:
- i - ignore case (the 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options are not used)
- I - don't ignore case (the 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options are not used)
:cds[!]/pattern/string/[flags]
same as above, but with :substitute-like syntax. Other punctuation characters can be used as
separators.
:change
:c[hange]
show a dialog to alter properties of files.
:chmod
:[range]chmod
display file attributes (permission on *nix and properties on Windows) change dialog.
:[range]chmod[!] arg...
only for *nix
change permissions for files. See `man 1 chmod` for arg format. "!" means set permissions
recursively.
:chown
:[range]chown
only for *nix
same as co key in normal mode.
:[range]chown [user][:][group]
only for *nix
change owner and/or group of files. Operates on directories recursively.
:clone
:[range]clone[!?]
clones files in current directory. With "?" vifm will open vi to edit file names. "!" forces
overwrite. Macros are expanded.
:[range]clone[!] path
clones files to directory specified with the path (absolute or relative to current directory).
"!" forces overwrite. Macros are expanded.
:[range]clone[!] name1 name2...
clones files in current directory giving each next clone a corresponding name from the argument
list. "!" forces overwrite. Macros are expanded.
:colorscheme
:colo[rscheme]?
print current color scheme name on the status bar.
:colo[rscheme]
display a menu with a list of available color schemes. You can choose primary color scheme here.
It is used for view if no directory specific colorscheme fits current path. It's also used to set
border color (except view titles) and colors in menus and dialogs. See "Menus and dialogs"
section for controls.
:colo[rscheme] color_scheme_name
change primary color scheme to color_scheme_name. In case of errors (e.g. some colors are not
supported by terminal) either nothing is changed or color scheme is reset to builtin colors to
ensure that TUI is left in a usable state.
:colo[rscheme] color_scheme_name directory
associate directory with the color scheme. The directory argument can be either absolute or
relative path when :colorscheme command is executed from command line, but mandatory should be an
absolute path when the command is executed in scripts loaded at startup (until vifm is completely
loaded).
:colo[rscheme] color_scheme_name color_scheme_name...
loads the first color scheme in the order given that exists and is supported by the terminal. If
none matches, current one remains unchanged. For example:
" use a separate color scheme for panes which are inside FUSE mounts
execute 'colorscheme in-fuse' &fusehome
:comclear
:comc[lear]
remove all user defined commands.
:command
:com[mand]
display a menu of user commands. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:com[mand] prefix
display user defined commands that start with the prefix.
:com[mand] name action[ &]
set or redefine a user command.
Use :com[mand]! to overwrite a previously set command of the same name. Builtin commands can't be
redefined.
User commands must start with an upper or lower case letter. Command name can't contain special
symbols except for a single trailing '?' or '!'. Numbers are allowed provided that they don't
cause parsing ambiguity (no command name prefix that precedes a digit can match an existing
command unless it has a digit in the same place), for example:
" good
:command mp3 command
" good
:command mp4 command
:command mp3! command
:command mp4? command
" bad
:command mp command
:command mp44 command
" good
:command mp4c command
User commands are run in a shell by default (see below for syntax of other options). To run a
command in the background you must mark it as a background command by adding " &" after the
command's action (e.g., `:com rm rm %f &`).
User commands of all kinds have macros expanded in them. See "Command macros" section for more
information.
:com[mand] name /pattern
set search pattern.
:com[mand] name =pattern
set local filter value.
:com[mand] name filter{:filter args}
set file name filter (see :filter command description). For example:
" display only audio files
:command onlyaudio filter/.+.\(mp3|wav|mp3|flac|ogg|m4a|wma|ape\)$/i
" display everything except audio files
:command noaudio filter!/.+.\(mp3|wav|mp3|flac|ogg|m4a|wma|ape\)$/i
:com[mand] name :commands
set kind of an alias for internal commands (like in a shell). Passes range given to alias to an
aliased command, so running :%cp after
:command cp :copy %a
equals
:%copy
:compare
:compare [byname | bysize | bycontents |
listall | listunique | listdups |
ofboth | ofone |
groupids | grouppaths |
skipempty | withicase | withrcase |
showidentical | showdifferent | showuniqueleft | showuniqueright]...
compare files in one or two views according to the arguments. The default is "bycontents listall
ofboth grouppaths showidentical showdifferent showuniqueleft showuniqueright". See "Compare
views" section below for details. Diff structure is incompatible with alternative
representations, so values of 'lsview' and 'millerview' options are ignored.
:compare! (showidentical | showdifferent | showuniqueleft |
showuniqueright)... this invocation form works only when compare view is active and results
in redoing of the previous :compare with toggled state of the passed in options.
:copen
:cope[n]
reopens the last visible menu that has navigation to files by default, if any. See also "Menus
history" section.
:copy
:[range]co[py][!?][ &]
copy files to directory of other view. With "?" prompts for destination file names in an editor.
"!" forces overwrite.
:[range]co[py][!] path[ &]
copy files to directory specified with the path (absolute or relative to directory of other view).
"!" forces overwrite.
:[range]co[py][!] name1 name2...[ &]
copy files to directory of other view giving each next file a corresponding name from the argument
list. "!" forces overwrite.
:[range]co[py][!?] -skip ...[ &]
see "-skip parameter" section below.
:cquit
:cq[uit][!]
same as :quit, but also aborts directory choosing via --choose-dir (empties output file) and
returns non-zero exit code.
:cunabbrev
:cuna[bbrev] lhs
unregister command-line mode abbreviation by its lhs.
:cuna[bbrev] rhs
unregister command-line mode abbreviation by its rhs, so that abbreviation could be removed even
after expansion.
:delbmarks
:delbmarks
remove bookmarks from current directory.
:delbmarks tag1 [tag2 [tag3...]]
remove set of bookmarks that include all of the specified tags.
:delbmarks!
remove all bookmarks.
:delbmarks! path1 [path2 [path3...]]
remove bookmarks of listed paths.
:delcommand
:delc[ommand] user_command
remove user defined command named user_command.
:delete
:[range]d[elete][!][ &]
delete selected file or files. "!" means complete removal (omitting trash).
:[range]d[elete][!] [reg] [count][ &]
delete selected or [count] files to the reg register. "!" means complete removal (omitting
trash).
:delmarks
:delm[arks]!
delete all marks.
:delm[arks] marks ...
delete specified marks, each argument is treated as a set of marks.
:delsession
:delsession
delete specified session if it was stored previously. Deleting current session doesn't detach it.
:display
:di[splay]
display menu with registers content.
:di[splay] list ...
display the contents of the numbered and named registers that are mentioned in list (for example
"az to display "", "a and "z content).
:dirs
:dirs display directory stack in a menu. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:echo
:ec[ho] [<expr>...]
evaluate each argument as an expression and output them separated with a space. See help on :let
command for a definition of <expr>.
:edit
:[range]e[dit] [file...]
open selected or passed file(s) in editor. Macros and environment variables are expanded.
:else
:el[se]
execute commands until next matching :endif if all other conditions didn't match. See also help
on :if and :endif commands.
:elseif
:elsei[f] {expr1}
execute commands until next matching :elseif, :else or :endif if conditions of previous :if and
:elseif branches were evaluated to zero. See also help on :if and :endif commands.
:empty
:empty permanently remove files from all existing non-empty trash directories (see "Trash directory"
section below). Trash directories which are specified via %r and/or %u also get deleted
completely. Also remove all operations from undolist that have no sense after :empty and remove
all records about files located inside directories from all registers. Removal is performed as
background task with undetermined amount of work and can be checked via :jobs menu.
:endif
:en[dif]
end conditional block. See also help on :if and :else commands.
:execute
:exe[cute] [<expr>...]
evaluate each argument as an expression and join results separated by a space to get a single
string which is then executed as a command-line command. See help on :let command for a
definition of <expr>.
:exit
:exi[t][!]
same as :quit.
:file
:f[ile][ &]
display menu of programs set for the file type of the current file. " &" forces running
associated program in background. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:f[ile] arg[ &]
run associated command that begins with the arg skipping opening menu. " &" forces running
associated program in background.
:filetype
:filet[ype] pattern-list [{descr}]def_prog[ &],[{descr}]prog2[ &],...
associate given program list to each of the patterns. Associated program (command) is used by
handlers of l and Enter keys (and also in the :file menu). If you need to insert comma into
command just double it (",,"). Space followed by an ampersand as two last characters of a command
means running of the command in the background. Optional description can be given to each command
to ease understanding of what command will do in the :file menu. Vifm will try the rest of the
programs for an association when the default isn't found. When program entry doesn't contain any
of vifm macros, name of current file is appended as if program entry ended with %c macro on *nix
and %"c on Windows. On Windows path to executables containing spaces can (and should be for
correct work with such paths) be double quoted. See "Patterns" section below for pattern
definition and "Selection" section for how selection is handled. See also "Automatic FUSE mounts"
section below. Example for zip archives and several actions:
filetype *.zip,*.jar,*.war,*.ear
\ {Mount with fuse-zip}
\ FUSE_MOUNT|fuse-zip %SOURCE_FILE %DESTINATION_DIR,
\ {View contents}
\ zip -sf %c | less,
\ {Extract here}
\ tar -xf %c,
Note that on OS X when `open` is used to call an app, vifm is unable to check whether that app is
actually available. So if automatic skipping of programs that aren't there is desirable, `open`
should be replaced with an actual command.
:filet[ype] filename
list (in menu mode) currently registered patterns that match specified file name. Same as
":filextype filename".
:filextype
:filex[type] pattern-list [{ description }] def_program,program2,...
same as :filetype, but this command is ignored if not running in X. In X :filextype is equal to
:filetype. See "Patterns" section below for pattern definition and "Selection" section for how
selection is handled. See also "Automatic FUSE mounts" section below.
For example, consider the following settings (the order might seem strange, but it's for the
demonstration purpose):
filetype *.html,*.htm
\ {View in lynx}
\ lynx
filextype *.html,*.htm
\ {Open with dwb}
\ dwb %f %i &,
filetype *.html,*.htm
\ {View in links}
\ links
filextype *.html,*.htm
\ {Open with firefox}
\ firefox %f &,
\ {Open with uzbl}
\ uzbl-browser %f %i &,
If you're using vifm inside a terminal emulator that is running in graphical environment (when X
is used on *nix; always on Windows), vifm attempts to run application in this order:
1. lynx
2. dwb
3. links
4. firefox
5. uzbl
If there is no graphical environment (checked by presence of non-empty $DISPLAY or
$WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment variable on *nix; never happens on Windows), the list will look like:
1. lynx
2. links
Just as if all :filextype commands were not there.
The purpose of such differentiation is to allow comfortable use of vifm with same settings in
desktop environment/through remote connection (SSH)/in native console.
Note that on OS X $DISPLAY isn't defined unless you define it, so :filextype should be used only
if you set $DISPLAY in some way.
:filext[ype] filename
list (in menu mode) currently registered patterns that match specified file name. Same as
":filetype filename".
:fileviewer
:filev[iewer] pattern-list command1,command2,...
register specified list of commands as viewers for each of the patterns. Viewer is a command
which output is captured and displayed in one of the panes of vifm after pressing "e" or running
:view command. When the command doesn't contain any of vifm macros, name of current file is
appended as if command ended with %c macro. Comma escaping and missing commands processing rules
as for :filetype apply to this command. See "Patterns" section below for pattern definition.
Supports Lua handlers.
Example for zip archives:
fileviewer *.zip,*.jar,*.war,*.ear zip -sf %c, echo "No zip to preview:"
:filev[iewer] filename
list (in menu mode) currently registered patterns that match specified filename.
:filter
:filter[!] {pattern}
filter files matching the pattern out of directory listings. '!' controls state of filter
inversion after updating filter value (see also 'cpoptions' description). Filter is matched case
sensitively on *nix and case insensitively on Windows. See "File Filters" and "Patterns"
sections.
Example:
" filter all files ending in .o from the filelist.
:filter /.o$/
:filter[!] {empty-pattern}
same as above, but use last search pattern as pattern value.
Example:
:filter //I
:filter
reset filter (set it to an empty string) and show all files.
:filter!
same as :invert.
:filter?
show information on local, name and auto filters.
:find
:[range]fin[d] pattern
display results of find command in the menu. Searches among selected files if any. Accepts
macros. By default the command relies on the external "find" utility, which can be customized by
altering value of the 'findprg' option.
:[range]fin[d] -opt...
same as :find above, but user defines all find arguments. Searches among selected files if any.
:[range]fin[d] path -opt...
same as :find above, but user defines all find arguments. Ignores selection and range.
:[range]fin[d]
repeat last :find command.
:finish
:fini[sh]
stop sourcing a script. Can only be used in a vifm script file. This is a quick way to skip the
rest of the file.
:goto
:go[to]
change directory if necessary and put specified path under the cursor. The path should be
existing non-root path. Macros and environment variables are expanded.
:grep
:[range]gr[ep][!] pattern
will show results of grep command in the menu. Add "!" to request inversion of search (look for
lines that do not match pattern). Searches among selected files if any and no range given.
Ignores binary files by default. By default the command relies on the external "grep" utility,
which can be customized by altering value of the 'grepprg' option.
:[range]gr[ep][!] -opt...
same as :grep above, but user defines all grep arguments, which are not escaped. Searches among
selected files if any.
:[range]gr[ep][!]
repeat last :grep command. "!" of this command inverts "!" in repeated command.
:help
:h[elp]
show the help file.
:h[elp] argument
is the same as using ':h argument' in vim. Use vifm-<something> to get help on vifm (tab
completion works). This form of the command doesn't work when 'vimhelp' option is off.
:hideui
:hideui
hide interface to show previous commands' output.
:highlight
:hi[ghlight]
display information about all highlight groups active at the moment.
:hi[ghlight] clear
reset all highlighting to builtin defaults and removed all filename-specific rules.
:hi[ghlight] clear ( {pat1,pat2,...} | /regexp/ )
remove specified rule.
:hi[ghlight] ( group-name | column:name | {pat1,pat2,...} | /regexp/ )
display information on given highlight group or file name pattern of color scheme used in the
active view.
:hi[ghlight] ( group-name | column:name | {pat1,pat2,...} | /regexp/[iI] ) cterm=style | ctermfg=color |
ctermbg=color | gui=style | guifg=color | guibg=color
set style (cterm, gui), foreground (ctermfg, guifg) and/or background (ctermbg, guibg) parameters
of highlight group or file name pattern for color scheme used in the active view.
Group names, style values and color names are case insensitive. Note that this doesn't include column
names as that would make builtin and custom columns indistinguishable.
Available group-name values:
- Win - color of all windows (views, dialogs, menus) and default color for their content (e.g. regular
files in views)
- AuxWin - color of auxiliary areas of windows
- OtherWin - color of inactive pane
- Border - color of vertical parts of the border
- TabLine - tab line color (for 'tabscope' set to "global")
- TabLineSel - color of the tip of selected tab (regardless of 'tabscope')
- TopLine - top line color of the other pane
- TopLineSel - top line color of the current pane
- CmdLine - the command line/status bar color
- ErrorMsg - color of error messages in the status bar
- StatusLine - color of the line above the status bar
- JobLine - color of job line that appears above the status line
- WildBox - color of the wild menu
- WildMenu - color of the selected wild menu item
- SuggestBox - color of key suggestion box
- CurrLine - line at cursor position in active view
- OtherLine - line at cursor position in inactive view
- OddLine - color of every second entry line in a pane
- LineNr - line number column of views
- Selected - color of selected files
- Directory - color of directories
- Link - color of symbolic links in the views
- BrokenLink - color of broken symbolic links
- HardLink - color of regular files with more than one hard link
- Socket - color of sockets
- Device - color of block and character devices
- Executable - color of executable files
- Fifo - color of fifo pipes
- CmpMismatch - color of mismatched files in side-by-side comparison by path
- CmpUnmatched - comparison file entry that has no pair in the other pane
- CmpBlank - entry placeholder in a compare view, paired with CmpUnmatched
- User1..User20 - 20 colors which can be used via %* 'statusline' macro
Column names match names of columns of |vifm-'viewcolumns'| option, which in turn are based on values of
|vifm-'sort'| and custom columns added from Lua. Regardless of the source, columns are specified as
"column:{name}", for example:
highlight column:fileext ctermfg=red
Available style values (some of them can be combined):
- bold
- underline
- reverse or inverse
- standout
- italic (on unsupported systems becomes reverse)
- combine - add attributes of current group to attributes of the parent in group hierarchy (see below)
instead of replacing them
- none
Available colors:
- -1 or default or none - default or transparent
- black and lightblack
- red and lightred
- green and lightgreen
- yellow and lightyellow
- blue and lightblue
- magenta and lightmagenta
- cyan and lightcyan
- white and lightwhite
- 0-255 - corresponding colors from 256-color palette (for ctermfg and ctermbg)
- #rrggbb - direct ("gui", "true", 24-bit) color in hex-notation, each of the three components are in
the range 0x00 to 0xff (for guifg and guibg)
Light versions of colors are regular colors with bold attribute set automatically in terminals that have
less than 16 colors. So order of arguments of :highlight command is important and it's better to put
"cterm" in front of others to prevent it from overwriting attributes set by "ctermfg" or "ctermbg"
arguments.
For convenience of color scheme authors xterm-like names for 256 color palette is also supported. The
mapping is taken from http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Xterm256_color_names_for_console_Vim
Duplicated entries were altered by adding an underscore followed by numerical suffix.
