Provided by: lf_34+ds-2_amd64 
NAME
lf - terminal file manager
SYNOPSIS
lf [-command command] [-config path] [-cpuprofile path] [-doc] [-last-dir-path path] [-log path] [-mem‐
profile path] [-print-last-dir] [-print-selection] [-remote command] [-selection-path path] [-server]
[-single] [-version] [-help] [cd-or-select-path]
DESCRIPTION
lf is a terminal file manager.
The source code can be found in the repository at <https://github.com/gokcehan/lf>
This documentation can either be read from the terminal using lf -doc or online at
<https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/doc.md> You can also use the doc command (default <f-1>) in‐
side lf to view the documentation in a pager. A man page with the same content is also available in the
repository at <https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/lf.1>
You can run lf -help to see descriptions of command line options.
QUICK REFERENCE
The following commands are provided by lf:
quit (default 'q')
up (default 'k' and '<up>')
half-up (default '<c-u>')
page-up (default '<c-b>' and '<pgup>')
scroll-up (default '<c-y>')
down (default 'j' and '<down>')
half-down (default '<c-d>')
page-down (default '<c-f>' and '<pgdn>')
scroll-down (default '<c-e>')
updir (default 'h' and '<left>')
open (default 'l' and '<right>')
jump-next (default ']')
jump-prev (default '[')
top (default 'gg' and '<home>')
bottom (default 'G' and '<end>')
high (default 'H')
middle (default 'M')
low (default 'L')
toggle
invert (default 'v')
invert-below
unselect (default 'u')
glob-select
glob-unselect
calcdirsize
clearmaps
copy (default 'y')
cut (default 'd')
paste (default 'p')
clear (default 'c')
sync
draw
redraw (default '<c-l>')
load
reload (default '<c-r>')
echo
echomsg
echoerr
cd
select
delete (modal)
rename (modal) (default 'r')
source
push
read (modal) (default ':')
shell (modal) (default '$')
shell-pipe (modal) (default '%')
shell-wait (modal) (default '!')
shell-async (modal) (default '&')
find (modal) (default 'f')
find-back (modal) (default 'F')
find-next (default ';')
find-prev (default ',')
search (modal) (default '/')
search-back (modal) (default '?')
search-next (default 'n')
search-prev (default 'N')
filter (modal)
setfilter
mark-save (modal) (default 'm')
mark-load (modal) (default "'")
mark-remove (modal) (default '"')
tag
tag-toggle (default 't')
The following command line commands are provided by lf:
cmd-escape (default '<esc>')
cmd-complete (default '<tab>')
cmd-menu-complete
cmd-menu-complete-back
cmd-menu-accept
cmd-enter (default '<c-j>' and '<enter>')
cmd-interrupt (default '<c-c>')
cmd-history-next (default '<c-n>' and '<down>')
cmd-history-prev (default '<c-p>' and '<up>')
cmd-left (default '<c-b>' and '<left>')
cmd-right (default '<c-f>' and '<right>')
cmd-home (default '<c-a>' and '<home>')
cmd-end (default '<c-e>' and '<end>')
cmd-delete (default '<c-d>' and '<delete>')
cmd-delete-back (default '<backspace>' and '<backspace2>')
cmd-delete-home (default '<c-u>')
cmd-delete-end (default '<c-k>')
cmd-delete-unix-word (default '<c-w>')
cmd-yank (default '<c-y>')
cmd-transpose (default '<c-t>')
cmd-transpose-word (default '<a-t>')
cmd-word (default '<a-f>')
cmd-word-back (default '<a-b>')
cmd-delete-word (default '<a-d>')
cmd-delete-word-back (default '<a-backspace>' and '<a-backspace2>')
cmd-capitalize-word (default '<a-c>')
cmd-uppercase-word (default '<a-u>')
cmd-lowercase-word (default '<a-l>')
The following options can be used to customize the behavior of lf:
anchorfind bool (default true)
autoquit bool (default true)
borderfmt string (default "\033[0m")
cleaner string (default '')
copyfmt string (default "\033[7;33m")
cursoractivefmt string (default "\033[7m")
cursorparentfmt string (default "\033[7m")
cursorpreviewfmt string (default "\033[4m")
cutfmt string (default "\033[7;31m")
dircache bool (default true)
dircounts bool (default false)
dirfirst bool (default true)
dironly bool (default false)
dirpreviews bool (default false)
drawbox bool (default false)
dupfilefmt string (default '%f.~%n~')
errorfmt string (default "\033[7;31;47m")
filesep string (default "\n")
findlen int (default 1)
globfilter bool (default false)
globsearch bool (default false)
hidden bool (default false)
hiddenfiles []string (default '.*' for Unix and '' for Windows)
history bool (default true)
icons bool (default false)
ifs string (default '')
ignorecase bool (default true)
ignoredia bool (default true)
incfilter bool (default false)
incsearch bool (default false)
info []string (default '')
infotimefmtnew string (default 'Jan _2 15:04')
infotimefmtold string (default 'Jan _2 2006')
locale string (default '')
mouse bool (default false)
number bool (default false)
numberfmt string (default "\033[33m")
period int (default 0)
preserve []string (default "mode")
preview bool (default true)
previewer string (default '')
promptfmt string (default "\033[32;1m%u@%h\033[0m:\033[34;1m%d\033[0m\033[1m%f\033[0m")
ratios []int (default '1:2:3')
relativenumber bool (default false)
reverse bool (default false)
roundbox bool (default false)
rulerfmt string (default " %a| %p| \033[7;31m %m \033[0m| \033[7;33m %c \033[0m| \033[7;35m %s \033[0m| \033[7;34m %f \033[0m| %i/%t")
scrolloff int (default 0)
selectfmt string (default "\033[7;35m")
selmode string (default 'all')
shell string (default 'sh' for Unix and 'cmd' for Windows)
shellflag string (default '-c' for Unix and '/c' for Windows)
shellopts []string (default '')
showbinds bool (default true)
sixel bool (default false)
smartcase bool (default true)
smartdia bool (default false)
sortby string (default 'natural')
statfmt string (default "\033[36m%p\033[0m| %c| %u| %g| %S| %t| -> %l")
tabstop int (default 8)
tagfmt string (default "\033[31m")
tempmarks string (default '')
timefmt string (default 'Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 2006')
truncatechar string (default '~')
truncatepct int (default 100)
waitmsg string (default 'Press any key to continue')
watch bool (default false)
wrapscan bool (default true)
wrapscroll bool (default false)
user_{option} string (default none)
The following environment variables are exported for shell commands:
f
fs
fx
id
PWD
OLDPWD
LF_LEVEL
OPENER
VISUAL
EDITOR
PAGER
SHELL
lf
lf_{option}
lf_user_{option}
lf_width
lf_height
lf_count
lf_mode
The following special shell commands are used to customize the behavior of lf when defined:
open
paste
rename
delete
pre-cd
on-cd
on-focus-gained
on-focus-lost
on-init
on-select
on-redraw
on-quit
The following commands/keybindings are provided by default:
Unix
cmd open &$OPENER "$f"
map e $$EDITOR "$f"
map i $$PAGER "$f"
map w $$SHELL
cmd doc $$lf -doc | $PAGER
map <f-1> doc
cmd maps $lf -remote "query $id maps" | $PAGER
cmd cmaps $lf -remote "query $id cmaps" | $PAGER
cmd cmds $lf -remote "query $id cmds" | $PAGER
Windows
cmd open &%OPENER% %f%
map e $%EDITOR% %f%
map i !%PAGER% %f%
map w $%SHELL%
cmd doc !%lf% -doc | %PAGER%
map <f-1> doc
cmd maps !%lf% -remote "query %id% maps" | %PAGER%
cmd cmaps !%lf% -remote "query %id% cmaps" | %PAGER%
cmd cmds !%lf% -remote "query %id% cmds" | %PAGER%
The following additional keybindings are provided by default:
map zh set hidden!
map zr set reverse!
map zn set info
map zs set info size
map zt set info time
map za set info size:time
map sn :set sortby natural; set info
map ss :set sortby size; set info size
map st :set sortby time; set info time
map sa :set sortby atime; set info atime
map sc :set sortby ctime; set info ctime
map se :set sortby ext; set info
map gh cd ~
map <space> :toggle; down
If the mouse option is enabled, mouse buttons have the following default effects:
Left mouse button
Click on a file or directory to select it.
