FAQ

📚 Frequently Asked Questions

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Table of contents

• Why clifm?
• Numbers?
• Clear the screen
• Files creation
• Bookmarks
• Search/filter files
• Files selection
• File tags
• Opening applications
• File/image previews
• Color schemes
• Aliases
• Keybindings for custom commands
• The shell
• Tips for Windows users

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🔷 Why clifm?

People often asks how does clifm compare to other file managers. The answer is simple: it doesn't. And here's why.

Clifm is not so much about features (though it provides quite a lot of them), but about design, about the way in which you interact with your file system.

Most terminal file managers out there (if not all) are built using the TUI design principles, much like Midnight Commander and Ranger. But clifm is built rather based on the CLI design principles: do not navigate through a big menu of files, but just type it!, exactly as you do in your shell, but easier and faster.

For this reason, clifm does not need to be better: it's just different! 😉

For more information see the introductory section of our Wiki.

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🔷 What's the meaning of those numbers in the interface?

ELN: It stands for Entry List Number. Each entry in the files list has its own number, which can be used as a shortcut to corresponding file. For example, to print file properties of the file whose ELN is 12 you can enter p 12 (the actual file name will be suggested next to the ELN; press Right to accept the suggestion). In the same way, to change to a directory or to open a file (with the default associated application) enter its ELN.

Files counter: The amount of files contained by a given directory

Workspace indicator: Clifm provides up to 8 workspaces, each with its own independent path. To switch workspaces use the ws command. Example: ws 2 (to switch to the second workspace). Alt-[1-4] is also available.

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🔷 How do I create files?

Files creation, for both regular files and directories, is performed by the n (or new) command. A few examples:

Command	Description
n file	Create an empty regular file named file
n dir/	Create a directory named dir 1
n file dir/	Both of the above at once

¹ If a file name ends with a slash, it is created as a directory, otherwise, as an empty regular file.

Parent directories are created automatically if they don't exist. For instance, if you run the command n dir/file on an empty directory, the directory dir will be automatically created before the regular file file.

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🔷 How do I clear the screen?

To clear the screen enter rf (. will also do the trick). You can also press Enter (on an empty line) or Ctrl-l.

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🔷 How do I bookmark a directory?

Use the bm command as follows: bm add FILENAME BOOKMARK_NAME, say

bm add important_dir/ dir

in which case the directory important_dir will be bookmarked as dir. Then you can access your bookmark either as follows:

bm dir
# or
b:dir

Note that you can operate on your bookmarks as if there where any other file. For example, to select the bookmark named dir use the s command:

s b:dir

To list available bookmarks enter bm or type b:<TAB> (or bm <TAB>).

For more information consult the bookmarks section.

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🔷 Can I filter files?

Absolutely. You can filter files by name, MIME type, and file type. A few easy examples:

Command	Description
=<TAB>	List all file types in the current directory
=l<TAB>	List all symbolic links in the current directory
@<TAB>	List all MIME types in the current directory
@image<TAB>	List all files whose MIME type matches image in the current directory
*.pdf<TAB>	List all file names ending with .pdf
/file*	Print a list of all file names starting with file in the current directory

For more information consult the file filters and the files search sections.

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🔷 How do I select files?

Easy. Just use the s command. Examples:

Command	Description
s *.c	Select files with .c extension
s 1-12	Select files whose ELN's are 1 through 12 (the first 12 files)
s t:pdf	Select all files tagged as pdf
s *.c 1-12 t:pdf	All of the above at once

List selected files as follows: enter sb or type s:<TAB>.

To deselect files use the ds command: ds * to deselect all files, or ds <TAB> to deselect selectively.

To operate on selected files use the sel or s: keywords. For example: p s: to print file properties of all selected files. Type s:<TAB> to operate on selected files selectively.

See the files selection page for more information.

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🔷 What is the difference between selected and tagged files?

Both selected and tagged files are marks set on files. However, and unlike selection, when you tag a file you place it under a specific category (or tag), say, docs, important, or work (you can create as many tags as you like, and you can place as many files as you want under any of these tags).

