man vifm (1): vi file manager

SYNOPSIS

vifm [OPTION]...
vifm [OPTION]... path
vifm [OPTION]... path path

DESCRIPTION

Vifm is an ncurses based file manager with vi like keybindings. If you use vi, vifm gives you complete keyboard control over your files without having to learn a new set of commands.

OPTIONS

vifm starts in the current directory unless it is given a different directory on the command line or 'vifminfo' option includes "savedirs" (in which case last visited directories are used as defaults).

-: Read list of files from standard input stream and compose custom view out of them (see "Custom views" section). Current working directory is used as a base for relative paths.
<path>: Starts Vifm in the specified path.
<path> <path>: Starts Vifm in the specified paths.

Specifying two directories triggers split view even when vifm was in single-view mode on finishing previous session. To suppress this behaviour :only command can be put in the vifmrc file.

When only one path argument is found on command-line, the left/top pane is automatically set as the current view.

Paths to files are also allowed in case you want vifm to start with some archive opened.

--select <path>: Open parent directory of the given path and select specified file in it.
-f: Makes vifm instead of opening files write selection to $VIFM/vimfiles and quit.
--choose-files <path>|-: Sets output file to write selection into on exit instead of opening files. "-" means standard output. Use empty value to disable it.
--choose-dir <path>|-: Sets output file to write last visited directory into on exit. "-" means standard output. Use empty value to disable it.
--delimiter <delimiter>: Sets separator for list of file paths written out by vifm. Empty value means null character. Default is new line character.
--on-choose <command>: Sets command to be executed on selected files instead of opening them. The command may use any of macros described in "Command macros" section below. The command is executed once for whole selection.
--logging[=<startup log path>]: Log some operational details $VIFM/log. If the optional startup log path is specified and permissions allow to open it for writing, then logging of early initialization (before value of $VIFM is determined) is put there.
--server-list: List available server names and exit.
--server-name <name>: Name of target or this instance (sequential numbers are appended on name conflict).
--remote: Sends the rest of command line to the active vifm server (one of already running instances if any). When there is no server, quits silently. There is no limit on how many arguments can be processed. One can combine --remote with -c <command> or +<command> to execute command in already running instance of vifm. See also "Client-Server" section below.
-c <command> or +<command>: Run command-line mode <command> on startup. Commands in such arguments are executed in the order they appear in command line. Commands with spaces or special symbols must be enclosed in double or single quotes or all special symbols should be escaped (the exact syntax strongly depends on shell).
--help, -h: Show a brief command summary and exit vifm.
--version, -v: Show version information and quit.
--no-configs: Skip reading vifmrc and vifminfo.

See "Startup" section below for the explanations on $VIFM.

General keys

Ctrl-C or Escape: cancel most operations (see "Cancellation" section below), clear all selected files.
Ctrl-L: clear and redraw the screen.

Basic Movement

The basic vi key bindings are used to move through the files and pop-up windows.

k, gk, or Ctrl-P: move cursor up one line.
j, gj or Ctrl-N: move cursor down one line.
h: when 'lsview' is off move up one directory, otherwise move left one file.
l: when 'lsview' is off move into a directory or launches a file, otherwise move right one file.
gg: move to the first line of the file list.
G: move to the last line in the file list.
gh: go up one directory.
gl or Enter: enter directory or launch a file.
H: move to the first file in the window.
M: move to the file in the middle of the window.
L: move to the last file in the window.
Ctrl-F or Page Down: move forward one page.
Ctrl-B or Page Up: move back one page.
Ctrl-D: jump back one half page.
Ctrl-U: jump forward one half page.
n%: move to the file that is n percent from the top of the list (for example 25%).
0 or ^: move cursor to the first column. See 'lsview' option description.
$: move cursor to the last column. See 'lsview' option description.
Space: switch file lists.

Movement with Count

Most movement commands also accept a count, 12j would move down 12 files.
[count]%: move to percent of the file list.
[count]j: move down [count] files.
[count]k: move up [count] files.
[count]G or [count]gg: move to list position [count].
[count]h: go up [count] directories.

Scrolling panes

zt: redraw pane with file in top of list.
zz: redraw pane with file in center of list.
zb: redraw pane with file in bottom of list.
Ctrl-E: scroll pane one line down.
Ctrl-Y: scroll pane one line up.

Pane manipulation

Second character can be entered with or without Control key.

Ctrl-W H: move the pane to the far left.
Ctrl-W J: move the pane to the very bottom.
Ctrl-W K: move the pane to the very top.
Ctrl-W L: move the pane to the far right.
Ctrl-W h: switch to the left pane.
Ctrl-W j: switch to the pane below.
Ctrl-W k: switch to the pane above.
Ctrl-W l: switch to the right pane.
Ctrl-W b: switch to bottom-right window.
Ctrl-W t: switch to top-left window.
Ctrl-W p: switch to previous window.
Ctrl-W w: switch to other pane.
Ctrl-W o: leave only one pane.
Ctrl-W s: split window horizontally.
Ctrl-W v: split window vertically.
Ctrl-W x: exchange panes.
Ctrl-W z: quit preview pane or view modes.
Ctrl-W -: decrease size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W +: increase size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W <: decrease size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W >: increase size of the view by count.
Ctrl-W |: set current view size to count.
Ctrl-W _: set current view size to count.
Ctrl-W =: make size of two views equal.

For Ctrl-W +, Ctrl-W -, Ctrl-W <, Ctrl-W >, Ctrl-W | and Ctrl-W _ commands count can be given before and/or after Ctrl-W. The resulting count is a multiplication of those two. So "2 Ctrl-W 2 -" decreases window size by 4 lines or columns.

Ctrl-W | and Ctrl-W _ maximise current view by default.

Marks

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

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

m[a-z][A-Z][0-9]: set a mark for the file at the current cursor position.
'[a-z][A-Z][0-9]: navigate to the file set for the mark.

There are also several special marks that can't be set manually:

-: ' (single quote) - previously visited directory of the view, thus hitting '' allows switching between two last locations
-: < - the first file of the last visually selected block
-: > - the last file of the last visually selected block

Searching

/regular expression pattern: search for files matching regular expression in forward direction and advance cursor to next match.
/: perform forward search with top item of search pattern history.
?regular expression pattern: search for files matching regular expression in backward direction and advance cursor to previous match.
?: perform backward search with top item of search pattern history.
Matches are automatically selected if 'hlsearch' is set. Enabling 'incsearch' makes search interactive. 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options affect case sensitivity of search queries.
[count]n: go to the next file matching last search pattern. Takes last search direction into account.
[count]N: go to the previous file matching last search pattern. Takes last search direction into account.
If 'hlsearch' option is set, hitting n/N to perform search and go to the first matching item resets current selection in normal mode. It is not the case if search was already performed on files in the directory, thus selection is not reset after clearing selection with escape key and hitting n/N key again.

Note: vifm uses extended regular expressions for / and ?.

[count]f[character]: search forward for file with [character] as first character in name. Search wraps around the end of the list.
[count]F[character]: search backward for file with [character] as first character in name. Search wraps around the end of the list.
[count];: find the next match of f or F.
[count],: find the previous match of f or F.

Note: f, F, ; and , wrap around list beginning and end when they are used alone and they don't wrap when they are used as selectors.

File Filters

There are three basic file filters:

-: dot files filter (excluding "." and ".." special directories, which appearance is controlled by the 'dotdirs' option);
-: manual filter for file names;
-: automatic filter for file names;
-: local filter for file names (see description of the "=" normal mode command).

Performing operations on manual filter for file names automatically does the same on automatic one. The file name filter is separated mainly for convenience purpose and to get more deterministic behaviour.

The basic vim folding key bindings are used for filtering files.

Each file list has its own copy of each filter.
Filtered files are not checked in / search or :commands.
Files and directories are filtered separately. For this a slash is appended to a directory name before testing whether it matches the filter. Examples:

" filter directories which names end with '.files'
:filter /^.*\.files\/$/

" filter files which names end with '.d'
:filter /^.*\.d$/

" filter files and directories which names end with '.o'
:filter /^.*\.o\/?$/

za: toggle visibility of dot files.
zo: show dot files.
zm: hide dot files.
zf: add selected files to file name filter.
zO: show files hidden by file name filter.
zM: restore all filters.
zR: remove all filters.
zr: remove local filter.
zd: exclude selection or current file from custom view. Does nothing for regular view.
=regular expression pattern: filter out files that don't match regular expression. Whether view is updated as regular expression is changed depends on the value of the 'incsearch' option. This kind of filter is automatically reset when directory is changed.

Other Normal Mode Keys

[count]:: enter command line mode. [count] generates range.
q:: open external editor to prompt for command-line command. See "Command line editing" section for details.
q/: open external editor to prompt for search pattern to be searched in forward direction. See "Command line editing" section for details.
q?: open external editor to prompt for search pattern to be searched in backward direction. See "Command line editing" section for details.
q=: open external editor to prompt for filter pattern. See "Command line editing" section for details. Unlike other q{x} commands this one doesn't work in Visual mode.
[count]!! and [count]!<selector>: enter command line mode with entered ! command. [count] modifies range.
Ctrl-O: go backwards through directory history of current view. Nonexistent directories are automatically skipped.
Ctrl-I: if 'cpoptions' contains "t" flag, <tab> and <c-i> switch active pane just like <space> does, otherwise it goes forward through directory history of current view. Nonexistent directories are automatically skipped.
Ctrl-G: create 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. Uses cached directory sizes when possible for better performance. As a special case calculating size of ".." entry results in calculation of size of current directory.
gA: like ga, but force update. Ignores old values of directory sizes.

If file under cursor is selected, each selected item is processed, otherwise only current file is updated.

gf: find link destination (like l with 'followlinks' off, but also finds directories).
gr: only for MS-Windows
same as l key, but tries to run program with administrative privileges.
av: go to visual mode into selection amending state preserving current selection.
gv: go to visual mode restoring last selection.
[reg]gs: when no register is specified, restore last t selection (similar to what gv does for visual mode selection). If register is present, then all files listed in that register and which are visible in current view are selected.
gu<selector>: make names of selected files lowercase.
[count]guu and [count]gugu: make names of [count] files starting from the current one lowercase. Without [count] only current file is affected.
gU<selector>: make names of selected files uppercase.
[count]gUU and [count]gUgU: make names of [count] files starting from the current one uppercase. Without [count] only current file is affected.
e: explore file in the current pane.
i: handle file (even if it's an executable and 'runexec' option is set).
cw: change word is used to rename a file or files.
cW: change WORD is used to change only name of file (without extension).
cl: change link target.
co: only for *nix
change file owner.
cg: only for *nix
change file group.
cp: change file attributes (permission on *nix and properties on Windows).
[count]C: clone file [count] times.
[count]dd or d[count]selector: move selected file or files to trash directory (if 'trash' option is set, otherwise delete). See "Trash directory" section below.
[count]DD or D[count]selector: like dd and d<selector>, but omitting trash directory (even when 'trash' option is set).
Y, [count]yy or y[count]selector: yank selected files.
p: copy yanked files to the current directory or move the files to the current directory if they were deleted with dd or :d[elete] or if the files were yanked from trash directory. See "Trash directory" section below.
P: move the last yanked files. The advantage of using P instead of d followed by p is that P moves files only once. This isn't important in case you're moving files in the same file system where your home directory is, but using P to move files on some other file system (or file systems, in case you want to move files from fs1 to fs2 and your home is on fs3) can save your time.
al: put symbolic links with absolute paths.
rl: put symbolic links with relative paths.
t: select or unselect (tag) the current file.
u: undo last change.
Ctrl-R: redo last change.
v or V: enter visual mode, clears current selection.
[count]Ctrl-A: increment first number in file name by [count] (1 by default).
[count]Ctrl-X: decrement first number in file name by [count] (1 by default).
ZQ: same as :quit!.
ZZ: same as :quit.
.: repeat last command-line command (not normal mode command) of this session (does nothing right after startup or :restart command). The command doesn't depend on command-line history and can be used with completely disabled history.
(: 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.
{: similar to ( key, but always considers whether entry is file or directory and thus speeds up navigation to closest previous entry of the opposite type.
}: same as {, but in forward direction.

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 by hitting double quote key followed by a register name. Count is specified after register name. By default commands use unnamed register, which has double quote as its name.

Though all commands accept registers, most of commands ignores them (for example H or Ctrl-U). Other commands can fill register or append new files to it.

Presently vifm supports ", _, a-z and A-Z characters as register names.

As mentioned above " is unnamed register and has special meaning of the default register. Every time when you use named registers (a-z and A-Z) unnamed register is updated to contain same list of files as the last used register.

_ is black hole register. It can be used for writing, but its list is always empty.

Registers with names from a to z and from A to Z are named ones. Lowercase registers are cleared before adding new files, while uppercase aren't and should be used to append new files to the existing file list of appropriate lowercase register (A for a, B for b, ...).

Registers can be changed on :empty command if they contain files under trash directory (see "Trash directory" section below).

Registers do not contain one file more than once.

Example:

"a2yy

puts names of two files to register a (and to the unnamed register),

"Ad

removes one file and append its name to register a (and to the unnamed register),

p or "ap or "Ap

inserts previously yanked and deleted files into current directory.

Selectors

y, d, D, !, gu and gU commands accept selectors. You can combine them with any of selectors below to quickly remove or yank several files.

Most of selectors are like vi motions: j, k, gg, G, H, L, M, %, f, F, ;, comma, ', ^, 0 and $. But there are some additional ones.

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

Examples:

-: dj - delete file under cursor and one below;
-: d2j - delete file under cursor and two below;
-: y6gg - yank all files from cursor position to 6th file in the list.

When you pass a count to whole command and its selector they are multiplied. So:

-: 2d2j - delete file under cursor and four below;
-: 2dj - delete file under cursor and two below;
-: 2y6gg - yank all files from cursor position to 12th file in the list.

Visual Mode

Visual mode has to generic operating submodes:

-: plain selection as it is in Vim;
-: selection editing submode.

Both modes select files in range from cursor position at which visual mode was entered to current cursor position (let's call it "selection region"). Each of two borders can be adjusted by swapping them via "o" or "O" keys and updating cursor position with regular cursor motion keys. Obviously, once initial cursor position is altered this way, real start position becomes unavailable.