Right mouse button
Enter a directory or open a file. Also works on the preview window.
Scroll wheel
Move up or down. If Ctrl is pressed, scroll up or down.
CONFIGURATION
Configuration files should be located at:
OS system-wide user-specific
Unix /etc/lf/lfrc ~/.config/lf/lfrc
Windows C:\ProgramData\lf\lfrc C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\lf\lfrc
The colors file should be located at:
OS system-wide user-specific
Unix /etc/lf/colors ~/.config/lf/colors
Windows C:\ProgramData\lf\colors C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\lf\colors
The icons file should be located at:
OS system-wide user-specific
Unix /etc/lf/icons ~/.config/lf/icons
Windows C:\ProgramData\lf\icons C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\lf\icons
The selection file should be located at:
Unix ~/.local/share/lf/files
Windows C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\lf\files
The marks file should be located at:
Unix ~/.local/share/lf/marks
Windows C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\lf\marks
The tags file should be located at:
Unix ~/.local/share/lf/tags
Windows C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\lf\tags
The history file should be located at:
Unix ~/.local/share/lf/history
Windows C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\lf\history
You can configure these locations with the following variables given with their order of precedences and
their default values:
Unix
$LF_CONFIG_HOME
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME
~/.config
$LF_DATA_HOME
$XDG_DATA_HOME
~/.local/share
Windows
%ProgramData%
C:\ProgramData
%LF_CONFIG_HOME%
%LOCALAPPDATA%
C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local
A sample configuration file can be found at <https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/etc/lfrc.example>
COMMANDS
This section shows information about built-in commands. Modal commands do not take any arguments, but
instead change the operation mode to read their input conveniently, and so they are meant to be assigned
to keybindings.
quit (default q)
Quit lf and return to the shell.
up (default k and <up>), half-up (default <c-u>), page-up (default <c-b> and <pgup>), scroll-up (default <c-
y>), down (default j and <down>), half-down (default <c-d>), page-down (default <c-f> and <pgdn>),
scroll-down (default <c-e>)
Move/scroll the current file selection upwards/downwards by one/half a page/full page.
updir (default h and <left>)
Change the current working directory to the parent directory.
open (default l and <right>)
If the current file is a directory, then change the current directory to it, otherwise, execute the open
command. A default open command is provided to call the default system opener asynchronously with the
current file as the argument. A custom open command can be defined to override this default.
jump-next (default ]), jump-prev (default [)
Change the current working directory to the next/previous jumplist item.
top (default gg and <home>), bottom (default G and <end>)
Move the current file selection to the top/bottom of the directory. A count can be specified to move to
a specific line, for example, use 3G to move to the third line.
high (default H), middle (default M), low (default L)
Move the current file selection to the high/middle/low of the screen.
toggle
Toggle the selection of the current file or files given as arguments.
invert (default v)
Reverse the selection of all files in the current directory (i.e. toggle all files). Selections in oth‐
er directories are not affected by this command. You can define a new command to select all files in the
directory by combining invert with unselect (i.e. cmd select-all :unselect; invert), though this will
also remove selections in other directories.
invert-below
Reverse the selection (i.e. toggle) of all files at or after the current file in the current directory.
To select a contiguous block of files, use this command on the first file you want to select. Then, move
down to the first file you do not want to select (the one after the end of the desired selection) and use
this command again. This achieves an effect similar to the visual mode in Vim.
This command is experimental and may be removed once a better replacement for the visual mode is imple‐
mented in lf. If you'd like to experiment with using this command, you should bind it to a key (e.g. V)
for a better experience.
unselect (default u)
Remove the selection of all files in all directories.
glob-select, glob-unselect
Select/unselect files that match the given glob.
calcdirsize
Calculate the total size for each of the selected directories. Option info should include size and op‐
tion dircounts should be disabled to show this size. If the total size of a directory is not calculated,
it will be shown as -.
clearmaps
Remove all keybindings associated with the map command. This command can be used in the config file to
remove the default keybindings. For safety purposes, : is left mapped to the read command, and cmap key‐
bindings are retained so that it is still possible to exit lf using :quit.
copy (default y)
If there are no selections, save the path of the current file to the copy buffer, otherwise, copy the
paths of selected files.
cut (default d)
If there are no selections, save the path of the current file to the cut buffer, otherwise, copy the
paths of selected files.
paste (default p)
Copy/Move files in the copy/cut buffer to the current working directory. A custom paste command can be
defined to override this default.
clear (default c)
Clear file paths in copy/cut buffer.
sync
Synchronize copied/cut files with the server. This command is automatically called when required.
draw
Draw the screen. This command is automatically called when required.
redraw (default <c-l>)
Synchronize the terminal and redraw the screen.
load
Load modified files and directories. This command is automatically called when required.
reload (default <c-r>)
Flush the cache and reload all files and directories.
echo
Print the given arguments to the message line at the bottom.
echomsg
Print the given arguments to the message line at the bottom and also to the log file.
echoerr
Print given arguments to the message line at the bottom as errorfmt and also to the log file.
cd
Change the working directory to the given argument.
select
Change the current file selection to the given argument.
delete (modal)
Remove the current file or selected file(s). A custom delete command can be defined to override this de‐
fault.
rename (modal) (default r)
Rename the current file using the built-in method. A custom rename command can be defined to override
this default.
source
Read the configuration file given in the argument.
push
Simulate key pushes given in the argument.
read (modal) (default :)
Read a command to evaluate.
shell (modal) (default $)
Read a shell command to execute.
shell-pipe (modal) (default %)
Read a shell command to execute piping its standard I/O to the bottom statline.
shell-wait (modal) (default !)
Read a shell command to execute and wait for a key press in the end.
shell-async (modal) (default &)
Read a shell command to execute asynchronously without standard I/O.
find (modal) (default f), find-back (modal) (default F), find-next (default ;), find-prev (default ,)
Read key(s) to find the appropriate file name match in the forward/backward direction and jump to the
next/previous match.
search (default /), search-back (default ?), search-next (default n), search-prev (default N)
Read a pattern to search for a file name match in the forward/backward direction and jump to the
next/previous match.
filter (modal), setfilter
Command filter reads a pattern to filter out and only view files matching the pattern. Command setfilter
does the same but uses an argument to set the filter immediately. You can supply an argument to filter
to use as the starting prompt.
mark-save (modal) (default m)
Save the current directory as a bookmark assigned to the given key.
mark-load (modal) (default ')
Change the current directory to the bookmark assigned to the given key. A special bookmark ' holds the
previous directory after a mark-load, cd, or select command.
mark-remove (modal) (default ")
Remove a bookmark assigned to the given key.
tag
Tag a file with * or a single-width character given in the argument. You can define a new tag-clearing
command by combining tag with tag-toggle (i.e. cmd tag-clear :tag; tag-toggle).
tag-toggle (default t)
Tag a file with * or a single width character given in the argument if the file is untagged, otherwise
remove the tag.