A few basic tag operations:

Command	Description
tag new test	Create a new (empty) tag named test
tag add *.xlsx :docs	Tag all spreadsheet files as docs (the tag will be created if it doesn't exist)
t:docs<TAB> (or tag list docs)	List all files tagged as docs
p t:docs	Print properties of all files tagged as docs
p t:work<TAB>	Selectively print properties of files tagged as work
tag untag :docs <TAB>	Selectively untag files tagged as docs
tag del work	Delete the tag work (i.e. untag all files tagged as work and remove the tag itself)

For more information consult the tagging files section.

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🔷 How do I change opening applications?

Let's say you want to open PDF files with Okular. The procedure is quite straightforward:

1. Open the Mimelist file, where opening applications are defined: mm edit (or F6).
2. Search for the PDF section and place Okular as the first opening application: X:.*/pdf$:okular;...

For more information see the resource opener section.

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🔷 How do I change the color scheme?

Contributed by theRoboxx

Either via the command line (--color-scheme=NAME), permanent via the ColorScheme option in the main configuration file, or temporary for preview purposes using the cs command, for instance,

cs mytheme

Enter cs (or cs <TAB>) to get a list of available color schemes.

By default, clifm ships several themes, though more can be found in our colors repository.

For more details and custom theming visit the wiki.

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🔷 How do I import my aliases?

Use the alias import command. Example:

alias import ~/.bashrc

See the aliases section for more details.

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🔷 Is it possible to preview files?

Yes. If running in fzf-mode (default if fzf is installed):

1. Use the view command: enter view or press Alt+-.
2. You can also press TAB to browse files in the current directory, including previews.

For image previews consult the image previews section.

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🔷 How do I run with a different shell?

External commands are executed using an actual shell, say /bin/bash. By default, clifm will check the SHELL environment variable, and, if not set, the passwd database, looking for the default shell of the current user. However, you can force clifm to use whatever shell you like using the CLIFM_SHELL environment variable. For example:

CLIFM_SHELL="/bin/zsh" clifm

Note: Bear in mind that only shells defined in /etc/shells are allowed.

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🔷 Keybindings for custom commands

Consult the keybindings section.

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🔷 Windows Tips

Windows' users who compiled clifm under Cygwin or MinGW might be confronted with a few challenges.

1. Clifm requires some external tooling, such as find, fzf, cp, rm, ln, and sh. But find might be a problem here, since Windows provides its own version (find.exe), a rather primitive tool compared to the Unix version. Now, because the path to this find.exe is set quite at the beginning of the PATH environment variable, we need to set a path to the Unix version before it, so that the Unix version will be found before the Windows version when calling this program:

   a) Create a directory, say c:\usr\clifm\utils.
   b) Place a symbolic link here (named find.exe) pointing to the Unix find implementation (probably prvided by Cygwin or MSYS).
   c) Modify your PATH environment variable as follows: PATH=c:\usr\clifm\utils;%PATH%

Note: Keep in mind that this PATH variable will be inherited by all child processes executed by clifm.

2. Creating symbolic links depends on most Windows machines on a local security policy which must be switched on manually. At least the MSYS implementation of ln (a program to create symbolic links) requires an environment variable (MSYS) to be set in order to work properly, that is, to unlock the Unix-like behavior:

MSYS="winsymlinks:native"

3. For some purposes, like displaying different sections of the manual page (via F1, F2, and F3), clifm uses an external pager, like more, less, or bat. Set your preferred pager in the PAGER environment variable as follows:

PAGER=bat

Keep in mind that this application name must be found in the PATH variable. See the point 1 above.

4. Some Windows terminal emulators do not play nice with bold fonts, used by default by clifm to display directory names, among other things. Now, if your terminal emulator does not properly support bold fonts, this might lead to readability issues. In this case, it is better to tell clifm to disable bold fonts altogether via the --no-bold command line switch:

clifm.exe --no-bold %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

5. In the same vein, clifm makes use of colors with a sophisticated shading algorithm. Now, since some Windows terminal emulators (like ConEmu and derivatives) are not able to handle some of these colors properly, we recommend rather using mintty and wt (the Windows Terminal) to avoid these color problems.

It might quite convenient to implement all of the above tips using a batch file, say clifm.bat, with this content:

@echo off
set PATH=c:\usr\clifm\utils;%PATH%
set PAGER=bat
set MSYS="winsymlinks:native"
c:\path\to\clifm.exe --no-bold %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

Now run clifm.bat instead of clifm.exe and you are done.

Thanks to @muellerto for compiling this useful list.

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