cfiles - A Fast Terminal File Manager with Vim Keybindings

cfiles is a lightweight, fast and minimal VIM-inspired terminal file manager written in C using the ncurses library. It comes with vim like keybindings and depends on a number of other Unix/Linux tools/utilities.

cfiles – Linux Terminal File Manager Dependencies

1. cp and mv
2. fzf – for searching
3. w3mimgdisplay – for image previews
4. xdg-open – for opening programs
5. vim – for renaming, bulk renaming and editing clipboard
6. mediainfo – for displaying media info and file sizes
7. sed – for removing a particular selection
8. atool – for archive previews

In this article, we will show how to install and use cfiles terminal file manager in Linux.

How to Install and Use cfiles in Linux

To install cfiles on your Linux systems, first you need to install development tools as shown.

# apt-get install build-essential               [On Debian/Ubuntu]
# yum groupinstall 'Development Tools'		[on CentOS/RHEL 7/6]
# dnf groupinstall 'Development Tools'		[on Fedora 22+ Versions]

Once installed, now you can clone the cfiles sources from its Github repository using the git command as shown.

$ git clone https://github.com/mananapr/cfiles.git

Next, move into the local repository using cd command and run the following command to compile it.

$ cd cfiles
$ gcc cf.c -lncurses -o cf

Next, install the executable by copying or moving it to a directory that is in your $PATH, as follows:

$ echo $PATH
$ cp cf /home/aaronkilik/bin/

Install cfiles File Manager

Once you have installed it, launch it as shown.

$ cf

Open cfiles Terminal File Manager Keybindings

You can use the following keybindings.

• h j k l – Navigation keys
• G – Go to end
• g – Go to top
• H – Go to top of current view
• M – Go to middle of current view
• L – Go to bottom of current view
• f – Search using fzf
• F – Search using fzf in the present directory
• S – Open Shell in present directory
• space – Add/Remove to/from selection list
• tab – View selection list
• e – Edit selection list
• u – Empty selection list
• y – Copy files from selection list
• v – Move files from selection list
• a – Rename Files in selection list
• dd – Move files from selection list to trash
• dD – Remove selected files
• i – View mediainfo and general info
• . – Toggle hidden files
• ' – View/Goto bookmarks
• m – Add bookmark
• p – Run external script
• r – Reload
• q – Quit

For more information and usage options, see the cfiles Github repository: https://github.com/mananapr/cfiles

Cfiles is a lightweight, fast and minimal ncurses file manager written in C with vim like keybindings. It is a work in progress with many features yet to come. Share your thoughts about cfiles, with us via the feedback form below.