0 Black 86 Aquamarine1 172 Orange3
1 Red 87 DarkSlateGray2 173 LightSalmon3_2
2 Green 88 DarkRed_2 174 LightPink3
3 Yellow 89 DeepPink4_2 175 Pink3
4 Blue 90 DarkMagenta 176 Plum3
5 Magenta 91 DarkMagenta_2 177 Violet
6 Cyan 92 DarkViolet 178 Gold3_2
7 White 93 Purple 179 LightGoldenrod3
8 LightBlack 94 Orange4_2 180 Tan
9 LightRed 95 LightPink4 181 MistyRose3
10 LightGreen 96 Plum4 182 Thistle3
11 LightYellow 97 MediumPurple3 183 Plum2
12 LightBlue 98 MediumPurple3_2 184 Yellow3_2
13 LightMagenta 99 SlateBlue1 185 Khaki3
14 LightCyan 100 Yellow4 186 LightGoldenrod2
15 LightWhite 101 Wheat4 187 LightYellow3
16 Grey0 102 Grey53 188 Grey84
17 NavyBlue 103 LightSlateGrey 189 LightSteelBlue1
18 DarkBlue 104 MediumPurple 190 Yellow2
19 Blue3 105 LightSlateBlue 191 DarkOliveGreen1
20 Blue3_2 106 Yellow4_2 192 DarkOliveGreen1_2
21 Blue1 107 DarkOliveGreen3 193 DarkSeaGreen1_2
22 DarkGreen 108 DarkSeaGreen 194 Honeydew2
23 DeepSkyBlue4 109 LightSkyBlue3 195 LightCyan1
24 DeepSkyBlue4_2 110 LightSkyBlue3_2 196 Red1
25 DeepSkyBlue4_3 111 SkyBlue2 197 DeepPink2
26 DodgerBlue3 112 Chartreuse2_2 198 DeepPink1
27 DodgerBlue2 113 DarkOliveGreen3_2 199 DeepPink1_2
28 Green4 114 PaleGreen3_2 200 Magenta2_2
29 SpringGreen4 115 DarkSeaGreen3 201 Magenta1
30 Turquoise4 116 DarkSlateGray3 202 OrangeRed1
31 DeepSkyBlue3 117 SkyBlue1 203 IndianRed1
32 DeepSkyBlue3_2 118 Chartreuse1 204 IndianRed1_2
33 DodgerBlue1 119 LightGreen_2 205 HotPink
34 Green3 120 LightGreen_3 206 HotPink_2
35 SpringGreen3 121 PaleGreen1 207 MediumOrchid1_2
36 DarkCyan 122 Aquamarine1_2 208 DarkOrange
37 LightSeaGreen 123 DarkSlateGray1 209 Salmon1
38 DeepSkyBlue2 124 Red3 210 LightCoral
39 DeepSkyBlue1 125 DeepPink4_3 211 PaleVioletRed1
40 Green3_2 126 MediumVioletRed 212 Orchid2
41 SpringGreen3_2 127 Magenta3 213 Orchid1
42 SpringGreen2 128 DarkViolet_2 214 Orange1
43 Cyan3 129 Purple_2 215 SandyBrown
44 DarkTurquoise 130 DarkOrange3 216 LightSalmon1
45 Turquoise2 131 IndianRed 217 LightPink1
46 Green1 132 HotPink3 218 Pink1
47 SpringGreen2_2 133 MediumOrchid3 219 Plum1
48 SpringGreen1 134 MediumOrchid 220 Gold1
49 MediumSpringGreen 135 MediumPurple2 221 LightGoldenrod2_2
50 Cyan2 136 DarkGoldenrod 222 LightGoldenrod2_3
51 Cyan1 137 LightSalmon3 223 NavajoWhite1
52 DarkRed 138 RosyBrown 224 MistyRose1
53 DeepPink4 139 Grey63 225 Thistle1
54 Purple4 140 MediumPurple2_2 226 Yellow1
55 Purple4_2 141 MediumPurple1 227 LightGoldenrod1
56 Purple3 142 Gold3 228 Khaki1
57 BlueViolet 143 DarkKhaki 229 Wheat1
58 Orange4 144 NavajoWhite3 230 Cornsilk1
59 Grey37 145 Grey69 231 Grey100
60 MediumPurple4 146 LightSteelBlue3 232 Grey3
61 SlateBlue3 147 LightSteelBlue 233 Grey7
62 SlateBlue3_2 148 Yellow3 234 Grey11
63 RoyalBlue1 149 DarkOliveGreen3_3 235 Grey15
64 Chartreuse4 150 DarkSeaGreen3_2 236 Grey19
65 DarkSeaGreen4 151 DarkSeaGreen2 237 Grey23
66 PaleTurquoise4 152 LightCyan3 238 Grey27
67 SteelBlue 153 LightSkyBlue1 239 Grey30
68 SteelBlue3 154 GreenYellow 240 Grey35
69 CornflowerBlue 155 DarkOliveGreen2 241 Grey39
70 Chartreuse3 156 PaleGreen1_2 242 Grey42
71 DarkSeaGreen4_2 157 DarkSeaGreen2_2 243 Grey46
72 CadetBlue 158 DarkSeaGreen1 244 Grey50
73 CadetBlue_2 159 PaleTurquoise1 245 Grey54
74 SkyBlue3 160 Red3_2 246 Grey58
75 SteelBlue1 161 DeepPink3 247 Grey62
76 Chartreuse3_2 162 DeepPink3_2 248 Grey66
77 PaleGreen3 163 Magenta3_2 249 Grey70
78 SeaGreen3 164 Magenta3_3 250 Grey74
79 Aquamarine3 165 Magenta2 251 Grey78
80 MediumTurquoise 166 DarkOrange3_2 252 Grey82
81 SteelBlue1_2 167 IndianRed_2 253 Grey85
82 Chartreuse2 168 HotPink3_2 254 Grey89
83 SeaGreen2 169 HotPink2 255 Grey93
84 SeaGreen1 170 Orchid
85 SeaGreen1_2 171 MediumOrchid1
There are two colors (foreground and background) and only one bold attribute. Thus single bold attribute
affects both colors when "reverse" attribute is used in vifm run inside terminal emulator. At the same
time linux native console can handle boldness of foreground and background colors independently, but for
consistency with terminal emulators this is available only implicitly by using light versions of colors.
This behaviour might be changed in the future.
Although vifm supports 256 colors in a sense they are supported by UI drawing library, whether you will
be able to use all of them highly depends on your terminal. To set up terminal properly, make sure that
$TERM in the environment you run vifm is set to name of 256-color terminal (on *nixes it can also be set
via X resources), e.g. xterm-256color. One can find list of available terminal names by listing
/usr/lib/terminfo/. Number of colors supported by terminal with current settings can be checked via
"tput colors" command.
In order to use 24-bit colors one needs a terminal that supports them, corresponding terminfo record
(probably ends in "-direct" like in "xterm-direct") and $TERM pointing to it. When vifm detects direct
color support "cterm*" values are ignored for groups which have at least one of "gui*" values set,
otherwise they are used after translating via a builtin palette.
Here is the hierarchy of highlight groups, which you need to know for using transparency:
JobLine
SuggestBox
StatusLine
WildBox
WildMenu
User1..User20
Border
CmdLine
ErrorMsg
Win
OtherWin
AuxWin
OddLine
Column highlights
File name specific highlights
Directory
Link
BrokenLink
HardLink
Socket
Device
Fifo
Executable
CmpMismatch
CmpUnmatched
CmpBlank
Selected
CurrLine
LineNr (in active pane)
OtherLine
LineNr (in inactive pane)
TopLine
TopLineSel
TabLineSel (for pane tabs)
User1..User20
TabLine
TabLineSel
User1..User20
"none" means default terminal color for highlight groups at the first level of the hierarchy and
transparency for all others.
Here file name specific highlights mean those configured via globs ({}) or regular expressions (//). At
most one of them is applied per file entry, namely the first that matches file name, hence order of
:highlight commands might be important in certain cases.
:history
:his[tory]
display a menu with list of visited directories. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:his[tory] x
x can be:
d[ir] or . show directory history.
c[md] or : show command line history.
s[earch] or / show search history and search forward on l key.
f[search] or / show search history and search forward on l key.
b[search] or ? show search history and search backward on l key.
i[nput] or @ show prompt history (e.g. on one file renaming).
fi[lter] or = show local filter history (see description of the "=" normal mode command).
e[xprreg] show expression register history (see description of Ctrl+R = in command-line
mode).
mc[md] show command-line history of menus.
See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:histnext
:histnext
same as <c-i>. The main use case for this command is to work around the common pain point of
<tab> and <c-i> being the same ASCII character: one could alter the terminal emulator settings to
emit, for example, the `F1` keycode when Ctrl-I is pressed, then `:noremap <f1> :histnext<cr>` in
vifm, add "t" flag to the 'cpoptions', and thus have both <c-i> and <tab> working as expected.
:histprev
:histprev
same as <c-o>.
:if
:if {expr1}
start conditional block. Commands are executed until next matching :elseif, :else or :endif
command if {expr1} evaluates to non-zero, otherwise they are ignored. An error during evaluation
of {expr1} results in not taking any conditional branches (not even an else-branch). See also
help on :else and :endif commands.
Example:
if $TERM == 'screen.linux'
highlight CurrLine ctermfg=lightwhite ctermbg=lightblack
elseif $TERM == 'tmux'
highlight CurrLine cterm=reverse ctermfg=black ctermbg=white
else
highlight CurrLine cterm=bold,reverse ctermfg=black ctermbg=white
endif
:invert
:invert [f]
invert file name filter.
:invert? [f]
show current filter state.
:invert s
invert selection.
:invert o
invert sorting order of the primary sorting key.
:invert? o
show sorting order of the primary sorting key.
:jobs
:jobs display menu of current backgrounded processes. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:keepsel
:keepsel [command...]
preserve selection during some :command by default. Note that this doesn't save and restore
selection to preserve it no matter what, but precludes its clearing at the end of a command and
thus won't help if selection is cleared explicitly during operation.
Example:
:keepsel view
:let
:let $ENV_VAR = <expr>
set an environment variable. Warning: setting environment variable to an empty string on Windows
removes it.
:let $ENV_VAR .= <expr>
append value to environment variable.
:let &[l:|g:]opt = <expr>
sets option value.
:let &[l:|g:]opt .= <expr>
append value to string option.
:let &[l:|g:]opt += <expr>
increasing option value, adding sub-values.
:let &[l:|g:]opt -= <expr>
decreasing option value, removing sub-values.
Where <expr> could be a single-quoted string, double-quoted string, an environment variable, function
call or a concatanation of any of them in any order using the '.' operator. Any whitespace is ignored.
:locate
:locate filename
use "locate" command to create a menu of filenames. Selecting a file from the menu will reload
the current file list in vifm to show the selected file. By default the command relies on the
external "locate" utility (it's assumed that its database is already built), which can be
customized by altering value of the 'locateprg' option. See "Menus and dialogs" section for
controls.
:locate
repeat last :locate command.
:ls
:ls lists windows of active terminal multiplexer (only when terminal multiplexer is used). This is
achieved by issuing proper command for active terminal multiplexer, thus the list is not handled
by vifm.
:lstrash
:lstrash
display a menu with list of files in trash. Each element of the list is original path of a
deleted file, thus the list can contain duplicates. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:mark
:[range]ma[rk][?] x [/full/dir/path [filename]]
set mark x (a-zA-Z0-9) at /full/dir/path and filename. By default current file in current
directory is used. If no filename was given and /full/dir/path is current directory, then the
last file of the [range] is used. Question mark stops the command from overwriting an existing
mark. Macros and environment variables are expanded.
:marks
:marks create a pop-up menu of marks. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:marks list ...
display the contents of the marks that are mentioned in list.
:media
:media only for *nix
display media management menu. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls. See also 'mediaprg'
option.
:messages
:mes[sages]
shows previously given messages (up to 50).
:mkdir
:[line]mkdir[!] dir ...
create directories at specified paths. The [line] can be used to pick node in a tree-view. "!"
means make parent directories as needed. Macros are expanded.
:move
:[range]m[ove][!?][ &]
move files to directory of other view. With "?" prompts for destination file names in an editor.
"!" forces overwrite.
:[range]m[ove][!] path[ &]
move files to directory specified with the path (absolute or relative to directory of other view).
"!" forces overwrite.
:[range]m[ove][!] name1 name2...[ &]
move files to directory of other view giving each next file a corresponding name from the argument
list. "!" forces overwrite.
:[range]m[ove][!?] -skip ...[ &]
see "-skip parameter" section below.
:nohlsearch
:noh[lsearch]
clear selection in current pane.
:normal
:norm[al][!] commands
execute normal mode commands. If "!" is used, user defined mappings are ignored. Unfinished last
command is aborted as if <esc> or <c-c> was typed. A ":" should be completed as well. Commands
can't start with a space, so put a count of 1 (one) before it.
:only
:on[ly]
switch to a one window view.
:open
:[range]o[pen]
open current file, selection or files in the range as if Enter was pressed.
:plugin
:plugin load
loads all plugins. To be used in configuration file to manually load plugins at an earlier point.
The plugins can be loaded only once, additional calls will do nothing.
:plugin blacklist {plugin}
adds {plugin} to the list of plugins to be ignored.
:plugin whitelist {plugin}
adds {plugin} to the list of plugins to be loaded while ignoring all other plugins. This list
should normally be empty.
:plugins
:plugins
open plugins menu. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:popd
:popd remove pane directories from stack.
:pushd
:pushd[!] /curr/dir [/other/dir]
add pane directories to stack and process arguments like :cd command.
:pushd exchange the top two items of the directory stack.
:put
:[line]pu[t][!] [reg] [ &]
put files from specified register (" by default) into current directory. The [line] can be used
to pick node in a tree-view. "!" moves files "!" moves files from their original location instead
of copying them. During this operation no confirmation dialogs will be shown, all checks are
performed beforehand.
:pwd
:pw[d] show the present working directory.
:qall
:qa[ll][!]
exit vifm (add ! to skip saving changes and checking for active backgrounded commands).
:quit
:q[uit][!]
if there is more than one tab, close the current one, otherwise exit vifm (add ! to skip saving
state and checking for active backgrounded commands).
:redraw
:redr[aw]
redraw the screen immediately.
:regedit
:rege[dit] [{reg}]
edit register contents using external editor. If {reg} is omitted, unnamed register will be edited
by default. Edited paths are normalized (no extra `.`, `..`, `/`, etc.) and all relative paths
are treated as starting in the directory of the current view.
:registers
:reg[isters]
display menu with registers content.
:reg[isters] list ...
display the contents of the numbered and named registers that are mentioned in list (for example
"az to display "", "a and "z content).
:regular
:regular
switch to regular view leaving custom view.
:rename
:[range]rename[!]
rename files by editing their names in an editor. "!" renames files recursively in
subdirectories. See "External Renaming" section.
:[range]rename name1 name2...
rename each of selected files to a corresponding name.
:restart
:restart
free a lot of things (histories, commands, etc.), reread vifminfo, vifmrc and session files and
run startup commands passed in the argument list, thus losing all unsaved changes (e.g. recent
history or keys mapped after starting this instance). Session that wasn't yet stored gets reset.
While many things get reset, some basic UI state and current locations are preserved, including
tabs.
:restart full
variation of :restart that makes no attempt to preserve anything.
:restore
:[range]restore
restore file from trash directory, doesn't work outside one of trash directories. See "Trash
directory" section below.
:rlink
:[range]rlink[!?]
create relative symbolic links to files in directory of other view. With "?" prompts for
destination file names in an editor. "!" forces overwrite.
:[range]rlink[!] path
create relative symbolic links of files in directory specified with the path (absolute or relative
to directory of other view). "!" forces overwrite.
:[range]rlink[!] name1 name2...
create relative symbolic links of files in directory of other view giving each next link a
corresponding name from the argument list. "!" forces overwrite.
:[range]rlink[!?] -skip ...[ &]
see "-skip parameter" section below.
:screen
:screen
toggle whether to use the terminal multiplexer or not.
A terminal multiplexer uses pseudo terminals to allow multiple windows to be used in the console
or in a single xterm. Starting vifm from terminal multiplexer with appropriate support turned on
will cause vifm to open a new terminal multiplexer window for each new file edited or program
launched from vifm.
This requires screen version 3.9.9 or newer for the screen -X argument or tmux (1.8 version or
newer is recommended).
:screen!
enable integration with terminal multiplexers.
:screen?
display whether integration with terminal multiplexers is enabled.
Note: the command is called screen for historical reasons (when tmux wasn't yet supported) and might be
changed in future releases, or get an alias.
:select
:[range]select
select files in the given range (current file if no range is given).
:select {pattern}
select files that match specified pattern. Possible {pattern} forms are described in "Patterns"
section below. Trailing slash for directories is taken into account, so `:select! */ | invert s`
selects only files.
:select //[iI]
same as item above, but reuses last search pattern.
:select !{external command}
select files from the list supplied by external command. Files are matched by full paths,
relative paths are converted to absolute ones beforehand.
:[range]select! [{pattern}]
same as above, but resets previously selected items before proceeding.
:session
:session?
print name of the current session.
:session
detach current session without saving it. Resets v:session.
:session name
create or load and switch to a session with the specified name. Name can't contain slashes.
Session active at the moment is saved before the switch. Session is also automatically saved when
quitting the application in usual ways. Sets v:session.
:session -
switch to a previous session if it still exists (wasn't removed or detached from without saving).
:set
:se[t] display all options that differ from their default value.
:se[t] all
display all options.
:se[t] opt1=val1 opt2='val2' opt3="val3" ...
sets given options. For local options both values are set.
You can use following syntax:
- for all options - option, option? and option&
- for boolean options - nooption, invoption and option!
- for integer options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for string options - option=x and option+=x
- for string list options - option=x, option+=x, option-=x and option^=x
- for enumeration options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for set options - option=x, option+=x, option-=x and option^=x
- for charset options - option=x, option+=x, option-=x and option^=x
the meaning:
- option - turn option on (for boolean) or print its value (for all others)
- nooption - turn option off
- invoption - invert option state
- option! - invert option state
- option? - print option value
- option& - reset option to its default value
- option=x or option:x - set option to x
- option+=x - add/append x to option
- option-=x - remove (or subtract) x from option
- option^=x - toggle x presence among values of the option
Option name can be prepended and appended by any number of whitespace characters.
:setglobal
:setg[lobal]
display all global options that differ from their default value.
:setg[lobal] all
display all global options.
:setg[lobal] opt1=val1 opt2='val2' opt3="val3" ...
same as :set, but changes/prints only global options or global values of local options. Changes
to the latter might be not visible until directory is changed.
:setlocal
:setl[ocal]
display all local options that differ from their default value.
:setl[ocal] all
display all local options.
:setl[ocal] opt1=val1 opt2='val2' opt3="val3" ...
same as :set, but changes/prints only local values of local options.
:shell
:sh[ell][!]
start a shell in current directory. "!" suppresses spawning dedicated window of terminal
multiplexer for a shell. To make vifm adaptive to environment it uses $SHELL if it's defined,
otherwise 'shell' value is used.
:siblnext
:[count]siblnext[!]
change directory to [count]th next sibling directory after current path using value of global sort
option of current pane. "!" enables wrapping.
For example, say, you're at /boot and root listing starts like this:
bin/
boot/
dev/
...
Issuing :siblnext will navigate to /dev.
:siblprev
:[count]siblprev[!]
same as :siblnext, but in the opposite direction.
