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NAME

vifm [OPTION]

DESCRIPTION

Vifm is a 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

The vifm executable will start vifm in the current directory unless it is given a different directory on the command line.
<lwinpath>

Starts Vifm in the specified path.

<lwinpath> <rwinpath>

Starts Vifm in the specified paths.

Paths to files are also allowed in case you want vifm to start with some archive opened. If you want to select file, prepend its path with --select.

-f

only used from the vifm.vim script. The selected files are written to $VIFM/vimfiles and vifm exits.

--logging

Log some errors to $VIFM/log. Also /var/log/vifm-startup-log (on *nix) and startup-log in the directory of executable (on Windows) is used to log startup process (when configuration directory isn’t determined).

--remote

Passes all arguments that left in command line to active vifm server (already running instance if any).

-c <command> or +<command>

Run <command> on startup.

--help, -h

Show an overview of the commandline options.

--version, -v

Show version information and quit.

--no-configs

Don’t read vifmrc and vifminfo.

See Startup section below for the explanations on $VIFM.

General keys

Ctrl-C or Escape

cancel most operations.

Ctrl-C or Escape

clear all selected files.

Ctrl-L

clear and redraw the screen.

Basic Movement

The basic vi key bindings are used to move through the files and popup windows.
k or Ctrl-P

moves up.

j or Ctrl-N

moves down.

moves up one directory.

l or Enter

moves into a directory or launches a file.

	gg		move to the top of the file list.
	G		move to the bottom of the file list.
	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%).

Space Bar or Tab Key

toggles between the two file lists.

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.

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.
	Ctrl-Y		scroll pane one line up.

Pane manipulation

Second character can be entered with or without Control key.
Ctrl-W B

switch to bottom-right window.

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 O

shortcut for :only

Ctrl-W P
switch to previous window.
Ctrl-W S

shortcut for :split

Ctrl-W T

switch to top-left window.

Ctrl-W V

shortcut for :vsplit

Ctrl-W W

switch to other pane.

Ctrl-W X

exchange panes.

Ctrl-W +

increase size of the view.

Ctrl-W -

decrease size of the view.

Ctrl-W <

increase size of the view.

Ctrl-W >

decrease size of the view.

Ctrl-W |

maximize current view.

Ctrl-W _

maximize current view.

Ctrl-W =

make size of two views equal.

Marks

Marks are set the same way as they are in vi.

You can use this characters for marks [a-z][A-Z][0-9].

m[a-z][A-Z][0-9]

to set a mark for the current file.

’[a-z][A-Z][0-9]

moves to the file set for the mark.

Searching

/regular expression pattern[Return]

will highlight all files matching the pattern and go to the next match.

?regular expression pattern[Return]

will highlight all files matching the pattern and go to the previous match.

[count]n

find the next match of / or ?.

[count]N

find the previous match of / or ?.

[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

The basic vim folding key bindings are used for filtering files.
All directorys will show the ../ file no matter what the filter setting
is with the exception of the / directory.
Each file list has its own filter.
Filtered files are not checked in / search or :commands.

	zo		Show all of the dot files.
	zf		Filter all of the selected files.
	za		Toggle the showing and hiding of dot files.
	zm		Filter all of the dot files.
	zO		Show the filtered files.
	zM		Filter the files matching the filename filter.
	zR		Remove all filters.

Other Normal Mode Keys

[count]:

enter command line mode. Count will add range.

[count]!! and [count]!<selector>

enter command line mode with entered ! command. Count will modify range.

	Ctrl-O		go backward through history.
	Ctrl-I		go forward through history.
	Ctrl-G		creates a window showing detailed information about the current file.

Shift-Tab

enters view mode (works only after activating view pane with :view command).

	ga		calculate directory size.
	gA		like ga, but force update.
	gf		find link destination (like l with ’followlinks’ off, but also finds directories).
	gl		only for MS-Windows

same as l key, but tries to run program with administrative privileges.

	gv		go to visual mode restoring last selection.
	gs		restore last t selection, like gv for visual mode selection.

gu<selector>

make names of selected files lowercase.

guu

gugu make name of current file lowercase.

gU<selector>

make names of selected files uppercase.

	gUU		gUgU make name of current file uppercase.
	e		explore file in the current pane.
	i		opens file with associated program even if it’s an executable.
	cw		rename a file or files.
	cW		change only name of file (without extension).
	cl		change link target.
	co		only for *nix

change file owner.

only for *nix

change file group.

change file attributes (permission on *nix and properties on Windows).