Plain Vim-like visual mode starts with cleared selection, which is not restored on rejecting selection ("Escape", "Ctrl-C", "v", "V"). Contrary to it, selection editing doesn't clear previously selected files and restores them after reject. Accepting selection by performing an operation on selected items (e.g. yanking them via "y") moves cursor to the top of current selection region (not to the top most selected file of the view).

In turn, selection editing supports three types of editing (look at statusbar to know which one is currently active):

-: append - amend selection by selecting elements in selection region;
-: remove - amend selection by deselecting elements in selection region;
-: invert - amend selection by inverting selection of elements in selection region.

No matter how you activate selection editing it starts in "append". One can switch type of operation (in the order given above) via "Ctrl-G" key.

Almost all normal mode keys work in visual mode, but instead of accepting selectors they operate on selected items.

Enter: save selection and go back to normal mode not moving cursor.
av: leave visual mode if in amending mode (restores previous selection), otherwise switch to amending selection mode.
gv: restore previous visual selection.
v, V, Ctrl-C or Escape: leave visual mode if not in amending mode, otherwise switch to normal visual selection.
Ctrl-G: switch type of amending by round robin scheme: append -> remove -> invert.
:: enter command line mode. Selection is cleared on leaving the mode.
o: switch active selection bound.
O: switch active selection bound.
gu, u: make names of selected files lowercase.
gU, U: make names of selected files uppercase.

View Mode

This mode tries to imitate the less program. List of builtin shortcuts can be found below. Shortcuts can be customized using :qmap, :qnoremap and :qunmap command-line commands.

Shift-Tab, Tab, q, Q, ZZ: return to normal mode.
[count]e, [count]Ctrl-E, [count]j, [count]Ctrl-N, [count]Enter: scroll forward one line (or [count] lines).
[count]y, [count]Ctrl-Y, [count]k, [count]Ctrl-K, [count]Ctrl-P: scroll backward one line (or [count] lines).
[count]f, [count]Ctrl-F, [count]Ctrl-V, [count]Space: scroll forward one window (or [count] lines).
[count]b, [count]Ctrl-B, [count]Alt-V: scroll backward one window (or [count] lines).
[count]z: scroll forward one window (and set window to [count]).
[count]w: scroll backward one window (and set window to [count]).
[count]Alt-Space: scroll forward one window, but don't stop at end-of-file.
[count]d, [count]Ctrl-D: scroll forward one half-window (and set half-window to [count]).
[count]u, [count]Ctrl-U: scroll backward one half-window (and set half-window to [count]).
r, Ctrl-R, Ctrl-L: repaint screen.
R: reload view preserving scroll position.
F: toggle automatic forwarding. Roughly equivalent to periodic file reload and scrolling to the bottom. The behaviour is similar to `tail -F` or F key in less.
[count]/pattern: search forward for ([count]-th) matching line.
[count]?pattern: search backward for ([count]-th) matching line.
[count]n: repeat previous search (for [count]-th occurrence).
[count]N: repeat previous search in reverse direction (for [count]-th occurrence).
[count]g, [count]<, [count]Alt-<: scroll to the first line of the file (or line [count]).
[count]G, [count]>, [count]Alt->: scroll to the last line of the file (or line [count]).
[count]p, [count]%: scroll to the beginning of the file (or N percent into file).
v: invoke an editor to edit the current file being viewed. The command for editing is taken from the 'vicmd'/'vixcmd' option value and extended with middle line number prepended by a plus sign and name of the current file.

All "Ctrl-W x" keys work the same was as in Normal mode. Active mode is automatically changed on navigating among windows. When less-like mode activated on file preview is left using one by "Ctrl-W x" keys, its state is stored until another file is displayed using preview (it's possible to leave the mode, hide preview pane, do something else, then get back to the file and show preview pane again with previously stored state in it).

Command line Mode

These keys are available in all submodes of the command line mode: command, search, prompt and filtering.

Down, Up, Left, Right, Home, End and Delete are extended keys and they are not available if vifm is compiled with --disable-extended-keys option.

Esc, Ctrl-C: leave command line mode, cancels input. Cancelled input is saved into appropriate history and can be recalled later.
Ctrl-M, Enter: execute command and leave command line mode.
Ctrl-I, Tab: complete command or its argument.
Shift-Tab: complete in reverse order.
Ctrl-_: stop completion and return original input.
Ctrl-B, Left: move cursor to the left.
Ctrl-F, Right: move cursor to the right.
Ctrl-A, Home: go to line beginning.
Ctrl-E, End: go to line end.
Alt-B: go to the beginning of previous word.
Alt-F: go to the end of next word.
Ctrl-U: remove characters from cursor position till the beginning of line.
Ctrl-K: remove characters from cursor position till the end of line.
Ctrl-H, Backspace: remove character before the cursor.
Ctrl-D, Delete: remove character under the cursor.
Ctrl-W: remove characters from cursor position till the beginning of previous word.
Alt-D: remove characters from cursor position till the beginning of next word.
Ctrl-T: swap the order of current and previous character and move cursor forward or, if cursor past the end of line, swap the order of two last characters in the line.
Alt-.: insert last part of previous command to current cursor position. Each next call will insert last part of older command.
Ctrl-G: edit command-line content in external editor. See "Command line editing" section for details.
Ctrl-N: recall more recent command-line from history.
Ctrl-P: recall older command-line from history.
Up: recall more recent command-line from history, that begins as the current command-line.
Down: recall older command-line from history, that begins as the current command-line.
Ctrl-]: trigger abbreviation expansion.

Pasting special values

The shortcuts listed below insert specified values into current cursor position. Last key of every shortcut references value that it inserts:
  - c - [c]urrent file
  - d - [d]irectory path
  - e - [e]xtension of a file name
  - r - [r]oot part of a file name
  - t - [t]ail part of directory path

  - a - [a]utomatic filter
  - m - [m]anual filter
  - = - local filter, which is bound to "=" in normal mode

Values related to filelist in current pane are available through Ctrl-X prefix, while values from the other pane have doubled Ctrl-X key as their prefix (doubled Ctrl-X is presumably easier to type than uppercase letters; it's still easy to remap the keys to correspond to names of similar macros).

Ctrl-X c: name of the current file of the active pane.
Ctrl-X d: path to the current directory of the active pane.
Ctrl-X e: extension of the current file of the active pane.
Ctrl-X r: name root of current file of the active pane.
Ctrl-X t: the last component of path to the current directory of the active pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X c: name of the current file of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X d: path to the current directory of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X e: extension of the current file of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X r: name root of current file of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X t: the last component of path to the current directory of the inactive pane.
Ctrl-X a: value of automatic filter of the active pane.
Ctrl-X m: value of manual filter of the active pane.
Ctrl-X =: value of local filter of the active pane.
Ctrl-X /: last pattern from search history.

Command line editing

vifm provides a facility to edit several kinds of data, that is usually edited in command-line mode, in external editor (using command specified by 'vicmd' or 'vixcmd' option). This has at least two advantages over built-in command-line mode:
- one can use full power of Vim to edit text;
- finding and reusing history entries becomes possible.

The facility is supported by four input submodes of the command-line:
  - command;
  - forward search;
  - backward search;
  - file rename (see description of cw and cW normal mode keys).

Editing command-line using external editor is activated by the Ctrl-G shortcut. It's also possible to do almost the same from Normal and Visual modes using q:, q/ and q? commands.

Temporary file created for the purpose of editing the line has the following structure:

1.: First line, which is either empty or contains text already entered in command-line.
2.: 2nd and all other lines with history items starting with the most recent one. Altering this lines in any way won't change history items stored by vifm.

After editing application is finished the first line of the file is taken as the result of operation, when the application returns zero exit code. If the application returns an error (see :cquit command in Vim), all the edits made to the file are ignored, but the initial value of the first line is saved in appropriate history.

More Mode

This is the mode that appears when status bar content is so big that it doesn't fit on the screen. One can identify the mode by "-- More --" message at the bottom.

The following keys are handled in this mode:

Enter, Ctrl-J, j or Down: scroll one line down.
Backspace, k or Up: scroll one line up.
d: scroll one page (half of a screen) down.
u: scroll one page (half of a screen) up.
Space, f or PageDown: scroll down a screen.
b or PageUp: scroll up a screen.
G: scroll to the bottom.
g: scroll to the top.
q, Escape or Ctrl-C: quit the mode.
:: switch to command-line mode.

Commands

Commands are executed with :command_name<Enter>

Commented out lines should start with the double quote symbol ("), which may be preceded by whitespace characters intermixed with colons. Inline comments can be added at the end of the line after double quote symbol, only last line of a multi-line command can contain such comment. Not all commands support inline comments as their syntax conflicts with names of registers and fields where double quotes are allowed.

Most of the commands have two forms: complete and the short one. Example:

:noh[lsearch]

This means the complete command is nohlsearch, and the short one is noh.

Most of command-line commands completely reset selection in the current view. However, there are several exceptions:

-: ":invert s" most likely leaves some files selected;
-: :if and :else commands doesn't affect selection on successful execution.

'|' can be used to separate commands, so you can give multiple commands in one line. If you want to use '|' in an argument, precede it with '\'.

These commands see '|' as part of their arguments even when it's escaped:

    :[range]!
    :autocmd
    :cmap
    :cnoremap
    :command
    :filetype
    :fileviewer
    :filextype
    :map
    :mmap
    :mnoremap
    :nmap
    :nnoremap
    :noremap
    :normal
    :qmap
    :qnoremap
    :vmap
    :vnoremap
    :wincmd
    :windo
    :winrun

To be able to use another command after one of these, wrap it with the :execute command. An example:

if filetype('.') == 'reg' | execute '!!echo regular file' | endif

:[count]
:number: move to the file number.
:12 would move to the 12th file in the list.
:0 move to the top of the list.
:$ move to the bottom of the list.
:[count]command: The only builtin :[count]command are :[count]d[elete] and :[count]y[ank].
:d3: would delete three files starting at the current file position moving down.
:3d: would delete one file at the third line in the list.
:command [args]
:[range]!program: execute command via shell. Accepts macros.
:[range]!command &

same as above, but the command is run in the background using vifm's means.

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

Note the space before ampersand symbol, if you omit it, command will be run in the background using job control of your shell.

Accepts macros.

:!!

:[range]!!command

same as :!, but pauses before returning.

:!!

repeat the last command.

:alink

:[range]alink[!?]

create absolute symbolic links to files in directory of inactive view. With "?" prompts for destination file names in an editor. "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]alink[!] path

create absolute symbolic links to files in directory specified by the path (absolute or relative to directory of inactive view).

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

create absolute symbolic links of files in directory of other view giving each next link a corresponding name from the argument list.

:apropos

:apropos keyword...

create a menu of items returned by the apropos command. Selecting an item in the menu opens corresponding man page. By default the command relies on the external "apropos" utility, which can be customized by altering value of the 'aproposprg' option.

:autocmd

:au[tocmd] {event} {pat} {cmd}

register autocommand for the {event}, which can be:
- DirEnter - performed on entering a directory
Event name is case insensitive.

{pat} is a comma-separated list of modified globs patterns, which can contain tilde or environment variables. All paths use slash ('/') as directory separator. The pattern can start with a '!', which negates it. Patterns that do not contain slashes are matched against the last item of the path only (e.g. "dir" in "/path/dir"). Literal comma can be entered by doubling it. Two modifications to globs matching are as follows:
- * - never matches a slash (i.e., can signify single directory level)
- ** - matches any character (i.e., can match path of arbitrary depth)

{cmd} is a :command or several of them separated with '|'.

Examples of patterns:
  - conf.d      - matches conf.d directory anywhere
  - *.d         - matches directories ending with ".d" anywhere
  - **.git      - matches something.git, but not .git anywhere
  - **/.git/**  - matches /path/.git/objects, but not /path/.git
  - **/.git/**/ - matches /path/.git/ only (because of trailing slash)
  - /etc/*      - matches /etc/conf.d/, /etc/X11, but not /etc/X11/fs
  - /etc/**/*.d - matches /etc/conf.d, /etc/X11/conf.d, etc.
  - /etc/**/*   - matches /etc/ itself and any file below it
  - /etc/**/**  - matches /etc/ itself and any file below it

:au[tocmd] [{event}] [{pat}]

list those autocommands that match given event-pattern combination.
{event} and {pat} can be omitted to list all autocommands. To list any autocommands for specific pattern one can use * placeholder in place of {event}.

:au[tocmd]! [{event}] [{pat}]

remove autocommands that match given event-pattern combination. Syntax is the same as for listing above.

:apropos

repeat last :apropos command.

:bmark

:bmark tag1 [tag2 [tag3...]]

bookmark current directory with specified tags.

:bmark! path tag1 [tag2 [tag3...]]

same as :bmark, but allows bookmarking specific path instead of current directory. This is for use in vifmrc and for bookmarking files.

Path can contain macros that expand to single path (%c, %C, %d, %D) or those that can expand to multiple paths, but contain only one (%f, %F, %rx). The latter is done for convenience on using the command interactively. Complex macros that include spaces (e.g. "%c:gs/ /_") should be escaped.

:bmarks

display all bookmarks in a menu.

:bmarks [tag1 [tag2...]]

display menu of bookmarks that include all of the specified tags.

:bmgo

:bmgo [tag1 [tag2...]]

when there are more than one match acts exactly like :bmarks, otherwise navigates to single match immediately (and fails if there is no match).

:cabbrev

:ca[bbrev]

display menu of command-line mode abbreviations.

:ca[bbrev] lhs-prefix

display command-line mode abbreviations which left-hand side starts with specified prefix.

:ca[bbrev] lhs rhs

register new or overwrites existing abbreviation for command-line mode. rhs can contain spaces and any special sequences accepted in rhs of mappings (see "Mappings" section below). Abbreviations are expanded non-recursively.

:cnoreabbrev

:cnorea[bbrev]

display menu of command-line mode abbreviations.

:cnorea[bbrev] lhs-prefix

display command-line mode abbreviations which left-hand side starts with specified prefix.

:cnorea[bbrev] lhs rhs

same as :cabbrev, but mappings in rhs are ignored during expansion.

:cd

:cd or :cd ~ or :cd $HOME

change to home directory.

:cd -

go to the last visited directory.

:cd ~/dir

change directory to ~/dir.

:cd /curr/dir /other/dir

change directory of the current pane to /curr/dir and directory of the other pane to /other/dir. Relative paths are assumed to be relative to directory of current view. Command won't fail if one of directories is invalid. All forms of the command accept macros.

:cd! /dir

same as :cd /dir /dir.