:sort
:sor[t]
display dialog with different sorting methods, where one can select the primary sorting key. When
'viewcolumns' options is empty and 'lsview' is off, changing primary sorting key will also affect
view look (in particular the second column of the view will be changed). See "Menus and dialogs"
section for controls.
:source
:so[urce] file
read command-line commands from the file.
:split
:sp[lit]
switch to a two window horizontal view.
:sp[lit]!
toggle horizontal window splitting.
:sp[lit] path
splits the window horizontally to show both file directories. Also changes other pane to path
(absolute or relative to current directory of active pane).
:stop
:st[op]
suspend vifm (same as pressing Ctrl-Z). Does nothing if this instance isn't running in a shell.
The command exists to allow mapping to the action of Ctrl-Z.
:substitute
:[range]s[ubstitute]/pattern/string/[flags]
for each file in range replace a match of pattern with string.
String can contain \0...\9 to link to capture groups (\0 - all match, \1 - first group, etc.).
Pattern is stored in search history.
Available flags:
- i - ignore case (the 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options are not used)
- I - don't ignore case (the 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options are not used)
- g - substitute all matches in each file name (each g toggles this)
:[range]s[ubstitute]/pattern
substitute pattern with an empty string.
:[range]s[ubstitute]//string/[flags]
use last pattern from search history.
:[range]s[ubstitute]
repeat previous substitution command.
:sync
:sync [relative path]
change the other pane to the current pane directory or to some path relative to the current
directory. Using macros is allowed.
:sync! change the other pane to the current pane directory and synchronize cursor position. If current
pane displays custom list of files, position before entering it is used (current one might not
make any sense).
:sync! [location | cursorpos | localopts | filters | filelist | tree | all]...
change enumerated properties of the other pane to match corresponding properties of the current
pane. Arguments have the following meanings:
- location - current directory of the pane;
- cursorpos - cursor position (doesn't make sense without "location");
- localopts - all local options;
- filters - all filters;
- filelist - list of files for custom view (implies "location");
- tree - tree structure for tree view (implies "location");
- all - all of the above.
:tabclose
:tabc[lose]
close current tab, unless it's the only one open at current scope.
:tabmove
:tabm[ove] [N]
without the argument or with `$` as the argument, current tab becomes the last tab. With the
argument, current tab is moved after the tab with the specified number. Argument of `0` moves
current tab to the first position.
:tabname
:tabname [name]
set, update or reset (when no argument is provided) name of the current tab.
:tabnew
:tabnew [path]
create new tab. Accepts optional path for the new tab. Macros and environment variables are
expanded.
:tabnext
:tabn[ext]
switch to the next tab (wrapping around).
:tabn[ext] {n}
go to the tab number {n}. Tab numeration starts with 1.
:tabonly
:tabo[nly]
close all tabs but the current one. Closes pane tabs only at the active side.
:tabprevious
:tabp[revious]
switch to the previous tab (wrapping around).
:tabp[revious] {n}
go to the {n}-th previous tab. Note that :tabnext handles its argument differently.
:touch
:[line]touch file...
create files at specified paths. Aborts on errors. Doesn't update time of existing files. The
[line] can be used to pick node in a tree-view. Macros are expanded.
:tr
:[range]tr/pattern/string/
for each file in range transliterate the characters which appear in pattern to the corresponding
character in string. When string is shorter than pattern, it's padded with its last character.
:trashes
:trashes
lists all valid trash directories in a menu. Only non-empty and writable trash directories are
shown. This is exactly the list of directories that are cleared when :empty command is executed.
:trashes?
same as :trashes, but also displays size of each trash directory.
:tree
:tree turn pane into tree view with current directory as its root. The tree view is implemented on top
of a custom view, but is automatically kept in sync with file system state and considers all the
filters. Thus the structure corresponds to what one would see on visiting the directories
manually. As a special case for trees built out of custom view file-system tracking isn't
performed.
To leave tree view go up from its root or use gh at any level of the tree. Any command that
changes directory will also do, in particular, `:cd ..`.
Tree structure is incompatible with alternative representations, so values of 'lsview' and
'millerview' options are ignored.
The "depth" argument specifies nesting level on which loading of subdirectories won't happen (they
will be folded). Values start at 1.
:tree! toggle current view in and out of tree mode.
:undolist
:undol[ist]
display list of latest changes. Use "!" to see actual commands. See "Menus and dialogs" section
for controls.
:unlet
:unl[et][!] {var}...
remove one or more environment (`$VAR`) or global (`g:global`) variables. Use "!" to omit
displaying warnings about nonexistent variables.
:unselect
:[range]unselect
unselect files in the given range (current file if no range is given).
:unselect {pattern}
unselect files that match specified pattern. Possible {pattern} forms are described in "Patterns"
section below. Trailing slash for directories is taken into account, so `:unselect */` unselects
directories.
:unselect !{external command}
unselect files from the list supplied by external command. Files are matched by full paths,
relative paths are converted to absolute ones beforehand.
:unselect //[iI]
same as item above, but reuses last search pattern.
:version
:ve[rsion]
show menu with version information.
:vifm
:vifm same as :version.
:view
:vie[w]
toggle on and off the quick file view (preview of file's contents). See also 'quickview' option.
:vie[w]!
turn on quick file view if it's off.
:volumes
:volumes
only for MS-Windows
display menu with volume list. Hitting l (or Enter) key opens appropriate volume in the current
pane. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls.
:vsplit
:vs[plit]
switch to a two window vertical view.
:vs[plit]!
toggle window vertical splitting.
:vs[plit] path
split the window vertically to show both file directories. And changes other pane to path
(absolute or relative to current directory of active pane).
:wincmd
:[count]winc[md] {arg}
same as running Ctrl-W [count] {arg}.
:windo
:windo [command...]
execute command for each pane (same as :winrun % command).
:wingo
:wingo {id} [{substr}]
navigate to a view by its id number. The {substr} part is used for completion (can be any number
of words, only leading whitespace is removed). The view will become the current one by switching
to the corresponding tab and pane. Matching is case sensitive substring search in view title or
its full current path (with `~` expanded regardless of any settings).
:wingo {substr}
this form navigates to a view that is uniquely identified by {substr} or errors. The form will
not be used if the first word of {substr} is a valid number that starts with a digit (i.e., no `+`
or `-` in front).
:winrun
:winrun type [command...]
execute command for pane(s), which is determined by type argument:
- ^ - top-left pane
- $ - bottom-right pane
- % - all panes
- . - current pane
- , - other pane
:write
:w[rite]
write current state to vifminfo and session files (if a session is active).
:wq
:wq[!] same as :quit, but ! disables only the check of backgrounded commands, while state of the
application is always written. :wqall
:wqa[ll][!]
same as :qall, but ! disables only the check of backgrounded commands, while state of the
application is always written.
:xall
:xa[ll][!]
same as :qall.
:xit
:x[it][!]
same as :quit.
:yank
:[range]y[ank] [reg] [count]
will yank files to the reg register.
:map lhs rhs
:map lhs rhs
map lhs key sequence to rhs in normal and visual modes.
:map! lhs rhs
map lhs key sequence to rhs in command line mode.
:amap :cmap :dmap :mmap :nmap :qmap :vmap
:amap lhs rhs
map lhs to rhs in navigation mode.
:cm[ap] lhs rhs
map lhs to rhs in command line mode.
:dm[ap] lhs rhs
map lhs to rhs in dialog modes.
:mm[ap] lhs rhs
map lhs to rhs in menu mode.
:nm[ap] lhs rhs
map lhs to rhs in normal mode.
:qm[ap] lhs rhs
map lhs to rhs in view mode.
:vm[ap] lhs rhs
map lhs to rhs in visual mode.
:*map
:amap list all maps in navigation mode.
:cm[ap]
list all maps in command line mode.
:dm[ap]
list all maps in dialog modes.
:mm[ap]
list all maps in menu mode.
:nm[ap]
list all maps in normal mode.
:qm[ap]
list all maps in view mode.
:vm[ap]
list all maps in visual mode.
:*map beginning
:amap beginning
list all maps in navigation mode that start with the beginning.
:cm[ap] beginning
list all maps in command line mode that start with the beginning.
:dm[ap] beginning
list all maps in dialog modes that start with the beginning.
:mm[ap] beginning
list all maps in menu mode that start with the beginning.
:nm[ap] beginning
list all maps in normal mode that start with the beginning.
:qm[ap] beginning
list all maps in view mode that start with the beginning.
:vm[ap] beginning
list all maps in visual mode that start with the beginning.
:noremap
:no[remap] lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for normal and visual modes, but don't expand user mappings in
rhs.
:no[remap]! lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for command line mode, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:anoremap :cnoremap :dnoremap :mnoremap :nnoremap :qnoremap :vnoremap
:anoremap lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for navigation mode, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:cno[remap] lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for command line mode, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:dn[oremap] lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for dialog modes, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:mn[oremap] lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for menu mode, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:nn[oremap] lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for normal mode, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:qn[oremap] lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for view mode, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:vn[oremap] lhs rhs
map the key sequence lhs to rhs for visual mode, but don't expand user mappings in rhs.
:unmap
:unm[ap] lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from normal and visual modes.
:unm[ap]! lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from command line mode.
:aunmap :cunmap :dunmap :munmap :nunmap :qunmap :vunmap
:aunmap lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from navigation mode.
:cu[nmap] lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from command line mode.
:du[nmap] lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from dialog modes.
:mu[nmap] lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from menu mode.
:nun[map] lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from normal mode.
:qun[map] lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from view mode.
:vu[nmap] lhs
remove user mapping of lhs from visual mode.
Ranges
The ranges implemented include:
2,3 - from second to third file in the list (including it)
% - the entire directory.
. - the current position in the filelist.
$ - the end of the filelist.
't - the mark position t.
Examples:
:%delete
would delete all files in the directory.
:2,4delete
would delete the files in the list positions 2 through 4.
:.,$delete
would delete the files from the current position to the end of the filelist.
:3delete4
would delete the files in the list positions 3, 4, 5, 6.
If a backward range is given :4,2delete - an query message is given and user can chose what to do next.
The builtin commands that accept a range are :d[elete] and :y[ank].
:command parameters
Some of the command-line commands accept parameters in the form of `-paramname`. Arguments of such
commands can be split into two groups: parameters and positional arguments. Items from the two groups
cannot be interleaved and parameters always come first. List of parameters is terminated implicitly by
the first argument that doesn't start with a dash ("-") or explicitly via "--" separator (needs to be a
separate argument), which is just discarded. These strict rules allow arbitrary positional arguments,
such as file names that start with a dash.
-skip parameter
This parameter makes :copy, :move, :alink and :rlink automatically skip source files that already
exist at the destination rather than refusing to perform the operation.
Command macros
The command macros may be used in user commands.
%a User arguments. When user arguments contain macros, they are expanded before performing
substitution of %a.
%c %"c The current file under the cursor.
%C %"C The current file under the cursor in the other directory.
%f %"f All of the selected files or the current file, but see "Selection" section below.
%F %"F Same as %f, %"f, but for the inactive pane.
%l %"l List of selected files. Unlike %f from above, this is only for explicit selection (i.e., not via
a range) and is empty if no files are selected.
%L %"L Same as %l, %"l, but for the inactive pane.
%b %"b Same as %f %F.
%d %"d Full path to current directory.
%D %"D Full path to other file list directory.
%rx %"rx
Full paths to files in the register {x}. In case of invalid symbol in place of {x}, it's
processed with the rest of the line and default register is used.
%m Show command output in a menu.
%M Same as %m, but l (or Enter) key is handled like for :locate and :find commands.
%u Process command output as list of paths and compose custom view out of it.
%U Same as %u, but implies less list updates inside vifm, which is absence of sorting at the moment.
%Iu Same as %u, but gives up terminal before running external command.
%IU Same as %U, but gives up terminal before running external command.
%S Show command output in the status bar.
%q Redirect command output to quick view, which is activated if disabled.
%s Execute command in horizontally split window of active terminal multiplexer (ignored if not
running inside one).
%v Same as %s, but splits vertically.
%n Forbid use of terminal multiplexer to run the command.
%N Do not detach viewer from terminal session (keeps `/dev/tty` available) or process group (keeps
the command in the set of foreground clients of the terminal). This flag is a workaround for rare
commands/terminals which might need a working TTY for :fileviewer command to operate correctly and
has no effect otherwise.
%i Run in background and suppress error dialogs, but collect errors internally for viewing via :jobs
menu.
%Pl Pipe list of files to standard input of a command.
%Pz Same as %Pl, but separates paths by null ('\0') character.
%pc Marks the end of the main command and the beginning of the clear command for graphical preview,
which is invoked on closing preview of a file.
%pd Marks a preview command as one that directly communicates with the terminal. Beware that this is
for things like sixel which are self-contained sequences that depend only on current cursor
position, using this with anything else is likely to mangle terminal state.
%pu Uncached preview. Intended to be used for commands that just send file path somewhere for
preview.
The following dimensions and coordinates are in characters:
%px x coordinate of top-left corner of preview area.
%py y coordinate of top-left corner of preview area.
%pw width of preview area.
%ph height of preview area.
Use %% if you need to put a percent sign in your command.
Note that %i, %Iu, %IU, %m, %M, %n, %q, %s, %S, %u, %U and %v macros are mutually exclusive. Only the
last one of them in the command will take effect.
Note that %Pl and %Pz are mutually exclusive. Only the last one of them in the command will take effect.
Note that a previewer containing %pd is considered a pass-through previewer, otherwise a previewer
containing both %px and %py is considered to be a graphical previewer, the rest are treated as text
previewers.
You can use file name modifiers after %c, %C, %f, %F, %b, %d and %D macros. Supported modifiers are:
- :p - full path
- :u - UNC name of path (e.g. "\\server" in "\\server\share"), Windows only. Expands to
current computer name for not UNC paths.
- :~ - relative to the home directory
- :. - relative to current directory
- :h - head of the file name
- :t - tail of the file name
- :r - root of the file name (without last extension)
- :e - extension of the file name (last one)
- :s?pat?sub? - substitute the first occurrence of pat with sub. You can use any character for '?',
but it must not occur in pat or sub.
- :gs?pat?sub? - like :s, but substitutes all occurrences of pat with sub.
See ':h filename-modifiers' in Vim's documentation for the detailed description.
Using %x means expand corresponding macro escaping all characters that have special meaning. And %"x
means using of double quotes and escape only backslash and double quote characters, which is more useful
on Windows systems.
Position and quantity (if there is any) of %m, %M, %S or %s macros in the command is unimportant. All
their occurrences are removed from the resulting command.
%c and %f macros are expanded to relative paths, while %C and %F are always expanded to full paths. The
same applies to %f and %F implicitly used by %b.
:com move mv %f %D
set the :move command to move all of the files selected in the current directory to the other
directory.
The %a macro is replaced with any arguments given to an alias command. All arguments are considered
optional.
:com lsl !!ls -l %a - set the lsl command to execute ls -l with or without an argument.
:lsl<Enter>
will list the directory contents of the current directory.
:lsl filename<Enter>
will list only the given filename.
The macros can also be used in directly executing commands. ":!mv %f %D" would move the current
directory selected files to the other directory.
Appending & to the end of a command causes it to be executed in the background. Typically you want to
run two kinds of external commands in the background:
- GUI applications that doesn't fork thus block vifm (:!sxiv %f &);
- console tools that do not work with terminal (:!mv %f %D &).
You don't want to run terminal commands, which require terminal input or output something in background
because they will mess up vifm's TUI. Anyway, if you did run such a command, you can use Ctrl-L key to
update vifm's TUI.
Rewriting the example command with macros given above with backgrounding:
%m, %M, %s, %S, %u and %U macros cannot be combined with background mark (" &") as it doesn't make much
sense.
Command backgrounding
Copy and move operation can take a lot of time to proceed. That's why vifm supports backgrounding of
this two operations. To run :copy, :move or :delete command in the background just add " &" at the end
of a command.
For each background operation a new thread is created. Job cancellation can be requested in the :jobs
menu via dd shortcut.
You can see if command is still running in the :jobs menu. Backgrounded commands have progress instead
of process id at the line beginning.
Background operations cannot be undone.
Cancellation
Note that cancellation works somewhat different on Windows platform due to different mechanism of break
signal propagation. One also might need to use Ctrl-Break shortcut instead of Ctrl-C.
There are two types of operations that can be cancelled:
- file system operations;
- mounting with FUSE (but not unmounting as it can cause loss of data);
- calls of external applications.
Note that vifm never terminates applications, it sends SIGINT signal and lets the application quit
normally.
When one of set of operations is cancelled (e.g. copying of 5th file of 10 files), further operations are
cancelled too. In this case undo history will contain only actually performed operations.
Cancelled operations are indicated by "(cancelled)" suffix appended to information message on status bar.
File system operations
Currently the following commands can be cancelled: :alink, :chmod, :chown, :clone, :copy, :delete,
:mkdir, :move, :restore, :rlink, :touch. File putting (on p/P key) can be cancelled as well. It's not
hard to see that these are mainly long-running operations.
Cancelling commands when they are repeated for undo/redo operations is allowed for convenience, but is
not recommended as further undo/redo operations might get blocked by side-effects of partially cancelled
group of operations.
These commands can't be cancelled: :empty, :rename, :substitute, :tr.
Mounting with FUSE
It's not considered to be an error, so only notification on the status bar is shown.
External application calls
Each of this operations can be cancelled: :apropos, :find, :grep, :locate.
Selection
If there is a selection, it's stashed before proceeding further unless file under the cursor is part of
that selection. This means that when macros are expanded for :filetype or :filextype programs, `%f` and
`%F` become equivalent to `%c` and `%C` respectively if current file is not selected. So you run
selection by running one of selected files, otherwise you're running a single file even if there are
other selected entries.
When running a selection it must not include broken symbolic links, has to be consistent and set of file
handlers must be compatible. Consistency means that selection contains either only directories
(including links to them) or only files, but not their mix.
Compatibility is a more sophisticated check, but it's defined in a natural way so that you get what you'd
expect. The following properties of selection are taken into account while checking it for compatibility
and deciding how to handle it:
1. If there any files for which handler isn't defined, then all files are opened using 'vicmd' or
'vixcmd'.
2. If all handlers match the following criteria:
- backgrounded
- include `%c`/`%"c` and/or `%C`/`%"C`
- include neither `%f`/`%"f` nor `%F`/`%"F`
then each file is executed independently of the rest.