[count]C

clone file [count] times.

[count]dd or d[count]selector

moves the selected files to the trash directory (if option ’trash’ is set otherwise delete)

[count]DD or D[count]selector

removes the selected files.

Y, [count]yy or y[count]selector

yanks the selected files.

	Y		same as yy.
	p		will copy the 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 the Trash directory.
	P		moves 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		puts symbolic links with absolute paths.
	rl		puts symbolic links with relative paths.
	t		tag the current file.
	u		undo last change.
	Ctrl-R		redo last change.
	v		enter visual mode.
	V		enter visual mode.

[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).
	(		goto 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, ...
	)		goto next group. See ( key description above.

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 upward.

Registers

vifm supports multiple registers for temporary storing list of yanked or deleted files.

Registers should be specified with hitting double quite 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.

Registers do not contain one file more than once.

Example:
"a2yy
will put names of two files to register a (and to the unnamed register).
"Ad
will remove one file and append its name to register a (and to the unnamed register).
p or "ap or "Ap
will insert previously yanked and deleted files into current directory.

Selectors

y and d commands accept selectors. You can combine them with every 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 and ’. But there are some additional ones.

	a		all files in current view.
	s		selected files.
	S		all files except selected.

Visual Mode

In visual mode work almost all normal mode keys, but they do not accept selectors.

	Enter		save selection and go back to normal mode.
	gv		restore previous visual selection.
	v		leave visual mode.
	V		leave visual mode.
	:		enter command line mode. When you leave it selection will be cleared.
	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.

View Mode

This mode tries to imitate the less program. Currently the following keys are supported:
Shift-Tab, Tab, q, Q, ZZ

go back to normal mode.

[count]e, [count]Ctrl-E, [count]j, [count]Ctrl-N, [count]Enter

forward one line (or [count] lines).

[count]y, [count]Ctrl-Y, [count]k, [count]Ctrl-K, [count]Ctrl-P

backward one line (or [count] lines).

[count]f, [count]Ctrl-F, [count]Ctrl-V, [count]Space Bar

forward one window (or [count] lines).

[count]b, [count]Ctrl-B, [count]Alt-V

backward one window (or [count] lines).

[count]z

forward one window (and set window to [count]).

[count]w

backward one window (and set window to [count]).

[count]Alt-Space

forward one window, but don’t stop at end-of-file.

[count]d, [count]Ctrl-D

forward one half-window (and set half-window to [count]).

[count]u, [count]Ctrl-U

backward one half-window (and set half-window to [count]).

r, Ctrl-R, Ctrl-L, R

repaint screen.

[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.

[count]g, [count]<, [count]Alt-<

go to first line in file (or line [count]).

[count]G, [count]>, [count]Alt->

go to last line in file (or line [count]).

[count]p, [count]%

go to beginning of file (or N percent into file).

edit the current file with vim.

Ctrl-W S

split window horizontally.

Ctrl-W V

split window vertically.

Ctrl-W +

increase size of the view.

Ctrl-W -

decrease size of the view.

Ctrl-W <

increase size of the view.

Ctrl-W >

decrease size of the view.

Ctrl-W |

maximize current view.

Ctrl-W _

maximize current view.

Ctrl-W =

make size of two views equal.

Command line Mode

This keys apply to all submodes of the command line mode: command, prompt and search.

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.

Ctrl-M, Enter

execute command and leave command line mode.

Ctrl-I, Tab

complete command or its argument.

Shift-Tab

complete in reverse order.

	Ctrl-_		stop completion and return original input.
	Ctrl-K		remove characters from cursor position till the end of line.
	Ctrl-U		remove characters from cursor position till the beginning of line.

Ctrl-H, Backspace

remove character before the cursor.

Ctrl-D, Delete

remove character under the cursor.

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-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-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.

Commands

Commands are executed with :command_name<Return>

´|’ 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 ’\’.

Commented out lines should start with the double quote symbol, which may be preceded by whitespace characters.
:[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

will execute the program in a shell

:[range]!command &

will run the process in the background using vifm’s means.

