lf (as in “list files”) is an open source terminal file manager written in Go. It is heavily inspired by Ranger with some missing and extra features. Some of the missing features are deliberately omitted since they are better handled by external tools.
lf uses the underlying ‘cp’ and ‘mv’ shell commands for file operations. By default, lf does not provide an actual file deletion command to protect new users. You can define such a command and optionally assign a key.
lf tries to automatically adapt its colors to the environment. The software uses termbox-go for its user interface.
Key Features
- Single binary without any runtime dependencies (except for terminfo database).
- Fast startup and low memory footprint (due to native code and static binaries).
- Server/client architecture to share file selection between multiple instances.
- Configuration with shell commands.
- Customizable keybindings (vi and readline defaults).
- Command prefixes:
- : read (default) builtin/custom command.
- $ shell shell command.
- % shell-pipe shell command running with the ui.
- ! shell-wait shell command waiting for key press.
- & shell-async shell command running asynchronously.
- / search search file in current directory.
- ? search-back search file in the reverse order.
- Bind cd commands in the config file which acts like bookmarks.
- Preview filtering (for source highlight, archives, pdfs/images as text etc). lf previews files on the preview pane by printing the file until the end or the preview pane is filled.
- Case-insensitive searches.
- Persistent history using a history file. History file is currently limited to 1,000 commands.
- Sort by natural, size, and time.
- Unicode support.
Website: godoc.org/github.com/gokcehan/lf
Support: Tutorial, GitHub Code Repository
Developer: Gokcehan
License: MIT License
lf is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
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| GNOME Commander | Orthodox file manager for the GNOME desktop environment |
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| CliFM | Shell-like, command line terminal file manager |
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Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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