3. If all handlers are equal, the common handler is executed. This handler might ignore selection and
process only file under the cursor.
4. Otherwise, an error is reported, because handlers differ and they don't support parallel execution.
Patterns
:highlight, :filetype, :filextype, :fileviewer commands and 'classify' option support globs, regular
expressions and mime types to match file names or their paths. Directory paths get an implicit trailing
slash on matching against a pattern, keep that in mind for globs or regular expressions that end with
`$`.
There are six possible ways to write a single pattern:
1. [!]{comma-separated-name-globs}
2. [!]{{comma-separated-path-globs}}
3. [!]/name-regular-expression/[iI]
4. [!]//path-regular-expression//[iI]
5. [!]<comma-separated-mime-type-globs>
6. undecorated-pattern
First five forms can include leading exclamation mark that negates pattern matching.
The last form is implicitly refers to one of others. :highlight does not accept undecorated form, while
:filetype, :filextype, :fileviewer, :select, :unselect and 'classify' treat it as list of name globs.
Path patterns receive absolute path of the file that includes its name component as well.
To combine several patterns (AND them), make sure you're using one of the first five forms and write
patterns one after another, like this:
<text/plain>{*.vifm}
Mind that if you make a mistake the whole string will be treated as the sixth form.
:filetype, :filextype and :fileviewer commands accept comma-separated list of patterns instead of a
single pattern, thus effectively handling OR operation on them:
<text/plain>{*.vifm},<application/pdf>{*.pdf}
Forms that accept comma-separated lists of patterns also process them as lists of alternatives.
Patterns with regular expressions
Regular expression patterns are case insensitive by default, see description of commands, which might
override default behaviour.
Flags of regular expressions mean the following:
- "i" makes filter case insensitive;
- "I" makes filter case sensitive. They can be repeated multiple times, but the later one takes
precedence (e.g. "iiiI" is equivalent to "I" and "IiIi" is the same as "i").
There are no implicit `^` or `$`, so make sure to specify them explicitly if the pattern should match the
whole name or path.
Patterns with globs
"Globs" section below provides short overview of globs and some important points that one needs to know
about them.
Patterns with mime-types
Mime type matching is essentially globs matching applied to mime type of a file instead of its name/path.
Note: mime types aren't detected on Windows.
Examples
Associate `evince` to PDF-files only inside `/home/user/downloads/` directory (excluding its
subdirectories):
:filextype //^/home/user/downloads/[^/]*.pdf$// evince %f
Regular expressions
All regular expressions are modern/extended. See `man 7 regex` for more details on what's supported.
The following special sequences are additionally parsed:
- `\c` forces matching ignoring case of letters
- `\C` forces matching respecting case of letters
`\c` and `\C` have the highest priority in determining whether case is matched or not and exist to
override 'ignorecase', 'smartcase' and `i`/`I` flags when necessary.
If multiple sequences are present, the one which appears later takes precedence.
Note that unlike in Vim character classes are affected by settings and sequences that control case
sensitivity in regular expressions.
Globs
Globs are always case insensitive as it makes sense in general case.
`*`, `?`, `[` and `]` are treated as special symbols in the pattern. E.g.
:filetype * less %c
matches all files. One can use character classes for escaping, so
:filetype [*] less %c
matches only one file name, the one which contains only asterisk symbol.
`*` means any number of any characters (possibly an empty substring), with one exception: asterisk at the
pattern beginning doesn't match dot in the first position. E.g.
:fileviewer *.zip,*.jar zip -sf %c
associates using of `zip` program to preview all files with `zip` or `jar` extensions as listing of their
content, but `.file.zip` won't be matched.
`?` means any character at this position. E.g.
:fileviewer ?.out file %c
calls `file` tool for all files which have exactly one character before their extension (e.g. a.out,
b.out).
Square brackets designate character class, which means that whole character class matches against any of
characters listed in it. For example
:fileviewer *.[ch] highlight -O xterm256 -s dante --syntax c %c
makes vifm call `highlight` program to colorize source and header files in C language for a 256-color
terminal. Equal command would be
:fileviewer *.c,*.h highlight -O xterm256 -s dante --syntax c %c
Inside square brackets `^` or `!` can be used for symbol class negation and the `-` symbol to set a
range. `^` and `!` should appear right after the opening square bracket. For example
:filetype *.[!d]/ inspect_dir
associates `inspect_dir` as additional handler for all directories that have one character extension
unless it's "d" letter. And
:filetype [0-9].jpg sxiv
associates `sxiv` picture viewer only for JPEG-files that contain single digit in their name.
If you need to include literal comma, which normally separates multiple globs, double it.
:set options
Local options
These are kind of options that are local to a specific view. So you can set ascending sorting
order for left pane and descending order for right pane.
In addition to being local to views, each such option also has two values:
- local to current directory (value associated with current location);
- global to current directory (value associated with the pane).
The idea is that current directory can be made a temporary exception to regular configuration of
the view, until directory change. Use :setlocal for that. :setglobal changes view value not
affecting settings until directory change. :set applies changes immediately to all values.
'aproposprg'
type: string
default: "apropos %a"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :apropos command. The format
supports expanding of macros, specific for a particular *prg option, and %% sequence for inserting
percent sign literally. This option should include the %a macro to specify placement of arguments
passed to the :apropos command. If the macro is not used, it will be implicitly added after a
space to the value of this option.
'autocd'
type: boolean
default: false
When enabled unknown command-line commands are interpreted as implicit invocation of :cd with one
argument and no escaping. Tilde is expanded, but not macros or environment variables.
'autochpos'
type: boolean
default: true
When disabled vifm will set cursor to the first line in the view after :cd and :pushd commands
instead of saved cursor position. Disabling this will also make vifm clear information about
cursor position in the view history on :cd and :pushd commands (and on startup if 'autochpos' is
disabled in the vifmrc). l key in the ":history ." and ":trashes" menus are treated like :cd
command. This option also affects marks so that navigating to a mark doesn't restore cursor
position.
When this option is enabled, more fine grained control over cursor position is available via
'histcursor' option.
'columns' 'co'
type: integer
default: terminal width on startup
Terminal width in characters.
'caseoptions'
type: charset
default: ""
This option gives additional control over case sensitivity by allowing overriding default
behaviour to either always be case sensitive or always be case insensitive. Possible values form
pairs of lower and upper case letters that configure specific aspect of behaviour:
p - always ignore case of paths during completion.
P - always match case of paths during completion.
g - always ignore case of characters for f/F/;/,.
G - always match case of characters for f/F/;/,.
At most one item of each pair takes affect, if both or more are present, only the last one
matters. When none of pair's elements are present, the behaviour is default (depends on operating
system for path completion and on values of 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options for file
navigation).
'cdpath' 'cd'
type: string list
default: value of $CDPATH with commas instead of colons
Specifies locations to check on changing directory with relative path that doesn't start with "./"
or "../". When non-empty, current directory is examined after directories listed in the option.
This option doesn't affect completion of :cd command.
Example:
set cdpath=~
This way ":cd bin" will switch to "~/bin" even if directory named "bin" exists in current
directory, while ":cd ./bin" command will ignore value of 'cdpath'.
'chaselinks'
type: boolean
default: false
When enabled path of view is always resolved to real path (with all symbolic links expanded).
'classify'
type: string list
default: ":dir:/"
Specifies file name prefixes and suffixes depending on file type or name (mind that directory
names have an implicit trailing slash). The format is either of:
- [{prefix}]:{filetype}:[{suffix}]
- [{prefix}]::{pattern}::[{suffix}]
Possible {pattern} forms are described in "Patterns" section above.
Priority rules:
- file name patterns have priority over type patterns
- file name patterns are matched in left-to-right order of their appearance in this option
Either {prefix} or {suffix} or both can be omitted (which is the default for all unspecified file
types), this means empty {prefix} and/or {suffix}. {prefix} and {suffix} should consist of at
most eight characters. Elements are separated by commas. Neither prefixes nor suffixes are part
of file names, so they don't affect commands which operate on file names in any way. Comma (',')
character can be inserted by doubling it. List of file type names can be found in the description
of filetype() function.
'confirm' 'cf'
type: set
default: delete,permdelete
Defines which operations require confirmation:
- delete - moving files to trash (on d or :delete);
- permdelete - permanent deletion of files (on D or :delete! command or on undo/redo operation).
'cpoptions' 'cpo'
type: charset
default: "fst"
Contains a sequence of single-character flags. Each flag enables behaviour of older versions of
vifm. Flags:
- f - when included, running :filter command results in not inverted (matching files are filtered
out) and :filter! in inverted (matching files are left) filter, when omitted, meaning of the
exclamation mark changes to the opposite;
- s - when included, yy, Y, dd and DD normal mode commands act on selection if there is any,
otherwise they operate on the current file; when omitted, those commands always operate on the
current file;
- t - when included, <tab> (thus <c-i>) behave as <space> and switches active pane, otherwise
<tab> and <c-i> go forward in the view history. It's possible to make both <tab> and <c-i> to
work as expected by setting up the terminal to emit a custom sequence when <c-i> is pressed; see
:histnext for details.
'cvoptions'
type: set
default:
Specifies whether entering/leaving custom views triggers events that normally happen on
entering/leaving directories:
- autocmds - trigger autocommands on entering/leaving custom views;
- localopts - reset local options on entering/leaving custom views;
- localfilter - reset local filter on entering/leaving custom views.
'deleteprg'
type: string
default: ""
Specifies program to run on files that are permanently removed. When empty, files are removed as
usual, otherwise this command is invoked on each file by appending its name. If the command
doesn't remove files, they will remain on the file system.
'dirsize'
type: enumeration
default: size
Controls how size of directories is displayed in file views. The following values are possible:
- size - size of directory (i.e., size used to store list of files)
- nitems - number of entries in the directory (excluding . and ..)
Size obtained via ga/gA overwrites this setting so seeing count of files and occasionally size of
directories is possible.
'dotdirs'
type: set
default: nonrootparent,treeleafsparent
Controls displaying of dot directories. The following values are possible:
- rootparent - show "../" in root directory of file system
- nonrootparent - show "../" in non-root directories of file system
- treeleafsparent - show "../" in empty directories of tree view
Note that empty directories always contain "../" entry regardless of value of this option. "../"
disappears at the moment at least one file is created.
'dotfiles'
type: boolean
default: false
Whether dot files are shown in the view. Can be controlled with z* bindings.
'fastrun'
type: boolean
default: false
With this option turned on you can run partially entered commands with unambiguous beginning using
:! (e.g. :!Te instead of :!Terminal or :!Te<tab>).
'fillchars' 'fcs'
type: string list
default: ""
Sets characters used to fill borders.
item default used for
hborder:c '' middle horizontal border
millersep:c '' separator of miller columns
vborder:c ' ' left, middle and right vertical borders
An empty string for millersep or vborder is equivalent to a space.
An empty string for hborder omits the horizontal border.
Example:
set fillchars=vborder:".",hborder:"",millersep:"|"
'findprg'
type: string
default: "find %s %a"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :find command. The format supports
expansion of macros specific for this particular option and %% sequence for inserting percent sign
literally. The macros are:
macro value/meaning
%s literal arguments of :find or
list of paths to search in
%A empty or
literal arguments of :find
%a empty or
literal arguments of :find or
predicate followed by escaped arguments of :find
%p empty or
literal arguments of :find or
escaped arguments (parameters) of :find
%u redirect output to custom view instead of showing a menu
%U redirect output to unsorted custom view instead of showing a menu
Predicate in %a is "-name" on *nix and "-iname" on Windows.
If both %u and %U are specified, %U is chosen.
Some macros can be added implicitly:
- if %s isn't present, it's appended
- if neither of %a, %A and %p is present, %a is appended
- if neither of %s, %a, %A and %p is present, %s and %a are appended in this order
The macros slightly change their meaning depending on format of :find's arguments:
- if the first argument points to an existing directory, %s is assigned all arguments while %a,
%A and %p are left empty
- otherwise:
- %s is assigned a dot (".") meaning current directory or list of selected file names, if any
- %a, %A and %p are assigned literal arguments when first argument starts with a dash ("-"),
otherwise %a gets an escaped version of the arguments with a predicate and %p contains escaped
version of the arguments
Starting with Windows Server 2003 a `where` command is available. One can configure vifm to use
it in the following way:
set findprg="where /R %s %A"
As the syntax of this command is rather limited, one can't use :find command with selection of
more than one item because the command ignores all directory paths except for the last one.
When using find port on Windows, another option is to setup 'findprg' like this:
set findprg="find %s %a"
'followlinks'
type: boolean
default: true
Follow links on l or Enter. That is navigate to destination file instead of treating the link as
if it were target file. Doesn't affects links to directories, which are always entered (use gf
key for directories).
'fusehome'
type: string
default: "($XDG_DATA_HOME/vifm | $VIFM)/fuse/"
Directory to be used as a root dir for FUSE mounts. Value of the option can contain environment
variables (in form "$envname"), which will be expanded (prepend it with a slash to prevent
expansion). The value should expand to an absolute path.
If you change this option, vifm won't remount anything. It affects future mounts only. See
"Automatic FUSE mounts" section below for more information.
'gdefault' 'gd'
type: boolean
default: false
When on, 'g' flag is on for :substitute by default.
'grepprg'
type: string
default: "grep -n -H -I -r %i %a %s"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :grep command. The format supports
expanding of macros, specific for a particular *prg option, and %% sequence for inserting percent
sign literally. This option should include the %i macro to specify placement of "-v" string when
inversion of results is requested, %a or %A macro to specify placement of arguments passed to the
:grep command and the %s macro to specify placement of list of files to search in. If some of the
macros are not used, they will be implicitly added after a space to the value of the 'grepprg'
option in the following order: %i, %a, %s. Note that when neither %a nor %A are specified, it's
%a which is added implicitly.
Optional %u or %U macro could be used (if both specified %U is chosen) to force redirection to
custom or unsorted custom view respectively.
See 'findprg' option for description of difference between %a and %A.
Example of setup to use ack (http://beyondgrep.com/) instead of grep:
set grepprg='ack -H -r %i %a %s'
or The Silver Searcher (https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher):
set grepprg='ag --line-numbers %i %a %s'
'histcursor'
type: set
default: startup,dirmark,direnter
Defines situations when cursor should be moved according to directory history:
- startup - on loading file lists during startup
- dirmark - after navigating to a mark that doesn't specify file
- direnter - on opening directory from a file list
This option has no effect when 'autochpos' is disabled.
Note that the list is not exhaustive and there are other situations when cursor is positioned
automatically.
'history' 'hi'
type: integer
default: 15
Maximum number of stored items in all histories.
vifm-'hloptions'
type: string list
default: "filehi:onerow"
Configures behaviour of highlighting.
item default
filehi:str onerow
The "filehi" item specifies which columns of the view get colored according to file type and its
name:
- path - highlight columns that display file path, name, root or extension
- onerow - same as "path" and also highlight all columns of the current line
- allrows - highlight all columns of each row
'hlsearch' 'hls'
type: boolean
default: true
Automatically select files that are search matches.
'iec' type: boolean
default: false
Use KiB, MiB, ... suffixes instead of K, M, ... when printing size in human-friendly format.
'ignorecase' 'ic'
type: boolean
default: false
Ignore case in search patterns (:substitute, / and ? commands), local filter (but not the rest of
filters) and other things detailed in the description of 'caseoptions'.
'incsearch' 'is'
type: boolean
default: false
When this option is set, search and view update for local filter is be performed starting from
initial cursor position each time search pattern is changed.
'iooptions'
type: set
default: datasync
Controls details of file operations. The following values are available:
- datasync - periodically synchronize writes on copying files when 'syscalls' is set.
(This makes copying last as long as it takes to actually write
data to the medium, which is slower than you might expect;
however, this also prevents system hanging due to filling memory
with file-system cache.)
- fastfilecloning - perform fast file cloning (copy-on-write), when available (available on Linux
and btrfs file system).
'laststatus' 'ls'
type: boolean
default: true
Controls if status bar is visible.
'lines'
type: integer
default: terminal height on startup
Terminal height in lines.
'locateprg'
type: string
default: "locate %a"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :locate command. The format
supports expanding of macros, specific for a particular *prg option, and %% sequence for inserting
percent sign literally. This option should include the %a macro to specify placement of arguments
passed to the :locate command. If the macro is not used, it will be implicitly added after a
space to the value of this option.
Optional %u or %U macro could be used (if both specified %U is chosen) to force redirection to
custom or unsorted custom view respectively.
'mediaprg'
type: string
default: path to bundled script that supports udevil, udisks and udisks2
(using udisks2 requires python with dbus module installed)
OS X: path points to a python script that uses diskutil
{only for *nix}
Specifies command to be used to manage media devices. Used by :media command.
The command can be passed the following parameters:
- list -- list media
- mount {device} -- mount a device
- unmount {path} -- unmount given mount point
The output of `list` subcommand is parsed in search of lines that start with one of the following
prefixes:
- device= - specifies device path (e.g., "/dev/sde")
- label= - specifies optional device label (e.g., "Memory card")
- info= - specifies arbitrary text to display next to device (by
default "[label]" is used, if label is provided)
- mount-point= - specifies a mount point (can be absent or appear more than once)
All other lines are ignored. Each `device=` starts a new section describing a device which should
include two other possible prefixes.
`list` subcommand is assumed to always succeed, while exit code of `mount` and `unmount` is taken
into account to determine whether operation was performed successfully.
'lsoptions'
type: string list
default: ""
scope: local
Configures ls-like view.
item used for
columncount fixed number of columns to display or 0
transposed filling view grid by columns rather than by lines
'lsview'
type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
When this option is set, directory view will be displayed in multiple columns with file names
similar to output of `ls -x` command. See "ls-like view" section below for format description.
This option has no effect if 'millerview' is on.
'milleroptions'
type: string list
default: "lsize:1,csize:1,rsize:1,rpreview:dirs"
scope: local
Configures miller view.
item default used for
lsize:num 0 left column
csize:num 1 center column (can't be disabled)
rsize:num 0 right column
rpreview:str dirs right column
*size specifies ratios of columns. Each ratio is in the range from 0 to 100 and values are
adjusted to fit the limits. Zero disables a column, but central (main) column can't be disabled.
rpreview specifies what file-system objects should be previewed in the right column and takes
three values: dirs (only directories), files (only files) or all. Neither value enables preview
of parent directory ("..").
Example of two-column mode which is useful in combination with :view command:
set milleroptions=lsize:1,csize:2
'millerview'
type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
When this option is set, directory view will be displayed in multiple cascading columns. Ignores
'lsview'.