Programs that write to stdout like ls will create an error message showing partial output of the command.

Take note of 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]!! <program>

is the same as :! but will pause the screen before returning to Vifm.

:!!

will execute the last command.

:[range]alink[!?]

creates absolute symbolic links of files in directory of other view. With "?" vifm will open vi to edit filenames. "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]alink[!] path

creates absolute symbolic links of files in directory specified with the path (absolute or relative to directory of other view). "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]alink[!] name1 name2...

creates absolute symbolic links of files in directory of other view giving each next link a corresponding name from the argument list. "!" forces overwrite.

:apropos manpage

will create a menu of items returned by the apropos command. Selecting an item in the menu will open the corresponding manpage.

:apropos

repeats last :apropos command.

:cd or :cd ~ or :cd $HOME

change to your home directory.

:cd -

go to previous 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. When using relative paths vifm assumes that both of them are relative to current directory of current view. Command will not fail if one of directories is invalid. Accepts macros.

:cd! /dir

same as :cd /dir /dir.

:c[hange]

create a menu window to alter a files properties.

:[range]chmod

shows file attributes (permission on *nix and properties on Windows) change dialog.

:[range]chmod[!] arg...

only for *nix
changes permissions for files. See ’man chmod’ for arg format. "!" means set permissions recursively.

:[range]chown

only for *nix
same as co key in normal mode.

:[range]chown [user][:][group]

only for *nix
changes owner and/or group of files. Operates on directories recursively.

:[range]clone[!?]

clones files in current directory. With "?" vifm will open vi to edit filenames. "!" 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.

:colo[rscheme]?

prints current color scheme name in the status bar.

:colo[rscheme]

gives a menu with a list of available color schemes. You can choose default color scheme here. It will be used for view if no DIRECTORY in colorscheme file fits current path. It’s also used to set border color (except view titles) and colors in the menus and dialogs.

:colo[rscheme] color_scheme_name

changes default color scheme to color_scheme_name.

:colo[rscheme] color_scheme_name directory

associates directory with the color scheme.

:comc[lear]

removes all user defined commands.

:com[mand]

gives a menu of user commands.

:com[mand] beginning

shows user defined commands that start with the beginning.

:com[mand] name action

sets a new user command.
Trying to use a reserved command name will result in an error message.
Use :com[mand]! to overwrite a previously set command.
Unlike vim user commands do not have to start with a capital letter. User commands are run in a shell by default. To run a command in the background you must set it as a background command with & at the end of the commands action (:com rm rm %f &). Command name cannot contain numbers or special symbols (except ’?’ and ’!’).

:com[mand] backup /pattern

will set search pattern.

:com[mand] name filter pattern

will set file name filter.

:com[mand] cmd :commands

will set kind of alias for internal command (like in a shell).

:[range]co[py][!?][ &]

copies files to directory of other view. With "?" vifm will open vi to edit filenames. "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]co[py][!] path[ &]

copies files to directory specified with the path (absolute or relative to directory of other view). "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]co[py][!] name1 name2...[ &]

copies files to directory of other view giving each next file a corresponding name from the argument list. "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]d[elete][!][ &]

delete selected file or files. "!" means completely remove file.

:[range]d[elete][!] [reg] [count][ &]

will delete files to the reg register. "!" means completely remove file.

:delc[ommand] command_name

will remove the command_name user command.

:delm[arks]!

will delete all marks.

:delm[arks] marks ...

will delete specified marks, each argument is treated as a set of marks.

:di[splay]

popup 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

display directory stack.

:[range]e[dit] [file...]

will load the selected or passed file or files into vi. Accepts macros.

:empty

will permanently remove ’rm -fr’ files from the Trash directory. It will also remove all operations from undolist that have no sense after :empty and remove all records about files in the Trash directory from all registers.

:exe[cute][arg...]

will join all passed arguments by inserting a single space between them and execute resulting string as a command-line command.

:exi[t][!]

same as :quit.

:f[ile]

popup menu of programs set for the file type of the current file. Add ’ &’ at the end of command to run program in background.

:f[ile] arg

run associated command that begins with the arg without opening menu.