:change

:c[hange]

create a menu window to alter a files properties.

:chmod

:[range]chmod

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

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

only for *nix
change permissions for files. See `man 1 chmod` for arg format. "!" means set permissions recursively.

:chown

:[range]chown

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

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

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

:clone

:[range]clone[!?]

clones files in current directory. With "?" vifm will open vi to edit file names. "!" forces overwrite. Macros are expanded.

:[range]clone[!] path

clones files to directory specified with the path (absolute or relative to current directory). "!" forces overwrite. Macros are expanded.

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

clones files in current directory giving each next clone a corresponding name from the argument list. "!" forces overwrite. Macros are expanded.

:colorscheme

:colo[rscheme]?

print current color scheme name on the status bar.

:colo[rscheme]

display a menu with a list of available color schemes. You can choose primary color scheme here. It is used for view if no directory specific colorscheme fits current path. It's also used to set border color (except view titles) and colors in menus and dialogs.

:colo[rscheme] color_scheme_name

change primary color scheme to color_scheme_name. In case of errors (e.g. some colors are not supported by terminal) either nothing is changed or color scheme is reset to builtin colors to ensure that TUI is left in a usable state.

:colo[rscheme] color_scheme_name directory

associate directory with the color scheme. The directory argument can be either absolute or relative path when :colorscheme command is executed from command line, but mandatory should be an absolute path when the command is executed in scripts loaded at startup (until vifm is completely loaded).

:comclear

:comc[lear]

remove all user defined commands.

:command

:com[mand]

display a menu of user commands.

:com[mand] beginning

display user defined commands that start with the beginning.

:com[mand] name action

set 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] name /pattern

set search pattern.

:com[mand] name =pattern

set local filter value.

:com[mand] name filter{:filter args}

set file name filter (see :filter command description). For example:

  " display only audio files
  :command onlyaudio filter/.+.$mp3|wav|mp3|flac|ogg|m4a|wma|ape$$/i
  " display everything except audio files
  :command noaudio filter!/.+.$mp3|wav|mp3|flac|ogg|m4a|wma|ape$$/i

:com[mand] cmd :commands

set kind of an alias for internal command (like in a shell). Passes range given to alias to an aliased command, so running :%cp after
:command cp :copy %a
equals
:%copy

:copy

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

copy files to directory of other view. With "?" prompts for destination file names in an editor. "!" forces overwrite.

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

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

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

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

:cquit

:cq[uit][!]

same as :quit, but also aborts directory choosing via --choose-dir (empties output file) and returns non-zero exit code.

:cunabbrev

:cuna[bbrev] lhs

unregister command-line mode abbreviation by its lhs.

:cuna[bbrev] rhs

unregister command-line mode abbreviation by its rhs, so that abbreviation could be removed even after expansion.

:delbmarks

remove bookmarks from current directory.

:delbmarks tag1 [tag2 [tag3...]]

remove set of bookmarks that include all of the specified tags.

:delbmarks!

remove all bookmarks.

:delbmarks! path1 [path2 [path3...]]

remove bookmarks of listed paths.

:delcommand

:delc[ommand] user_command

remove user defined command named user_command.

:delete

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

delete selected file or files. "!" means complete removal (omitting trash).

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

delete selected or [count] files to the reg register. "!" means complete removal (omitting trash).

:delmarks

:delm[arks]!

delete all marks.

:delm[arks] marks ...

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

:display

:di[splay]

display menu with registers content.

:di[splay] list ...

display the contents of the numbered and named registers that are mentioned in list (for example "az to display "", "a and "z content).

:dirs

display directory stack.

:echo

:ec[ho] [<expr>...]

evaluate each argument as an expression and output them separated with a space. See help on :let command for a definition of <expr>.

:edit

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

open selected or passed file(s) in editor. Macros and environment variables are expanded.

:else

:el[se]

execute commands until next matching :endif if all other conditions didn't match. See also help on :if and :endif commands.

:elseif

:elsei[f] {expr1}

execute commands until next matching :elseif, :else or :endif if conditions of previous :if and :elseif branches were evaluated to zero. See also help on :if and :endif commands.

:empty

permanently remove files from all existing non-empty trash directories (see "Trash directory" section below). Also remove all operations from undolist that have no sense after :empty and remove all records about files located inside directories from all registers. Removal is performed as background task with undetermined amount of work and can be checked via :jobs menu.

:endif

:en[dif]

end conditional block. See also help on :if and :else commands.

:execute

:exe[cute] [<expr>...]

evaluate each argument as an expression and join results separated by a space to get a single string which is then executed as a command-line command. See help on :let command for a definition of <expr>.

:exit

:exi[t][!]

same as :quit.

:file

:f[ile][ &]

display menu of programs set for the file type of the current file. " &" forces running associated program in background.

:f[ile] arg[ &]

run associated command that begins with the arg skipping opening menu. " &" forces running associated program in background.

:filetype

:filet[ype] pattern-list [{descr}]def_prog[ &],[{descr}]prog2[ &],...

associate given program list to each of the patterns. Associated program (command) is used by handlers of l and Enter keys (and also in the :file menu). If you need to insert comma into command just double it (",,"). Space followed by an ampersand as two last characters of a command means running of the command in the background. Optional description can be given to each command to ease understanding of what command will do in the :file menu. Vifm will try the rest of the programs for an association when the default isn't found. When program entry doesn't contain any of vifm macros, name of current file is appended as if program entry ended with %c macro on *nix and %"c on Windows. On Windows path to executables containing spaces can (and should be for correct work with such paths) be double quoted. See "Patterns" section below for pattern definition. See also "Automatic FUSE mounts" section below. Example for zip archives and several actions:

  filetype *.zip,*.jar,*.war,*.ear
         \ {Mount with fuse-zip}
         \ FUSE_MOUNT|fuse-zip %SOURCE_FILE %DESTINATION_DIR,
         \ {View contents}
         \ zip -sf %c | less,
         \ {Extract here}
         \ tar -xf %c,

:filet[ype] filename

list (in menu mode) currently registered patterns that match specified file name. Same as ":filextype filename".

:filextype

:filex[type] pattern-list [{ description }] def_program,program2,...

same as :filetype, but this command is ignored if not running in X. In X :filextype is equal to :filetype. See "Patterns" section below for pattern definition. See also "Automatic FUSE mounts" section below.

For example, consider the following settings (the order might seem strange, but it's for the demonstration purpose):

  filetype *.html,*.htm
          \ {View in lynx}
          \ lynx
  filextype *.html,*.htm
          \ {Open with dwb}
          \ dwb %f %i &,
  filetype *.html,*.htm
          \ {View in links}
          \ links
  filextype *.html,*.htm
          \ {Open with firefox}
          \ firefox %f &,
          \ {Open with uzbl}
          \ uzbl-browser %f %i &,

If you're using vifm inside a terminal emulator that is running in graphical environment (when X is used on *nix; always on Windows), vifm attempts to run application in this order:

1. lynx
2. dwb
3. links
4. firefox
5. uzbl

If there is no graphical environment (checked presence of $DISPLAY environment variable on *nix; never happens on Windows), the list will look like:

1. lynx
2. links

Just as if all :filextype commands were not there.

The purpose of such differentiation is to allow comfortable use of vifm with same settings in desktop environment/through remote connection (SSH)/in native console.

:filext[ype] filename

list (in menu mode) currently registered patterns that match specified file name. Same as ":filetype filename".

:fileviewer

:filev[iewer] pattern-list command1,command2,...

register specified list of commands as viewers for each of the patterns. Viewer is a command which output is captured and displayed in the second pane of vifm after running :view command. When the command doesn't contain any of vifm macros, name of current file is appended as if command ended with %c macro. Comma escaping and missing commands processing rules as for :filetype apply to this command. See "Patterns" section below for pattern definition.

Example for zip archives:

fileviewer *.zip,*.jar,*.war,*.ear zip -sf %c, echo "No zip to preview:"

:filev[iewer] filename

list (in menu mode) currently registered patterns that match specified filename.

:filter

:filter[!] regular_expression_pattern

:filter[!] /regular_expression_pattern/[flags]

will filter all the files out of the directory listing that match the regular expression. Using second variant you can use the bar ('|') symbol without escaping. Empty regular expression (specified by //, "" or '') means using of the last search pattern. Use '!' to control state of filter inversion after updating filter value (also see 'cpoptions' description). Filter is matched case sensitively on *nix and case insensitively on Windows.

Supported flags:
- "i" makes filter case insensitive;
- "I" makes filter case sensitive.

Flags might be repeated multiple times, later ones win (e.g. "iiiI" is equivalent to "I" and "IiIi" is the same as "i").

" filter all files ending in .o from the filelist. :filter /.o$/

Note: vifm uses extended regular expressions.

:filter

reset filter (set it to empty string) and show all files.

:filter!

same as :invert.

:filter?

show information on local, name and auto filters.

:find

:[range]fin[d] pattern

display results of find command in the menu. Searches among selected files if any. Accepts macros. By default the command relies on the external "find" utility, which can be customized by altering value of the 'findprg' option.

:[range]fin[d] -opt...

same as :find above, but user defines all find arguments. Searches among selected files if any.

:[range]fin[d] path -opt...

same as :find above, but user defines all find arguments. Ignores selection and range.

:[range]fin[d]

repeat last :find command.

:finish

:fini[sh]

stop sourcing a script. Can only be used in a vifm script file. This is a quick way to skip the rest of the file.

:grep

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

will show results of grep command in the menu. Add "!" to request inversion of search (look for lines that do not match pattern). Searches among selected files if any and no range given. Ignores binary files by default. By default the command relies on the external "grep" utility, which can be customized by altering value of the 'grepprg' option.

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

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

:[range]gr[ep][!]

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

:help

:h[elp]

show the help file.

:h[elp] argument

is the same as using ':h argument' in vim. Use vifm-<something> to get help on vifm (tab completion works). This form of the command doesn't work when 'vimhelp' option is off.

:highlight

:hi[ghlight]

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

:hi[ghlight] clear

will reset all highlighting to builtin defaults.

:hi[ghlight] ( group-name | {pat1,pat2,...} | /regexp/ )

will show information on given highlight group or file name pattern of color scheme used in the active view.

:hi[ghlight] ( group-name | {pat1,pat2,...} | /regexp/[iI] ) cterm=style | ctermfg=color | ctermbg=color

sets style (cterm), foreground (ctermfg) or/and background (ctermbg) parameters of highlight group or file name pattern for color scheme used in the active view.

All style values as well as color names are case insensitive.

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) and default color for their content (e.g. regular files in views)
- 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
- JobLine - color of job line that appears above the status line
- WildMenu - color of the wild menu items
- SuggestBox - color of key suggestion box
- CurrLine - line at cursor position in active view
- OtherLine - line at cursor position in inactive 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   and lightblack
- red     and lightred
- green   and lightgreen
- yellow  and lightyellow
- blue    and lightblue
- magenta and lightmagenta
- cyan    and lightcyan
- white   and lightwhite
- 0-255 - corresponding colors from 256-color palette

Light versions of colors are regular colors with bold attribute set. So order of arguments of :highlight command is important and it's better to put "cterm" in front of others to prevent it from overwriting attributes set by "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" arguments.

For convenience of color scheme authors xterm-like names for 256 color palette is also supported. The mapping is taken from http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Xterm256_color_names_for_console_Vim Duplicated entries were altered by adding an underscore followed by numerical suffix.

  0 Black                  86 Aquamarine1           172 Orange3
  1 Red                    87 DarkSlateGray2        173 LightSalmon3_2
  2 Green                  88 DarkRed_2             174 LightPink3
  3 Yellow                 89 DeepPink4_2           175 Pink3
  4 Blue                   90 DarkMagenta           176 Plum3
  5 Magenta                91 DarkMagenta_2         177 Violet
  6 Cyan                   92 DarkViolet            178 Gold3_2
  7 White                  93 Purple                179 LightGoldenrod3
  8 LightBlack             94 Orange4_2             180 Tan
  9 LightRed               95 LightPink4            181 MistyRose3
10 LightGreen             96 Plum4                 182 Thistle3
11 LightYellow            97 MediumPurple3         183 Plum2
12 LightBlue              98 MediumPurple3_2       184 Yellow3_2
13 LightMagenta           99 SlateBlue1            185 Khaki3
14 LightCyan             100 Yellow4               186 LightGoldenrod2
15 LightWhite            101 Wheat4                187 LightYellow3
16 Grey0                 102 Grey53                188 Grey84
17 NavyBlue              103 LightSlateGrey        189 LightSteelBlue1
18 DarkBlue              104 MediumPurple          190 Yellow2
19 Blue3                 105 LightSlateBlue        191 DarkOliveGreen1
20 Blue3_2               106 Yellow4_2             192 DarkOliveGreen1_2
21 Blue1                 107 DarkOliveGreen3       193 DarkSeaGreen1_2
22 DarkGreen             108 DarkSeaGreen          194 Honeydew2
23 DeepSkyBlue4          109 LightSkyBlue3         195 LightCyan1
24 DeepSkyBlue4_2        110 LightSkyBlue3_2       196 Red1
25 DeepSkyBlue4_3        111 SkyBlue2              197 DeepPink2
26 DodgerBlue3           112 Chartreuse2_2         198 DeepPink1
27 DodgerBlue2           113 DarkOliveGreen3_2     199 DeepPink1_2
28 Green4                114 PaleGreen3_2          200 Magenta2_2
29 SpringGreen4          115 DarkSeaGreen3         201 Magenta1
30 Turquoise4            116 DarkSlateGray3        202 OrangeRed1
31 DeepSkyBlue3          117 SkyBlue1              203 IndianRed1
32 DeepSkyBlue3_2        118 Chartreuse1           204 IndianRed1_2
33 DodgerBlue1           119 LightGreen_2          205 HotPink
34 Green3                120 LightGreen_3          206 HotPink_2
35 SpringGreen3          121 PaleGreen1            207 MediumOrchid1_2
36 DarkCyan              122 Aquamarine1_2         208 DarkOrange
37 LightSeaGreen         123 DarkSlateGray1        209 Salmon1
38 DeepSkyBlue2          124 Red3                  210 LightCoral
39 DeepSkyBlue1          125 DeepPink4_3           211 PaleVioletRed1
40 Green3_2              126 MediumVioletRed       212 Orchid2
41 SpringGreen3_2        127 Magenta3              213 Orchid1
42 SpringGreen2          128 DarkViolet_2          214 Orange1
43 Cyan3                 129 Purple_2              215 SandyBrown
44 DarkTurquoise         130 DarkOrange3           216 LightSalmon1
45 Turquoise2            131 IndianRed             217 LightPink1
46 Green1                132 HotPink3              218 Pink1
47 SpringGreen2_2        133 MediumOrchid3         219 Plum1
48 SpringGreen1          134 MediumOrchid          220 Gold1
49 MediumSpringGreen     135 MediumPurple2         221 LightGoldenrod2_2
50 Cyan2                 136 DarkGoldenrod         222 LightGoldenrod2_3
51 Cyan1                 137 LightSalmon3          223 NavajoWhite1
52 DarkRed               138 RosyBrown             224 MistyRose1
53 DeepPink4             139 Grey63                225 Thistle1
54 Purple4               140 MediumPurple2_2       226 Yellow1
55 Purple4_2             141 MediumPurple1         227 LightGoldenrod1
56 Purple3               142 Gold3                 228 Khaki1
57 BlueViolet            143 DarkKhaki             229 Wheat1
58 Orange4               144 NavajoWhite3          230 Cornsilk1
59 Grey37                145 Grey69                231 Grey100
60 MediumPurple4         146 LightSteelBlue3       232 Grey3
61 SlateBlue3            147 LightSteelBlue        233 Grey7
62 SlateBlue3_2          148 Yellow3               234 Grey11
63 RoyalBlue1            149 DarkOliveGreen3_3     235 Grey15
64 Chartreuse4           150 DarkSeaGreen3_2       236 Grey19
65 DarkSeaGreen4         151 DarkSeaGreen2         237 Grey23
66 PaleTurquoise4        152 LightCyan3            238 Grey27
67 SteelBlue             153 LightSkyBlue1         239 Grey30
68 SteelBlue3            154 GreenYellow           240 Grey35
69 CornflowerBlue        155 DarkOliveGreen2       241 Grey39
70 Chartreuse3           156 PaleGreen1_2          242 Grey42
71 DarkSeaGreen4_2       157 DarkSeaGreen2_2       243 Grey46
72 CadetBlue             158 DarkSeaGreen1         244 Grey50
73 CadetBlue_2           159 PaleTurquoise1        245 Grey54
74 SkyBlue3              160 Red3_2                246 Grey58
75 SteelBlue1            161 DeepPink3             247 Grey62
76 Chartreuse3_2         162 DeepPink3_2           248 Grey66
77 PaleGreen3            163 Magenta3_2            249 Grey70
78 SeaGreen3             164 Magenta3_3            250 Grey74
79 Aquamarine3           165 Magenta2              251 Grey78
80 MediumTurquoise       166 DarkOrange3_2         252 Grey82
81 SteelBlue1_2          167 IndianRed_2           253 Grey85
82 Chartreuse2           168 HotPink3_2            254 Grey89
83 SeaGreen2             169 HotPink2              255 Grey93
84 SeaGreen1             170 Orchid
85 SeaGreen1_2           171 MediumOrchid1

There are two colors (foreground and background) and only one bold attribute. Thus single bold attribute affects both colors when "reverse" attribute is used in vifm run inside terminal emulator. At the same time linux native console can handle boldness of foreground and background colors independently, but for consistency with terminal emulators this is available only implicitly by using light versions of colors. This behaviour might be changed in the future.

Although vifm supports 256 colors in a sense they are supported by UI drawing library, whether you will be able to use all of them highly depends on your terminal. To set up terminal properly, make sure that $TERM in the environment you run vifm is set to name of 256-color terminal (on *nixes it can also be set via X resources), e.g. xterm-256color. One can find list of available terminal names by listing /usr/lib/terminfo/. Number of colors supported by terminal with current settings can be checked via "tput colors" command.

Here is the hierarchy of highlight groups, which you need to know for using transparency:
  JobLine
  SuggestBox
  StatusLine
    WildMenu
  Border
  CmdLine
    ErrorMsg
  Win
    File name specific highlights
      Directory
      Link
      BrokenLink
      Socket
      Device
      Fifo
      Executable
        Selected
          CurrLine
          OtherLine
  TopLine
    TopLineSel

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

Here file name specific highlights mean those configured via globs ({}) or regular expressions (//). At most one of them is applied per file entry, namely the first that matches file name, hence order of :highlight commands might be important in certain cases.

:history

:his[tory]

creates a pop-up menu of directories visited.

:his[tory] x

x can be:
d[ir] or . show directory history.
c[md] or : show command line history.
s[earch] or / show search history and search forward on l key.
f[search] or / show search history and search forward on l key.
b[search] or ? show search history and search backward on l key.
i[nput] or @ show prompt history (e.g. on one file renaming).
fi[lter] or = show filter history (see description of the "=" normal mode command).

:if

:if {expr1}

starts conditional block. Commands are executed until next matching :elseif, :else or :endif command if {expr1} evaluates to non-zero, otherwise they are ignored. See also help on :else and :endif commands.

Example:

  if $TERM == 'screen.linux'
      highlight CurrLine ctermfg=lightwhite ctermbg=lightblack
  elseif $TERM == 'tmux'
      highlight CurrLine cterm=reverse ctermfg=black ctermbg=white
  else
      highlight CurrLine cterm=bold,reverse ctermfg=black ctermbg=white
  endif

:invert

:invert [f]

invert file name filter.

:invert? [f]

show current filter state.

:invert s

invert selection.

:invert o

invert sorting order of the primary sorting key.

:invert? o

show sorting order of the primary sorting key.

:jobs

shows menu of current backgrounded processes.

:let

:let $ENV_VAR = <expr>

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

:let $ENV_VAR .= <expr>

append value to environment variable.

:let &[l:|g:]opt = <expr>

sets option value.

:let &[l:|g:]opt .= <expr>

append value to string option.

:let &[l:|g:]opt += <expr>

increasing option value, adding sub-values.

:let &[l:|g:]opt -= <expr>

decreasing option value, removing sub-values.

Where <expr> could be a single-quoted string, double-quoted string, an environment variable, function call or a concatanation of any of them in any order using the '.' operator. Any whitespace is ignored.

:locate

:locate filename

use "locate" command to create a menu of filenames. Selecting a file from the menu will reload the current file list in vifm to show the selected file. By default the command relies on the external "locate" utility (it's assumed that its database is already built), which can be customized by altering value of the 'locateprg' option.

:locate

repeats last :locate command.

:ls

lists windows of active terminal multiplexer (only when terminal multiplexer is used). This is achieved by issuing proper command for active terminal multiplexer, thus the list is not handled by vifm.

:lstrash

displays a menu with list of files in trash. Each element of the list is original path of a deleted file, thus the list can contain duplicates.

:mark

:[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 of macros is allowed. Question mark will stop command from overwriting existing marks.

:marks

create a pop-up menu of marks.

:marks list ...

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

:messages

:mes[sages]

shows previously given messages (up to 50).

:mkdir

:mkdir[!] dir ...

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

:move

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

move files to directory of other view. With "?" prompts for destination file names in an editor. "!" forces overwrite.

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

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

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

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

:nohlsearch

:noh[lsearch]

clear selection in current pane.

:normal

:norm[al][!] commands

execute normal mode commands. If "!" is used, user defined mappings are ignored. Unfinished last command is aborted as if <esc> or <c-c> was typed. A ":" should be completed as well. Commands can't start with a space, so put a count of 1 (one) before it.

:only

:on[ly]

switch to a one window view.

:popd

remove pane directories from stack.

:pushd

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

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

:pushd

exchange the top two items of the directory stack.

:put

:pu[t][!] [reg] [ &]

puts files from specified register (" by default) into current directory. "!" moves files from their original location instead of copying them. During this operation no confirmation dialogs will be shown, all checks are performed beforehand.

:pwd

:pw[d]

show the present working directory.

:quit

:q[uit][!]

exit vifm (add ! to skip saving changes and checking for active backgrounded commands).

:redraw

:redr[aw]

redraw the screen immediately.

:registers

:reg[isters]

display menu with registers content.

:reg[isters] list ...

display the contents of the numbered and named registers that are mentioned in list (for example "az to display "", "a and "z content).

:rename

:[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

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).

:restore

:[range]restore

restore file from trash directory, doesn't work outside one of trash directories. See "Trash directory" section below.

:rlink

:[range]rlink[!?]

create relative symbolic links to files in directory of other view. With "?" prompts for destination file names in an editor. "!" forces overwrite.

:[range]rlink[!] path

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

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

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

:screen

toggle whether to use the terminal multiplexer or not.
A terminal multiplexer uses pseudo terminals to allow multiple windows to be used in the console or in a single xterm. Starting vifm from terminal multiplexer with appropriate support turned on will cause vifm to open a new terminal multiplexer window for each new file edited or program launched from vifm.
This requires screen version 3.9.9 or newer for the screen -X argument or tmux (1.8 version or newer is recommended).

:screen?

display whether integration with terminal multiplexers is enabled.

Note: the command is called screen for historical reasons (when tmux wasn't yet supported) and might be changed in future releases, or get an alias.

:select

:[range]select

select files in the given range (current file if no range is given).

:select {pattern}

select files that match specified pattern. Possible {pattern} forms are described in "Patterns" section below. Trailing slash for directories is taken into account, so `:select! */ | invert s` selects only files.

:select //[iI]

same as item above, but reuses last search pattern.

:select !{external command}

select files from the list supplied by external command. Files are matched by full paths, relative paths are converted to absolute ones beforehand.

:[range]select! [{pattern}]

same as above, but resets previously selected items before proceeding.

:set

:se[t]

display all options that differ from their default value.

:se[t] all

display all options.

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

sets given options. For local options both values are set.
You can use following syntax:
- for all options - option, option? and option&
- for boolean options - nooption, invoption and option!
- for integer options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for string options - option=x and option+=x
- for string list options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for enumeration options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for set options - option=x, option+=x and option-=x
- for charset options - option=x, option+=x, option-=x and option^=x

the meaning:
- option - turn option on (for boolean) or print its value (for all others)
- nooption - turn option off
- invoption - invert option state
- option! - invert option state
- option? - print option value
- option& - reset option to its default value
- option=x or option:x - set option to x
- option+=x - add/append x to option
- option-=x - remove (or subtract) x from option
- option^=x - toggle x presence among values of the option

Option name can be prepended and appended by any number of whitespace characters.

:setglobal

:setg[lobal]

display all global options that differ from their default value.

:setg[lobal] all

display all global options.

:setg[lobal] opt1=val1 opt2='val2' opt3="val3" ...

same as :set, but changes/prints only global options or global values of local options. Changes to the latter might be not visible until directory is changed.

:setlocal

:setl[ocal]

display all local options that differ from their default value.

:setl[ocal] all

display all local options.

:setl[ocal] opt1=val1 opt2='val2' opt3="val3" ...

same as :set, but changes/prints only local values of local options.

:shell

:sh[ell][!]

start a shell in current directory. "!" suppresses spawning dedicated window of terminal multiplexer for a shell. To make vifm adaptive to environment it uses $SHELL if it's defined, otherwise 'shell' value is used.

:sort

:sor[t]

display dialog with different sorting methods, when one can select primary sorting key. When 'viewcolumns' options is empty and 'lsview' is off, changing primary sorting key will also affect view look (in particular the second column of the view will be changed).

:source

:so[urce] file

read command-line commands from the file.

:split

:sp[lit]

switch to a two window horizontal view.

:sp[lit]!

toggle horizontal window splitting.

:sp[lit] path

splits the window horizontally to show both file directories. Also changes other pane to path (absolute or relative to current directory of active pane).

:substitute

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

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

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

Pattern is stored in search history.

Available flags:

-: i - ignore case (the 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options are not used)
-: I - don't ignore case (the 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options are not used)
-: g - substitute all matches in each file name (each g toggles this)

:[range]s[ubstitute]/pattern

substitute pattern with an empty string.

:[range]s[ubstitute]//string/[flags]

use last pattern from search history.

:[range]s[ubstitute]

repeat previous substitution command.

:sync

:sync [relative path]

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

:sync!

change the other pane to the current pane directory and synchronize cursor position. If current pane displays custom list of files, position before entering it is used (current one might not make any sense).

change enumerated properties of the other pane to match corresponding properties of the current pane. Arguments have the following meanings:

-: location - current directory of the pane;
-: cursorpos - cursor position (doesn't make sense without "location");
-: localopts - all local options;
-: filters - all filters;
-: filelist - list of files for custom view (implies "location");
-: all - all of the above.

:touch

:touch file...

create file(s). Aborts on errors. Doesn't update time of existing files. Macros are expanded.

:tr

:[range]tr/pattern/string/

for each file in range transliterate the characters which appear in pattern to the corresponding character in string. When string is shorter than pattern, it's padded with its last character.

:trashes

lists all valid trash directories in a menu. Only non-empty and writable trash directories are shown. This is exactly the list of directories that are cleared when :empty command is executed.

:trashes?

same as :trashes, but also displays size of each trash directory.

:undolist

:undol[ist]

display list of latest changes. Use "!" to see actual commands.

:unlet

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

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

:unselect

:[range]unselect

unselect files in the given range (current file if no range is given).

:unselect {pattern}

unselect files that match specified pattern. Possible {pattern} forms are described in "Patterns" section below. Trailing slash for directories is taken into account, so `:unselect */` unselects directories.

:unselect !{external command}

unselect files from the list supplied by external command. Files are matched by full paths, relative paths are converted to absolute ones beforehand.

:unselect //[iI]

same as item above, but reuses last search pattern.

:version

:ve[rsion]

show menu with version information.

:vifm

same as :version.

:view

:vie[w]

toggle on and off the quick file view.

:vie[w]!

turn on quick file view if it's off.

:volumes

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

:vsplit

:vs[plit]

switch to a two window vertical view.

:vs[plit]!

toggle window vertical splitting.

:vs[plit] path

split the window vertically to show both file directories. And changes other pane to path (absolute or relative to current directory of active pane).

:wincmd

:[count]winc[md] {arg}

same as running Ctrl-W [count] {arg}.

:windo

:windo [command...]

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

:winrun

:winrun type [command...]

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

:write

:w[rite]

write vifminfo file.

:wq

:wq[!]

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

:xit

:x[it][!]

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

:yank

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

will yank files to the reg register.

: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.

:mm[ap] lhs rhs

map lhs to rhs in menu mode.

:nm[ap] lhs rhs

map lhs to rhs in normal mode.

:qm[ap] lhs rhs

map lhs to rhs in view mode.

:vm[ap] lhs rhs

map lhs to rhs in visual mode.

:map

:cm[ap]

list all maps in command line mode.

:mm[ap]

list all maps in menu mode.

:nm[ap]

list all maps in normal mode.

:qm[ap]

list all maps in view mode.

:vm[ap]

list all maps in visual mode.

:map beginning

:cm[ap] beginning

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

:mm[ap] beginning

list all maps in menu mode that start with the beginning.

:nm[ap] beginning

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

:qm[ap] beginning

list all maps in view mode that start with the beginning.

:vm[ap] beginning

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

:noremap

:no[remap] lhs rhs

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

:mn[oremap] lhs rhs

map the key sequence lhs to {rhs} for menu 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.

:qn[oremap] lhs rhs

map the key sequence lhs to {rhs} for view 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.

:unmap

: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.

:mu[nmap] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from menu mode.

:nun[map] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from normal mode.

:qun[map] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from view mode.

:vu[nmap] lhs

remove the mapping of lhs from visual mode.

Ranges

The ranges implemented include:
  2,3 - from second to third file in the list (including it)
  % - the entire directory.
  . - the current position in the filelist.
  $ - the end of the filelist.
  't - the mark position t.

Examples:

:%delete

would delete all files in the directory.

:2,4delete

would delete the files in the list positions 2 through 4.

:.,$delete

would delete the files from the current position to the end of the filelist.

:3delete4

would delete the files in the list positions 3, 4, 5, 6.

If a backward range is given :4,2delete - an query message is given and user can chose what to do next.

The builtin commands that accept a range are :d[elete] and :y[ank].

Command macros

The command macros may be used in user commands.

%a: User arguments. When user arguments contain macros, they are expanded before preforming substitution of %a.
%c %"c: The current file under the cursor.
%C %"C: The current file under the cursor in the other directory.
%f %"f: All of the selected files.
%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.
%rx %"rx: Full paths to files in the register {x}. In case of invalid symbol in place of {x}, it's processed with the rest of the line and default register is used.
%m: Show command output in a menu.
%M: Same as %m, but l (or Enter) key is handled like for :locate and :find commands.
%u: Process command output as list of paths and compose custom view out of it.
%U: Same as %u, but implies less list updates inside vifm, which is absence of sorting at the moment.
%S: Show command output in the status bar.
%s: Execute command in split window of active terminal multiplexer (ignored if not running inside one).
%n: Forbid using of terminal multiplexer to run the command.
%i: Completely ignore command output.
%pc: Marks end of the main command and beginning of the clear command, which is invoked on closing preview of a file.

The following dimensions and coordinates are in characters:

%px: x coordinate of top-left corner of preview area.
%py: y coordinate of top-left corner of preview area.
%pw: width of preview area.
%ph: height of preview area.

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

Note that %m, %M, %s, %S, %i, %u and %U macros are mutually exclusive. Only the last one of them on the command will take effect.

You can use file name modifiers after %c, %C, %f, %F, %b, %d and %D macros. Supported modifiers are:

-: :p - full path
-: :u - UNC name of path (e.g. "\\server" in "\\server\share"), Windows only. Expands to current computer name for not UNC paths.
-: :~ - relative to the home directory
-: :. - relative to current directory
-: :h - head of the file name
-: :t - tail of the file name
-: :r - root of the file name (without last extension)
-: :e - extension of the file name (last one)
-: :s?pat?sub? - substitute the first occurrence of pat with sub. You can use any character for '?', but it must not occur in pat or sub.
-: :gs?pat?sub? - like :s, but substitutes all occurrences of pat with sub.

See ':h filename-modifiers' in Vim's documentation for the detailed description.

Using %x means expand corresponding macro escaping all characters that have special meaning. And %"x means using of double quotes and escape only backslash and double quote characters, which is more useful on Windows systems.

Position and quantity (if there is any) of %m, %M, %S or %s macros in the command is unimportant. All their occurrences are removed from the resulting command.

%c and %f macros are expanded to 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

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

The %a macro is replaced with any arguments given to an alias command. All arguments are considered optional.

:com lsl !!ls -l %a - set the lsl command to execute ls -l with or without an argument.

:lsl<Enter>

will list the directory contents of the current directory.

:lsl filename<Enter>

will list only the given filename.

The macros can also be used in directly executing commands. ":!mv %f %D" would move the current directory selected files to the other directory.

Appending & to the end of a command causes it to be executed in the background. Typically you want to run two kinds of external commands in the background:

-: GUI applications that doesn't fork thus block vifm (:!sxiv %f &);
-: console tools that do not work with terminal (:!mv %f %D &).

You don't want to run terminal commands, which require terminal input or output something in background because they will mess up vifm's TUI. Anyway, if you did run such a command, you can use Ctrl-L key to update vifm's TUI.

Rewriting the example command with macros given above with backgrounding:

%m, %M, %s, %S, %u and %U macros cannot be combined with background mark (" &") as it doesn't make much sense.

Command backgrounding

Copy and move operation can take a lot of time to proceed. That's why vifm supports backgrounding of this two operations. To run :copy, :move or :delete command in the background just add " &" at the end of a command.

For each background operation a new thread is created. 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.

Cancellation

Note that cancellation works somewhat different on Windows platform due to different mechanism of break signal propagation. One also might need to use Ctrl-Break shortcut instead of Ctrl-C.

There are two types of operations that can be cancelled:

-: file system operations;
-: mounting with FUSE (but not unmounting as it can cause loss of data);
-: calls of external applications.

Note that vifm never terminates applications, it sends SIGINT signal and lets the application quit normally.

When one of set of operations is cancelled (e.g. copying of 5th file of 10 files), further operations are cancelled too. In this case undo history will contain only actually performed operations.

Cancelled operations are indicated by "(cancelled)" suffix appended to information message on statusbar.

File system operations

Currently the following commands can be cancelled: :alink, :chmod, :chown, :clone, :copy, :delete, :mkdir, :move, :restore, :rlink, :touch. File putting (on p/P key) can be cancelled as well. It's not hard to see that these are mainly long-running operations.

Cancelling commands when they are repeated for undo/redo operations is allowed for convenience, but is not recommended as further undo/redo operations might get blocked by side-effects of partially cancelled group of operations.

These commands can't be cancelled: :empty, :rename, :substitute, :tr.

Mounting with FUSE

It's not considered to be an error, so only notification on the status bar is shown.

External application calls

Each of this operations can be cancelled: :apropos, :find, :grep, :locate.

Patterns

:highlight, :filetype, :filextype, :fileviewer commands and 'classify' option support globs, regular expressions and mime types to match file names or their paths.

There are six possible ways to write a single pattern:

1.: [!]{comma-separated-name-globs}
2.: [!]{{comma-separated-path-globs}}
3.: [!]/name-regular-expression/[iI]
4.: [!]//path-regular-expression//[iI]
5.: [!]<comma-separated-mime-type-globs>
6.: undecorated-pattern

To combine several patterns (AND them), make sure you're using of the first five forms and write patterns one after another, like this:
<text/plain>{*.vifm} Mind that if you make a mistake the whole string will be treated as the sixth form.

:filetype, :filextype and :fileviewer commands accept comma-separated list of patterns instead of a single pattern, thus effectively handling OR operation on them:
<text/plain>{*.vifm},<application/pdf>{*.pdf}

Five first forms can include leading exclamation mark that negates pattern matching.

The last form is implicitly refers to one of others. :highlight does not accept undecorated form, while :filetype, :filextype, :fileviewer and 'classify' treat it as list of name globs.

Regular expression patterns are case insensitive by default.

"Globs" section below provides short overview of globs and some important points that one needs to know about them.

Mime type matching is essentially globs matching applied to mime type of a file instead of its name/path. Note: mime types aren't detected on Windows.

Globs

Globs are always case insensitive as it makes sense in general case.

*, ?, [ and ] are treated as special symbols in the pattern. E.g.

:filetype * less %c

matches all files. One can use character classes for escaping, so

:filetype [*] less %c

matches only one file name, the one which contains only asterisk symbol.

* means any number of any characters (possibly an empty substring), with one exception: asterisk at the pattern beginning doesn't match dot in the first position. E.g.

:fileviewer *.zip,*.jar zip -sf %c

associates using of zip program to preview all files with zip or jar extensions as listing of their content.

? means any character at this position. E.g.

:fileviewer ?.out file %c

calls file tool for all files which has exactly one character before their extension (e.g. a.out, b.out).

Square brackets designate character class, which means that whole character class matches against any of characters listed in it. For example

:fileviewer *.[ch] highlight -O xterm256 -s dante --syntax c %c

makes vifm call highlight program to colorize source and header files in C language for a 256-color terminal. Equal command would be

:fileviewer *.c,*.h highlight -O xterm256 -s dante --syntax c %c

Inside square brackets ^ or ! can be used for symbol class negotiation and the - symbol to set a range. ^ and ! should appear right after the opening square bracket. For example

:filetype *.[!d]/ inspect_dir

associates inspect_dir as additional handler for all directories that have one character extension unless it's "d" letter. And

:filetype [0-9].jpg sxiv

associates sxiv picture viewer only for JPEG-files that contain single digit in their name.

:set options

Local options

These are kind of options that are local to a specific view. So you can set ascending sorting order for left pane and descending order for right pane.

In addition to being local to views, each such option also has two values:

-: local to current directory (value associated with current location);
-: global to current directory (value associated with the pane).

: The idea is that current directory can be made a temporary exception to regular configuration of the view, until directory change. Use :setlocal for that. :setglobal changes view value not affecting settings until directory change. :set applies changes immediately to all values.

'aproposprg'

type: string
default: "apropos %a"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :apropos command. The format supports expanding of macros, specific for a particular *prg option, and %% sequence for inserting percent sign literally. This option should include the %a macro to specify placement of arguments passed to the :apropos command. If the macro is not used, it will be implicitly added after a space to the value of this option.

'autochpos'

type: boolean
default: true
When disabled vifm will set cursor to the first line in the view after :cd and :pushd commands instead of saved cursor position. Disabling this will also make vifm clear information about cursor position in the view history on :cd and :pushd commands (and on startup if 'autochpos' is disabled in the vifmrc). l key in the ":history ." and ":trashes" menus is treated like :cd command. This option also affects marks so that navigating to a mark doesn't restore cursor position.

'columns' 'co'

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

'cdpath' 'cd'

type: string list
default: value of $CDPATH with commas instead of colons
Specifies locations to check on changing directory with relative path that doesn't start with "./" or "../". When non-empty, current directory is examined after directories listed in the option.

This option doesn't affect completion of :cd command.

Example:

set cdpath=~

This way ":cd bin" will switch to "~/bin" even if directory named "bin" exists in current directory, while ":cd ./bin" command will ignore value of 'cdpath'.

'chaselinks'

type: boolean
default: false
When enabled path of view is always resolved to real path (with all symbolic links expanded).

'classify'

type: string list
default: ":dir:/"
Specifies file name prefixes and suffixes depending on file type or name. The format is either of:
- [{prefix}]:{filetype}:[{suffix}]
- [{prefix}]::{pattern}::[{suffix}]
Possible {pattern} forms are described in "Patterns" section above.

Priority rules:
- file name patterns have priority over type patterns
- file name patterns are matched in left-to-right order of their appearance in this option

Either {prefix} or {suffix} or both can be omitted (which is the default for all unspecified file types), this means empty {prefix} and/or {suffix}. {prefix} and {suffix} should consist of at most eight characters. Elements are separated by commas. Neither prefixes nor suffixes are part of file names, so they don't affect commands which operate on file names in any way. Comma (',') character can be inserted by doubling it. List of file type names can be found in the description of filetype() function.

'confirm' 'cf'

type: set
default: delete,permdelete
Defines which operations require confirmation:

- delete - moving files to trash (on d or :delete);

- permdelete - permanent deletion of files (on D or :delete! command or on undo/redo operation).

'cpoptions' 'cpo'

type: charset
default: "fst"
Contains a sequence of single-character flags. Each flag enables behaviour of older versions of vifm. Flags:

- f - when included, running :filter command results in not inverted (matching files are filtered out) and :filter! in inverted (matching files are left) filter, when omitted, meaning of the exclamation mark changes to the opposite;

- s - when included, yy, dd and DD normal mode commands act on selection, otherwise they operate on current file only;

- t - when included, <tab> (thus <c-i>) behave as <space> and switch active pane, otherwise <tab> and <c-i> go forward in the view history.

'cvoptions'

type: set
default:
Specifies whether entering/leaving custom views triggers events that normally happen on entering/leaving directories:
- autocmds - trigger autocommands on entering/leaving custom views;
- localopts - reset local options on entering/leaving custom views;
- localfilter - reset local filter on entering/leaving custom views.

'deleteprg'

type: string
default: ""
Specifies program to run on files that are permanently removed. When empty, files are removed as usual, otherwise this command is invoked on each file by appending its name. If the command doesn't remove files, they will remain on the file system.

'dirsize'

type: enumeration
default: size
Controls how size of directories is displayed in file views. The following values are possible:
- size - size of directory (i.e., size used to store list of files)
- nitems - number of entries in the directory (excluding . and ..)

Size obtained via ga/gA overwrites this setting so seeing count of files and occasionally size of directories is possible.

'dotdirs'

type: set
default: nonrootparent
Controls displaying of dot directories. The following values are possible:
- rootparent - show "../" in root directory of file system
- nonrootparent - show "../" in non-root directories of file system

Note that empty directories always contain "../" entry regardless of value of this option. "../" disappears at the moment at least one file is created.

'fastrun'

type: boolean
default: false
With this option turned on you can run partially entered commands with unambiguous beginning using :! (e.g. :!Te instead of :!Terminal or :!Te<tab>).

'fillchars' 'fcs'

type: string list
default: ""
Sets characters used to fill borders.
item default Used for
vborder:c ' ' left, middle and right vertical borders

If value is omitted, its default value is used. Example:

set fillchars=vborder:.

'findprg'

type: string
default: "find %s %a -print , -type d $ ! -readable -o ! -executable $ -prune"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :find command. The format supports expanding of macros, specific for a particular *prg option, and %% sequence for inserting percent sign literally. This option should include the %s macro to specify placement of list of paths to search in and %a or %A macro to specify placement of arguments passed to the :find command. If some of the macros are not used, they will be implicitly added after a space to the value of the option in the following order: %s, %a. Note that when neither %a nor %A are specified, it's %a which is added implicitly.

The macros can slightly change their meaning depending on :find command arguments. When the first argument points to an existing directory, %s is assigned all arguments and %a/%A are left empty. Otherwise, %s is assigned a dot (".") meaning current directory or list of selected file names, if any. %a/%A are assigned arguments when first argument starts with a dash ("-"), otherwise %a gets an escaped version of arguments, prepended by "-name" (on *nix) or "-iname" (on Windows) predicate.

%a and %A macros contain almost the same value, the difference is that %a can be escaped and %A is never escaped. %A is to be used mainly on Windows, where shell escaping is a mess and can break command execution.

Optional %u or %U macro could be used (if both specified %U is chosen) to force redirection to custom or unsorted custom view respectively.

Starting from Windows Server 2003 a where command is available, one can configure vifm to use it in the following way:

set findprg="where /R %s %A"

As the syntax of this command is rather limited, one can't use :find command with selection of more than one item in this case. The command looks for files only completely ignoring directories.

When using find port on Windows, another option is to setup 'findprg' like this:

set findprg="find %s %a"

'followlinks'

type: boolean
default: true
Follow links on l or Enter. That is navigate to destination file instead of treating the link as if it were target file. Doesn't affects links to directories, which are always entered (use gf key for directories).

'fusehome'

type: string
default: "($XDG_DATA_HOME/.local/share | $VIFM)/fuse/"
Directory to be used as a root dir for FUSE mounts. Value of the option can contain environment variables (in form "$envname"), which will be expanded (prepend it with a slash to prevent expansion). The value should expand to an absolute path.

If you change this option, vifm won't remount anything. It affects future mounts only. See "Automatic FUSE mounts" section below for more information.

'gdefault' 'gd'

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

'grepprg'

type: string
default: "grep -n -H -I -r %i %a %s"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :grep command. The format supports expanding of macros, specific for a particular *prg option, and %% sequence for inserting percent sign literally. This option should include the %i macro to specify placement of "-v" string when inversion of results is requested, %a or %A macro to specify placement of arguments passed to the :grep command and the %s macro to specify placement of list of files to search in. If some of the macros are not used, they will be implicitly added after a space to the value of the 'grepprg' option in the following order: %i, %a, %s. Note that when neither %a nor %A are specified, it's %a which is added implicitly.

Optional %u or %U macro could be used (if both specified %U is chosen) to force redirection to custom or unsorted custom view respectively.

See 'findprg' option for description of difference between %a and %A.

Example of setup to use ack (http://beyondgrep.com/) instead of grep:

set grepprg=ack\ -H\ -r\ %i\ %a\ %s

or The Silver Searcher (https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher):

set grepprg=ag\ --line-numbers\ %i\ %a\ %s

'history' 'hi'

type: integer
default: 15
Maximum number of stored items in all histories.

'hlsearch' 'hls'

type: boolean
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 (:substitute, / 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 and view update for local filter is be performed starting from initial cursor position each time search pattern is changed.

'iooptions'

type: set
default:
Controls details of file operations. The following values are available:
- fastfilecloning - perform fast file cloning (copy-on-write), when available
(available on Linux and btrfs file system).

'laststatus' 'ls'

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

'lines'

type: integer
default: terminal height on startup
Terminal height in lines.

'locateprg'

type: string
default: "locate %a"
Specifies format for an external command to be invoked by the :locate command. The format supports expanding of macros, specific for a particular *prg option, and %% sequence for inserting percent sign literally. This option should include the %a macro to specify placement of arguments passed to the :locate command. If the macro is not used, it will be implicitly added after a space to the value of this option.

Optional %u or %U macro could be used (if both specified %U is chosen) to force redirection to custom or unsorted custom view respectively.

'mintimeoutlen'

type: integer
default: 150
The fracture of 'timeoutlen' in milliseconds that is waited between subsequent input polls, which affects various asynchronous operations (detecting changes made by external applications, monitoring background jobs, redrawing UI). There are no strict guarantees, however the higher this value is, the less is CPU load in idle mode.

'lsview'

type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
When this option is set, directory view will be displayed in multiple columns with file names similar to output of `ls -x` command. See "ls-like view" section below for format description.

'number' 'nu'

type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
Print line number in front of each file name when 'lsview' option is turned off. Use 'numberwidth' to control width of line number. Also see 'relativenumber'.

'numberwidth' 'nuw'

type: integer
default: 4
scope: local
Minimal number of characters for line number field.

'relativenumber' 'rnu'

type: boolean
default: false
scope: local
Print relative line number in front of each file name when 'lsview' option is turned off. Use 'numberwidth' to control width of line number. Various combinations of 'number' and 'relativenumber' lead to such results:

nonumber number

'rulerformat' 'ruf'

type: string
default: "%l/%S "
Determines the content of the ruler. Its minimal width is 13 characters and it's right aligned. Following macros are supported:

%= - separation point between left and right aligned halves of the line

%l - file number

%L - total number of files in view (including filtered out ones)

%- - number of filtered out files

%S - number of displayed files

%= - separation point between left and right align items

%% - percent sign

%[ - designates beginning of an optional block

%] - designates end of an optional block

Percent sign can be followed by optional minimum field width. Add '-' before minimum field width if you want field to be right aligned. Note ambiguity with number of filtered out files, which can be resolved with the help of width field ("%0-").

Example:

set rulerformat='%2l-%S%[ +%0-%]'

'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: integer
default: 0
Minimal number of screen lines to keep above and below the cursor. If you want cursor line to always be in the middle of the view (except at the beginning or end of the file list), set this option to some large value (e.g. 999).

'shell' 'sh'

type: string
default: $SHELL or "/bin/sh" or "cmd" (on MS-Windows)
Full path to the shell to use to run external commands. On *nix a shell argument can be supplied.

'shortmess' 'shm'

type: charset
default: "p"
Contains a sequence of single-character flags. Each flag enables shortening of some message displayed by vifm in the TUI. Flags:
T - truncate status-bar messages in the middle if they are too long to fit on the command line. "..." will appear in the middle.
p - use tilde shortening in view titles.

'slowfs'

type: string list
default: ""
only for *nix
A list of mounter fs name beginnings (first column in /etc/mtab or /proc/mounts) or paths prefixes for fs/directories that work too slow for you. This option can be used to stop vifm from making some requests to particular kinds of file systems that can slow down file browsing. Currently this means don't check if directory has changed, skip check if target of symbolic links exists, assume that link target located on slow fs to be a directory (allows entering directories and navigating to files via gf). If you set the option to "*", it means all the systems are considered slow (useful for cygwin, where all the checks might render vifm very slow if there are network mounts).

Example for autofs root /mnt/autofs:

set slowfs+=/mnt/autofs

'smartcase' 'scs'

type: boolean
default: false
Overrides the ignorecase option if 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 on *nix and +iname on Windows
scope: local
Sets list of sorting keys (first item is primary key, second is secondary key, etc.):
   [+-]ext     - extension of files and directories
   [+-]fileext - extension of files only
   [+-]name    - name (including extension)
   [+-]iname   - name (including extension, ignores case)
   [+-]type    - file type (dir/reg/exe/link/char/block/sock/fifo)
   [+-]dir     - directory grouping (directory < file)
   [+-]gid     - group id (*nix only)
   [+-]gname   - group name (*nix only)
   [+-]mode    - file type derived from its mode (*nix only)
   [+-]perms   - permissions string (*nix only)
   [+-]uid     - owner id (*nix only)
   [+-]uname   - owner name (*nix only)
   [+-]nlinks  - number of hard links (*nix only)
   [+-]size    - size
   [+-]nitems  - number of items in a directory (zero for files)
   [+-]groups  - groups extracted via regexps from 'sortgroups'
   [+-]target  - symbolic link target (empty for other file types)
   [+-]atime   - time accessed (e.g. read, executed)
   [+-]ctime   - time changed (changes in metadata, e.g. mode)
   [+-]mtime   - time modified (when file contents is changed)

Note: look for st_atime, st_ctime and st_mtime in "man 2 stat" for more information on time keys.

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

"dir" key is somewhat similar in this regard but it's added implicitly: when "dir" is not specified, sorting behaves as if it was the first key in the list. That's why if one wants sorting algorithm to mix directories and files, "dir" should be appended to sorting option, for example like this:

set sort+=dir

set sort=-size,dir

Value of the option is checked to include dir key and default sorting key (name on *nix, iname on Windows). Here is what happens if one of them is missing:

-: type key is added at the beginning;
-: default key is added at the end;

: all other keys are left untouched (at most they are moved).
This option also changes view columns according to primary sorting key set, unless 'viewcolumns' option is not empty.

'sortnumbers'

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

'sortgroups'

type: string
default: ""
scope: local
Sets comma-separated list of regular expressions to use for group sorting, double comma is literal comma. Each expression should contain at least one group or its value will be considered to be always empty. Only first match of each regular expression is considered. Groups are considered from right to first similar to 'sort', first group divides list of files into sub-groups, each of which is sorted by the second group and so on.

Example:
set sortgroups=-(done|todo).* this would put files with "-done" in their names above all files with "-todo".

'sortorder'

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

'statusline' 'stl'

type: string
default: ""
Determines the content of the status line (the line right above command-line). Empty string means use same format like in previous versions. Following macros are supported:

-: %t - file name (considering value of the 'classify' option)
-: %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
-: %E - size of selected files in human readable format, same as %s when no files are selected, except that it will never show size of ../ in visual mode, since it cannot be selected
-: %d - file modification date (uses 'timefmt' option)
-: %z - short tips/tricks/hints that chosen randomly after one minute period
-: 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

'suggestoptions'

type: string list
default:
Controls when, for what and how suggestions are displayed. The following values are available:
- normal          - in normal mode;
- visual          - in visual mode;
- view            - in view mode;
- otherpane       - use other pane to display suggestions, when available;
- delay[:num]     - display suggestions after a small delay (to do not annoy if you just want to type a fast shortcut consisting of multiple keys), num specifies the delay in ms (500 by default), 'timeoutlen' at most;
- keys            - include shortcuts (commands and selectors);
- marks           - include marks;
- registers[:num] - include registers, at most num files (5 by default).

'syscalls'

type: boolean
default: false
When disabled, vifm will rely on external applications to perform file-system operations, otherwise system calls are used instead (much faster). The feature is {EXPERIMENTAL} and {WORK-IN-PROGRESS}. The option will be eventually removed. Mostly *nix-like systems are affected.

'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 1 date" or "man 3 strftime" for details.

'timeoutlen' 'tm'

type: integer
default: 1000
The time in milliseconds that is waited for a mapped key in case of already typed key sequence is ambiguous.

'title'

type: boolean
default: true when title can be restored, false otherwise
When enabled title of the terminal or terminal multiplexer's window is updated according to current location.

'trash'

type: boolean
default: true
Use trash directory. See "Trash directory" section below.

'trashdir'

type: string
default: on *nix:
   "%r/.vifm-Trash-%u,$VIFM/Trash,%r/.vifm-Trash"
   or if $VIFM/Trash doesn't exist
   "%r/.vifm-Trash-%u,$XDG_DATA_HOME/vifm/Trash,%r/.vifm-Trash"
         on Windows:
   "%r/.vifm-Trash,$XDG_DATA_HOME/vifm/Trash"
List of trash directory path specifications, separated with commas. Each list item either defines an absolute path to trash directory or a path relative to a mount point root when list element starts with "%r/". Value of the option can contain environment variables (of form "$envname"), which will be expanded (prepend $ with a slash to prevent expansion). Environment variables are expanded when the option is set.

On *nix, if element ends with "%u", the mark is replaced with real user ID and permissions are set so that only that only owner is able to use it.
Note that even this setup is not completely secure when combined with "%r/" and it's overall safer to keep files in home directory, but that implies cost of copying files between partitions.

When new file gets cut (deleted) vifm traverses each element of the option in the order of their appearance and uses first trash directory that it was able to create or that is already writable.

Default value tries to use trash directory per mount point and falls back to ~/.vifm/Trash on failure.

Will attempt to create the directory if it does not exist. See "Trash directory" section below.

'tuioptions' 'to'

type: charset
default: "ps"
Each flag configures some aspect of TUI appearance. The flags are:
p - when included:
* file list inside a pane gets additional single character padding on left and right sides;
* quick view and view mode get single character padding.
s - when included, left and right borders (side borders, hence "s" character) are visible.

'undolevels' 'ul'

type: integer
default: 100
Maximum number of changes that can be undone. Note that here single file operation is used as a unit, not operation, i.e. deletion of 101 files will exceed default limit.

'vicmd'

type: string
default: "vim"
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.

'viewcolumns'

type: string
default: ""
scope: local
Format string containing list of columns in the view. When this option is empty view columns to show are chosen automatically using sorting keys (see 'sort') as a base. Value of this option is ignored if 'lsview' is set. See "Column view" section below for format description.

An example of setting the options for both panes (note vifm-windo command):

windo set viewcolumns=-{name}..,6{size},11{perms}

'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,bmarks
Controls what will be saved in the $VIFM/vifminfo file.

   bmarks    - named bookmarks
   bookmarks - marks, except special ones like '< and '>
   tui       - state of the user interface (sorting, number of windows, quick
               view state, active view)
   dhistory  - directory history
   state     - file name and dot filters and terminal multiplexers integration
               state
   cs        - primary color scheme
   savedirs  - save last visited directory (requires dhistory)
   chistory  - command line history
   shistory  - search history (/ and ? commands)
   phistory  - prompt history
   fhistory  - history of local filter (see description of the "=" normal mode
               command)
   dirstack  - directory stack overwrites previous stack, unless stack of
               current session is empty
   registers - registers content
   options   - all options that can be set with the :set command (obsolete)
   filetypes - associated programs and viewers (obsolete)
   commands  - user defined commands (see :command description) (obsolete)

'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.

'wildstyle'

type: enumeration
default: bar
Picks presentation style of wild menu. Possible values:
- bar - one-line with left-to-right cursor
- popup - multi-line with top-to-bottom cursor

'wordchars'

type: string list
default: "1-8,14-31,33-255" (that is all non-whitespace characters)
Specifies which characters in command-line mode should be considered as part of a word. Value of the option is comma-separated list of ranges. If both endpoints of a range match, single endpoint is enough (e.g. "a" = "a-a"). Both endpoints are inclusive. There are two accepted forms: character representing itself or number encoding character according to ASCII table. In case of ambiguous characters (dash, comma, digit) use numeric form. Accepted characters are in the range from 0 to 255. Any Unicode character with code greater than 255 is considered to be part of a word.

The option affects Alt-D, Alt-B and Alt-F, but not Ctrl-W. This is intentionally to allow two use cases:

- Moving by WORDS and deletion by words.
- Moving by words and deletion by WORDS.

To get the latter use the following mapping:

cnoremap <c-w> <a-b><a-d>

Also used for abbreviations.

'wrap'

type: boolean
default: true
Controls whether to wrap text in quick view.

'wrapscan' 'ws'

type: boolean
default: true
Searches wrap around end of the list.

Mappings

Since it's not easy to enter special characters there are several special sequences that can be used in place of them. They are:

<cr>: Enter key.
<esc>: Escape key.
<space>: Space key.
<lt>: Less-than character (<).
<nop>: provides a way to disable a mapping (by mapping it to <nop>).
<bs>: Backspace key (see key conflict description below).
<tab> <s-tab>: Tabulation and Shift+Tabulation keys.
<home> <end>: Home/End.
<left> <right> <up> <down>: Arrow keys.
<pageup> <pagedown>: PageUp/PageDown.
<del> <delete>: Delete key. <del> and <delete> mean different codes, but <delete> is more common.
<c-a>,<c-b>,...,<c-z>,<c-[>,<c->,<c-]>,<c-^>,<c-_>: Control + some key (see key conflict description below).
<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.

Note that due to the way terminals process their input, several keyboard keys might be mapped to single key code, for example:

-: <cr> and <c-m>;
-: <tab> and <c-i>;
-: <c-h> and <bs>;
-: etc.

Most of the time they are defined consistenly and don't cause surprises, but <c-h> and <bs> are treated differently in different environments (although they match each other all the time), that's why they correspond to different keys in vifm. As a consequence, if you map <c-h> or <bs> be sure to map the other one to the same combination so that the mapping will work in all environments.

vifm removes whitespace characters at the beginning and end of commands. That's why you may want to use <space> at the end of rhs in mappings. For example:

cmap <f1> man<space>

will put "man " in line when you hit the <f1> key in the command line mode.

Expression syntax

Supported expressions is a subset of what VimL provides.

Expression syntax summary, from least to most significant:

expr1 expr2 || expr2 .. logical OR

expr2 expr3 && expr3 .. logical AND

expr3 expr4 == expr4 equal
           expr4 != expr4          not equal
           expr4 >  expr4          greater than
           expr4 >= expr4          greater than or equal
           expr4 <  expr4          smaller than
           expr4 <= expr4          smaller than or equal

expr4 expr5 . expr5 .. string concatenation

expr5 - expr5 unary minus
+ expr5 unary plus
! expr5 logical NOT

expr6 number number constant
           "string"                string constant, \ is special
           'string'                string constant, ' is doubled
           &option                 option value
           $VAR                    environment variable
           function(expr1, ...)    function call

".." indicates that the operations in this level can be concatenated.

expr1
-----
expr2 || expr1

Arguments are converted to numbers before evaluation.

Result is non-zero if at least one of arguments is non-zero.

It's right associative and with short-circuiting, so sub-expressions are evaluated from left to right until result of whole expression is determined (i.e., until first non-zero) or end of the expression.

expr2
-----
expr3 && expr2

Arguments are converted to numbers before evaluation.

Result is non-zero only if both arguments are non-zero.

It's right associative and with short-circuiting, so sub-expressions are evaluated from left to right until result of whole expression is determined (i.e., until first zero) or end of the expression.

expr3
-----
expr4 {cmp} expr4

Compare two expr4 expressions, resulting in a 0 if it evaluates to false or 1 if it evaluates to true.

equal ==
not equal !=
greater than >
greater than or equal >=
smaller than <
smaller than or equal <=

Examples:

  'a' ==  'a'         == 1
  'a' >   'b'         == 1
  'a' ==  'b'         == 0
  '2' >   'b'         == 0
   2  >   'b'         == 1
   2  >   '1b'        == 1
   2  >   '9b'        == 0
  -1  == -'1'         == 1
   0  ==  '--1'       == 1

expr4
-----
expr5 . expr5 .. string concatenation

Examples:

'a' . 'b' == 'ab'
'aaa' . '' . 'c' == 'aaac'

expr5
-----

- expr5 unary minus
+ expr5 unary plus
! expr5 logical NOT

For '-' the sign of the number is changed.
For '+' the number is unchanged.
For '!' non-zero becomes zero, zero becomes one.

A String will be converted to a Number first.

These operations can be repeated and mixed. Examples:

   --9                == 9
  ---9                == -9
   -+9                == 9
   !-9                == 0
   !''                == 1
  !'x'                == 0
   !!9                == 1

expr6
-----

number number constant
-----

Decimal number. Examples:

  0                   == 0
  0000                == 0
  01                  == 1
  123                 == 123
  10000               == 10000

string
------
"string" string constant

Note that double quotes are used.

A string constant accepts these special characters:

  \b      backspace <bs>

  \e      escape <esc>

  \n      newline

  \r      return <cr>

  \t      tab <tab>

  \\      backslash

  \"      double quote

Examples:

"\"Hello,\tWorld!\""
"Hi,\nthere!"

literal-string
--------------
'string' string constant

Note that single quotes are used.

This string is taken as it is. No backslashes are removed or have a special meaning. The only exception is that two quotes stand for one quote.

Examples:

'All\slashes\are\saved.'
'This string contains doubled single quotes ''here'''

option
------
&option option value (local one is preferred, if exists) &g:option global option value &l:option local option value

Examples:

echo 'Terminal size: '.&columns.'x'.&lines
if &columns > 100

Any valid option name can be used here (note that "all" in ":set all" is a pseudo option). See ":set options" section above.

environment variable
--------------------
$VAR environment variable

The String value of any environment variable. When it is not defined, the result is an empty string.

Examples:

'This is my $PATH env: ' . $PATH
'vifmrc at ' . $MYVIFMRC . ' is used.'

function call
-------------
function(expr1, ...) function call

See "Functions" section below.

Examples:

"'" . filetype('.') . "'"
filetype('.') == 'reg'

Functions

USAGE RESULT DESCRIPTION

chooseopt({opt}) String Queries choose parameters passed on startup.
executable({expr}) Integer Checks whether {expr} command available.
expand({expr}) String Expands special keywords in {expr}.
filetype({fnum}) String Returns file type from position.
getpanetype() String Returns type of current pane.
has({property}) Integer Checks whether instance has {property}.
layoutis({type}) Integer Checks whether layout is of type {type}.
paneisat({loc}) Integer Checks whether current pane is at {loc}.
system({command}) String Executes shell command and returns its output.

chooseopt({opt})

Retrieves values of options related to file choosing. {opt} can be one of:
    files      returns argument of --choose-files or empty string
    dir        returns argument of --choose-dir or empty string
    cmd        returns argument of --on-choose or empty string
    delimiter  returns argument of --delimiter or the default one (\n)

executable({expr})

If {expr} is absolute or relative path, checks whether path destination exists and refers to an executable, otherwise checks whether command named {expr} is present in directories listed in $PATH. Checks for various executable extensions on Windows. Returns boolean value describing result of the check.

Example:

  " use custom default viewer script if it's available and installed
  " in predefined system directory, otherwise try to find it elsewhere
  if executable('/usr/local/bin/defviewer')
      fileview * /usr/local/bin/defviewer %c
  else
      if executable('defviewer')
          fileview * defviewer %c
      endif
  endif

expand({expr})

Expands environment variables and macros in {expr} just like it's done for command-line commands. Returns a string. See "Command macros" section above.

Examples:

  " percent sign
  :echo expand('%%')
  " the last part of directory name of the other pane
  :echo expand('%D:t')
  " $PATH environment variable (same as `:echo $PATH`)
  :echo expand('$PATH')

filetype({fnum})

The result is a string, which represents file type and is one of the list:
    exe    executables
    reg    regular files
    link   symbolic links
    dir    directories
    char   character devices
    block  block devices
    fifo   pipes
    sock   *nix domain sockets
    ?      unknown file type (should never appear)

Parameter {fnum} can have following values:
- '.' to get type of file under the cursor in the active pane

getpanetype()

Retrieves string describing type of current pane. Possible return values:
    regular      regular file listing of some directory
    custom       custom file list (%u)
    very-custom  very custom file list (%U)

has({property})

Allows examining internal parameters from scripts to e.g. figure out environment in which application is running. Returns 1 if property is true/present, otherwise 0 is returned. Currently the following properties are supported (anything else will yield 0):
unix runs in *nix-like environment (including Cygwin)
win runs on Windows

Usage example:

  " skip user/group on Windows
  if !has('win')
      let $RIGHTS = '%10u:%-7g '
  endif

execute 'set' 'statusline=" %t%= %A '.$RIGHTS.'%15E %20d "'

layoutis({type})

Checks whether current interface layout is {type} or not, where {type} can be:
    only    single-pane mode
    split   double-pane mode (either vertical or horizon split)
    vsplit  vertical split (left and right panes)
    hsplit  horizontal split (top and bottom panes)

Usage example:

" automatically split vertically before enabling preview
:nnoremap w :if layoutis('only') | vsplit | endif | view<cr>

paneisat({loc})

Checks whether position of active pane in current layout matches one of the following locations:
    top     pane reaches top border
    bottom  pane reaches bottom border
    left    pane reaches left border
    right   pane reaches right border

system({command})

Runs the command in shell and returns its output (joined standard output and standard error streams). All trailing newline characters are stripped to allow easy appending to command output. Ctrl-C should interrupt the command.

Usage example:

" command to enter .git/ directory of git-repository (when ran inside one)
command! cdgit :execute 'cd' system('git rev-parse --git-dir')

Menus and dialogs

When navigating to some path from a menu there is a difference in end location depending on whether path has trailing slash or not. Files normally don't have trailing slashes so "file/" won't work and one can only navigate to a file anyway. On the other hand with directories there are two options: navigate to a directory or inside of it. To allow both use cases, the first one is used on paths like "dir" and the second one for "dir/".

Commands

:range navigate to a menu line.

:exi[t][!] :q[uit][!] :x[it][!]: leave menu mode.
:noh[lsearch]: reset search match highlighting.
:w[rite] {dest}: write all menu lines into file specified by {dest}.

General

j, Ctrl-N - move down.
k, Ctrl-P - move up.
Enter, l - select and exit the menu.
Ctrl-L - redraw the menu.

Escape, Ctrl-C, ZZ, ZQ, q - quit.

In all menus

The following set of keys has the same meaning as in normal mode.

Ctrl-B, Ctrl-F
Ctrl-D, Ctrl-U
Ctrl-E, Ctrl-Y
/, ?
n, N
[count]G, [count]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.

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

b - interpret content of the menu as list of paths and use it to create custom view in place of previously active pane. See "Custom views" section below.
B - same as above, but creates unsorted view.

v - load menu content into quickfix list of the editor (Vim compatible by assumption) or if list doesn't have separators after file names (colons) open each line as a file name.

Below is description of additional commands and reaction on selection in some menus and dialogs.

Apropos menu

Selecting menu item run man on a given topic. Menu won't be closed automatically to allow view several pages one by one.

Command-line mode abbreviations menu

Type dd on an abbreviation to remove it.

c leaves menu preserving file selection and inserts right-hand side of selected command into command-line.

Color scheme menu

Selecting name of a color scheme applies it the same way as if ":colorscheme <name>" was executed on the command-line.

Commands menu

Selecting command executes it with empty arguments (%a).

dd on a command to remove.

Marks menu

Selecting mark navigates to it.

dd on a mark to remove it.

Bookmarks menu

Selecting a bookmark navigates to it.

Type dd on a bookmark to remove it.

gf and e also work to make it more convenient to bookmark files.

Trash (:lstrash) menu

r on a file name to restore it from trash.

dd deletes file under the cursor.

Trashes menu

dd empties selected trash in background.

Directory history and Trashes menus

Selecting directory name will change directory of the current view as if :cd command was used.

Directory stack menu

Selecting directory name will rotate stack to put selected directory pair at the top of the stack.

Filetype menu

Commands from vifmrc or typed in command-line are displayed above empty line. All commands below empty line are from .desktop files.

c leaves menu preserving file selection and inserts command after :! in command-line mode.

Grep, find, locate, bookmarks and user menu with navigation (%M macro)

gf - navigate previously active view to currently selected item. Leaves menu mode except for grep menu. Pressing Enter key has the same effect.

e - open selected path in the editor, stays in menu mode.

c - leave menu preserving file selection and insert file name after :! in command-line mode.

User menu without navigation (%m macro)

c leaves menu preserving file selection and inserts whole line after :! in command-line mode.

Grep menu

Selecting file (via Enter or l key) opens it in editor set by 'vicmd' at given line number. Menu won't be closed automatically to allow viewing more than one result.

See above for "gf" and "e" keys description.

Command-line history menu

Selecting an item executes it as command-line command, search query or local filter.

c leaves menu preserving file selection and inserts line into command-line of appropriate kind.

Volumes menu

Selecting a drive navigates previously active pane to the root of that drive.

Fileinfo dialog

Enter, q - close dialog

Sort dialog

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

One shortcut per sorting key (see the dialog).

Attributes (permissions or properties) dialog

h, 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're not on OS X and want to remove execute permission bit from all files, but preserve it for directories, set all execute flags to 'd' and check 'Set Recursively' flag.

Custom views

Definition

Normally file views contain list of files from a single directory, but sometimes it's useful to populate them with list of files that do not belong to the same directory, which is what custom views are for.

Presentation

Custom views are still related to directory they were in before custom list was loaded. Path to that directory (original directory) can be seen in the title of a custom view.

Files in same directory have to be named differently, this doesn't hold for custom views thus seeing just file names might be rather confusing. In order to give an idea where files come from and when possible, relative paths to original directory of the view is displayed, otherwise full path is used instead.

Custom views normally don't contain any inexistent files.

Navigation

Custom views have some differences related to navigation in regular views.

gf - acts similar to gf on symbolic links and navigates to the file at its real
location.

h, gh - return to the original directory.

Opening ".." entry also causes return to the original directory.

History

Custom list exists only while it's visible, once left one can't return to it, so there is no appearances of it in any history.

Filters

Only local filter affects content of the view. This is intentional, presumably if one loads list, precisely that list should be displayed (except for inexistent paths, which are ignored).

Search

Although directory names are visible in listing, they are not searchable. Only file names are taken into account (might be changed in future, searching whole lines seems quite reasonable).

Sorting

Contrary to search sorting by name works on whole visible part of file path.

Highlight

Whole file name is highlighted as one entity, even if there are directory elements.

Updates

Reloads can occur, though they are not automatic due to files being scattered among different places. On a reload, inexistent files are removed and meta-data of all other files is updated.

Once custom view forgets about the file, it won't add it back even if it's created again. So not seeing file previously affected by an operation, which was undone is normal.

Operations

All operations that add files are forbidden for custom views. For example, moving/copying/putting files into a custom view doesn't work, because it doesn't make much sense.

On the other hand, operations that use files of a custom view as a source (e.g. yanking, copying, moving file from custom view, deletion) and operations that modify names are all allowed.

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 (on Windows only);
- a combination of $HOMEDRIVE and $HOMEPATH variables (on Windows only).

vifm tries to find correct configuration directory by checking the following places:
- $VIFM variable;
- parent directory of the executable file (on Windows only);
- $HOME/.vifm directory;
- $APPDATA/Vifm directory (on Windows only);
- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vifm directory;
- $HOME/.config/vifm directory.

vifm tries to find correct configuration file by checking the following places:
- $MYVIFMRC variable;
- vifmrc in parent directory of the executable file (on Windows only);
- $VIFM/vifmrc file.

Configure

See "Startup" section above for the explanations on $VIFM and $MYVIFMRC.

The vifmrc file contains commands that will be executed on vifm startup. There are two such files: global and local. Global one is at {prefix}/etc/vifm/vifmrc, see $MYVIFMRC variable description for the search algorithm used to find local vifmrc. Global vifmrc is loaded before the local one, so that the later one can redefine anything configured globally.

Use vifmrc to set settings, mappings, filetypes etc. To use multi line commands precede each next line with a slash (whitespace before slash is ignored, but all spaces at the end of the lines are saved). For example:

set
\smartcase

equals "setsmartcase". When

set<space here>
\ smartcase

equals "set smartcase".

The $VIFM/vifminfo file contains 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. Marks, bookmarks, commands, histories, filetypes, fileviewers and registers in the file are merged with vifm configuration (which has bigger priority).

Generally, runtime configuration has bigger priority during merging, but there are some exceptions:

-: directory stack stored in the file is not overwritten unless something is changed in vifm session that performs merge;
-: each mark or bookmark is marked with a timestamp, so that newer value is not overwritten by older one, thus no matter from where it comes, the newer one wins.

The $VIFM/scripts directory can contain shell scripts. vifm modifies its PATH environment variable to let user run those scripts without specifying full path. All subdirectories of the $VIFM/scripts will be added to PATH too. Script in a subdirectory overlaps script with the same name in all its parent directories.

The $VIFM/colors/ and {prefix}/etc/vifm/colors/ directories contain color schemes. Available color schemes are searched in that order, so on name conflict the one in $VIFM/colors/ wins.

Each color scheme should have ".vifm" extension. This wasn't the case before and for this reason the following rules apply during lookup:

-: if there is no file with .vifm extension, all regular files are listed;
-: otherwise only files with .vifm extension are listed (with the extension being truncated).

Automatic FUSE mounts

vifm has a builtin support of automated FUSE file system mounts. It is implemented using file associations mechanism. To enable automated mounts, one needs to use a specially formatted program line in filetype or filextype commands. Currently two formats are supported:

1) FUSE_MOUNT This format should be used in case when all information needed for mounting all files of a particular type is the same. E.g. mounting of tar files don't require any file specific options.

Format line:
FUSE_MOUNT|mounter %SOURCE_FILE %DESTINATION_DIR [%FOREGROUND]

Example filetype command:

:filetype FUSE_MOUNT|fuse-zip %SOURCE_FILE %DESTINATION_DIR

2) FUSE_MOUNT2 This format allows one to use specially formatted files to perform mounting and is useful for mounting remotes, for example remote file systems over ftp or ssh.

Format line:
FUSE_MOUNT2|mounter %PARAM %DESTINATION_DIR [%FOREGROUND]

Example filetype command:

:filetype FUSE_MOUNT2|sshfs %PARAM %DESTINATION_DIR

Example file content:

[email protected]:/

All % macros are expanded by vifm at runtime and have the following meaning:
  - %SOURCE_FILE is replaced by full path to selected file;
  - %DESTINATION_DIR is replaced by full path to mount directory, which is created by vifm basing on the value of 'fusehome' option;
  - %PARAM value is filled from the first line of file (whole line), though in the future it can be changed to whole file content;
  - %FOREGROUND means that you want to run mount command as a regular command (required to be able to provide input for communication with mounter in interactive way).

%FOREGROUND is an optional macro. Other macros are not mandatory, but mount commands likely won't work without them.

%CLEAR is obsolete name of %FOREGROUND, which is still supported, but might be removed in future. Its use is discouraged.

The mounted FUSE file systems will be automatically unmounted in two cases:

-: when vifm quits (with ZZ, :q, etc. or when killed by signal);
-: when you explicitly leave mount point going up to its parent directory (with h, Enter on "../" or ":cd ..") and other pane is not in the same directory or its child directories.

View look

vifm supports displaying of file list view in two different ways:

-: in a table mode, when multiple columns can be set using 'viewcolumns' option (see "Column view" section below for details);
-: in a multicolumn list manner which looks almost like `ls -x` command output (see "ls-like view" section below for details).

The look is local for each view and can be chosen by changing value of the 'lsview' boolean option.

Depending on view look some of keys change their meaning to allow more natural cursor moving. This concerns mainly h, j, k, l and other similar navigation keys.

Also some of options can be ignored if they don't affect view displaying in selected look. For example value of 'viewcolumns' when 'lsview' is set.

ls-like view

When this view look is enabled by setting 'lsview' option on, vifm will display files in multiple columns. Number of columns depends on the length of the longest file name present in current directory of the view. Whole file list is automatically reflowed on directory change, terminal or view resize.

View looks close to output of `ls -x` command, so files are listed left to right in rows.

In this mode file manipulation commands (e.g. d) don't work line-wise like they do in Vim, since such operations would be uncommon for file manipulating tasks. Thus, for example, dd will remove only current file.

Column view

View columns are described by a comma-separated list of column descriptions, each of which has the following format
[ '-' ] [ fw ( [ '.' tw ] | '%' ) ] '{' type '}' '.'{0,3}
where fw stands for full width and tw stands for text width.

So it basically consists of four parts:
1. Optional alignment specifier
2. Optional width specifier
3. Mandatory column name
4. Optional cropping specifier

Alignment specifier

It's an optional minus or asterisk sign as the first symbol of the string.

Specifies type of text alignment within a column. Three types are supported:

-

left align

set viewcolumns=-{name}

-

right align (default)

set viewcolumns={name}

-

dynamic align

It's like left alignment, but when the text is bigger than the column, the alignment is made at the right (so the part of the field is always visible).

set viewcolumns=*{name}

Width specifier

It's a number followed by a percent sign, two numbers (second one should be less than or equal to the first one) separated with a dot or a single number.

Specifies column width and its units. There are three size types:

-

absolute size - column width is specified in characters

set viewcolumns=-100{name},20.15{ext}

results in two columns with lengths of 100 and 20 and a reserved space of five characters on the left of second column.

-

relative (percent) size - column width is specified in percents of view width

set viewcolumns=-80%{name},15%{ext},5%{mtime}

results in three columns with lengths of 80/100, 15/100 and 5/100 of view width.

-

auto size (default) - column width is automatically determined

set viewcolumns=-{name},{ext},{mtime}

results in three columns with length of one third of view width. There is no size adjustment to content, since it will slow down rendering.

Columns of different sizing types can be freely mixed in one view. Though sometimes some of columns can be seen partly or be completely invisible if there is not enough space to display them.

Column name

This is just a sort key surrounded with curly braces, e.g.

{name},{ext},{mtime}

{name} and {iname} keys are the same and present both for consistency with 'sort' option.

Empty curly braces ({}) are replaced with the default secondary column for primary sort key. So after the next command view will be displayed almost as if 'viewcolumns' is empty, but adding ellipsis for long file names:

set viewcolumns=-{name}..,6{}.

Cropping specifier

It's from one to three dots after closing curly brace in column format.

Specifies type of text truncation if it doesn't fit in the column. Currently three types are supported:

-

truncation - text is truncated

set viewcolumns=-{name}.

results in truncation of names that are too long too fit in the view.

-

adding of ellipsis - ellipsis on the left or right are added when needed

set viewcolumns=-{name}..

results in that ellipsis are added at the end of too long file names.

-

none (default) - text can pass column boundaries

set viewcolumns=-{name}...,{ext}

results in that long file names can partially be written on the ext column.

Color schemes

The color schemes in vifm can be applied in two different ways:

-: as the primary color scheme;
-: as local to a pane color scheme.

Both types are set using :colorscheme command, but of different forms:

-: :colorscheme color_scheme_name - for the primary color scheme;
-: :colorscheme color_scheme_name directory - for local color schemes.

Look of different parts of the TUI (Text User Interface) is determined in this way:

-: Border, TopLineSel, TopLine, CmdLine, ErrorMsg, StatusLine, JobLine, SuggestBox and WildMenu are always determined by the primary color scheme;
-: CurrLine, Selected, Directory, Link, BrokenLink, Socket, Device, Executable, Fifo and Win are determined by primary color scheme and a set of local color schemes, which can be empty.

There might be a set of local color schemes because they are structured hierarchically according to file system structure. For example, having the following piece of file system:

  ~
  `-- bin
     |
     `-- my

Two color schemes:

  # ~/.vifm/colors/for_bin
  highlight Win cterm=none ctermfg=white ctermbg=red
  highlight CurrLine cterm=none ctermfg=red ctermbg=black

# ~/.vifm/colors/for_bin_my
highlight CurrLine cterm=none ctermfg=green ctermbg=black

And these three commands in the vifmrc file:

  colorscheme Default
  colorscheme for_bin ~/bin
  colorscheme for_bin_my ~/bin/my

File list will look in the following way for each level:

-: ~/ - Default color scheme
black background
cursor with blue background
-: ~/bin/ - mix of Default and for_bin color schemes
red background
cursor with black background and red foreground
-: ~/bin/my/ - mix of Default, for_bin and for_bin_my color schemes
red background
cursor with black background and green foreground

Trash directory

vifm has support of trash directory, which is used as temporary storage for deleted files or files that were cut. Using trash is controlled by the 'trash' option, and exact path to the trash can be set with 'trashdir' option. Trash directory in vifm differs from the system-wide one by default, because of possible incompatibilities of storing deleted files among different file managers. But one can set 'trashdir' to "~/.local/share/Trash" to use a "standard" trash directory.

There are two scenarios of using trash in vifm:

1.: As a place for storing files that were cut by "d" and may be inserted to some other place in file system.
2.: As a storage of files, that are deleted but not purged yet.

The first scenario uses deletion ("d") operations to put files to trash and put ("p") operations to restore files from trash directory. Note that such operations move files to and from trash directory, which can be long term operations in case of different partitions or remote drives mounted locally.

The second scenario uses deletion ("d") operations for moving files to trash directory and :empty command-line command to purge all previously deleted files.

Deletion and put operations depend on registers, which can point to files in trash directory. Normally, there are no nonexistent files in registers, but vifm doesn't keep track of modifications under trash directory, so one shouldn't expect value of registers to be absolutely correct if trash directory was modified not by operation that are meant for it. But this won't lead to any issues with operations, since they ignore nonexistent files.

Client-Server

vifm supports remote execution of command-line mode commands as well as remote changing of directories. This is possible using --remote command-line argument.

To execute a command remotely combine --remote argument with -c <command> or +<command>. For example:

vifm --remote -c 'cd /'
vifm --remote '+cd /'

To change directory not using command-line mode commands one can specify paths right after --remote argument, like this:

  vifm --remote /
  vifm --remote ~
  vifm --remote /usr/bin /tmp

At the moment there is no way of specifying, which instance of vifm should arguments be sent. The main purpose of --remote argument is to provide support of using vifm as a single-instance application.

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. After arguments are checked, vifm process is spawned in a special "file-picker" mode. To pick files just open them either by pressing l, i or Enter keys, or by running :edit command. If no files are selected, file under the cursor is opened, otherwise whole selection is passed to the plugin and opened in vim.

The plugin have only two settings. It's a string variable named g:vifm_term to let user specify command to run GUI terminal. By default it's equal to 'xterm -e'. And another string variable named g:vifm_exec, which equals "vifm" by default and specifies path to vifm's executable. To pass arguments to vifm use g:vifm_exec_args, which is empty by default.

To use the plugin copy the vifm.vim file to either the system wide vim/plugin directory or into ~/.vim/plugin.

If you would prefer not to use the plugin and it is in the system wide plugin directory add

let loaded_vifm=1

to your ~/.vimrc file.

Reserved

The following command names are reserved and shouldn't be used for user commands.

g[lobal]
v[global]

ENVIRONMENT

VIFM: Points to main configuration directory (usually ~/.vifm/).
MYVIFMRC: Points to main configuration file (usually ~/.vifm/vifmrc).

These environment variables are valid inside vifm and also can be used to configure it by setting some of them before running vifm.

When $MYVIFMRC isn't set, it's made as $VIFM/vifmrc (exception for Windows: vifmrc in the same directory as vifm.exe has higher priority than $VIFM/vifmrc).

See "Startup" section above for more details.

VIFM_FUSE_FILE: On execution of external commands this variable is set to the full path of file used to initiate FUSE mount of the closes mount point from current pane directory up. It's not set when outside FUSE mount point. When vifm is used inside terminal multiplexer, it tries to set this variable as well (it doesn't work this way on its own).

AUTHOR

Vifm was written by ksteen <[email protected]>
And currently is developed by xaizek <[email protected]>

SYNOPSIS

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

Pasting special values

Command line editing

More Mode

Commands

Ranges

Command macros

Command backgrounding

Cancellation

Patterns

Globs

:set options

Mappings

Expression syntax

Functions

Menus and dialogs

Custom views

Startup

Configure

Automatic FUSE mounts

View look

ls-like view

Column view

Color schemes

Trash directory

Client-Server

Plugin

Reserved

ENVIRONMENT

AUTHOR

SEE ALSO

LAST SEARCHED