'mintimeoutlen'
type: integer
default: 150
The fracture of 'timeoutlen' in milliseconds that is waited between subsequent input polls, which
affects various asynchronous operations (detecting changes made by external applications,
monitoring background jobs, redrawing UI). There are no strict guarantees, however the higher
this value is, the less is CPU load in idle mode.
'mouse'
type: charset
default: ""
Contains a sequence of single-character flags:
- a - all supported modes (a shorthand for all the rest and future additions)
- c - command-line mode (includes navigation mode)
- m - menu mode
- n - normal mode
- q - view mode
- v - visual mode
'navoptions'
type: string list
default: "open:dirs"
Configures behaviour of navigation mode.
item default
open:str dirs
The "open" item specifies what file-system objects should be opened on Enter and can take two
values: dirs (only directories) or all.
'number' 'nu'
type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
Print line number in front of each file name when 'lsview' option is turned off. Use
'numberwidth' to control width of line number. Also see 'relativenumber'.
'numberwidth' 'nuw'
type: integer
default: 4
scope: local
Minimal number of characters for line number field.
'previewoptions'
type: string list
default: "graphicsdelay:50000"
Tweaks how previewing is done (in quick view, miller view's column and view mode).
item default meaning
graphicsdelay:num 0 delay before drawing graphics (microseconds)
hardgraphicsclear unset redraw screen to get rid of graphics
maxtreedepth:num 0 max number of levels in preview tree
toptreestats unset show file counts before the tree
graphicsdelay is needed if terminal requires some timeout before it can draw graphics (otherwise
it gets lost).
hardgraphicsclear seems to be necessary to get rid of sixel graphics in some terminals, where it
otherwise lingers. This can cause flicker on the screen due to erasure followed by redrawing.
0 for maxtreedepth means "unlimited", 1 will only show selected directory, 2 adds its children,
and so forth.
Default value is used when item is missing from the option.
'previewprg'
type: string
default: ""
scope: local
External command to be used instead of preview programs configured via :fileviewer command.
Example:
" always show git log in preview of files inside some repository
au DirEnter '~/git-repo/**/*' setl previewprg='git log --color -- %c 2>&1'
'quickview'
type: boolean
default: false
Whether quick view (:view) is currently active or not.
'relativenumber' 'rnu'
type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
Print relative line number in front of each file name when 'lsview' option is turned off. Use
'numberwidth' to control width of line number. Various combinations of 'number' and
'relativenumber' lead to such results:
nonumber number
norelativenumber | first | 1 first
| second | 2 second
| third | 3 third
relativenumber | 1 first | 1 first
| 0 second |2 second
| 1 third | 1 third
'rulerformat' 'ruf'
type: string
default: "%l/%S "
Determines the content of the ruler. Its minimal width is 13 characters and it's right aligned.
Following macros are supported:
%= - separation point between left and right aligned halves of the line
%l - file number
%L - total number of files in view (including filtered out ones)
%x - number of files excluded by filters
%0- - old name for %x macro
%P - percentage through file list (All, Top, xx% or Bot), always 3 in length
%S - number of displayed files
%= - separation point between left and right align items
%% - literal percent sign
%[ - designates beginning of an optional block
%] - designates end of an optional block
Percent sign can be followed by optional minimum field width. Add '-' before minimum field width
if you want field to be right aligned.
Optional blocks are ignored unless at least one macro inside of them is expanded to a non-empty
value.
Example:
set rulerformat='%2l-%S%[ +%x%]'
'runexec'
type: boolean
default: false
Run executable file on Enter, l or Right Arrow key. Behaviour of the last two depends on the
value of the 'lsview' option.
'scrollbind' 'scb'
type: boolean
default: false
When this option is set, vifm will try to keep difference of scrolling positions of two windows
constant.
'scrolloff' 'so'
type: integer
default: 0
Minimal number of screen lines to keep above and below the cursor. If you want cursor line to
always be in the middle of the view (except at the beginning or end of the file list), set this
option to some large value (e.g. 999).
'sessionoptions' 'ssop'
sessionoptions ssop
type: set
default: tui,state,tabs,savedirs,dhistory
An equivalent of 'vifminfo' for sessions, uses the same values. When both options include the
same value, data from session file has higher priority (data from vifminfo isn't necessarily
completely discarded, instead it's merged with the state of a session the same way state of
multiple instances is merged on exit).
'shell' 'sh'
type: string
default: $SHELL or "/bin/sh" or "cmd" (on MS-Windows)
Full path to the shell to use to run external commands. On *nix a shell argument can be supplied.
'shellcmdflag' 'shcf'
type: string
default: "-c" or "/C" (for cmd.exe on MS-Windows)
Command-line option used to pass a command to 'shell'. It's used in contexts where command comes
from the user.
Note that using this option to force interactive mode of the shell is most likely a BAD IDEA. In
general interactive host and interactive child shell can't share the same terminal session. You
can't even run such a shell in background. Consider writing a wrapper for your shell that
preloads aliases and commands without making the shell interactive and ending up using it in a way
it was not meant to be used.
Note that this option is ignored when 'shell' is set to PowerShell due to the internal use of
`-encodedCommand`.
'shortmess' 'shm'
type: charset
default: "p"
Contains a sequence of single-character flags. Each flag enables shortening of some message
displayed by vifm in the TUI. Flags:
- L - display only last directory in tab line instead of full path.
- M - shorten titles in windows of terminal multiplexers created by vifm down to file name
instead of using full path.
- T - truncate status bar messages in the middle if they are too long to fit on the command line.
"..." will appear in the middle.
- p - use tilde shortening in view titles.
'showtabline' 'stal'
type: enumeration
default: multiple
Specifies when tab line should be displayed. Possible values:
- never - never display tab line
- multiple - show tab line only when there are at least two tabs
- always - display tab line always
Alternatively 0, 1 and 2 Vim-like values are also accepted and correspond to "never", "multiple"
and "always" respectively.
'sizefmt'
type: string list
default: "units:iec"
Configures the way size is formatted in human-friendly way.
item value meaning
units: iec Use 1024 byte units (K or KiB, etc.).
See 'iec' option.
si Use 1000 byte units (KB, etc.).
precision: i > 0 How many fraction digits to consider.
{not set} Precision of 1 for integer part < 10,
0 otherwise (provides old behaviour).
space {present} Insert space before unit symbols.
This is the default.
nospace {present} Do not insert space before unit symbols.
Numbers are rounded from zero. Trailing zeros are dropped.
Example:
set sizefmt=units:iec,precision:2,nospace
'slowfs'
type: string list
default: ""
only for *nix
A list of mounter fs name beginnings (first column in /etc/mtab or /proc/mounts) or paths prefixes
for fs/directories that work too slow for you. This option can be used to stop vifm from making
some requests to particular kinds of file systems that can slow down file browsing. Currently
this means don't check if directory has changed, skip check if target of symbolic links exists,
assume that link target located on slow fs to be a directory (allows entering directories and
navigating to files via gf). If you set the option to "*", it means all the systems are
considered slow (useful for cygwin, where all the checks might render vifm very slow if there are
network mounts).
Example for autofs root /mnt/autofs:
set slowfs+=/mnt/autofs
'smartcase' 'scs'
type: boolean
default: false
Overrides the ignorecase option if a pattern contains at least one upper case character. Only
used when 'ignorecase' option is enabled.
'sort' type: string list
default: +name on *nix and +iname on Windows
scope: local
Sets list of sorting keys (first item is primary key, second is secondary key, etc.):
[+-]ext - extension of files and directories
[+-]fileext - extension of files only
[+-]name - name (including extension)
[+-]iname - name (including extension, ignores case)
[+-]type - file type (dir/reg/exe/link/char/block/sock/fifo)
[+-]dir - directory grouping (directory < file)
[+-]gid - group id (*nix only)
[+-]gname - group name (*nix only)
[+-]mode - file type derived from its mode (*nix only)
[+-]perms - permissions string (*nix only)
[+-]uid - owner id (*nix only)
[+-]uname - owner name (*nix only)
[+-]nlinks - number of hard links (*nix only)
[+-]inode - inode number (*nix only)
[+-]size - size
[+-]nitems - number of items in a directory (zero for files)
[+-]groups - groups extracted via regexps from 'sortgroups'
[+-]target - symbolic link target (empty for other file types)
[+-]atime - time accessed (e.g., read, executed)
[+-]ctime - time changed (changes in metadata, like mode)
[+-]mtime - time modified (when file contents is changed)
Note: look for st_atime, st_ctime and st_mtime in "man 2 stat" for more information on time keys.
'+' means ascending sort for this key, and '-' means descending sort.
"dir" key is somewhat similar in this regard but it's added implicitly: when "dir" is not
specified, sorting behaves as if it was the first key in the list. That's why if one wants
sorting algorithm to mix directories and files, "dir" should be appended to sorting option, for
example like this:
set sort+=dir
or
set sort=-size,dir
Value of the option is checked to include dir key and default sorting key (name on *nix, iname on
Windows). Here is what happens if one of them is missing:
- type key is added at the beginning;
- default key is added at the end;
all other keys are left untouched (at most they are moved).
This option also changes view columns according to primary sorting key set, unless 'viewcolumns'
option is not empty.
'sortnumbers'
type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
Natural sort of (version) numbers within text.
'sortgroups'
type: string
default: ""
scope: local
Sets comma-separated list of regular expressions for group type of sorting. Double the comma to
insert it literally.
The regular expressions are used to extract substrings of file names to serve as keys for sorting.
It is essentially a way to ignore uninteresting parts of file names during sorting by name.
Each expression should contain at least one group or its value will be considered to be always
empty. Also, only the first match of regular expression is processed.
The first group divides list of files into sub-groups, each of which is then sorted by substrings
extracted using second regular expression and so on recursively.
Example:
set sortgroups=-(todo|done).*
this would group files with "-done" in their names and files with "-todo" separately. On
ascending sorting, group containing "-done" would appear before the other one.
'sortorder'
type: enumeration
default: ascending
Sets sort order for primary key: ascending, descending.
'statusline' 'stl'
type: string
default: ""
Determines the content of the status line (the line right above command-line). Empty string means
use same format like in previous versions. Following macros are supported:
- %N - line break (increases height of the status line accordingly), ignores %[ %] blocks
- %t - file name (considering value of the 'classify' option)
- %T - symbolic link target (empty for other filetypes)
- %f - file name relative to current directory (considers 'classify')
- %A - file attributes (permissions on *nix or properties on Windows)
- %o - file permissions in octal form on *nix (nothing on Windows)
- %u - user name or uid (if it cannot be resolved)
- %g - group name or gid (if it cannot be resolved)
- %s - file size in human readable format
- %E - size of selected files in human readable format, same as %s when no files are selected,
except that it will never show size of ../ in visual mode, since it cannot be selected
- %d - file modification date (uses 'timefmt' option)
- %D - path of the other pane for single-pane layout
- %a - amount of free space available on current FS
- %c - size of current FS
- %z - short tips/tricks/hints that chosen randomly after one minute period
- %{<expr>} - evaluate arbitrary vifm expression '<expr>', e.g. '&sort' or `expand('%d')`; a raw
`}` can be inserted as `\}` (mind that the slash doesn't need to be doubled to be inserted
literally)
- %* - resets or applies one of User1..User20 highlight groups; reset happens when width field is
0 or not specified, one of the groups gets picked when width field is in the range from 1 to 20
- all 'rulerformat' macros
Percent sign can be followed by optional minimum field width. Add '-' before minimum field width
if you want field to be right aligned.
On Windows file properties include the following flags (upper case means flag is on):
A - archive
H - hidden
I - content isn't indexed
R - readonly
S - system
C - compressed
D - directory
E - encrypted
P - reparse point (e.g. symbolic link)
Z - sparse file
Example without colors:
set statusline=" %t%= %A %10u:%-7g %15s %20d %{&sort} "
Example with colors:
highlight User1 ctermbg=yellow
highlight User2 ctermbg=blue ctermfg=white cterm=bold
set statusline="%1* %-26t %2* %= %1* %A %2* %7u:%-7g %1* %-5s %2* %d "
'suggestoptions'
type: string list
default:
Controls when, for what and how suggestions are displayed. The following values are available:
- normal - in normal mode;
- visual - in visual mode;
- view - in view mode;
- otherpane - use other pane to display suggestions, when available;
- delay[:num] - display suggestions after a small delay (to do not annoy if you just want to
type a fast shortcut consisting of multiple keys), num specifies the delay in ms (500 by default),
'timeoutlen' at most;
- keys - include shortcuts (commands and selectors);
- foldsubkeys - fold multiple keys with common prefix;
- marks - include marks;
- registers[:num] - include registers, at most num files (5 by default).
'syncregs'
type: string
default: ""
Specifies identifier of group of instances that share registers among each other. When several
instances of vifm have this option set to identical value, they automatically synchronize contents
of their registers on operations which use them.
'syscalls'
type: boolean
default: false
When disabled, vifm will rely on external applications to perform file-system operations,
otherwise system calls are used instead (much faster and supports progress tracking). The option
should eventually be removed. Mostly *nix-like systems are affected.
'tablabel'
type: string
default: ""
When non-empty and 'tabline' isn't set, determines format of the main part of a single tab's
label.
When empty, tab label is set to either tab name for named tabs or to view title (usually current
path) for unnamed tabs.
The following macros can appear in the format (see below for what a flag is):
- %C - flag of a current tab
- %N - number of the tab
- %T - flag of a tree mode
- %c - description of a custom view
- %n - name of the tab
- %p - path of the view (handles filename modifiers)
- %t - title of the view (affected by 'shortmess' flags)
- %% - literal percent sign
- %[ - designates beginning of an optional block
- %] - designates end of an optional block
- %*, %0* - resets highlighting
- %1*-%20* - applies one of User1..User20 highlight groups
In global tabs the view in bullets above refers to currently active view of that tab.
Flag macros are a special kind of macros that always expand to an empty value and are meant to be
used inside optional blocks to control their visibility.
Optional blocks are ignored unless at least one macro inside of them is expanded to a non-empty
value or is a set flag macro.
" %[(%n)%] -- optional name of the tab
" %[ -- optional description of the view
" %[%T{tree}%] -- mark of tree mode
" %[{%c}%] -- description of custom view
" @ -- just an extra separator before the path
' %]
" %p:t -- tail part of view's location
set tablabel=%[(%n)%]%[%[%T{tree}%]%[{%c}%]@%]%p:t
'tabline' 'tal'
type: string
default: ""
When non-empty, determines format of the tab line. Note that mouse clicks won't be handled when
this option is non-empty.
The following macros can appear in the format:
- %*, %0* - resets highlighting
- %1*-%20* - applies one of User1..User20 highlight groups
'tabprefix'
type: string
default: "[%N:"
Determines prefix of a tab's label. Formatting is done as for 'tablabel' option.
'tabscope'
type: enumeration
default: global
Picks style of tabs, which defines what a single tab contains. Possible values:
- global - tab describes complete UI of two views and how they are arranged
- pane - tab is located "inside" a pane and manages it and quick view
'tabstop' 'ts'
type: integer
default: value from curses library
Number of spaces that a Tab in the file counts for.
'tabsuffix'
type: string
default: "]"
Determines suffix of a tab's label. Formatting is done as for 'tablabel' option.
'timefmt'
type: string
default: "%m/%d %H:%M"
Format of time in file list. See "man 1 date" or "man 3 strftime" for details.
'timeoutlen' 'tm'
type: integer
default: 1000
The time in milliseconds that is waited for a mapped key in case of already typed key sequence is
ambiguous.
'title'
type: boolean
default: true when title can be restored, false otherwise
When enabled, title of the terminal or terminal multiplexer's window is updated according to
current location. Because not all terminals support setting title, this works only if `$TERM`
value matches one of the following conditions:
- equals "xterm" or starts with "xterm-"
- equals "rxvt" or starts with "rxvt-"
- equals "screen" or starts with "screen-"
- equals "aterm"
- equals "Eterm"
'trash'
type: boolean
default: true
Use trash directory. See "Trash directory" section below.
'trashdir'
type: string
default:
on *nix:
"%r/.vifm-Trash-%u,$XDG_DATA_HOME/vifm/Trash,%r/.vifm-Trash"
or
"%r/.vifm-Trash-%u,$VIFM/Trash,%r/.vifm-Trash"
on Windows:
"%r/.vifm-Trash,$XDG_DATA_HOME/vifm/Trash"
or
"%r/.vifm-Trash,$VIFM/vifm/Trash"
List of trash directory path specifications, separated with commas. Each list item either defines
an absolute path to trash directory or a path relative to a mount point root when list element
starts with "%r/". Value of the option can contain environment variables (of form "$envname"),
which will be expanded (prepend $ with a slash to prevent expansion). Environment variables are
expanded when the option is set.
On *nix, if element ends with "%u", the mark is replaced with real user ID and permissions are set
so that only that owner is able to use it.
Note that even this setup is not completely secure when combined with "%r/" and it's overall safer
to keep files in home directory, but that implies cost of copying files between partitions.
When new file gets cut (deleted) vifm traverses each element of the option in the order of their
appearance and uses first trash directory that it was able to create or that is already writable.
Default value tries to use trash directory per mount point and falls back to trash common trash
directory on failure.
Will attempt to create the directory if it does not exist. See "Trash directory" section below.
'tuioptions' 'to'
type: charset
default: "psv"
Each flag configures some aspect of TUI appearance. The flags are:
p - when included:
* file list inside a pane gets additional single character padding on left and right sides;
* quick view and view mode get single character padding.
s - when included, left and right borders (side borders, hence "s" character) are visible.
u - use Unicode characters in the TUI (Unicode ellipsis instead of "...").
v - vary width of vertical middle border to equalize view sizes.
Each pane title contains the path of the listed directory. If too large, the path is truncated on
the left for the active pane and on the right for the other pane. This can be modified with:
l - truncation is always on the left.
r - truncation is always on the right.
'uioptions'
type: set
default:
Tweaks UI behaviour. The following values are available:
- iodetails - show I/O progress details dialog automatically instead of displaying progress on
statusbar until user presses "i" to see the dialog.
'undolevels' 'ul'
type: integer
default: 100
Maximum number of changes that can be undone. Note that here single file operation is used as a
unit, not operation, i.e. deletion of 101 files will exceed default limit.
'vicmd'
type: string
default: "vim"
Command used to edit files in various contexts. Ampersand sign at the end (regardless whether
it's preceded by space or not) means backgrounding of command.