:filet[ype] pat1,pat2,... def_program,program2,...

will associate given program list to each of the patterns. Accosiated program (command) is used by handlers of l and Enter keys (and also in the :file menu). *, ?, [ and ] are treated as special symbols in the pattern. Inside square brackets ^ or ! can be used for symbol class negotiation and the - symbol to set a range. Asterisk at the pattern beginning don’t accept dot as the first character. If you need to insert comma into command just double it (",,").

:filex[type] pat1,pat2,... def_program,program2,...

same as :filetype, but vifm will ignore this command if it’s not running in X. In X :filextype is equal to :filetype.

:filev[iewer] pat1,pat2,... command

will associate given command as a viewer to each of the patterns. Viewer is a command which output is captured and showed in the second pane of vifm after running :view command. Currently only * and ? are treated as special symbols in the pattern.

:filter regular_expression_pattern

:filter /regular_expression_pattern/ will filter all the files out of the directory listing that match the regular expression. Using second variant you can use | symbol without escaping. Add
:filter /.o$ would filter all files ending in .o from the filelist.
Note: vifm uses extended regular expressions.

:filter

would filter no files from the filelist.

:filter!

same as :invert.

:filter?

show current filter value.

:[range]fin[d] pattern

will show results of find command in the menu. Searches among selected files if any. Accepts macros.

:[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]

repeats last :find command.

:[range]gr[ep][!] pattern

will show results of grep command in the menu. Add "!" to search lines that do not match pattern. Searches among selected files if any and no range given. Ignores binary files.

:[range]gr[ep][!] -opt...

same as :grep above, but user defines all find arguments, which are not escaped. Searches among selected files if any.

:[range]gr[ep][!]

repeats last :grep command. "!" of this command inverts "!" in repeated command.

: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).

:hi[ghlight]

will show information about all highlight groups in the current directory.

:hi[ghlight] group-name

will show information on given highlight group of the default color scheme.

:hi[ghlight] group-name cterm=style | ctermfg=color | ctermbg=color

sets style (cterm), foreground (ctermfg) or/and background (ctermbg) parameters of highlight group of the current default color scheme.

Available style values (some of them can be combined):
- bold
- underline
- reverse or inverse
- standout
- none

Available group-name values:
- Win - color of all windows (views, dialogs, menus)
- Border - color of vertical parts of the border
- TopLineSel - top line color of the current pane
- TopLine - top line color of the other 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
- WildMenu - color of the wild menu items
- CurrLine - line at cursor position in the view
- Selected - color of selected files
- Directory - color of directories
- Link - color of symbolic links in the views
- BrokenLink - color of broken symbolic links
- Socket - color of sockets
- Device - color of block and character devices
- Executable - color of executable files
- Fifo - color of fifo pipes

Available colors:
- -1 or default or none - default or transparent
- black
- red
- green
- yellow
- blue
- magenta
- cyan
- white

Here is the hierarchy of the highlight group, which you need to know for using transparency:
StatusLine
WildMenu
Border
CmdLine
ErrorMsg
Win
Directory
Link
BrokenLink
Socket
Device
Fifo
Executable
Selected
CurrLine
TopLine
TopLineSel

"none" means default terminal color for highlight groups at the first level of the hierarchy and transparency for all others.
:his[tory]

creates a popup menu of directories visited.

:his[tory] x

x can be:
d[ir] or . show directory history.
i[nput] or @ show prompt history (e.g. on one file renaming).
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.
c[md] or : show command line history.

:invert

invert file name filter.

:invert?

show current filter state.

:jobs

shows menu of current backgrounded processes.

:let $ENV_VAR = ’VALUE’

sets environment variable. Warning: setting environment variable to an empty string on Windows removes it.

:let $ENV_VAR .= ’VALUE’

append value to environment variable.

:locate filename

uses the 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.

:locate

repeats last :locate command.

:[range]ma[rk][?]x[/full/path][filename]

Set mark x (a-zA-Z0-9) at /full/path and filename. By default current directory is being used. If no filename was given and /full/path is current directory then last file in [range] is used. Using macros is allowed. Question mark will stop command from overwriting existing marks.

:marks

create a popup menu of bookmarks.

:marks list ...

display the contents of the marks that are mentioned in list.