COMMAND LINE COMMANDS
The prompt character specifies which of the several command-line modes you are in. For example, the read
command takes you to the : mode.
When the cursor is at the first character in : mode, pressing one of the keys !, $, %, or & takes you to
the corresponding mode. You can go back with cmd-delete-back (<backspace> by default).
The command line commands should be mostly compatible with readline keybindings. A character refers to a
Unicode code point, a word consists of letters and digits, and a unix word consists of any non-blank
characters.
cmd-escape (default <esc>)
Quit command line mode and return to normal mode.
cmd-complete (default <tab>)
Autocomplete the current word.
cmd-menu-complete, cmd-menu-complete-back
Autocomplete the current word with the menu selection. You need to assign keys to these commands (e.g.
cmap <tab> cmd-menu-complete; cmap <backtab> cmd-menu-complete-back). You can use the assigned keys to
display the menu and then cycle through completion options.
cmd-menu-accept
Accept the currently selected match in menu completion and close the menu.
cmd-enter (default <c-j> and <enter>)
Execute the current line.
cmd-interrupt (default <c-c>)
Interrupt the current shell-pipe command and return to the normal mode.
cmd-history-next (default <c-n> and <down>), cmd-history-prev (default <c-p> and <up>)
Go to the next/previous item in the history.
cmd-left (default <c-b> and <left>), cmd-right (default <c-f> and <right>)
Move the cursor to the left/right.
cmd-home (default <c-a> and <home>), cmd-end (default <c-e> and <end>)
Move the cursor to the beginning/end of the line.
cmd-delete (default <c-d> and <delete>)
Delete the next character.
cmd-delete-back (default <backspace> and <backspace2>)
Delete the previous character. When at the beginning of a prompt, returns either to normal mode or to :
mode.
cmd-delete-home (default <c-u>), cmd-delete-end (default <c-k>)
Delete everything up to the beginning/end of the line.
cmd-delete-unix-word (default <c-w>)
Delete the previous unix word.
cmd-yank (default <c-y>)
Paste the buffer content containing the last deleted item.
cmd-transpose (default <c-t>), cmd-transpose-word (default <a-t>)
Transpose the positions of the last two characters/words.
cmd-word (default <a-f>), cmd-word-back (default <a-b>)
Move the cursor by one word in the forward/backward direction.
cmd-delete-word (default <a-d>)
Delete the next word in the forward direction.
cmd-delete-word-back (default <a-backspace> and <a-backspace2>)
Delete the previous word in the backward direction.
cmd-capitalize-word (default <a-c>), cmd-uppercase-word (default <a-u>), cmd-lowercase-word (default <a-l>)
Capitalize/uppercase/lowercase the current word and jump to the next word.
OPTIONS
This section shows information about options to customize the behavior. Character : is used as the sepa‐
rator for list options []int and []string.
anchorfind (bool) (default true)
When this option is enabled, the find command starts matching patterns from the beginning of file names,
otherwise, it can match at an arbitrary position.
autoquit (bool) (default true)
Automatically quit the server when there are no clients left connected.
borderfmt (string) (default \033[0m)
Format string of the box drawing characters enabled by the drawbox option.
cleaner (string) (default ``) (not called if empty)
Set the path of a cleaner file. The file should be executable. This file is called if previewing is en‐
abled, the previewer is set, and the previously selected file has its preview cache disabled. The fol‐
lowing arguments are passed to the file, (1) current file name, (2) width, (3) height, (4) horizontal po‐
sition, (5) vertical position of preview pane and (6) next file name to be previewed respectively. Pre‐
view cleaning is disabled when the value of this option is left empty.
copyfmt (string) (default \033[7;33m)
Format string of the indicator for files to be copied.
cursoractivefmt (string) (default \033[7m), cursorparentfmt string (default \033[7m), cursorpreviewfmt string
(default \033[4m)
Format strings for highlighting the cursor. cursoractivefmt applies in the current directory pane, cur‐
sorparentfmt applies in panes that show parents of the current directory, and cursorpreviewfmt applies in
panes that preview directories.
The default is to make the active cursor and the parent directory cursor inverted. The preview cursor is
underlined.
Some other possibilities to consider for the preview or parent cursors: an empty string for no cursor,
\033[7;2m for dimmed inverted text (visibility varies by terminal), \033[7;90m for inverted text with
grey (aka "brightblack") background.
If the format string contains the characters %s, it is interpreted as a format string for fmt.Sprintf.
Such a string should end with the terminal reset sequence. For example, \033[4m%s\033[0m has the same
effect as \033[4m.
cutfmt (string) (default \033[7;31m)
Format string of the indicator for files to be cut.
dircache (bool) (default true)
Cache directory contents.
dircounts (bool) (default false)
When this option is enabled, directory sizes show the number of items inside instead of the total size of
the directory, which needs to be calculated for each directory using calcdirsize. This information needs
to be calculated by reading the directory and counting the items inside. Therefore, this option is dis‐
abled by default for performance reasons. This option only has an effect when info has a size field and
the pane is wide enough to show the information. 999 items are counted per directory at most, and bigger
directories are shown as 999+.
dirfirst (bool) (default true)
Show directories first above regular files.
dironly (bool) (default false)
Show only directories.
dirpreviews (bool) (default false)
If enabled, directories will also be passed to the previewer script. This allows custom previews for di‐
rectories.
drawbox (bool) (default false)
Draw boxes around panes with box drawing characters.
dupfilefmt (string) (default %f.~%n~)
Format string of file name when creating duplicate files. With the default format, copying a file
abc.txt to the same directory will result in a duplicate file called abc.txt.~1~. Special expansions are
provided, %f as the file name, %b for the basename (file name without extension), %e as the extension
(including the dot) and %n as the number of duplicates.
errorfmt (string) (default \033[7;31;47m)
Format string of error messages shown in the bottom message line.
If the format string contains the characters %s, it is interpreted as a format string for fmt.Sprintf.
Such a string should end with the terminal reset sequence. For example, \033[4m%s\033[0m has the same
effect as \033[4m.
filesep (string) (default \n)
File separator used in environment variables fs and fx.
findlen (int) (default 1)
Number of characters prompted for the find command. When this value is set to 0, find command prompts
until there is only a single match left.
globfilter (bool) (default false)
Patterns are treated as globs for the filter command, see globsearch for more details.
globsearch (bool) (default false)
When this option is enabled, search command patterns are considered as globs, otherwise, they are liter‐
als. With globbing, * matches any sequence, ? matches any character, and [...] or [^...] matches charac‐
ter sets or ranges. Otherwise, these characters are interpreted as they are.
hidden (bool) (default false)
Show hidden files. On Unix systems, hidden files are determined by the value of hiddenfiles. On Win‐
dows, files with hidden attributes are also considered hidden files.
hiddenfiles ([]string) (default .* for Unix and `` for Windows)
List of hidden file glob patterns. Patterns can be given as relative or absolute paths. Globbing sup‐
ports the usual special characters, * to match any sequence, ? to match any character, and [...] or
[^...] to match character sets or ranges. In addition, if a pattern starts with !, then its matches are
excluded from hidden files. To add multiple patterns, use : as a separator. Example:
.*:lost+found:*.bak
history (bool) (default true)
Save command history.
icons (bool) (default false)
Show icons before each item in the list.