Background flag is ignored in certain context where vifm waits for the editor to finish. Such
contexts include any command that spawns editor to change list of file names or a command, with
:rename being one example. `-f` is also appended to prevent forking in such cases, so the command
needs to handle the flag.
Additionally `+{num}` and `+'call cursor()'` arguments are used to position cursor when location
is known.
'viewcolumns'
type: string
default: ""
scope: local
Format string containing list of columns in the view. When this option is empty, view columns to
show are chosen automatically using sorting keys (see 'sort') as a base. Value of this option is
ignored if 'lsview' is set. See "Column view" section below for format description.
An example of setting the options for both panes (note :windo command):
windo set viewcolumns=-{name}..,6{size},11{perms}
'vixcmd'
type: string
default: value of 'vicmd'
Same as 'vicmd', but takes precedence over it when running inside a graphical environment.
'vifminfo'
type: set
default: bookmarks,bmarks
Controls what will be saved in the $VIFM/vifminfo file.
bmarks - named bookmarks (see :bmark command)
bookmarks - marks, except for special ones like '< and '>
cs - primary color scheme
dirstack - directory stack (overwrites previous stack, unless stack of
current instance is empty)
registers - registers content
savedirs - last visited directory
state - file name and dot filters and terminal multiplexers integration
state
tabs - global or pane tabs
tui - state of the user interface (sorting, number of windows, quick
view state, active view)
chistory - command line history
dhistory - directory history
ehistory - expression register history (see description of Ctrl+R =
in command-line mode)
fhistory - history of local filter (see description of the "=" normal mode
command)
mchistory - command line history of menus
phistory - prompt history
shistory - search history (/ and ? commands)
commands - user defined commands (see :command description) (obsolete)
filetypes - associated programs and viewers (obsolete)
options - all options that can be set with the :set command (obsolete)
'vimhelp'
type: boolean
default: false
Use vim help format.
'wildinc'
type: string
default: ""
A comma-separated list of globs which defines what should be completed incrementally. Currently,
it can only be :commands which are matched with the colon in front of their name. For such
commands completion is always active and is displayed even if there is only one completion item.
Examples:
" for all :commands
set wildinc=:*
" only for these two
set wildinc=:wingo,:bmgo
See "Patterns" and "Globs" sections for more information on syntax.
'wildmenu' 'wmnu'
type: boolean
default: false
Controls whether possible matches of completion will be shown above the command line.
'wildstyle'
type: enumeration
default: bar
Picks presentation style of wild menu. Possible values:
- bar - one-line with left-to-right cursor
- popup - multi-line with top-to-bottom cursor
'wordchars'
type: string list
default: "1-8,14-31,33-255" (that is all non-whitespace characters)
Specifies which characters in command-line mode should be considered as part of a word. Value of
the option is comma-separated list of ranges. If both endpoints of a range match, single endpoint
is enough (e.g. "a" = "a-a"). Both endpoints are inclusive. There are two accepted forms:
character representing itself or number encoding character according to ASCII table. In case of
ambiguous characters (dash, comma, digit) use numeric form. Accepted characters are in the range
from 0 to 255. Any Unicode character with code greater than 255 is considered to be part of a
word.
The option affects Alt-D, Alt-B and Alt-F, but not Ctrl-W. This is intentionally to allow two use
cases:
- Moving by WORDS and deletion by words.
- Moving by words and deletion by WORDS.
To get the latter use the following mapping:
cnoremap <c-w> <a-b><a-d>
Also used for abbreviations.
'wrap' type: boolean
default: true
Controls whether to wrap text in quick view.
'wrapscan' 'ws'
type: boolean
default: true
Searches wrap around end of the list.
Mappings
A user mapping like `nnoremap lhs rhs` defines a substitution of the left-hand-side (LHS) with the right-
hand-side (RHS) in the input stream. A regular mapping (without "nore" in :command's name) expands
recognized sequences in the RHS, while "*noremap" mapping always interprets RHS as if no user mappings
were defined and each key has its builtin meaning. In most cases you want to use noremap variant and if
your RHS includes LHS, only noremap variant will work because recursion in a mapping is not allowed.
In order to define a mapping determine in which mode you want to activate it and use an appropriate
"*noremap" :command (e.g., :nnoremap for a normal mode mapping). RHS doesn't have to limit itself to the
mode in which the mapping was started and can span multiple modes.
Map arguments
LHS of mappings can be preceded by arguments which take the form of special sequences:
<silent>
Postpone UI updates until RHS is completely processed.
<wait> In case of builtin mapping causing conflict for a user-defined mapping (e.g., `t` builtin to a
partially typed `ta` user-defined mapping), ignore the builtin mapping and wait for input
indefinitely as opposed to default behaviour of triggering the builtin mapping after a delay
defined by 'timeoutlen'. Example:
nnoremap <wait> tw :set wrap!<cr>
nnoremap <wait> tn :set number!<cr>
nnoremap <wait> tr :set relativenumber!<cr>
Special sequences
Since it's not easy to enter special characters there are several special sequences that can be used in
place of them. They are:
<cr> Enter key.
<esc> Escape key.
<space>
Space key.
<lt> Less-than character (<).
<nop> provides a way to disable a mapping (by mapping it to <nop>).
<bs> Backspace key (see key conflict description below).
<tab> <s-tab>
Tabulation and Shift+Tabulation keys.
<home> <end>
Home/End.
<left> <right> <up> <down>
Arrow keys.
<pageup> <pagedown>
PageUp/PageDown.
<del> <delete>
Delete key. <del> and <delete> mean different codes, but <delete> is more common.
<insert>
Insert key.
<s-home> <s-end>
<s-left> <s-right> <s-up> <s-down>
<s-pageup> <s-pagedown>
<s-delete> <s-insert>
Shift + one of the keys from above, if terminal and its terminfo supports it.
<c-a>,<c-b>,...,<c-z>,<c-[>,<c->,<c-]>,<c-^>,<c-_>
Control + some key (see key conflict description below).
<c-@> {only for *nix}
Control + Space.
<a-a>,<a-b>,...,<a-z>
<m-a>,<m-b>,...,<m-z>
<a-0>,<a-1>,...,<a-9> {only for *nix}
<m-0>,<m-1>,...,<m-9> {only for *nix}
Alt + some key.
<a-s-a>,<a-s-b>,...,<a-s-z> {only for *nix}
<s-a-a>,<s-a-b>,...,<s-a-z> {only for *nix}
<m-s-a>,<m-s-b>,...,<m-s-z> {only for *nix}
<s-m-a>,<s-m-b>,...,<s-m-z> {only for *nix}
Alt + Shift + some key.
<a-c-a>,<a-c-b>,...,<a-c-z> {only for *nix}
<m-c-a>,<m-c-b>,...,<m-c-z> {only for *nix}
Alt + Ctrl + some key.
<f0> - <f63>
functional keys. These also correspond to keys like <c-f1> and can be used in their place.
<c-f1> - <c-f12>
functional keys with Control key pressed.
<a-f1> - <a-f12>, <m-f1> - <m-f12>
functional keys with Alt key pressed.
<s-f1> - <s-f12>
functional keys with Shift key pressed.
Note that whether and how functional keys work might depend on the terminal and corresponding terminfo
record.
Note that due to the way terminals process their input, several keyboard keys might be mapped to single
key code, for example:
- <cr> and <c-m>;
- <tab> and <c-i>;
- <c-h> and <bs> and <del>;
- etc.
Most of the time they are defined consistently and don't cause surprises, but <c-h> and <bs> are treated
differently in different environments (although they match each other all the time), that's why they
correspond to different keys in vifm. As a consequence, if you map <c-h> or <bs> be sure to repeat the
mapping with the other one so that it works in all environments. Alternatively, provide your mapping in
one form and add one of the following:
" if mappings with <c-h> in the LHS work
map <c-h> <bs>
" if mappings with <bs> in the LHS work
map <bs> <c-h>
Also sometimes neither of them might work and it's <del> key which corresponds to your backspace (don't
mind the name).
Whitespace
vifm removes whitespace characters at the beginning and end of commands. That's why you may want to use
<space> at the end of rhs in mappings. For example:
cmap <f1> man<space>
will put "man " in line when you hit the <f1> key in the command line mode.
Expression syntax
Supported expressions is a subset of what VimL provides.
Expression syntax summary, from least to most significant:
expr1 expr2
expr2 || expr2 .. logical OR
expr2 expr3
expr3 && expr3 .. logical AND
expr3 expr4
expr4 == expr4 equal
expr4 != expr4 not equal
expr4 > expr4 greater than
expr4 >= expr4 greater than or equal
expr4 < expr4 smaller than
expr4 <= expr4 smaller than or equal
expr4 expr5
expr5 + expr5 .. number addition
expr5 - expr5 .. number subtraction
expr5 expr6
expr6 . expr6 .. string concatenation
expr6 expr7
- expr6 unary minus
+ expr6 unary plus
! expr6 logical NOT
expr7 number number constant
"string" string constant, \ is special
'string' string constant, ' is doubled
&option option value
$VAR environment variable
g:var global variable
v:var builtin variable (read-only)
function(expr1, ...) function call
(expr1) nested expression
".." indicates that the operations in this level can be concatenated.
expr1
-----
expr2 || expr2
Arguments are converted to numbers before evaluation.
Result is non-zero if at least one of arguments is non-zero.
It's right associative and with short-circuiting, so sub-expressions are evaluated from left to right
until result of whole expression is determined (i.e., until first non-zero) or end of the expression.
expr2
-----
expr3 && expr3
Arguments are converted to numbers before evaluation.
Result is non-zero only if both arguments are non-zero.
It's right associative and with short-circuiting, so sub-expressions are evaluated from left to right
until result of whole expression is determined (i.e., until first zero) or end of the expression.
expr3
-----
expr4 {cmp} expr4
Compare two expr4 expressions, resulting in a 0 if it evaluates to false or 1 if it evaluates to true.
equal ==
not equal !=
greater than >
greater than or equal >=
smaller than <
smaller than or equal <=
Examples:
'a' == 'a' == 1
'a' > 'b' == 1
'a' == 'b' == 0
'2' > 'b' == 0
2 > 'b' == 1
2 > '1b' == 1
2 > '9b' == 0
-1 == -'1' == 1
0 == '--1' == 1
expr4
-----
expr5 + expr5 .. number addition expr5 - expr5 .. number subtraction
Examples:
1 + 3 - 3 == 1
1 + '2' == 3
expr5
-----
expr6 . expr6 .. string concatenation
Examples:
'a' . 'b' == 'ab'
'aaa' . '' . 'c' == 'aaac'
expr6
-----
- expr6 unary minus
+ expr6 unary plus
! expr6 logical NOT
For '-' the sign of the number is changed.
For '+' the number is unchanged.
For '!' non-zero becomes zero, zero becomes one.
A String will be converted to a Number first.
These operations can be repeated and mixed. Examples:
--9 == 9
---9 == -9
-+9 == 9
!-9 == 0
!'' == 1
!'x' == 0
!!9 == 1
expr7
-----
number number constant
-----
Decimal number. Examples:
0 == 0
0000 == 0
01 == 1
123 == 123
10000 == 10000
string
------
"string" string constant
Note that double quotes are used.
A string constant accepts these special characters:
\b backspace <bs>
\e escape <esc>
\n newline
\r return <cr>
\t tab <tab>
\\ backslash
\" double quote
Examples:
"\"Hello,\tWorld!\""
"Hi,\nthere!"
literal-string
--------------
'string' string constant
Note that single quotes are used.
This string is taken as it is. No backslashes are removed or have a special meaning. The only exception
is that two quotes stand for one quote.
Examples:
'All\slashes\are\saved.'
'This string contains doubled single quotes ''here'''
option
------
&option option value (local one is preferred, if exists) &g:option global
option value &l:option local option value
Examples:
echo 'Terminal size: '.&columns.'x'.&lines
if &columns > 100
Any valid option name can be used here (note that "all" in ":set all" is a pseudo option). See ":set
options" section above.
environment variable
--------------------
$VAR environment variable
The String value of any environment variable. When it is not defined, the result is an empty string.
Examples:
'This is my $PATH env: ' . $PATH
'vifmrc at ' . $MYVIFMRC . ' is used.'
global variable
---------------
g:var global variable
A typed storage of data for use in scripting. Can be created/removed dynamically (via :let and :unlet)
and used in expressions.
builtin variable
----------------
v:var builtin variable
Information exposed by vifm for use in scripting. Such variables are predefined and read-only, but not
necessarily constant.
v:count
count passed to : command, 0 by default. Can be used in mappings to passthe count to a different
command.
v:count1
same as v:count, but 1 by default.
v:jobcount
number of active jobs (as can be seen in the :jobs menu).
v:session
name of the current session or empty string.
v:servername
See below.
v:version
version of the application as an integer. Version `x.y.z` becomes number `x*100*100 + y*100 + z`,
examples:
- v0.14 (that is v0.14.0) is 1400 (leading zeroes omitted)
- v1.0.2 is 10002
Release candidates aren't real releases, they report the number of a corresponding release.
function call
-------------
function(expr1, ...) function call
See "Functions" section below.
Examples:
"'" . filetype('.') . "'"
filetype('.') == 'reg'
expression nesting
------------------
(expr1) nested expression
Groups any other expression of arbitrary complexity enforcing order in which operators are applied.
Functions
USAGE RESULT DESCRIPTION
chooseopt({opt}) String Queries choose parameters passed on startup.
escape({string}, {chars})
String Returns {string} after escaping {chars} in it.
executable({expr}) Integer Checks whether {expr} command available.
expand({expr}) String Expands special keywords in {expr}.
extcached({cache}, {path}, {extcmd})
String Caches output of {extcmd} per {cache} and
{path} combination.
filereadable({path}) Integer Checks whether {expr} points to a
non-directory that can be read.
filetype({file} [, {resolve}])
String Returns file type from position/path.
fnameescape({expr}) String Escapes {expr} for use in a :command.
getpanetype() String Returns type of current pane.
has({property}) Integer Checks whether instance has {property}.
input({prompt} [, {initial} [, {completion}]])
String Prompts user for an input on command-line.
layoutis({type}) Integer Checks whether layout is of type {type}.
paneisat({loc}) Integer Checks whether current pane is at {loc}.
selected() Integer Returns number of currently selected files.
system({command}) String Executes shell command and returns its output.
tabpagenr([{arg}]) Integer Returns number of current or last tab.
term({command}) String Like system(), but for interactive commands.
chooseopt({opt})
Retrieves values of options related to file choosing. {opt} can be one of:
files returns argument of --choose-files or empty string
dir returns argument of --choose-dir or empty string
cmd returns argument of --on-choose or empty string
delimiter returns argument of --delimiter or the default one (\n)
escape({string},{chars})
Escapes all occurrences of {chars} in the {string} by prepending slash (``) to them. Note that the slash
itself is not escaped unless it appears in {chars}.
executable({expr})
If {expr} is absolute or relative path, checks whether path destination exists and refers to an
executable, otherwise checks whether command named {expr} is present in directories listed in $PATH.
Checks for various executable extensions on Windows. Returns boolean value describing result of the
check.
Example:
" use custom default viewer script if it's available and installed
" in predefined system directory, otherwise try to find it elsewhere
if executable('/usr/local/bin/defviewer')
fileview * /usr/local/bin/defviewer %c
else
if executable('defviewer')
fileview * defviewer %c
endif
endif
expand({expr})
Expands environment variables and macros in {expr} (in this order). Returns a string. See "Command
macros" section above.
Examples:
" percent sign
:echo expand('%%')
" the last part of directory name of the other pane
:echo expand('%D:t')
" $PATH environment variable (same as `:echo $PATH`)
:echo expand('$PATH')
" full path to the current file with backslashes
:echo expand('%c:p:gs!/!\!')
extcached({cache}, {path}, {extcmd})
Caches value of {extcmd} external command automatically updating it as necessary based on monitoring
change date of a {path}. The cache is invalidated when file or its meta-data is updated. A single path
can have multiple caches associated with it.
{path} value is normalized, but symbolic links in it aren't resolved.
Example:
" display number and size of blocks actually used by a file or directory
set statusline+=" Uses: %{ extcached('uses',
\ expand('%c'),
\ expand('stat --format=%%bx%%B %c')) }"
filereadable({path})
Checks whether {path} exists and refers to a non-directory entry and its permissions allow reading.
Returns boolean value describing result of the check.
filetype({file} [, {resolve}])
Checks type of a view's entry or of a file specified by its path.
Parameter {file} can be of the following forms:
- '.' to get type of file under the cursor in the active pane
- numerical value base 1 to get type of file on specified line number (only if there are no characters
other than "+-0123456789")
- a path (prepend "./" to force interpretation of a number or '.' as a path)
Optional parameter {resolve} is treated as a boolean and specifies whether symbolic links should be
resolved.
The result is a string, which represents file type and is one of the list:
exe executables
reg regular files
link symbolic links
broken broken symbolic links (appears only when resolving)
dir directories
char character devices
block block devices
fifo pipes
sock *nix domain sockets
? unknown file type (should not normally happen) or
non-file (pseudo-entries in compare view)
The result can also be an empty string in case of invalid argument.
fnameescape({expr})
Escapes parameter to make it suitable for use as an argument of a :command. List of escaped characters
includes %, which is doubled.
Usage example:
" navigate to most recently modified file in current directory
execute 'goto' fnameescape(system('ls -t | head -1'))
getpanetype()
Retrieves string describing type of current pane. Possible return values:
regular regular file listing of some directory
custom custom file list (%u)
very-custom very custom file list (%U)
tree tree view
compare compare view
has({property})
Allows examining internal parameters from scripts to e.g. figure out environment in which application is
running. Returns 1 if property is true/present, otherwise 0 is returned. Currently the following
properties are supported (anything else will yield 0):
unix runs in *nix-like environment (including Cygwin)
win runs on Windows
#* whether particular Lua handler exists
Usage example:
" skip user/group on Windows
if !has('win')
let $RIGHTS = '%10u:%-7g '
endif
execute 'set' 'statusline=" %t%= %A '.$RIGHTS.'%15E %20d "'
input({prompt} [, {initial} [, {completion}]])
Creates a command-line prompt to obtain user's input. Initial value can be supplied as an optional
second parameter, otherwise empty string is used.
Optional third parameter specifies kind of completion, which can be one of:
dir paths to directories
file paths to files and directories
"" (empty string, default) no completion
Note that behaviour differs from Vim where executing a mapping like
nnoremap j :echo input('text: ')<cr>input
leaves you in a prompt mode with "input" typed in. Vifm will wait for leaving the prompt and then
continue executing the mapping.
Usage example:
nnoremap ,m : let $DIR_NAME = input('mkdir: ', '', 'dir')
\| if $DIR_NAME != ''
\| execute 'mkdir' fnameescape($DIR_NAME)
\| endif<cr>
layoutis({type})
Checks whether current interface layout is {type} or not, where {type} can be:
only single-pane mode
split double-pane mode (either vertical or horizontal split)
vsplit vertical split (left and right panes)
hsplit horizontal split (top and bottom panes)
Usage example:
" automatically split vertically before enabling preview
:nnoremap w :if layoutis('only') | vsplit | endif | view!<cr>
paneisat({loc})
Checks whether position of active pane in current layout matches one of the following locations:
top pane reaches top border
bottom pane reaches bottom border
left pane reaches left border
right pane reaches right border
selected()
Retrieves number of files selected in the active pane.
system({command})
Runs the command in shell and returns its output (joined standard output and standard error streams).
All trailing newline characters are stripped to allow easy appending to command output. Ctrl-C should
interrupt the command.
Use this function to consume output of external commands that don't require user interaction and term()
for interactive commands that make use of terminal and are capable of handling stream redirection.
Usage example:
" command to enter .git/ directory of git-repository (when ran inside one)
command! cdgit :execute 'cd' fnameescape(system('git rev-parse --git-dir'))
tabpagenr([{arg}])
When called without arguments returns number of current tab page base one.
When called with "$" as an argument returns number of the last tab page base one, which is the same as
number of tabs.
term({command})
Same as system() function, but user interface is shutdown during the execution of the command, which
makes sure that external interactive applications won't affect the way terminal is used by vifm.
Usage example:
" command to change directory by picking it via fzf
command! fzfcd :execute 'cd'
\ fnameescape(term('find -type d | fzf 2> /dev/tty'))
Menus and dialogs
When navigating to some path from a menu there is a difference in the end location depending on whether
the path has a trailing slash. Files normally don't have trailing slashes so "file/" won't work. In
case of directories there are two options: navigate to a directory or inside of it. To allow both use
cases, the first action is taken for "dir" and the second one for "dir/".
Menu commands
:range navigate to a menu line.
:chistory
:chi[story]
display menu of saved menus. See "Menus and dialogs" section for controls, also see "Menus
history" section.
:colder
:col[der]
load an older navigation menu if there is one. See also "Menus history" section.
:cnewer
:cnew[er]
load a newer navigation menu if there is one. See also "Menus history" section.
:find
:fin[d]
the behaviour matches that of non-menu :find except that no range is accepted. If active view
contained selection before entering menu mode, the command takes it into account.
:grep
:gr[ep]
the behaviour matches that of non-menu :grep except that no range is accepted. If active view
contained selection before entering menu mode, the command takes it into account.
:exi[t][!]
:q[uit][!]
:x[it][!]
leave the menu mode.
:noh[lsearch]
reset search match highlighting.
:w[rite] {path}
write all menu lines into the file specified by {path}.
Common keys of all menus and dialogs
j, Ctrl-N
move the cursor down.
k, Ctrl-P
move the cursor up.
Enter select and usually close menu/dialog.
Ctrl-L redraw menu/dialog.
Escape, Ctrl-C
ZZ, ZQ
q
close menu/dialog.
Common keys of all menus
Ctrl-B, Ctrl-F
Ctrl-D, Ctrl-U
Ctrl-E, Ctrl-Y
/, ?
n, N
[count]G, [count]gg
H, M, L
zb, zt, zz
these keys have the same meaning as in normal mode.
[count]zh
scroll menu items [count] characters (1 by default) to the right.
[count]zl
scroll menu items [count] characters (1 by default) to the left.
zH scroll menu items half the screen width to the right.
zL scroll menu items half the screen width to the left.
: enter command line mode for menus.
b interpret content of the menu as a list of paths and use it to create custom view in place of the
previously active pane. See "Custom views" section below.
B same as above, but create an unsorted view.
v load menu content into quickfix list of an editor (Vim compatible by assumption) or, if the list
doesn't have separators after file names (colons), open each line as a file name.
Navigation menus
This applies to the following menus:
- :bmarks, :bmgo
- :find
- :grep
- :locate
- user menu with navigation (%M macro)
gf navigate previously active view to currently selected item. Leaves menu mode except for :grep
menu. Pressing Enter or l has the same effect.
e open selected path in an editor, stays in menu mode.
c leave menu preserving file selection and insert file name after :! in command-line mode. Does
nothing in :bmarks and :bmgo.
Note that each of these menus can have additional keys, see below.
History menus (:history *)
==========================
Command-line history menu
Enter, l
execute the item as a command-line command, search query or local filter.
c leave the menu preserving file selection and insert the item into the command-line of appropriate
kind.
Directory history menu
Enter, l
navigate into the selected directory.
Menu commands history menu
Enter, l
execute command without leaving the menu.
c insert menu item into command-line for editing.
Other menus
===========
Apropos (:apropos) menu
Enter, l
run man on a given topic. Menu won't be closed automatically to allow viewing several pages one
by one.
Bookmarks (:bmarks, :bmgo) menu
Enter, l
navigate to the selected bookmark.
dd remove bookmark under the cursor.
See above for "gf" and "e" keys.
Command-line mode abbreviations (:cabbrev) menu
dd remove abbreviation under the cursor.
Color scheme (:colorscheme) menu
Enter, l
apply selected colorscheme as if ":colorscheme <name>" was executed on the command-line.
Commands (:command) menu
Enter, l
execute the command with empty arguments (%a macro).
dd remove command under the cursor.
c leave menu preserving file selection and insert right-hand side of selected command into the
command-line.
Directory stack (:dirs) menu
Enter, l
rotate the stack to put selected directory pair at the top.
File (:file) menu
Commands from vifmrc or typed on the command-line are displayed above an empty line if it's present. All
commands below the empty line come from .desktop files.
Commands detected as available have "[present]" to the left of them.
Enter, l
run selected command (regardless whether it was detected to be present or not).
c leave menu preserving file selection and insert command after :! in the command-line mode.
Grep (:grep) menu
Enter, l
open file in an editor set by 'vicmd' at given line number. Menu won't be closed automatically to
allow viewing more than one result.
See above for "gf", "e" and "c" keys.
Jobs (:jobs) menu
dd request cancellation of job under the cursor. The job won't be removed from the list, but marked
as being cancelled (if cancellation was successfully requested). A message will pop up if the job
has already stopped. Note that on Windows cancelling external programs like this might not work,
because their parent shell doesn't have any windows.
e display errors of selected job if any were collected. They are displayed in a new menu, but you
can return to jobs menu by pressing h.
r reload the list of jobs.
Marks (:marks) menu
Enter, l
navigate to selected mark.
dd remove mark under the cursor.
Media (:media) menu
Enter, l
behaviour is different for different kinds of lines:
- mount an unmounted device
- navigate to the first mount point of a mounted device
- navigate to a mount point
- do nothing for "not mounted" or an empty line
r reload the list.
m mount/unmount device (cursor should be positioned on lines under device information).
[ put cursor on the previous device.
] put cursor on the next device.
Menus history (:chistory) menu
Enter, l
load selected menu.
Plugins (:plugins) menu
e display log messages of selected plugin if any were collected. They are displayed in a new menu,
but you can return to plugins menu by pressing h.
gf navigate previously active view to the location of selected plugin. Leaves the menu mode.
Trash (:lstrash) menu
r restore a file from the trash to its original location.
dd delete file under the cursor.
Trashes (:trashes) menu
Enter, l
navigate into current trash directory.
dd start emptying selected trash in background.
Undolist (:undolist) menu
r reset undo position to group under the cursor.
User menu without navigation (%m macro)
c leave menu preserving file selection and insert whole line after :! in command-line mode.
Volumes (:volumes) menu
only for MS-Windows
Enter, l
navigate into the root of the selected drive.
Dialog-specific operations
==========================
Attributes (permissions or properties) dialog
h, Space
check/uncheck.
q close the dialog.
r (*nix only) (un)set all read bits.
w (*nix only) (un)set all write bits.
x (*nix only) (un)set all execute bits.
s (*nix only) (un)set all special (SetUID, SetGID, Sticky) bits.
e (*nix only) (un)set recursion (for directories only).
Possible item states:
- * - checked flag.
- X - selected files have inconsistent value of this flag.
- d (*nix only) - (only for execute flags) means u-x+X, g-x+X or o-x+X argument for the chmod program.
If you're not on OS X and want to remove execute permission bit from all files, but preserve it for
directories, set all execute flags to 'd' and check 'Set Recursively' flag.
Fileinfo (Ctrl-G) dialog
Enter, q
close the dialog.
Sort (:sort) dialog
h, Space
switch ascending/descending order.
q close the dialog.
There is also a shortcut per sorting key (drawn on the dialog).
Menus history
Menus are often used to present results of operations (like finding or grepping files). Once closed they
can be recreated by repeating a command, but it might be inconvenient (require changing directory,
finding the command and possibly finding position in a menu) and time consuming to re-run the operation.
To make referring to older menus possible, vifm stores up to 25 last such menus and provides means for
recalling them using familiar set of Vim commands.
As already hinted above, this doesn't apply to every menu because things like :version or :commands rely
solely on internal data and don't need to be saved. Only menus that are derived from external sources
and support navigation (like via gf) are remembered.
Navigating through history
Re-opening the last viewed menu of relevant type is done by running :copen command. Once opened :colder
can be used to view older menus and :cnewer to view newer ones.
Closing a menu after moving through the history remembers the position such that running :copen again
will open the last viewed menu and allow one to continue exploring history in both directions.
The history always contains menus sorted from oldest to newest. After opening more than 25 menus the
oldest one is likely to be forgotten. It's not guaranteed to happen because after viewing an older menu
new entry replaces all more recent ones. As an example, assume the history looks like this:
1. :find 1
2. :find 2
...
23. :find 23 (current element)
24. :find 24
25. :find 25
Running `:find 11` results in:
1. :find 1
2. :find 2
...
23. :find 23
24. :find 26 (current element)
25. None
For convenience, :colder and :cnewer can be used any time you're in a menu, not just after :copen.
:cnewer will work only if current menu can't be saved and you've moved back in menus history before.
Behaviour of :colder is like this:
- if current menu can be stashed, behave as :quit, :copen, :colder sequence (current menu is stashed the
same way as described above)
- if current menu can't be stashed, behave as :quit, :copen sequence
Viewing history
In order to avoid enumerating menus looking for the matching one, :chistory command can be used to get an
overview of saved menus, maybe search for one and then open it. The command is also available in menu
mode.
Related topics
Commands: :chistory, :copen Menu commands: :chistory, :colder, :cnewer
Custom views
Definition
Normally file views contain list of files from a single directory, but sometimes it's useful to populate
them with list of files that do not belong to the same directory, which is what custom views are for.
Presentation
Custom views are still related to directory they were in before custom list was loaded. Path to that
directory (original directory) can be seen in the title of a custom view.
Files in same directory have to be named differently, this doesn't hold for custom views thus seeing just
file names might be rather confusing. In order to give an idea where files come from and when possible,
relative paths to original directory of the view is displayed, otherwise full path is used instead.
Custom views normally don't contain any inexistent files.
Navigation
Custom views have some differences related to navigation in regular views.
gf - acts similar to gf on symbolic links and navigates to the file at its real
location.
h - go to the closest parent node in the tree view; otherwise, return to the
original directory.
gh - return to the original directory.
Opening ".." entry also causes return to the original directory.
History
Custom list exists only while it's visible, once left one can't return to it, so there is no appearances
of it in any history.
Filters
Only local filter affects content of the view. This is intentional, presumably if one loads list,
precisely that list should be displayed (except for inexistent paths, which are ignored).
Search
Although directory names are visible in listing, they are not searchable. Only file names are taken into
account (might be changed in future, searching whole lines seems quite reasonable).
Sorting
Contrary to search sorting by name works on whole visible part of file path.
Highlight
Whole file name is highlighted as one entity, even if there are directory elements.
Updates
Reloads can occur, though they are not automatic due to files being scattered among different places. On
a reload, inexistent files are removed and meta-data of all other files is updated.
Once custom view forgets about the file, it won't add it back even if it's created again. So not seeing
file previously affected by an operation, which was undone is normal.
Operations
All operations that add files are forbidden for custom views. For example, moving/copying/putting files
into a custom view doesn't work, because it doesn't make much sense.
On the other hand, operations that use files of a custom view as a source (e.g. yanking, copying, moving
file from custom view, deletion) and operations that modify names are all allowed.
Compare views
Kinds
:compare can produce four different results depending on arguments:
- single compare view (ofone and either listall or listdups);
- single custom view (ofone and listunique);
- two compare views (ofboth and either listall or listdups);
- two custom views (ofboth and listunique).
The first two display files of one file system tree. Here duplicates are files that have at least one
copy in the same tree. The other two kinds of operation compare two trees, in which duplicates are files
that are found in both trees.
Lists of unique files are presented in custom views because there is no file grouping to preserve as all
file ids are guaranteed to be distinct.
Creation
Arguments passed to :compare form seven categories each with its own prefix and is responsible for
particular property of operation.
Which files to compare:
- ofboth - compares files of two panes against each other;
- ofone - compares files of the same directory.
How files are compared:
- byname - by their name only;
- bysize - only by their size;
- bycontents - by data they contain (combination of size and hash of small chunk of contents is used as
first approximation, so don't worry too much about large files; non-regular files like pipes are assumed
to be empty).
Which files to display:
- listall - all files;
- listunique - unique files only;
- listdups - only duplicated files.
How results are grouped (has no effect if "ofone" specified):
- groupids - files considered identical are always adjacent in output;
- grouppaths - file system ordering is preferred (this also enables displaying identically named files
as mismatches).
Which files to omit:
- skipempty - ignore empty files.
Comparison tweaks:
- withicase - ignore case when comparing file names/paths;
- withrcase - respect case when comparing file names/paths.
Which results to show (has no effect for single pane comparison):
- showidentical - control visibility of identical files;
- showdifferent - control visibility of changed files;
- showuniqueleft - control visibility of unique top/left files;
- showuniqueright - control visibility of unique bottom/right files.
Each argument can appear multiple times, the rightmost one of the group is considered. Arguments alter
default behaviour instead of substituting it.
When neither "withicase" nor "withrcase" is specified, case depends on the running operating system and
the file system on which the files are located.
Examples
The defaults corresponds to probably the most common use case of comparing files in two trees with
grouping by paths, so the following are equivalent:
:compare
:compare bycontents grouppaths
:compare bycontents listall ofboth grouppaths
:compare showidentical showdifferent showuniqueleft showuniqueright
Another use case is to find duplicates in the current sub-tree:
:compare listdups ofone
The following command lists files that are unique to each pane:
:compare listunique
Look
The view can't switch to ls-like view as it's unable to display diff-like data.
Comparison views have second column displaying id of the file, files with same id are considered to be
equal. The view columns configuration is predefined.
The status bar displays only the initial result of the comparison and can be out of date.
Behaviour
When two views are being compared against each other the following changes to the regular behaviour
apply:
- views are scrolled synchronously (as if 'scrollbind' was set);
- views' cursors are synchronized;
- local filtering is disabled (its results wouldn't be meaningful);
- zd excludes groups of adjacent identical files, 1zd gives usual behaviour;
- sorting is permanently disabled (ordering is fixed);
- removed files hide their counter pairs;
- exiting one of the views terminates the other immediately;
- renaming files isn't blocked, but isn't taken into account and might require regeneration of
comparison;
- entries which indicate absence of equivalent file have empty names and can be matched as such;
- when unique files of both views are listed custom views can be empty, this absence of unique files is
stated clearly.
One compare view has similar properties (those that are applicable for single pane).
Files are gathered in this way:
- recursively starting at current location of the view;
- dot files are excluded if view hides them at the moment of comparison, file name filters are obeyed as
well so you end up comparing what you see;
- directories are not taken into account;
- symbolic links to directories are ignored.
Startup
On startup vifm determines several variables that are used during execution. They are determined in the
order they appear below.
On *nix systems $HOME is normally present and used as is. On Windows systems vifm tries to find correct
home directory in the following order:
- $HOME variable;
- $USERPROFILE variable (on Windows only);
- a combination of $HOMEDRIVE and $HOMEPATH variables (on Windows only).
vifm tries to find correct configuration directory by checking the following places:
- $VIFM variable;
- parent directory of the executable file (on Windows only);
- $HOME/.vifm directory;
- $APPDATA/Vifm directory (on Windows only);
- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vifm directory;
- $HOME/.config/vifm directory.
vifm tries to find correct configuration file by checking the following places:
- $MYVIFMRC variable;
- vifmrc in parent directory of the executable file (on Windows only);
- $VIFM/vifmrc file.
Configure
See "Startup" section above for the explanations on $VIFM and $MYVIFMRC.
The vifmrc file contains commands that will be executed on vifm startup. There are two such files:
global and local. Global one is at {prefix}/etc/vifm/vifmrc, see $MYVIFMRC variable description for the
search algorithm used to find local vifmrc. Global vifmrc is loaded before the local one, so that the
later one can redefine anything configured globally.
Use vifmrc to set settings, mappings, filetypes etc. To use multi line commands precede each next line
with a slash (whitespace before slash is ignored, but all spaces at the end of the lines are saved). For
example:
set
\smartcase
equals "setsmartcase". When
set<space here>
\ smartcase
equals "set smartcase".
The $VIFM/vifminfo file contains generic state of the application. You can control what is stored in
vifminfo by setting 'vifminfo' option. Vifm always writes this file on exit unless 'vifminfo' option is
empty. Marks, bookmarks, commands, histories, filetypes, fileviewers and registers in the file are
merged with vifm configuration (which has bigger priority).
Generally, runtime configuration has bigger priority during merging, but there are some exceptions:
- directory stack stored in the file is not overwritten unless something is changed in vifm instance
that performs merge;
- each mark or bookmark is marked with a timestamp, so that newer value is not overwritten by older
one, thus no matter from where it comes, the newer one wins;
- all histories are marked with timestamps on storing, this means that last instance to quit puts its
elements on top of the list;
- tabs are merged only if both current instance and stored state contain exactly one tab of any kind.
The $VIFM/scripts directory can contain shell scripts. vifm modifies its PATH environment variable to
let user run those scripts without specifying full path. All subdirectories of the $VIFM/scripts will be
added to PATH too. Script in a subdirectory overlaps script with the same name in all its parent
directories.
The $VIFM/colors/ and {prefix}/etc/vifm/colors/ directories contain color schemes. Available color
schemes are searched in that order, so on name conflict the one in $VIFM/colors/ wins.
Each color scheme should have ".vifm" extension. This wasn't the case before and for this reason the
following rules apply during lookup:
- if there is no file with .vifm extension, all regular files are listed;
- otherwise only files with .vifm extension are listed (with the extension being truncated).
Sessions
Sessions provide a way to have multiple persistent runtime configurations. Think of them as second-level
vifminfo files in addition to the first-level one used by all sessions. In other words, they aren't a
replacement for vifminfo file that exists without sessions, but an addition to it. One can empty
'vifminfo' option and rely solely on sessions, but in practice one might want to share some state among
instances in different sessions or have an "out-of-sessions" state for tasks that don't deserve a session
of their own.
This leads to a two-level structure where data in session files has higher priority than data in vifminfo
files (where this makes sense) following the same rules that merging of vifminfo file obeys. In addition
to that, history items from session files are never ordered before history items from vifminfo file.
Format
Sessions have the format of vifminfo files, they do not consist of sequence of command-line commands and
are not meant to be sourced via :source command.
Storage and naming
`$VIFM/sessions/` directory serves as a storage for sessions. Consequently names should be valid
filenames. The structure of the storage is flat meaning that there are no subdirectories, that's why
names of sessions can't contain slashes.
Usage model
Contrary to Vim, vifm automates basic management of sessions. You can start, switch, stop or delete a
session using builtin means.
Current session is saved at the same time vifminfo is saved (on normal exits or explicitly on :write
command) and right before switching to another session. To avoid saving in those cases use :session
command to detach (without saving) from a session before proceeding.
Related topics
Commands: :session, :delsession
Options: 'sessionoptions'
Variables: v:session
Automatic FUSE mounts
vifm has a builtin support of automated FUSE file system mounts. It is implemented using file
associations mechanism. To enable automated mounts, one needs to use a specially formatted program line
in filetype or filextype commands. These use special macros, which differ from macros in commands
unrelated to FUSE. Currently three formats are supported:
1) FUSE_MOUNT This format should be used in case when all information needed for mounting all files of a
particular type is the same. E.g. mounting of tar files don't require any file specific options.
Format line:
FUSE_MOUNT|mounter %SOURCE_FILE %DESTINATION_DIR [%FOREGROUND]
Example filetype command:
:filetype FUSE_MOUNT|fuse-zip %SOURCE_FILE %DESTINATION_DIR
2) FUSE_MOUNT2 This format allows one to use specially formatted files to perform mounting and is useful
for mounting remotes, for example remote file systems over ftp or ssh.
Format line:
FUSE_MOUNT2|mounter %PARAM %DESTINATION_DIR [%FOREGROUND]
Example filetype command:
:filetype *.ssh FUSE_MOUNT2|sshfs %PARAM %DESTINATION_DIR
Example file content:
root@127.0.0.1:/
3) FUSE_MOUNT3
This format is equivalent to FUSE_MOUNT, but omits unmounting. It is useful for cases, when unmounting
isn't needed, like when using AVFS.
Example :filetype command:
:filetype *.tar,*.tar.bz2,*.tbz2,*.tgz,*.tar.gz,*.tar.xz,*.txz,*.deb
\ {Mount with avfs}
\ FUSE_MOUNT3|mount-avfs %DESTINATION_DIR %SOURCE_FILE
Example `mount-avfs` helper script:
#!/bin/sh
dest=$1
file=$2
rmdir "$dest"
ln -s "$HOME/.avfs$file#/" "$dest"
All % macros are expanded by vifm at runtime and have the following meaning:
- %SOURCE_FILE is replaced by full path to selected file;
- %DESTINATION_DIR is replaced by full path to mount directory, which is created by vifm basing on the
value of 'fusehome' option;
- %PARAM value is filled from the first line of file (whole line), though in the future it can be
changed to whole file content;
- %FOREGROUND means that you want to run mount command as a regular command (required to be able to
provide input for communication with mounter in interactive way).
%FOREGROUND is an optional macro. Other macros are not mandatory, but mount commands likely won't work
without them.
%CLEAR is obsolete name of %FOREGROUND, which is still supported, but might be removed in future. Its
use is discouraged.
Unlike macros elsewhere, these are recognized only if they appear at the end of a command or are followed
by a space. There is no way to escape % either. These are historical limitations, which might be
addressed in the future.
The mounted FUSE file systems will be automatically unmounted in two cases:
- when vifm quits (with ZZ, :q, etc. or when killed by signal);
- when you explicitly leave mount point going up to its parent directory (with h, Enter on "../" or
":cd ..") and other pane is not in the same directory or its child directories.
View look
vifm supports displaying of file list view in two different ways:
- in a table mode, when multiple columns can be set using 'viewcolumns' option (see "Column view"
section below for details);
- in a multicolumn list manner which looks almost like `ls -x` command output (see "ls-like view"
section below for details).
The look is local for each view and can be chosen by changing value of the 'lsview' boolean option.
Depending on view look some of keys change their meaning to allow more natural cursor moving. This
concerns mainly h, j, k, l and other similar navigation keys.
Also some of options can be ignored if they don't affect view displaying in selected look. For example
value of 'viewcolumns' when 'lsview' is set.
ls-like view
When this view look is enabled by setting 'lsview' option on, vifm will display files in multiple
columns. Number of columns depends on the length of the longest file name present in current directory
of the view. Whole file list is automatically reflowed on directory change, terminal or view resize.
View looks close to output of `ls -x` command, so files are listed left to right in rows.
In this mode file manipulation commands (e.g. d) don't work line-wise like they do in Vim, since such
operations would be uncommon for file manipulation tasks. Thus, for example, dd will remove only current
file.
By default the view is filled by lines, 'lsoptions' can be used to get filling by columns.
Note that tree-view and compare view inhibit ls-like view.
Column view
View columns are described by a comma-separated list of column descriptions, each of which has the
following format
[ '-' | '*' ] [ fw ( [ '.' tw ] | '%' ) ] '{' type | literal '}' '.'{0,3}
where fw stands for full width, tw stands for text width, bar is logical or, square brackets denote
optional parts and curly braces define range of repetitions for a symbol that precedes them.
So it basically consists of four parts:
1. Optional alignment specifier
2. Optional width specifier
3. Mandatory column name
4. Optional cropping specifier
Alignment specifier
It's an optional minus or asterisk sign as the first symbol of the string.
Specifies type of text alignment within a column. Three types are supported:
- left align
set viewcolumns=-{name}
- right align (default)
set viewcolumns={name}
- middle align
It's like left alignment, but when the text is bigger than the column, it is cut in the middle (so the
start and the end of the field are always visible).
set viewcolumns=^{name}
- dynamic align
It's like left alignment, but when the text is bigger than the column, the alignment is made at the
right (so the part of the field is always visible).
set viewcolumns=*{name}
Width specifier
It's a number followed by a percent sign, two numbers (second one should be less than or equal to the
first one) separated with a dot or a single number.
Specifies column width and its units. There are three size types:
- absolute size - column width is specified in characters
set viewcolumns=-100{name},20.15{ext}
results in two columns with lengths of 100 and 20 and a reserved space of five characters on the left
of second column.
- relative (percent) size - column width is specified in percents of view width
set viewcolumns=-80%{name},15%{ext},5%{mtime}
results in three columns with lengths of 80/100, 15/100 and 5/100 of view width.
- auto size (default) - column width is automatically determined
set viewcolumns=-{name},{ext},{mtime}
results in three columns with length of one third of view width. There is no size adjustment to
content, since it will slow down rendering.
Columns of different sizing types can be freely mixed in one view. Though sometimes some of columns can
be seen partly or be completely invisible if there is not enough space to display them.
Column contents
This is usually a sorting key surrounded with curly braces, e.g.
{name},{ext},{mtime}
{name} and {iname} types are the same and are both present for consistency with 'sort' option.
The following column types don't have corresponding sorting keys:
- {root} - display name without extension (as a complement for {ext})
- {fileroot} - display name without extension for anything except for directories and symbolic links to
directories (as a complement for {fileext})
Empty curly braces ({}) are replaced with the default secondary column for primary sort key. So after
the next command view will be displayed almost as if 'viewcolumns' was empty, but adding ellipsis for
long file names:
set viewcolumns=-{name}..,6{}.
The last kind of column value is a string literal. The literal is used as a column value for every row.
The syntax is "{#literal}", examples:
" double-character pseudo-padding on both sides
set viewcolumns='2{#},*{name}..,{},2{#}'
" pseudo-border between columns
set viewcolumns='*{name}..,{#|},6{}'
" pseudo-border with padding between columns
set viewcolumns='*{name}..,{# | },6{}'
This can be used to draw column separators. Mind that for convenience literals have different defaults:
truncation and automatically determined absolute size, which is what you usually want for them. Make
sure to quote or escape spaces, vertical bars and other special symbols when using them as part of
literals.
Cropping specifier
It's from one to three dots after closing curly brace in column format.
Specifies type of text truncation if it doesn't fit in the column. Currently three types are supported:
- truncation - text is truncated
set viewcolumns=-{name}.
results in truncation of names that are too long too fit in the view.
- adding of ellipsis - ellipsis on the left or right are added when needed
set viewcolumns=-{name}..
results in that ellipsis are added at the end of too long file names.
- none (default) - text can pass column boundaries
set viewcolumns=-{name}...,{ext}
results in that long file names can partially be written on the ext column.
Color schemes
The color schemes in vifm can be applied in two different ways:
- as the primary color scheme;
- as local to a pane color scheme.
Both types are set using :colorscheme command, but of different forms:
- :colorscheme color_scheme_name - for the primary color scheme;
- :colorscheme color_scheme_name directory - for local color schemes.
Look of different parts of the TUI (Text User Interface) is determined in this way:
- Border, TabLine, TabLineSel, TopLineSel, TopLine, CmdLine, ErrorMsg, StatusLine, JobLine, SuggestBox,
WildBox and WildMenu are always determined by the primary color scheme;
- CurrLine, Selected, Directory, Link, BrokenLink, Socket, Device, Executable, Fifo, CmpMismatch,
CmpUnmatched, CmpBlank, Win, AuxWin and OtherWin are determined by primary color scheme and a set of
local color schemes, which can be empty.
There might be a set of local color schemes because they are structured hierarchically according to file
system structure. For example, having the following piece of file system:
~
`-- bin
|
`-- my
Two color schemes:
# ~/.config/vifm/colors/for_bin.vifm
highlight Win cterm=none ctermfg=white ctermbg=red
highlight CurrLine cterm=none ctermfg=red ctermbg=black
# ~/.config/vifm/colors/for_bin_my.vifm
highlight CurrLine cterm=none ctermfg=green ctermbg=black
And these three commands in the vifmrc file:
colorscheme Default
colorscheme for_bin ~/bin
colorscheme for_bin_my ~/bin/my
File list will look in the following way for each level:
- ~/ - Default color scheme
black background
cursor with blue background
- ~/bin/ - mix of Default and for_bin color schemes
red background
cursor with black background and red foreground
- ~/bin/my/ - mix of Default, for_bin and for_bin_my color schemes
red background
cursor with black background and green foreground
Trash directory
vifm has support of trash directory, which is used as temporary storage for deleted files or files that
were cut. Using trash is controlled by the 'trash' option, and exact path to the trash can be set with
'trashdir' option. Trash directory in vifm differs from the system-wide one by default, because of
possible incompatibilities of storing deleted files among different file managers. But one can set
'trashdir' to "~/.local/share/Trash" to use a "standard" trash directory.
There are two scenarios of using trash in vifm:
1. As a place for storing files that were cut by "d" and may be inserted to some other place in file
system.
2. As a storage of files, that are deleted but not purged yet.
The first scenario uses deletion ("d") operations to put files to trash and put ("p") operations to
restore files from trash directory. Note that such operations move files to and from trash directory,
which can be long term operations in case of different partitions or remote drives mounted locally.
The second scenario uses deletion ("d") operations for moving files to trash directory and :empty
command-line command to purge all previously deleted files.
Deletion and put operations depend on registers, which can point to files in trash directory. Normally,
there are no nonexistent files in registers, but vifm doesn't keep track of modifications under trash
directory, so one shouldn't expect value of registers to be absolutely correct if trash directory was
modified not by operation that are meant for it. But this won't lead to any issues with operations,
since they ignore nonexistent files.
Client-Server
vifm supports remote execution of command-line mode commands, remote changing of directories and
expression evaluation. This is possible using --remote and --remote-expr command-line arguments.
To execute a command remotely combine --remote argument with -c <command> or +<command>. For example:
vifm --remote -c 'cd /'
vifm --remote '+cd /'
To change directory not using command-line mode commands one can specify paths right after --remote
argument, like this:
vifm --remote /
vifm --remote ~
vifm --remote /usr/bin /tmp
Evaluating expression remotely might be useful to query information about an instance, for example its
location:
vifm --remote-expr 'expand("%d")'
If there are several running instances, the target can be specified with --server-name option (otherwise,
the first one lexicographically is used):
vifm --server-name work --remote ~/work/project
List of names of running instances can be obtained via --server-list option. Name of the current one is
available via v:servername.
v:servername
server name of the running vifm instance. Empty if client-server feature is disabled.
External Renaming
When an editor is run to edit list of file names, contents of the temporary file has the following
format:
1. Order of lines correspond to the order of files in a view.
2. Lines that start with a "#" are comments and are ignored.
3. Single backslash at the beginning of a line is ignored, so that a file starting with a backslash
will appear like "\#name".
If an operation was rejected due to issues with file names, next time you'll see the following in this
order:
1. Last error (in comments).
2. Original file names (in comments).
3. Failed list of new names.
Mind that Vim plugin will extract list of original names and show them in a vertical split.
You can cancel renaming by removing all non-comments from the buffer. This also erases information about
previous edits.
Using mouse
Note: <ScrollWheelDown> is not available on 32-bit *nix systems, because ncurses doesn't support it there
(limitation of implementation).
Note: these are not available in mappings at the moment.
Normal Mode
event position change action
cursor window
<LeftMouse> yes yes <cr> if cursor wasn't move
<LeftRelease> no yes
<MiddleMouse> no yes <c-e>
<MiddleRelease> no yes
<RightMouse> yes yes :file
<RightRelease> no yes
<ScrollWheelUp> no yes <c-y> or :tabprevious
<ScrollWheelDown> no yes <c-e> or :tabnext
Clicking on or scrolling over an inactive pane (including its title), makes it active and does nothing
else. Tabs are scrolled when mouse hovers over them.
Clicking on the left miller column goes to parent directory and clicking the right one opens current
entry.
Visual Mode
event position selection action
cursor
<LeftMouse> yes update <cr> if cursor wasn't move
<LeftRelease> no
<MiddleMouse> no update <c-e>
<MiddleRelease> no
<RightMouse> no
<RightRelease> no
<ScrollWheelUp> no update <c-y>
<ScrollWheelDown> no update <c-e>
Command-line Mode
event position action
cursor
<LeftMouse> yes
<LeftRelease> no
<MiddleMouse> no <c-n>
<MiddleRelease> no
<RightMouse> no
<RightRelease> no
<ScrollWheelUp> no <c-p>
<ScrollWheelDown> no <c-n>
Menu Mode
event position action
cursor
<LeftMouse> yes <cr> if cursor wasn't moved
<LeftRelease> no
<MiddleMouse> no <c-e>
<MiddleRelease> no
<RightMouse> no
<RightRelease> no
<ScrollWheelUp> no <c-y>
<ScrollWheelDown> no <c-e>
view Mode
event action
<ScrollWheelUp> k
<ScrollWheelDown> j
Clicking on or scrolling over an inactive pane (including its title), detaches view mode if it wasn't
activated for exploring a file.
Plugin
Plugin for using vifm in vim as a file selector.
Commands:
:EditVifm select a file or files to open in the current buffer.
:Vifm alias for :EditVifm.
:SplitVifm split buffer and select a file or files to open.
:VsplitVifm vertically split buffer and select a file or files to open.
:DiffVifm select a file or files to compare to the current file with
:vert diffsplit.
:TabVifm select a file or files to open in tabs.
Each command accepts up to two arguments: left pane directory and right pane directory. After arguments
are checked, vifm process is spawned in a special "file-picker" mode. To pick files just open them
either by pressing l, i or Enter keys, or by running :edit command. If no files are selected, file under
the cursor is opened, otherwise whole selection is passed to the plugin and opened in vim.
The plugin have only two settings. It's a string variable named g:vifm_term to let user specify command
to run GUI terminal. By default it's equal to 'xterm -e'. And another string variable named
g:vifm_exec, which equals "vifm" by default and specifies path to vifm's executable. To pass arguments
to vifm use g:vifm_exec_args, which is empty by default.
To use the plugin copy the vifm.vim file to either the system wide vim/plugin directory or into
~/.vim/plugin.
If you would prefer not to use the plugin and it is in the system wide plugin directory add
let loaded_vifm=1
to your ~/.vimrc file.
Reserved
The following command names are reserved and shouldn't be used for user commands.
g[lobal]
v[global]
ENVIRONMENT
VIFM Points to main configuration directory (usually ~/.config/vifm/).
MYVIFMRC
Points to main configuration file (usually ~/.config/vifm/vifmrc).
These environment variables are valid inside vifm and also can be used to configure it by setting some of
them before running vifm.
When $MYVIFMRC isn't set, it's made as $VIFM/vifmrc (exception for Windows: vifmrc in the same directory
as vifm.exe has higher priority than $VIFM/vifmrc).
See "Startup" section above for more details.
VIFM_FUSE_FILE
On execution of external commands this variable is set to the full path of file used to initiate
FUSE mount of the closest mount point from current pane's directory up. It's not set when outside
FUSE mount point. When vifm is used inside terminal multiplexer, it tries to set this variable as
well (it doesn't work this way on its own).
SEE ALSO
vifm-convert-dircolors(1), vifm-pause(1)
Website: https://vifm.info/
Wiki: https://wiki.vifm.info/
AUTHOR
Vifm was written by ksteen <ksteen@users.sourceforge.net>
And currently is developed by xaizek <xaizek@posteo.net>
vifm 0.14 08 February 2025 VIFM(1)