:mes[sages]

shows previously given messages (up to 50).

:mkdir[!] dir ...

creates directories with given names. "!" means make parent directories as needed.

:[range]m[ove][!?][ &]

moves files to directory of other view. With "?" vifm will open vi to edit filenames. "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]m[ove][!] path[ &]

moves files to directory specified with the path (absolute or relative to directory of other view). "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]m[ove][!] name1 name2...[ &]

moves files to directory of other view giving each next file a corresponding name from the argument list. "!" forces overwrite.

:noh[lsearch]

clear selection in current pane.

:on[ly]

changes the window to show only the current file directory.

:popd

remove pane directories from stack.

:pushd[!] /curr/dir [/other/dir]

add pane directories to stack and process arguments like :cd command.

	:pushd		exchanges the top two items of the directory stack.
	:pw[d]		show the present working directory.

:q[uit][!]

will exit vifm (add ! if you don’t want to save changes or check if there are any of backgrounded commands still running).

:[range]y[ank] [reg] [count]

will yank files to the reg register.

:ls

shows list of screen program windows (only when screen is used).

:reg[isters]

popup 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).

:[range]rename[!]

rename files using vi to edit names. ! means go recursively through directories.

:[range]rename name1 name2...

rename each of selected files to a corresponding name.

:restart

will free a lot of things (histories, commands, etc.), reread vifminfo and vifmrc files and run startup commands passed in the argument list, thus losing all unsaved changes (e.g. recent history or keys mapped in current session).

:[range]restore

will restore file from Trash. Works in trash directory only.

:[range]rlink[!?]

creates relative symbolic links of files in directory of other view. With "?" vifm will open vi to edit filenames. "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]rlink[!] path

creates 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...

creates relative symbolic links of files in directory of other view giving each next link a corresponding name from the argument list. "!" forces overwrite.

:screen

toggles whether or not to use the screen program.
The default configuration has the screen option turned off. The screen program uses pseudo terminals to allow multiple windows to be used in the console or in a single xterm. Starting vifm from screen with the screen option turned on will cause vifm to open a new screen 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.

:screen?

shows whether screen program is used.

:se[t]

shows all options that differ from their default value.

:se[t] all

shows all options.

:se[t] opt1=val1 opt2=’val2’ opt3="val3" ...

will set options to given values.
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
- for string list options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for enumeration options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for enumeration options - option=x
- for set options - 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 x to option
- option-=x - remove (or subtract) x from option :sh[ell] will start a shell.

:sor[t]

creates a popup menu of different sorting methods.

:so[urce] file

reads command-line commands from the file.

:sp[lit]

splits the window to show both file directories.

:sp[lit]!

toggles windows splitting.

:sp[lit] path

splits the window to show both file directories. And changes other pane to path.

:[range]s[ubstitite]/pattern/string/[flags]

for each file in range replace a match of pattern with string.

String can contain ...9 to link to capture groups (0 - all match, 1 - first group, etc.).

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]//string/[flags]

will use previous pattern.

:[range]s[ubstitute]

will repeat previous substitution command.

:sync [relative path]

change the other panel to the current panel directory or to some path relative to the current directory. Using macros is allowed.

:touch file...

will create files. Aborts on errors and won’t update time of existing files.

:[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.

String can contain ...9 to link to capture groups (0 - all match, 1 - first group, etc.).
:undol[ist]

show list of latest changes. Add ! to see commands.

:unl[et][!] $ENV_VAR1 $ENV_VAR2 ...

remove environment variables. Add ! to omit displaying of warnings about nonexistent variables.

:ve[rsion]

show menu with version information.

:vifm

same as :version.

:vie[w]

toggle on and off the quick file view.

:vie[w]!

turns on quick file view if it’s off.

:volumes

only for MS-Windows
will popup menu with volume list. Hitting l (or Enter) key will open appropriate volume in the current pane.

:windo[command...]

Execute command for each pane (same as :winrun % command).

:winruntype[command...]

Execute command for pane(s), which is determined by type argument:
- ^ - top-left pane
- $ - bottom-right pane
- % - all panes
- . - current pane
- , - other pane

:w[rite]

write vifminfo file (add ! to force write even if settings weren’t changed).

:wq[!]

same as :quit, but ! only disables check of backgrounded commands.