ifs (string) (default ``)
Sets IFS variable in shell commands. It works by adding the assignment to the beginning of the command
string as IFS=...; .... The reason is that IFS variable is not inherited by the shell for security rea‐
sons. This method assumes a POSIX shell syntax so it can fail for non-POSIX shells. This option has no
effect when the value is left empty. This option does not have any effect on Windows.
ignorecase (bool) (default true)
Ignore case in sorting and search patterns.
ignoredia (bool) (default true)
Ignore diacritics in sorting and search patterns.
incsearch (bool) (default false)
Jump to the first match after each keystroke during searching.
incfilter (bool) (default false)
Apply filter pattern after each keystroke during filtering.
info ([]string) (default ``)
A list of information that is shown for directory items at the right side of the pane. Currently sup‐
ported information types are size, time, atime, ctime, perm, user and group. Information is only shown
when the pane width is more than twice the width of information.
infotimefmtnew (string) (default Jan _2 15:04)
Format string of the file time shown in the info column when it matches this year.
infotimefmtold (string) (default Jan _2 2006)
Format string of the file time shown in the info column when it doesn't match this year.
locale (string) (default ``)
An IETF BCP 47 language tag (e.g. zh-CN) for specifying the locale used when using sort type natural and
name. An empty string means disable locale ordering, and the special value * is used to indicate reading
the locale setting from the system environment. This feature is currently experimental.
mouse (bool) (default false)
Send mouse events as input.
number (bool) (default false)
Show the position number for directory items on the left side of the pane. When the relativenumber op‐
tion is enabled, only the current line shows the absolute position and relative positions are shown for
the rest.
numberfmt (string) (default \033[33m)
Format string of the position number for each line.
period (int) (default 0)
Set the interval in seconds for periodic checks of directory updates. This works by periodically calling
the load command. Note that directories are already updated automatically in many cases. This option
can be useful when there is an external process changing the displayed directory and you are not doing
anything in lf. Periodic checks are disabled when the value of this option is set to zero.
preserve ([]string) (default mode)
List of attributes that are preserved when copying files. Currently supported attributes are mode (i.a.
access mode) and timestamps (i.e. modification time and access time). Note that preserving other at‐
tributes like ownership of change/birth timestamp is desirable, but not portably supported in Go.
preview (bool) (default true)
Show previews of files and directories at the rightmost pane. If the file has more lines than the pre‐
view pane, the rest of the lines are not read. Files containing the null character (U+0000) in the read
portion are considered binary files and displayed as binary.
previewer (string) (default ``) (not filtered if empty)
Set the path of a previewer file to filter the content of regular files for previewing. The file should
be executable. The following arguments are passed to the file, (1) current file name, (2) width, (3)
height, (4) horizontal position, and (5) vertical position of preview pane respectively. SIGPIPE signal
is sent when enough lines are read. If the previewer returns a non-zero exit code, then the preview
cache for the given file is disabled. This means that if the file is selected in the future, the pre‐
viewer is called once again. Preview filtering is disabled and files are displayed as they are when the
value of this option is left empty.
promptfmt (string) (default \033[32;1m%u@%h\033[0m:\033[34;1m%d\033[0m\033[1m%f\033[0m)
Format string of the prompt shown in the top line. Special expansions are provided, %u as the user name,
%h as the hostname, %w as the working directory, %d as the working directory with a trailing path separa‐
tor, %f as the file name, and %F as the current filter. %S may be used once and will provide a spacer so
that the following parts are right aligned on the screen. The home folder is shown as ~ in the working
directory expansion. Directory names are automatically shortened to a single character starting from the
leftmost parent when the prompt does not fit the screen.
ratios ([]int) (default 1:2:3)
List of ratios of pane widths. Number of items in the list determines the number of panes in the UI.
When the preview option is enabled, the rightmost number is used for the width of the preview pane.
relativenumber (bool) (default false)
Show the position number relative to the current line. When number is enabled, the current line shows
the absolute position, otherwise nothing is shown.
reverse (bool) (default false)
Reverse the direction of sort.
roundbox (bool) (default false)
Draw rounded outer corners when the drawbox option is enabled.
rulerfmt (string) (default %a| %p| \033[7;31m %m \033[0m| \033[7;33m %c \033[0m| \033[7;35m %s \033[0m|
\033[7;34m %f \033[0m| %i/%t)
Format string of the ruler shown in the bottom right corner. Special expansions are provided, %a as the
pressed keys, %p as the progress of file operations, %m as the number of files to be cut (moved), %c as
the number of files to be copied, %s as the number of selected files, %f as the filter, %i as the posi‐
tion of the cursor, %t as the number of files shown in the current directory, %h as the number of files
hidden in the current directory, and %d as the amount of free disk space remaining. Additional expan‐
sions are provided for environment variables exported by lf, in the form %{lf_<name>} (e.g.
%{lf_selmode}). This is useful for displaying the current settings. Expansions are also provided for
user-defined options, in the form %{lf_user_<name>} (e.g. %{lf_user_foo}). The | character splits the
format string into sections. Any section containing a failed expansion (result is a blank string) is
discarded and not shown.
selectfmt (string) (default \033[7;35m)
Format string of the indicator for files that are selected.
selmode (string) (default all)
Selection mode for commands. When set to all it will use the selected files from all directories. When
set to dir it will only use the selected files in the current directory.
scrolloff (int) (default 0)
Minimum number of offset lines shown at all times at the top and bottom of the screen when scrolling.
The current line is kept in the middle when this option is set to a large value that is bigger than the
half of number of lines. A smaller offset can be used when the current file is close to the beginning or
end of the list to show the maximum number of items.
shell (string) (default sh for Unix and cmd for Windows)
Shell executable to use for shell commands. Shell commands are executed as shell shellopts shellflag
command -- arguments.
shellflag (string) (default -c for Unix and /c for Windows)
Command line flag used to pass shell commands.
shellopts ([]string) (default ``)
List of shell options to pass to the shell executable.
showbinds (bool) (default true)
Show bindings associated with pressed keys.
sixel (bool) (default false)
Render sixel images in preview.
smartcase (bool) (default true)
Override ignorecase option when the pattern contains an uppercase character. This option has no effect
when ignorecase is disabled.
smartdia (bool) (default false)
Override ignoredia option when the pattern contains a character with diacritic. This option has no ef‐
fect when ignoredia is disabled.
sortby (string) (default natural)
Sort type for directories. Currently supported sort types are natural, name, size, time, ctime, atime,
and ext.
statfmt (string) (default \033[36m%p\033[0m| %c| %u| %g| %S| %t| -> %l)
Format string of the file info shown in the bottom left corner. Special expansions are provided, %p as
the file permissions, %c as the link count, %u as the user, %g as the group, %s as the file size, %S as
the file size but with a fixed width of four characters (left-padded with spaces), %t as the last modi‐
fied time, and %l as the link target. The | character splits the format string into sections. Any sec‐
tion containing a failed expansion (result is a blank string) is discarded and not shown.
tabstop (int) (default 8)
Number of space characters to show for horizontal tabulation (U+0009) character.
tagfmt (string) (default \033[31m)
Format string of the tags.
If the format string contains the characters %s, it is interpreted as a format string for fmt.Sprintf.