:x[it][!]

will exit Vifm (add ! if you don’t want to save changes).

: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.

:cm[ap] lhs rhs

map lhs to rhs in command line mode.

:nm[ap] lhs rhs

map lhs to rhs in normal mode.

:vm[ap] lhs rhs

map lhs to rhs in visual mode.

:cm[ap]

lists all maps in command line mode.

:nm[ap]

lists all maps in normal mode.

:vm[ap]

lists all maps in visual mode.

:cm[ap] beginning

lists all maps in command line mode that start with the beginning.

:nm[ap] beginning

lists all maps in normal mode that start with the beginning.

:vm[ap] beginning

lists all maps in visual mode that start with the beginning.

:no[remap] lhs rhs

map the key sequence lhs to {rhs} for normal and visual modes, but disallow mapping of rhs.

:no[remap]! lhs rhs

map the key sequence lhs to {rhs} for command line mode, but disallow mapping of rhs.

:cno[remap] lhs rhs

map the key sequence lhs to {rhs} for command line mode, but disallow mapping of rhs.

:nn[oremap] lhs rhs

map the key sequence lhs to {rhs} for normal mode, but disallow mapping of rhs.

:vn[oremap] lhs rhs

map the key sequence lhs to {rhs} for visual mode, but disallow mapping of rhs.

:unm[ap] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from normal and visual modes.

:unm[ap]! lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from command line mode.

:cu[nmap] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from command line mode.

:nun[map] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from normal mode.

:vu[nmap] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from visual mode.

Ranges

The ranges implemented include:
Numbers :2,3
% - the entire directory.
. - the current position in the filelist.
$ - the end of the filelist.
’t - the mark position t.

:%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 macros

The command macros may be used in user commands.

	%a		User arguments.
	%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.
	%F %"F		All of the selected files in the other directory list.
	%b %"b		Same as %f %F.
	%d %"d		Full path to current directory.
	%D %"d		Full path to other file list directory.
	%m		Show command output in a menu.
	%M		Same as %m, but l (or Enter) key is handled like for :locate and :find commands.
	%S		Show command output in the status bar.
	%s		Execute command in screen split.

Use %% if you need to put a percent sign in your command.

You can use filename 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 filename
	-		:t - tail of the filename
	-		:r - root of the filename (without last extension)
	-		:e - extension of the filename (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 will be removed from the resulting command.

%c and %f macros are expanded to file names only, when %C and %F are expanded to full paths. %f and %F follow this in %b too.

:com move mv %f %D

would set the :move command to move all of the files selected in the current directory to the other directory.

The %a macro will substitute any arguments given in a command into the
command. All arguments are considered optional. ":com lsl !!ls -l %a"
will set the lsl command to execute ls -l with or without an argument.
:lsl<Return>

will list the directory contents of the current directory.

:lsl filename<Return>

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 will cause it to be executed in the
background.

:!mv %f %D &

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 will be created. Currently job cannot be stopped or paused.

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.

:set options

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 . menu is treated like :cd command. This option affects bookmarks, file position will not preserved.

columns co

type: int
default: terminal width on startup
Terminal width in characters.

confirm cf

type: boolean
default: true
Ask about permanent deletion of files (on D or :delete! command or on undo/redo operation).

cpoptions cpo

type: string
default: "s"
Contains a sequence of single-character flags. Each flag enables behaviour of older versions of vifm. Flags: s - when included, yy and dd act on the selection, otherwise they operate on
current file only.

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>).

followlinks

type: boolean
default: true
Follow links on l or Enter.

fusehome

type: string
default: "/tmp/vifm_FUSE/"
Directory to be used as a root dir for FUSE mounts. If you change this option, vifm won’t remount anything. It affects future mounts only.

gdefault gd

type: boolean
default: false
When on, ’g’ flag is on for :substitute by default.

history hi

type: integer
default: 15
Maximum number of directories in the view history and lines in the prompt, command line and search histories.

hlsearch hls

type: bool
default: true
Highlight all matches of search pattern.

iec

type: boolean

default: false
Use KiB, MiB, ... instead of KB, MB, ...

ignorecase ic

type: boolean
default: false
Ignore case in search patterns (:substiute, / and ? commands) and characters after f and F commands. It doesn’t affect file filtering.

incsearch is

type: boolean
default: false
When this option is set, search will be performed starting from initial cursor position each time search pattern is changed.

laststatus ls

type: boolean
default: true
Controls if status bar is visible.

lines

type: int

default: terminal height on startup
Terminal height in lines.

rulerformat ruf

type: string
default: "%=%l-%S "
Determines the content of the ruler. Its width is 13 characters and it’s right aligned. Following macros are supported:
%l - file number
%L - total number of files in view (including filtered)
%- - number of filtered files
%S - number of showed files
%= - separation point between left and right align items
%% - percent sign
Percent sign can be followed by optional minimum field width. Add ’-’ before minimum field width if you want field to be right aligned.

runexec

type: boolean
default: false
Run executable file on Enter or l.

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: int
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).

shell sh

type: string
default: $SHELL or "sh" or "cmd" (on MS-Windows)
Full path to the shell to use to run external commands.

slowfs

type: string list

default: ""
only for *nix
A list of mounter fs name beginnings (first column in /etc/mtab or /proc/mounts) 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 and do not check if target of symbolic links exists.

smartcase scs

type: boolean
default: false
Overrides the ignorecase option if the search pattern contains at least one upper case character. Only used when ignorecase option is enabled. It doesn’t affect file filtering.

sort

type: string list

default: +name
Sets list of sorting keys (first item is primary key, second is secondary key, etc.):
[+-]ext - sort by extension
[+-]name - sort by name (including extension)
[+-]iname - sort by name (including extension, ignores case)
[+-]gid - sort by group id (*nix only)
[+-]gname - sort by group name (*nix only)
[+-]mode - sort by mode (*nix only)
[+-]uid - sort by owner id (*nix only)
[+-]uname - sort by owner name (*nix only)
[+-]size - sort by size
[+-]atime - sort by time accessed
[+-]ctime - sort by time changed
[+-]mtime - sort by time modified

´+’ means ascending sort for this key, and ’-’ means descending sort.

In case name (iname on Windoes) is skipped, it will be added at the end automatically.
sortnumbers

type: boolean
default: false
Natural sort of (version) numbers within text.

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:
%t - file name
%A - file attributes (permissions on *nix or properties 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
%d - file modification date (uses ’timefmt’ option)
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. Example:

 set statusline="  %t%= %A %10u:%-7g %15s %20d "

On Windows file properties include next 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

sortorder

type: enumeration
default: ascending
Sets sort order for primary key: ascending, descending.

tabstop ts

type: integer
default: value from curses library
Number of spaces that a Tab in the file counts for.

timefmt

type: string
default: " %m/%d %H:%M"
Format of time in file list. See man date or man 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.

trash

type: boolean

default: true
Use trash directory.

trashdir

type: string
default: "$HOME/.vifm/Trash"
Sets the trash directory. Will attempt to create the directory if it does not exist.

undolevels ul

type: integer
default: 100
Maximum number of changes that can be undone.

vicmd

type: string

default: "vim"
The actual command used to start vi. Ampersand sign at the end (regardless whether it’s preceded by space or not) means backgrounding of command.

vixcmd

type: string

default: value of vicmd
The command used to start vi when in X. Ampersand sign at the end (regardless whether it’s preceded by space or not) means backgrounding of command.

vifminfo

type: set
default: bookmarks

Controls what will be saved in the $VIFM/vifminfo file.
options - all options that can be set with the :set command
filetypes - associated programs and viewers
commands - user defined commands (see :command description)
bookmarks - bookmarks, except special ones like ’< and ’>
tui - state of the user interface (sorting, number of windows, quick
view state, active view)
dhistory - directory history
state - filters and screen program using state
cs - default color scheme
savedirs - save last visited directory (needs dhistory)
chistory - command line history
shistory - search history (/ and ? commands)
dirstack - directory stack
registers - registers content
phistory - prompt history
vimhelp

type: boolean
default: false
Use vim help format.

wildmenu wmnu

type: boolean
default: false
Controls whether possible matches of completion will be shown above the command line.

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

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
	<bs>		Backspace key

<tab> <s-tab>

Tabulation and Shift+Tabulation keys

Keys with obvious names.