Such a string should end with the terminal reset sequence. For example, \033[4m%s\033[0m has the same
effect as \033[4m.
tempmarks (string) (default ``)
Marks to be considered temporary (e.g. abc refers to marks a, b, and c). These marks are not synced to
other clients and they are not saved in the bookmarks file. Note that the special bookmark ` is always
treated as temporary and it does not need to be specified.
timefmt (string) (default Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 2006)
Format string of the file modification time shown in the bottom line.
truncatechar (string) (default ~)
The truncate character that is shown at the end when the file name does not fit into the pane.
truncatepct (int) (default 100)
When a filename is too long to be shown completely, the available space is partitioned into two pieces.
truncatepct defines a fraction (in percent between 0 and 100) for the size of the first piece, which will
show the beginning of the filename. The second piece will show the end of the filename and will use the
rest of the available space. Both pieces are separated by the truncation character (truncatechar). A
value of 100 will only show the beginning of the filename, while a value of 0 will only show the end of
the filename, e.g.:
• set truncatepct 100 -> very-long-filename-tr~ (default)
• set truncatepct 50 -> very-long-f~-truncated
• set truncatepct 0 -> ~ng-filename-truncated
waitmsg (string) (default Press any key to continue)
String shown after commands of shell-wait type.
watch (bool) (default false)
Watch the filesystem for changes using fsnotify to automatically refresh file information. FUSE is cur‐
rently not supported due to limitations in fsnotify.
wrapscan (bool) (default true)
Searching can wrap around the file list.
wrapscroll (bool) (default false)
Scrolling can wrap around the file list.
user_{option} (string) (default none)
Any option that is prefixed with user_ is a user-defined option and can be set to any string. Inside a
user-defined command, the value will be provided in the lf_user_{option} environment variable. These op‐
tions are not used by lf and are not persisted.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following variables are exported for shell commands: These are referred to with a $ prefix on POSIX
shells (e.g. $f), between % characters on Windows cmd (e.g. %f%), and with a $env: prefix on Windows
PowerShell (e.g. $env:f).
f
Current file selection as a full path.
fs
Selected file(s) separated with the value of filesep option as full path(s).
fx
Selected file(s) (i.e. fs) if there are any selected files, otherwise current file selection (i.e. f).
id
Id of the running client.
PWD
Present working directory.
OLDPWD
Initial working directory.
LF_LEVEL
The value of this variable is set to the current nesting level when you run lf from a shell spawned in‐
side lf. You can add the value of this variable to your shell prompt to make it clear that your shell
runs inside lf. For example, with POSIX shells, you can use [ -n "$LF_LEVEL" ] && PS1="$PS1""(lf level:
$LF_LEVEL) " in your shell configuration file (e.g. ~/.bashrc).
OPENER
If this variable is set in the environment, use the same value. Otherwise, this is set to start in Win‐
dows, open in MacOS, xdg-open in others.
EDITOR
If VISUAL is set in the environment, use its value. Otherwise, use the value of the environment variable
EDITOR. If neither variable is set, this is set to vi on Unix, notepad in Windows.
PAGER
If this variable is set in the environment, use the same value. Otherwise, this is set to less on Unix,
more in Windows.
SHELL
If this variable is set in the environment, use the same value. Otherwise, this is set to sh on Unix,
cmd in Windows.
lf
Absolute path to the currently running lf binary, if it can be found. Otherwise, this is set to the
string lf.
lf_{option}
Value of the {option}.
lf_user_{option}
Value of the user_{option}.
lf_width, lf_height
Width/Height of the terminal.
lf_count
Value of the count associated with the current command.
lf_mode
Current mode that lf is operating in. This is useful for customizing keybindings depending on what the
current mode is. Possible values are delete, rename, filter, find, mark, search, command, shell, pipe
(when running a shell-pipe command), normal, and unknown.
SPECIAL COMMANDS
This section shows information about special shell commands.
open
This shell command can be defined to override the default open command when the current file is not a di‐
rectory.
paste
This shell command can be defined to override the default paste command.
rename
This shell command can be defined to override the default rename command.
delete
This shell command can be defined to override the default delete command.
pre-cd
This shell command can be defined to be executed before changing a directory.
on-cd
This shell command can be defined to be executed after changing a directory.
on-focus-gained
This shell command can be defined to be executed when the terminal gains focus.
on-focus-lost
This shell command can be defined to be executed when the terminal loses focus.
on-init
This shell command can be defined to be executed after initializing and connecting to the server.
on-select
This shell command can be defined to be executed after the selection changes.
on-redraw
This shell command can be defined to be executed after the screen is redrawn or if the terminal is re‐
sized.
on-quit
This shell command can be defined to be executed before quitting.
PREFIXES
The following command prefixes are used by lf:
: read (default) builtin/custom command
$ shell shell command
% shell-pipe shell command running with the UI
! shell-wait shell command waiting for a key press
& shell-async shell command running asynchronously
The same evaluator is used for the command line and the configuration file for reading shell commands.
The difference is that prefixes are not necessary in the command line. Instead, different modes are pro‐
vided to read corresponding commands. These modes are mapped to the prefix keys above by default.
SYNTAX
Characters from # to newline are comments and ignored:
# comments start with `#`
There are five special commands (set, setlocal, map, cmap, and cmd) for configuration.
Command set is used to set an option which can be a boolean, integer, or string:
set hidden # boolean enable
set hidden true # boolean enable
set nohidden # boolean disable
set hidden false # boolean disable
set hidden! # boolean toggle
set scrolloff 10 # integer value
set sortby time # string value w/o quotes
set sortby 'time' # string value with single quotes (whitespaces)
set sortby "time" # string value with double quotes (backslash escapes)
Command setlocal is used to set a local option for a directory which can be a boolean or string. Cur‐
rently supported local options are dirfirst, dironly, hidden, info, reverse, sortby and locale. Adding a
trailing path separator (i.e. / for Unix and \ for Windows) sets the option for the given directory
along with its subdirectories:
setlocal /foo/bar hidden # boolean enable
setlocal /foo/bar hidden true # boolean enable
setlocal /foo/bar nohidden # boolean disable
setlocal /foo/bar hidden false # boolean disable
setlocal /foo/bar hidden! # boolean toggle
setlocal /foo/bar sortby time # string value w/o quotes
setlocal /foo/bar sortby 'time' # string value with single quotes (whitespaces)
setlocal /foo/bar sortby "time" # string value with double quotes (backslash escapes)
setlocal /foo/bar hidden # for only '/foo/bar' directory
setlocal /foo/bar/ hidden # for '/foo/bar' and its subdirectories (e.g. '/foo/bar/baz')
Command 'map' is used to bind a key to a command which can be a builtin command, custom command, or shell
command:
map gh cd ~ # builtin command
map D trash # custom command
map i $less $f # shell command
map U !du -csh * # waiting shell command
Command 'cmap' is used to bind a key on the command line to a command line command or any other command:
cmap <c-g> cmd-escape
cmap <a-i> set incsearch!
You can delete an existing binding by leaving the expression empty:
map gh # deletes 'gh' mapping
cmap <c-g> # deletes '<c-g>' mapping
Command cmd is used to define a custom command:
cmd usage $du -h -d1 | less
You can delete an existing command by leaving the expression empty:
cmd trash # deletes 'trash' command
If there is no prefix then : is assumed:
map zt set info time
An explicit : can be provided to group statements until a newline which is especially useful for map and
cmd commands:
map st :set sortby time; set info time
If you need multiline you can wrap statements in {{ and }} after the proper prefix.
map st :{{
set sortby time
set info time
}}
KEY MAPPINGS
Regular keys are assigned to a command with the usual syntax:
map a down
Keys combined with the shift key simply use the uppercase letter:
map A down
Special keys are written in between < and > characters and always use lowercase letters:
map <enter> down
Angle brackets can be assigned with their special names:
map <lt> down
map <gt> down
Function keys are prefixed with f character:
map <f-1> down
Keys combined with the control key are prefixed with a c character:
map <c-a> down
Keys combined with the alt key are assigned in two different ways depending on the behavior of your ter‐
minal. Older terminals (e.g. xterm) may set the 8th bit of a character when the alt key is pressed. On
these terminals, you can use the corresponding byte for the mapping:
map á down
Newer terminals (e.g. gnome-terminal) may prefix the key with an escape key when the alt key is pressed.
lf uses the escape delaying mechanism to recognize alt keys in these terminals (delay is 100ms). On
these terminals, keys combined with the alt key are prefixed with an a character:
map <a-a> down
It is possible to combine special keys with modifiers:
map <a-enter> down
WARNING: Some key combinations will likely be intercepted by your OS, window manager, or terminal. Other
key combinations cannot be recognized by lf due to the way terminals work (e.g. Ctrl+h combination sends
a backspace key instead). The easiest way to find out the name of a key combination and whether it will
work on your system is to press the key while lf is running and read the name from the unknown mapping
error.
Mouse buttons are prefixed with an m character:
map <m-1> down # primary
map <m-2> down # secondary
map <m-3> down # middle
map <m-4> down
map <m-5> down
map <m-6> down
map <m-7> down
map <m-8> down
Mouse wheel events are also prefixed with an m character:
map <m-up> down
map <m-down> down
map <m-left> down
map <m-right> down
PUSH MAPPINGS
The usual way to map a key sequence is to assign it to a named or unnamed command. While this provides a
clean way to remap built-in keys as well as other commands, it can be limiting at times. For this rea‐
son, the push command is provided by lf. This command is used to simulate key pushes given as its argu‐
ments. You can map a key to a push command with an argument to create various keybindings.
This is mainly useful for two purposes. First, it can be used to map a command with a command count:
map <c-j> push 10j
Second, it can be used to avoid typing the name when a command takes arguments:
map r push :rename<space>
One thing to be careful of is that since the push command works with keys instead of commands it is pos‐
sible to accidentally create recursive bindings:
map j push 2j
These types of bindings create a deadlock when executed.
SHELL COMMANDS
Regular shell commands are the most basic command type that is useful for many purposes. For example, we
can write a shell command to move the selected file(s) to trash. A first attempt to write such a command
may look like this:
cmd trash ${{
mkdir -p ~/.trash
if [ -z "$fs" ]; then
mv "$f" ~/.trash
else
IFS="$(printf '\n\t')"; mv $fs ~/.trash
fi
}}
We check $fs to see if there are any selected files. Otherwise, we just delete the current file. Since
this is such a common pattern, a separate $fx variable is provided. We can use this variable to get rid
of the conditional:
cmd trash ${{
mkdir -p ~/.trash
IFS="$(printf '\n\t')"; mv $fx ~/.trash
}}
The trash directory is checked each time the command is executed. We can move it outside of the command
so it would only run once at startup:
${{ mkdir -p ~/.trash }}
cmd trash ${{ IFS="$(printf '\n\t')"; mv $fx ~/.trash }}
Since these are one-liners, we can drop {{ and }}:
$mkdir -p ~/.trash
cmd trash $IFS="$(printf '\n\t')"; mv $fx ~/.trash
Finally, note that we set the IFS variable manually in these commands. Instead, we could use the ifs op‐
tion to set it for all shell commands (i.e. set ifs "\n"). This can be especially useful for interac‐
tive use (e.g. $rm $f or $rm $fs would simply work). This option is not set by default as it can behave
unexpectedly for new users. However, use of this option is highly recommended and it is assumed in the
rest of the documentation.
PIPING SHELL COMMANDS
Regular shell commands have some limitations in some cases. When an output or error message is given and
the command exits afterwards, the ui is immediately resumed and there is no way to see the message with‐
out dropping to shell again. Also, even when there is no output or error, the UI still needs to be
paused while the command is running. This can cause flickering on the screen for short commands and sim‐
ilar distractions for longer commands.
Instead of pausing the UI, piping shell commands connect stdin, stdout, and stderr of the command to the
statline at the bottom of the UI. This can be useful for programs following the Unix philosophy to give
no output in the success case, and brief error messages or prompts in other cases.
For example, following rename command prompts for overwrite in the statline if there is an existing file
with the given name:
cmd rename %mv -i $f $1
You can also output error messages in the command and it will show up in the statline. For example, an
alternative rename command may look like this:
cmd rename %[ -e $1 ] && printf "file exists" || mv $f $1
Note that input is line buffered and output and error are byte buffered.
WAITING SHELL COMMANDS
Waiting shell commands are similar to regular shell commands except that they wait for a key press when
the command is finished. These can be useful to see the output of a program before the UI is resumed.
Waiting shell commands are more appropriate than piping shell commands when the command is verbose and
the output is best displayed as multiline.
ASYNCHRONOUS SHELL COMMANDS
Asynchronous shell commands are used to start a command in the background and then resume operation with‐
out waiting for the command to finish. Stdin, stdout, and stderr of the command are neither connected to
the terminal nor the UI.
REMOTE COMMANDS
One of the more advanced features in lf is remote commands. All clients connect to a server on startup.
It is possible to send commands to all or any of the connected clients over the common server. This is
used internally to notify file selection changes to other clients.
To use this feature, you need to use a client which supports communicating with a Unix domain socket.
OpenBSD implementation of netcat (nc) is one such example. You can use it to send a command to the sock‐
et file:
echo 'send echo hello world' | nc -U ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-/tmp}/lf.${USER}.sock
Since such a client may not be available everywhere, lf comes bundled with a command line flag to be used
as such. When using lf, you do not need to specify the address of the socket file. This is the recom‐
mended way of using remote commands since it is shorter and immune to socket file address changes:
lf -remote 'send echo hello world'
In this command send is used to send the rest of the string as a command to all connected clients. You
can optionally give it an ID number to send a command to a single client:
lf -remote 'send 1234 echo hello world'
All clients have a unique id number but you may not be aware of the id number when you are writing a com‐
mand. For this purpose, an $id variable is exported to the environment for shell commands. The value of
this variable is set to the process ID of the client. You can use it to send a remote command from a
client to the server which in return sends a command back to itself. So now you can display a message in
the current client by calling the following in a shell command:
lf -remote "send $id echo hello world"
Since lf does not have control flow syntax, remote commands are used for such needs. For example, you
can configure the number of columns in the UI with respect to the terminal width as follows:
cmd recol %{{
if [ $lf_width -le 80 ]; then
lf -remote "send $id set ratios 1:2"
elif [ $lf_width -le 160 ]; then
lf -remote "send $id set ratios 1:2:3"
else
lf -remote "send $id set ratios 1:2:3:5"
fi
}}
In addition, the query command can be used to obtain information about a specific lf instance by provid‐
ing its id:
lf -remote "query $id maps"
The following types of information are supported:
maps list of mappings created by the 'map' command
cmaps list of mappings created by the 'cmap' command
cmds list of commands created by the 'cmd' command
jumps contents of the jump list, showing previously visited locations
history list of previously executed commands on the command line
files list of files in the currently open directory as displayed by lf, empty if dir is still loading
This is useful for scripting actions based on the internal state of lf. For example, to select a previ‐
ous command using fzf and execute it:
map <a-h> ${{
clear
cmd=$(
lf -remote "query $id history" |
awk -F'\t' 'NR > 1 { print $NF}' |
sort -u |
fzf --reverse --prompt='Execute command: '
)
lf -remote "send $id $cmd"
}}
There is also a quit command to quit the server when there are no connected clients left, and a quit!
command to force quit the server by closing client connections first:
lf -remote 'quit'
lf -remote 'quit!'
Lastly, there is a conn command to connect the server to a client. This should not be needed for users.
FILE OPERATIONS
lf uses its own built-in copy and move operations by default. These are implemented as asynchronous op‐
erations and progress is shown in the bottom ruler. These commands do not overwrite existing files or
directories with the same name. Instead, a suffix that is compatible with the --backup=numbered option
in GNU cp is added to the new files or directories. Only file modes and (some) timestamps can be pre‐
served (see preserve option), all other attributes are ignored including ownership, context, and xattr.
Special files such as character and block devices, named pipes, and sockets are skipped and links are not
followed. Moving is performed using the rename operation of the underlying OS. For cross-device moving,
lf falls back to copying and then deletes the original files if there are no errors. Operation errors
are shown in the message line as well as the log file and they do not preemptively finish the correspond‐
ing file operation.
File operations can be performed on the currently selected file or on multiple files by selecting them
first. When you copy a file, lf doesn't actually copy the file on the disk, but only records its name to
a file. The actual file copying takes place when you paste. Similarly paste after a cut operation moves
the file.
You can customize copy and move operations by defining a paste command. This is a special command that
is called when it is defined instead of the built-in implementation. You can use the following example
as a starting point:
cmd paste %{{
load=$(cat ~/.local/share/lf/files)
mode=$(echo "$load" | sed -n '1p')
list=$(echo "$load" | sed '1d')
if [ $mode = 'copy' ]; then
cp -R $list .
elif [ $mode = 'move' ]; then
mv $list .
rm ~/.local/share/lf/files
lf -remote 'send clear'
fi
}}
Some useful things to be considered are to use the backup (--backup) and/or preserve attributes (-a) op‐
tions with cp and mv commands if they support it (i.e. GNU implementation), change the command type to
asynchronous, or use rsync command with progress bar option for copying and feed the progress to the
client periodically with remote echo calls.
By default, lf does not assign delete command to a key to protect new users. You can customize file
deletion by defining a delete command. You can also assign a key to this command if you like. An exam‐
ple command to move selected files to a trash folder and remove files completely after a prompt is pro‐
vided in the example configuration file.
SEARCHING FILES
There are two mechanisms implemented in lf to search a file in the current directory. Searching is the
traditional method to move the selection to a file matching a given pattern. Finding is an alternative
way to search for a pattern possibly using fewer keystrokes.
The searching mechanism is implemented with commands search (default /), search-back (default ?), search-
next (default n), and search-prev (default N). You can enable globsearch option to match with a glob
pattern. Globbing supports * to match any sequence, ? to match any character, and [...] or [^...] to
match character sets or ranges. You can enable incsearch option to jump to the current match at each
keystroke while typing. In this mode, you can either use cmd-enter to accept the search or use cmd-es‐
cape to cancel the search. You can also map some other commands with cmap to accept the search and exe‐
cute the command immediately afterwards. For example, you can use the right arrow key to finish the
search and open the selected file with the following mapping:
cmap <right> :cmd-enter; open
The finding mechanism is implemented with commands find (default f), find-back (default F), find-next
(default ;), find-prev (default ,). You can disable anchorfind option to match a pattern at an arbitrary
position in the filename instead of the beginning. You can set the number of keys to match using findlen
option. If you set this value to zero, then the keys are read until there is only a single match. The
default values of these two options are set to jump to the first file with the given initial.
Some options effect both searching and finding. You can disable wrapscan option to prevent searches from
being wrapped around at the end of the file list. You can disable ignorecase option to match cases in
the pattern and the filename. This option is already automatically overridden if the pattern contains
upper-case characters. You can disable smartcase option to disable this behavior. Two similar options
ignoredia and smartdia are provided to control matching diacritics in Latin letters.
OPENING FILES
You can define an open command (default l and <right>) to configure file opening. This command is only
called when the current file is not a directory, otherwise, the directory is entered instead. You can
define it just as you would define any other command:
cmd open $vi $fx
It is possible to use different command types:
cmd open &xdg-open $f
You may want to use either file extensions or mime types from file command:
cmd open ${{
case $(file --mime-type -Lb $f) in
text/*) vi $fx;;
*) for f in $fx; do xdg-open $f > /dev/null 2> /dev/null & done;;
esac
}}
You may want to use setsid before your opener command to have persistent processes that continue to run
after lf quits.
Regular shell commands (i.e. $) drop to the terminal which results in a flicker for commands that finish
immediately (e.g. xdg-open in the above example). If you want to use asynchronous shell commands (i.e.
&) but also want to use the terminal when necessary (e.g. vi in the above example), you can use a remote
command:
cmd open &{{
case $(file --mime-type -Lb $f) in
text/*) lf -remote "send $id \$vi \$fx";;
*) for f in $fx; do xdg-open $f > /dev/null 2> /dev/null & done;;
esac
}}
Note that asynchronous shell commands run in their own process group by default so they do not require
the manual use of setsid.
The following command is provided by default:
cmd open &$OPENER $f
You may also use any other existing file openers as you like. Possible options are libfile-mimeinfo-perl
(executable name is mimeopen), rifle (ranger's default file opener), or mimeo to name a few.
PREVIEWING FILES
lf previews files on the preview pane by printing the file until the end or until the preview pane is
filled. This output can be enhanced by providing a custom preview script for filtering. This can be
used to highlight source codes, list contents of archive files or view PDF or image files to name a few.
For coloring lf recognizes ANSI escape codes.
To use this feature, you need to set the value of previewer option to the path of an executable file.
Five arguments are passed to the file, (1) current file name, (2) width, (3) height, (4) horizontal posi‐
tion, and (5) vertical position of preview pane respectively. The output of the execution is printed in
the preview pane. You may also want to use the same script in your pager mapping as well:
set previewer ~/.config/lf/pv.sh
map i $~/.config/lf/pv.sh $f | less -R
For less pager, you may instead utilize LESSOPEN mechanism so that useful information about the file such
as the full path of the file can still be displayed in the statusline below:
set previewer ~/.config/lf/pv.sh
map i $LESSOPEN='| ~/.config/lf/pv.sh %s' less -R $f
Since this script is called for each file selection change it needs to be as efficient as possible and
this responsibility is left to the user. You may use file extensions to determine the type of file more
efficiently compared to obtaining mime types from file command. Extensions can then be used to match
cleanly within a conditional:
#!/bin/sh
case "$1" in
*.tar*) tar tf "$1";;
*.zip) unzip -l "$1";;
*.rar) unrar l "$1";;
*.7z) 7z l "$1";;
*.pdf) pdftotext "$1" -;;
*) highlight -O ansi "$1";;
esac
Another important consideration for efficiency is the use of programs with short startup times for pre‐
view. For this reason, highlight is recommended over pygmentize for syntax highlighting. Besides, it is
also important that the application processes the file on the fly rather than first reading it to the
memory and then doing the processing afterwards. This is especially relevant for big files. lf automat‐
ically closes the previewer script output pipe with a SIGPIPE when enough lines are read. When every‐
thing else fails, you can make use of the height argument to only feed the first portion of the file to a
program for preview. Note that some programs may not respond well to SIGPIPE to exit with a non-zero re‐
turn code and avoid caching. You may add a trailing || true command to avoid such errors:
highlight -O ansi "$1" || true
You may also use an existing preview filter as you like. Your system may already come with a preview
filter named lesspipe. These filters may have a mechanism to add user customizations as well. See the
related documentation for more information.
CHANGING DIRECTORY
lf changes the working directory of the process to the current directory so that shell commands always
work in the displayed directory. After quitting, it returns to the original directory where it is first
launched like all shell programs. If you want to stay in the current directory after quitting, you can
use one of the example lfcd wrapper shell scripts provided in the repository at
<https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/tree/master/etc>
There is a special command on-cd that runs a shell command when it is defined and the directory is
changed. You can define it just as you would define any other command:
cmd on-cd &{{
bash -c '
# display git repository status in your prompt
source /usr/share/git/completion/git-prompt.sh
GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE=auto
GIT_PS1_SHOWSTASHSTATE=auto
GIT_PS1_SHOWUNTRACKEDFILES=auto
GIT_PS1_SHOWUPSTREAM=auto
git=$(__git_ps1 " (%s)")
fmt="\033[32;1m%u@%h\033[0m:\033[34;1m%d\033[0m\033[1m%f$git\033[0m"
lf -remote "send $id set promptfmt \"$fmt\""
'
}}
If you want to print escape sequences, you may redirect printf output to /dev/tty. The following xterm-
specific escape sequence sets the terminal title to the working directory:
cmd on-cd &{{
printf "\033]0; $PWD\007" > /dev/tty
}}
This command runs whenever you change the directory but not on startup. You can add an extra call to
make it run on startup as well:
cmd on-cd &{{ ... }}
on-cd
Note that all shell commands are possible but % and & are usually more appropriate as $ and ! causes
flickers and pauses respectively.
There is also a pre-cd command, that works like on-cd, but is run before the directory is actually
changed.
COLORS
lf tries to automatically adapt its colors to the environment. It starts with a default color scheme and
updates colors using values of existing environment variables possibly by overwriting its previous val‐
ues. Colors are set in the following order:
1. default
2. LSCOLORS (Mac/BSD ls)
3. LS_COLORS (GNU ls)
4. LF_COLORS (lf specific)
5. colors file (lf specific)
Please refer to the corresponding man pages for more information about LSCOLORS and LS_COLORS. LF_COLORS
is provided with the same syntax as LS_COLORS in case you want to configure colors only for lf but not
ls. This can be useful since there are some differences between ls and lf, though one should expect the
same behavior for common cases. The colors file (refer to the CONFIGURATION section
(https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/doc.md#configuration)) is provided for easier configuration
without environment variables. This file should consist of whitespace-separated pairs with a # character
to start comments until the end of the line.
You can configure lf colors in two different ways. First, you can only configure 8 basic colors used by
your terminal and lf should pick up those colors automatically. Depending on your terminal, you should
be able to select your colors from a 24-bit palette. This is the recommended approach as colors used by
other programs will also match each other.
Second, you can set the values of environment variables or colors file mentioned above for fine-grained
customization. Note that LS_COLORS/LF_COLORS are more powerful than LSCOLORS and they can be used even
when GNU programs are not installed on the system. You can combine this second method with the first
method for the best results.
Lastly, you may also want to configure the colors of the prompt line to match the rest of the colors.
Colors of the prompt line can be configured using the promptfmt option which can include hardcoded colors
as ANSI escapes. See the default value of this option to have an idea about how to color this line.
It is worth noting that lf uses as many colors advertised by your terminal's entry in terminfo or infocmp
databases on your system. If an entry is not present, it falls back to an internal database. If your
terminal supports 24-bit colors but either does not have a database entry or does not advertise all capa‐
bilities, you can enable support by setting the $COLORTERM variable to truecolor or ensuring $TERM is set
to a value that ends with -truecolor.
Default lf colors are mostly taken from GNU dircolors defaults. These defaults use 8 basic colors and
bold attribute. Default dircolors entries with background colors are simplified to avoid confusion with
current file selection in lf. Similarly, there are only file type matchings and extension matchings are
left out for simplicity. Default values are as follows given with their matching order in lf:
ln 01;36
or 31;01
tw 01;34
ow 01;34
st 01;34
di 01;34
pi 33
so 01;35
bd 33;01
cd 33;01
su 01;32
sg 01;32
ex 01;32
fi 00
Note that lf first tries matching file names and then falls back to file types. The full order of match‐
ings from most specific to least are as follows:
1. Full Path (e.g. ~/.config/lf/lfrc)
2. Dir Name (e.g. .git/) (only matches dirs with a trailing slash at the end)
3. File Type (e.g. ln) (except fi)
4. File Name (e.g. README*)
5. File Name (e.g. *README)
6. Base Name (e.g. README.*)
7. Extension (e.g. *.txt)
8. Default (i.e. fi)
For example, given a regular text file /path/to/README.txt, the following entries are checked in the con‐
figuration and the first one to match is used:
1. /path/to/README.txt
2. (skipped since the file is not a directory)
3. (skipped since the file is of type fi)
4. README.txt*
5. *README.txt
6. README.*
7. *.txt
8. fi
Given a regular directory /path/to/example.d, the following entries are checked in the configuration and
the first one to match is used:
1. /path/to/example.d
2. example.d/
3. di
4. example.d*
5. *example.d
6. example.*
7. *.d
8. fi
Note that glob-like patterns do not perform glob matching for performance reasons.
For example, you can set a variable as follows:
export LF_COLORS="~/Documents=01;31:~/Downloads=01;31:~/.local/share=01;31:~/.config/lf/lfrc=31:.git/=01;32:.git*=32:*.gitignore=32:*Makefile=32:README.*=33:*.txt=34:*.md=34:ln=01;36:di=01;34:ex=01;32:"
Having all entries on a single line can make it hard to read. You may instead divide it into multiple
lines in between double quotes by escaping newlines with backslashes as follows:
export LF_COLORS="\
~/Documents=01;31:\
~/Downloads=01;31:\
~/.local/share=01;31:\
~/.config/lf/lfrc=31:\
.git/=01;32:\
.git*=32:\
*.gitignore=32:\
*Makefile=32:\
README.*=33:\
*.txt=34:\
*.md=34:\
ln=01;36:\
di=01;34:\
ex=01;32:\
"
The ln entry supports the special value target, which will use the link target to select a style. File
name rules will still apply based on the link's name -- this mirrors GNU's ls and dircolors behavior.
Having such a long variable definition in a shell configuration file might be undesirable. You may in‐
stead use the colors file (refer to the CONFIGURATION section (https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/mas‐
ter/doc.md#configuration)) for configuration. A sample colors file can be found at
<https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/etc/colors.example> You may also see the wiki page for ANSI
escape codes <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code>
ICONS
Icons are configured using LF_ICONS environment variable or an icons file (refer to the CONFIGURATION
section (https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/doc.md#configuration)). The variable uses the same
syntax as LS_COLORS/LF_COLORS. Instead of colors, you should put a single characters as values of en‐
tries. The ln entry supports the special value target, which will use the link target to select a icon.
File name rules will still apply based on the link's name -- this mirrors GNU's ls and dircolors behav‐
ior. The icons file (refer to the CONFIGURATION section (https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/mas‐
ter/doc.md#configuration)) should consist of whitespace-separated arrays with a # character to start com‐
ments until the end of the line. Each line should contain 1-3 columns, first column is filetype or file‐
name pattern, second column is the icon, third column is an optional icon color. If there is only one
column, means to disable rule for this filetype or pattern. Do not forget to add set icons true to your
lfrc to see the icons. Default values are as follows given with their matching order in lf:
ln l
or l
tw t
ow d
st t
di d
pi p
so s
bd b
cd c
su u
sg g
ex x
fi -
A sample icons file can be found at <https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/etc/icons.example>
A sample colored icons file can be found at <https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/blob/master/etc/icons_col‐
ored.example>
2025-02-09 LF(1)