<del> <delete>

Delete key. <del> and <delete> mean different codes, but <delete> is more common.

<c-a>,<c-b>,...,<c-z>,<c-[>,<c->,<c-]>,<c-^>,<c-_>

Control + some key.

<a-a>,<a-b>,...,<a-z>

<m-a>,<m-b>,...,<m-z> Alt + some key.

<a-c-a>,<a-c-b>,...,<a-c-z>

<m-c-a>,<m-c-b>,...,<m-c-z> only for *nix
Alt + Ctrl + some key.

<f0> - <f63>

Functional keys

<c-f1> - <c-f12>

only for MS-Windows
Functional keys with Control key pressed.

<a-f1> - <a-f12>

only for MS-Windows
Functional keys with Alt key pressed.

<s-f1> - <s-f12>

only for MS-Windows
Functional keys with Shift key pressed.

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.

Compatibility mode

Compatibility mode:
- <tab> to switch between panes.

Vim like mode:
- <c-i> (<tab>) to go forward on history.

Menus and dialogs

General

j, k - move. <Escape>, Ctrl-C, ZZ, ZQ - quit. <Return>, l - select and exit the menu. Ctrl-L - redraw the menu.

In all menus

Ctrl-B/Ctrl-F Ctrl-D/Ctrl-U Ctrl-E/Ctrl-Y / and ?, n/N [num]G/[num]gg H/M/L zb/zt/zz zh - scroll menu items [count] characters to the right. zl - scroll menu items [count] characters to the left. zH - scroll menu items half of screen width characters to the right. zL - scroll menu items half of screen width characters to the left.

All these keys have the same meaning as in normal mode (but not L in filetype menu).

: - enter command line mode for menus (currently only :exi[t], :q[uit], :x[it] and :range are supported).

Apropos menu

l key wont close the menu allowing user to pick another man page, use :q to close the menu.

Commands menu

dd on a command to remove.

Bookmarks menu

Escape or Ctrl-C to abort j and k to move through. dd on a bookmark to remove.

Directory stack menu

Pressing l or Enter on directory name will rotate stack to place selected directory pair at the top of the stack.

Filetype menu

Commands from vifmrc are displayed above empty line. When all commands below empty line were found in .desktop files.

J and K - to move menu items L - save all commands above empty line as program list

Fileinfo dialog

Enter - close dialog q - close dialog

Sort dialog

h - switch ascending/descending. Space - switch ascending/descending. q - close dialog

Attributes (permissions or properties) dialog

h - check/uncheck. Space - check/uncheck. q - close dialog

Item states:

	-		* - checked flag.
	-		X - means that it has different value for files in selection.
	-		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 want to remove execute right from all files, but preserve it for directories, set all execute flags to ’d’ and check ´Set Recursively’ flag.

Startup

On startup vifm determines several variables that are used during the session. 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;
- a combination of $HOMEDRIVE and $HOMEPATH variables.

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).

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. See $MYVIFMRC variable description for search algorithm used to find vifmrc. Use it 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 session settings. You may edit it by hand to change the settings, but it’s not recommended to do that, edit vifmrc instead. You can control what settings will be saved in vifminfo by setting ´vifminfo’ option. Vifm always writes this file on exit unless ’vifminfo’ option is empty. Bookmarks, commands, directory history, filetypes, fileviewers and registers in the file are merged with vifm configuration (which has bigger priority).

The $VIFM/scripts directory can contain shell scripts. vifm modifies it’s 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 directory contains color schemes.

Plugin

Plugin for using vifm in vim as a file selector.

Commands:

:EditVifm select a file or files to open in the current buffer.
: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.

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 anoter 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]

AUTHOR

Vifm was written by ksteen <ksteen@users.sourceforge.net>
And currently being developed by xaizek <xaizek@gmail.com>

/ Vifm / Documentation

NAME

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

General keys

Basic Movement

Movement with Count

Scrolling panes

Pane manipulation

Marks

Searching

File Filters

Other Normal Mode Keys

Using Count

Registers

Selectors

Visual Mode

View Mode

Command line Mode

Commands

Ranges

Command macros

Command backgrounding

:set options

Mappings

Compatibility mode

Menus and dialogs

Startup

Configure

Plugin

Reserved

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR