diff options
Diffstat (limited to '')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/man/mc.1.in | 4331 |
1 files changed, 4331 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/man/mc.1.in b/doc/man/mc.1.in new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6aad0e --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/man/mc.1.in @@ -0,0 +1,4331 @@ +.\" -*- mode: troff; coding: UTF-8 -*- +.\"TOPICS "Topics:" +.TH MC 1 "%DATE_OF_MAN_PAGE%" "MC Version %MAN_VERSION%" "GNU Midnight Commander" +.\"SKIP_SECTION" +.SH "NAME" +mc \- Visual shell for Unix\-like systems. +.\"SKIP_SECTION" +.SH "SYNOPSIS" +.B mc +[\-abcCdfhPstuUVx] [\-l log] [dir1 [dir2]] [\-e [file] ...] [\-v file] +.\"NODE "DESCRIPTION" +.SH "DESCRIPTION" +GNU Midnight Commander is a directory browser/file manager for +Unix\-like operating systems. +.\"NODE "OPTIONS" +.\"DONT_SPLIT" +.SH "OPTIONS" +.TP +.I \-a, \-\-stickchars +Disable usage of graphic characters for line drawing. +.TP +.I \-b, \-\-nocolor +Force black and white display. +.TP +.I \-c, \-\-color +Force color mode, please check the section +.\"LINK2" +Colors +.\"Colors" +for more information. +.TP +.I \-C arg, \-\-colors=arg +Specify a different color set in the command line. The format of arg is +documented in the +.\"LINK2" +Colors +.\"Colors" +section. +.TP +.I \-\-configure\-options +Display configure options. +.TP +.I \-d, \-\-nomouse +Disable mouse support. +.TP +.I \-e [file], \-\-edit[=file] +Start the internal editor. If the file is specified, open it on +startup. See also +.BR "mcedit (1)" . +.TP +.I \-f, \-\-datadir +Display the compiled\-in search paths for Midnight Commander files. +.TP +.I \-F, \-\-datadir\-info +Display extended info about compiled\-in paths for +Midnight Commander. +.TP +.I \-g, \-\-oldmouse +Force a "normal tracking" mouse mode. Used when running on +xterm\-capable terminals (tmux/screen). +.TP +.I \-k, \-\-resetsoft +Reset softkeys to their default from the termcap/terminfo +database. Only useful on HP terminals when the function keys don't work. +.TP +.I \-K file, \-\-keymap=file +Specify a name of keymap file in the command line. +.TP +.I \-l file, \-\-ftplog=file +Save the ftpfs dialog with the server in file. +.TP +.I \-\-nokeymap +Don't load key bindings from any file, use default hardcoded keys. +.TP +.I \-P file, \-\-printwd=file +Print the last working directory to the specified file. This option is +not meant to be used directly. Instead, it's used from a special shell +script that automatically changes the current directory of the shell to +the last directory Midnight Commander was in. Source the file +.B %pkglibexecdir%/mc.sh +(bash and zsh users) or +.B %libexecdir%/mc.csh +(tcsh users) respectively to define +.B mc +as an alias to the appropriate shell script. +.TP +.I \-s, \-\-slow +Turn on the slow terminal mode, in this mode the program will not draw +expensive line drawing characters and will toggle verbose mode off. +.TP +.I \-S arg, \-\-skin=arg +Specify a name of skin in the command line. Technology of skins is +documented in the +.\"LINK2" +Skins +.\"Skins" +section. +.TP +.I \-t, \-\-termcap +Used only if the code was compiled with S\-Lang and terminfo: it makes +Midnight Commander use the value of the +.B TERMCAP +variable for the terminal information instead of the information on +the system wide terminal database +.TP +.I \-u, \-\-nosubshell +Disable use of the concurrent shell (only makes sense if Midnight +Commander has been built with concurrent shell support). +.TP +.I \-U, \-\-subshell +Enable use of the concurrent shell support (only makes sense if the +Midnight Commander was built with the subshell support set as an +optional feature). +.TP +.I \-v file, \-\-view=file +Start the internal viewer to view the specified file. See also +.BR "mcview (1)" . +.TP +.I \-V, \-\-version +Display the version of the program. +.TP +.I \-x, \-\-xterm +Force xterm mode. Used when running on xterm\-capable terminals (two +screen modes, and able to send mouse escape sequences). +.TP +.I \-X, \-\-no\-x11 +Do not use X11 to get the state of modifiers Alt, Ctrl, Shift +.PP +If both paths are specified, the first path name is the directory to show +in the active panel; the second path name is the directory to be shown in +the other panel. +.PP +If one path is specified, the path name is the directory to show +in the active panel; value of "other_dir" from panels.ini is the directory +to be shown in the passive panel. +.PP +If no paths are specified, current directory is shown in the active panel; +value of "other_dir" from panels.ini is the directory to be shown in +the passive panel. +.\"NODE "Overview" +.SH "Overview" +The screen of Midnight Commander is divided into four parts. +Almost all of the screen space is taken up by two directory panels. +By default, the second line from the bottom of the screen is the +shell command line, and the bottom line shows the function key labels. +The topmost line is the +.\"LINK2" +menu bar line\&. +.\"Menu Bar" +The menu bar line may not be visible, but appears if you click the +topmost line with the mouse or press the F9 key. +.PP +Midnight Commander provides a view of two directories at the same +time. One of the panels is the current panel (a selection bar is in +the current panel). Almost all operations take place on the current +panel. Some file operations like Rename and Copy by default use the +directory of the unselected panel as a destination (don't worry, they +always ask you for confirmation first). For more information, see the +sections on the +.\"LINK2" +Directory Panels\&, +.\"Directory Panels" +the +.\"LINK2" +Left and Right Menus +.\"Left and Right Menus" +and the +.\"LINK2" +File Menu\&. +.\"File Menu" +.PP +You can execute system commands from Midnight Commander by simply +typing them. Everything you type will appear on the shell command line, +and when you press Enter, Midnight Commander will execute the +command line you typed; read the +.\"LINK2" +Shell Command Line +.\"Shell Command Line" +and +.\"LINK2" +Input Line Keys +.\"Input Line Keys" +sections to learn more about the command line. +.\"NODE "Mouse Support" +.SH "Mouse Support" +Midnight Commander comes with mouse support. It is activated +whenever you are running on an +.B xterm(1) +terminal (it even works if you take a telnet, ssh or rlogin connection to +another machine from the xterm) or if you are running on a Linux +console and have the +.B gpm +mouse server running. +.PP +When you left click on a file in the directory panels, that file is +selected; if you click with the right button, the file is marked (or +unmarked, depending on the previous state). +.PP +Double\-clicking on a file will try to execute the command if it is +an executable program; and if the +.\"LINK2" +extension file +.\"Edit Extension File" +has a program specified for the file's extension, the specified +program is executed. +.PP +Also, it is possible to execute the commands assigned to the function +key labels by clicking on them. +.PP +The default auto repeat rate for the mouse buttons is 400 +milliseconds. This may be changed to other values by editing the +.\"LINK2" +\&~/.config/mc/ini +.\"Save Setup" +file and changing the +.I mouse_repeat_rate +parameter. +.PP +If you are running Midnight Commander with the mouse support, you +can get the default mouse behavior (cutting and pasting text) by holding +down the Shift key. +.SH "" +.\"NODE "Keys" +.SH "Keys" +Some commands in Midnight Commander involve the use of the +.I Control +(sometimes labeled CTRL or CTL) and the +.I Meta +(sometimes labeled ALT or even Compose) keys. In this manual we will +use the following abbreviations: +.TP +.B C\-<chr> +means hold the Control key while typing the character <chr>. +Thus C\-f would be: hold the Control key and type f. +.TP +.B Alt\-<chr> +means hold the Meta or Alt key down while typing <chr>. +If there is no Meta or Alt key, type +.IR Esc , +release it, then type the character <chr>. +.TP +.B S\-<chr> +means hold the Shift key down while typing <chr>. +.PP +All input lines in Midnight Commander use an approximation to +the GNU Emacs editor's key bindings (default). +.PP +You may redefine key bindings. See +.\"LINK2" +.I redefine hotkey bindings +.\"Keys_redefine" +.PP +for more info. All other key bindings (described in this manual) are relative +to default behavior. + +.PP +There are many sections which tell about the keys. The following are +the most important. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +File Menu +.\"File Menu" +section documents the keyboard shortcuts for the commands appearing in +the File menu. This section includes the function keys. Most of these +commands perform some action, usually on the selected file or the +tagged files. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Directory Panels +.\"Directory Panels" +section documents the keys which select a file or tag files as a +target for a later action (the action is usually one from the file +menu). +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Shell Command Line +.\"Shell Command Line" +section list the keys which are used for entering and editing command +lines. Most of these copy file names and such from the directory +panels to the command line (to avoid excessive typing) or access the +command line history. +.PP +.\"LINK2" +Input Line Keys +.\"Input Line Keys" +are used for editing input lines. This means both the command line and +the input lines in the query dialogs. + +.\"NODE " Keys_redefine" +.SH " Redefine hotkey bindings" +Hotkey bindings may be read from external file (keymap\-file). +Initially, Midnight Commander creates key bindings using keymap defined +in the source code. Then, two files +.B %pkgdatadir%/mc.keymap +and +.B %sysconfdir%/mc/mc.keymap +are loaded always, sequentially reassigned key bindings defined earlier. +User\-defined keymap\-file is searched on the following algorithm (to the first one found): +.IP +.br +1) command line option +.B \-K <keymap> +or +.B \-\-keymap=<keymap> +.br +2) Environment variable +.B MC_KEYMAP +.br +3) Parameter +.B keymap +in section +.B [Midnight\-Commander] +of config file. +.br +4) File +.B ~/.config/mc/mc.keymap +.br +.PP +Command line option, environment variable and parameter in config file may +contain the absolute path to the keymap\-file (with the extension \.keymap +or without it). Search of keymap\-file will occur in (to the first one found): +.IP +.br +1) +.B ~/.config/mc +.br +2) +.B %sysconfdir%/mc/ +.br +3) +.B %pkgdatadir%/ + +.\"NODE " Miscellaneous Keys" +.SH " Miscellaneous Keys" +Here are some keys which don't fall into any of the other categories: +.TP +.B Enter +if there is some text in the command line (the one at the bottom of +the panels), then that command is executed. If there is no text in the +command line then if the selection bar is over a directory the +Midnight Commander does a +.B chdir(2) +to the selected directory and reloads the information on the panel; +if the selection is an executable file then it is executed. Finally, +if the extension of the selected file name matches one of the +extensions in the +.\"LINK2" +extensions file +.\"Edit Extension File" +then the corresponding command is executed. +.TP +.B C\-l +repaint all the information in Midnight Commander. +.TP +.B C\-x c +run the +.\"LINK2" +Chmod +.\"Chmod" +command on a file or on the tagged files. +.TP +.B C\-x o +run the +.\"LINK2" +Chown +.\"Chown" +command on the current file or on the tagged files. +.TP +.B C\-x l +run the hard link command. +.TP +.B C\-x s +run the absolute symbolic link command. +.TP +.B C\-x v +run the relative symbolic link command. See the +.\"LINK2" +File Menu +.\"File Menu" +section for more information about symbolic links. +.TP +.B C\-x i +set the other panel display mode to information. +.TP +.B C\-x q +set the other panel display mode to quick view. +.TP +.B C\-x ! +execute the +.\"LINK2" +External panelize +.\"External panelize" +command. +.TP +.B C\-x h +run the +.\"LINK2" +add directory to hotlist +.\"Hotlist" +command. +.TP +.B Alt\-! +executes the Filtered view command, described in the +.\"LINK2" +view command\&. +.\"Internal File Viewer" +.TP +.B Alt\-? +executes the +.\"LINK2" +Find file +.\"Find File" +command. +.TP +.B Alt\-c +pops up the +.\"LINK2" +quick cd +.\"Quick cd" +dialog. +.TP +.B C\-o +when the program is being run in the Linux or FreeBSD console or under +an xterm, it will show you the output of the previous command. When ran +on the Linux console, Midnight Commander uses an external program +(cons.saver) to handle saving and restoring of information on the +screen. +.PP +When the subshell support is compiled in, you can type C\-o at any time +and you will be taken back to Midnight Commander's main screen, to +return to your application just type C\-o. If you have an application +suspended by using this trick, you won't be able to execute other +programs from Midnight Commander until you terminate the suspended +application. +.\"NODE " Directory Panels" +.SH " Directory Panels" +This section lists the keys which operate on the directory panels. If +you want to know how to change the appearance of the panels take a +look at the section on +.\"LINK2" +Left and Right Menus\&. +.\"Left and Right Menus" +.TP +.B Tab, C\-i +change the current panel. The old other panel becomes the new current +panel and the old current panel becomes the new other panel. The +selection bar moves from the old current panel to the new current +panel. +.TP +.B Insert, C\-t +to tag files you may use the Insert key (the kich1 terminfo sequence). +To untag files, just retag a tagged file. +.TP +.B Alt\-e +to change charset of panel you may use Alt\-e (M\-e). +Recoding is made from selected codepage into system codepage. To +cancel the recoding, select "No translation" in the dialog of encodings. +.TP +.B Alt\-g, Alt\-r, Alt\-j +used to select the top file in a panel, the middle file and the bottom one, +respectively. +.TP +.B Alt\-t +toggle the current display listing to show the next display listing +format. +With this it is possible to quickly switch to brief listing, long +listing, user defined listing format, and back to the default. +.TP +.B C\-\\\\ (control\-backslash) +show the +.\"LINK2" +directory hotlist +.\"Hotlist" +and change to the selected directory. +.TP +.B + \ (plus) +this is used to select (tag) a group of files. Midnight Commander +will prompt for a selection options. When +.I Files only +checkbox is on, only files will be selected. If +.I Files only +is off, as files as directories will be selected. +When +.I Shell Patterns +checkbox is on, the regular expression is much like the filename globbing +in the shell (* standing for zero or more characters and ? standing +for one character). If +.I Shell Patterns +is off, then the tagging of files is done with normal regular +expressions (see ed (1)). When +.I Case sensitive +checkbox is on, the selection will be case sensitive characters. +If +.I Case sensitive +is off, the case will be ignored. +.TP +.B \\\\ (backslash) +use the "\\" key to unselect a group of files. This is the opposite of +the Plus key. +.TP +.B up\-key, C\-p +move the selection bar to the previous entry in the panel. +.TP +.B down\-key, C\-n +move the selection bar to the next entry in the panel. +.TP +.B home, a1, Alt\-< +move the selection bar to the first entry in the panel. +.TP +.B end, c1, Alt\-> +move the selection bar to the last entry in the panel. +.TP +.B next\-page, C\-v +move the selection bar one page down. +.TP +.B prev\-page, Alt\-v +move the selection bar one page up. +.TP +.B Alt\-o +If the currently selected file is a directory, load that directory on +the other panel and moves the selection to the next file. If the +currently selected file is not a directory, load the parent directory +on the other panel and moves the selection to the next file. +.TP +.B Alt\-i +make the current directory of the current panel also the current +directory of the other panel. Put the other panel to the listing mode +if needed. If the current panel is panelized, the other panel doesn't +become panelized. +.TP +.B C\-PageUp, C\-PageDown +only when supported by the terminal: change to ".." and to the currently +selected directory respectively. +.TP +.B Alt\-y +moves to the previous directory in the history, equivalent to clicking +the +.I < +with the mouse. +.TP +.B Alt\-u +moves to the next directory in the history, equivalent to clicking the +.I > +with the mouse. +.TP +.B Alt\-S\-h, Alt\-H +displays the directory history, equivalent to depressing the 'v' with +the mouse. +.\"NODE " Quick search" +.SH " Quick search" +The Quick search mode allows you to perform fast file search in file panel. +Press +.I C\-s +or +.I Alt\-s +to start a filename search in the directory listing. +.P +When the search is active, the user input will be added to the search string +instead of the command line. If the +.I Show mini\-status +option is enabled the search string is shown on the mini\-status +line. When typing, the selection bar will move to the next file +starting with the typed letters. The +.I Backspace +or +.I DEL +keys can be used to correct typing mistakes. If C\-s is pressed +again, the next match is searched for. +.P +If quick search is started with double pressing of C\-s, the previous quick +search pattern will be used for current search. +.P +Besides the filename characters, you can also use wildcard +characters '*' and '?'. +.\"NODE " Shell Command Line" +.SH " Shell Command Line" +This section lists keys which are useful to avoid excessive typing when +entering shell commands. +.TP +.B Alt\-Enter +copy the currently selected file name to the command line. +.TP +.B C\-Enter +same a Alt\-Enter. May not work on remote systems and some terminals. +.TP +.B C\-S\-Enter +copy the full path name of the currently selected file to the command +line. May not work on remote systems and some terminals. +.TP +.B Alt\-Tab +does the filename, command, variable, username and hostname +.\"LINK2" +completion +.\"Completion" +for you. +.TP +.B C\-x t, C\-x C\-t +copy the tagged files (or if there are no tagged files, the selected +file) of the current panel (C\-x t) or of the other panel (C\-x C\-t) to +the command line. +.TP +.B C\-x p, C\-x C\-p +the first key sequence copies the current path name to the command +line, and the second one copies the unselected panel's path name to +the command line. +.TP +.B C\-q +the quote command can be used to insert characters that are otherwise +interpreted by Midnight Commander (like the '+' symbol) +.TP +.B Alt\-p, Alt\-n +use these keys to browse through the command history. Alt\-p takes you +to the last entry, Alt\-n takes you to the next one. +.TP +.B Alt\-h +displays the history for the current input line. +.\"NODE " General Movement Keys" +.SH " General Movement Keys" +The help viewer, the file viewer and the directory tree use common +code to handle moving. Therefore they accept exactly the same +keys. Each of them also accepts some keys of its own. +.PP +Other parts of Midnight Commander use some of the same movement +keys, so this section may be of use for those parts too. +.TP +.B Up, C\-p +moves one line backward. +.TP +.B Down, C\-n +moves one line forward. +.TP +.B Prev Page, Page Up, Alt\-v +moves one page up. +.TP +.B Next Page, Page Down, C\-v +moves one page down. +.TP +.B Home, A1 +moves to the beginning. +.TP +.B End, C1 +move to the end. +.PP +The help viewer and the file viewer accept the following keys in +addition the to ones mentioned above: +.TP +.B b, C\-b, C\-h, Backspace, Delete +moves one page up. +.TP +.B Space bar +moves one page down. +.TP +.B u, d +moves one half of a page up or down. +.TP +.B g, G +moves to the beginning or to the end. +.\"NODE " Input Line Keys" +.SH " Input Line Keys" +The input lines (they are used for the +.\"LINK2" +command line +.\"Shell Command Line" +and for the query dialogs in the program) accept these keys: +.TP +.B C\-a +puts the cursor at the beginning of line. +.TP +.B C\-e +puts the cursor at the end of the line. +.TP +.B C\-b, move\-left +move the cursor one position left. +.TP +.B C\-f, move\-right +move the cursor one position right. +.TP +.B Alt\-f +moves one word forward. +.TP +.B Alt\-b +moves one word backward. +.TP +.B C\-h, Backspace +delete the previous character. +.TP +.B C\-d, Delete +delete the character in the point (over the cursor). +.TP +.B C\-@ +sets the mark for cutting. +.TP +.B C\-w +copies the text between the cursor and the mark to a kill buffer and +removes the text from the input line. +.TP +.B Alt\-w +copies the text between the cursor and the mark to a kill buffer. +.TP +.B C\-y +yanks back the contents of the kill buffer. +.TP +.B C\-k +kills the text from the cursor to the end of the line. +.TP +.B Alt\-p, Alt\-n +Use these keys to browse through the command history. Alt\-p takes you +to the last entry, Alt\-n takes you to the next one. +.TP +.B Alt\-C\-h, Alt\-Backspace +delete one word backward. +.TP +.B Alt\-Tab +does the filename, command, variable, username and hostname +.\"LINK2" +completion +.\"Completion" +for you. +.SH "" +.\"NODE "Menu Bar" +.SH "Menu Bar" +The menu bar pops up when you press F9 or click the mouse on the top +row of the screen. The menu bar has five menus: "Left", "File", +"Command", "Options" and "Right". +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Left and Right Menus +.\"Left and Right Menus" +allow you to modify the appearance of the left and right directory +panels. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +File Menu +.\"File Menu" +lists the actions you can perform on the currently selected file or +the tagged files. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Command Menu +.\"Command Menu" +lists the actions which are more general and bear no relation to the +currently selected file or the tagged files. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Options Menu +.\"Options Menu" +lists the actions which allow you to customize Midnight Commander. +.\"NODE " Left and Right Menus" +.SH " Left and Right (Above and Below) Menus" +The outlook of the directory panels can be changed from the +.B Left +and +.B Right +menus (they are named +.B Above +and +.B Below +when the horizontal panel split is chosen from the +.\"LINK2" +Layout +.\"Layout" +options dialog). +.\"NODE " Listing Format..." +.SH " Listing Format..." +The listing mode view is used to display a listing of files, there are +four different listing formats available: +.BR Full , +.BR Brief , +.B Long +and +.BR User . +The full directory view shows the file name, the size of the file and +the modification time. +.PP +The brief view shows only the file name and it has from 1 up to 9 columns +(therefore showing more files unlike other views). The long view +is similar to the output of +.B "ls \-l" +command. The long view takes the whole screen width. +.PP +If you choose the "User" display format, then you have to specify +the display format. +.PP +The user display format must start with a panel size specifier. This +may be "half" or "full", and they specify a half screen panel and a +full screen panel respectively. +.PP +After the panel size, you may specify how many listings to fit in the +panel, side\-by\-side (in other words: how many times to repeat the +fields horizontally). This defaults to 1. You may change this by adding a +number from 1 to 9 to the format string. +.PP +After this you add the name of the fields with an optional size +specifier. This are the available fields you may display: +.TP +.B name +displays the file name. +.TP +.B size +displays the file size. +.TP +.B bsize +is an alternative form of the +.B size +format. It displays the size of the files and for directories it just +shows SUB\-DIR or UP\-\-DIR. +.TP +.B type +displays a one character wide type field. This character is similar to +what is displayed by ls with the \-F flag \- +.B * +for executable files, +.B / +for directories, +.B @ +for links, +.B = +for sockets, +.B \- +for character devices, +.B + +for block devices, +.B | +for pipes, +.B ~ +for symbolic links to directories and +.B ! +for stale symlinks (links that point nowhere). +.TP +.B mark +an asterisk if the file is tagged, a space if it's not. +.TP +.B mtime +file's last modification time. +.TP +.B atime +file's last access time. +.TP +.B ctime +file's status change time. +.TP +.B perm +a string representing the current permission bits of the file. +.TP +.B mode +an octal value with the current permission bits of the file. +.TP +.B nlink +the number of links to the file. +.TP +.B ngid +the GID (numeric). +.TP +.B nuid +the UID (numeric). +.TP +.B owner +the owner of the file. +.TP +.B group +the group of the file. +.TP +.B inode +the inode of the file. +.PP +Also you can use following keywords to define the panel layout: +.TP +.B space +a space in the display format. +.TP +.B | +add a vertical line to the display format. +.PP +To force one field to a fixed size (a size specifier), you just add +.B : +followed by the number of characters you want the field to have. If the +number is followed by the symbol +.BR + , +then the size specifies the minimal field size \- if the program finds +out that there is more space on the screen, it will then expand that +field. +.PP +For example, the +.B Full +display corresponds to this format: +.PP +half type name | size | mtime +.PP +And the +.B Long +display corresponds to this format: +.PP +full perm space nlink space owner space group space size space mtime +space name +.PP +This is a nice user display format: +.PP +half name | size:7 | type mode:3 +.PP +Panels may also be set to the following modes: +.TP +.B "Info" +The info view display information related to the currently +selected file and if possible information about the current file +system. +.TP +.B "Tree" +The tree view is quite similar to the +.\"LINK2" +directory tree +.\"Directory Tree" +feature. See the section about it for more information. +.TP +.B "Quick View" +In this mode, the panel will switch to a reduced +.\"LINK2" +viewer +.\"Internal File Viewer" +that displays the contents of the currently selected file, if you +select the panel (with the tab key or the mouse), you will have access +to the usual viewer commands. +.\"NODE " Sort Order..." +.SH " Sort Order..." +The eight sort orders are by name, by extension, by modification time, +by access time, and by inode information modification time, by size, +by inode and unsorted. In the Sort order dialog box you can choose +the sort order and you may also specify if you want to sort in reverse +order by checking the reverse box. +.PP +By default directories are sorted before files but this can be changed +from the +.\"LINK2" +Panel options +.\"Panel options" +menu (option +.BR "Mix all files" ). +.\"NODE " Filter..." +.SH " Filter..." +The filter command allows you to specify a shell pattern (for example +.BR "*.tar.gz" ) +which the files and directories must match to be shown. +The +.\"LINK2" +input line +.\"Input Line Keys" +allow enter the pattern of file/directory names that will be shown +in the panel. +.PP +When +.I Files only +checkbox is on, only files will be matched to the filter, and all +directories will be shown. Otherwise, as files as directories will +be filtered. When +.I Shell Patterns +checkbox is on, the regular expression is much like the filename globbing +in the shell (* standing for zero or more characters and ? standing +for one character). Otherwise, the matching of files/directoris is done +with normal regular expressions (see ed(1)). When +.I Case sensitive +checkbox is on, the filtering will be case sensitive characters. Otherwise, +the case will be ignored. +.\"NODE " Reread" +.SH " Reread" +The reread command reload the list of files in the directory. It is +useful if other processes have created or removed files. +.\"NODE " File Menu" +.SH " File Menu" +Midnight Commander uses the F1 \- F10 keys as keyboard shortcuts +for commands appearing in the file menu. The escape sequences for the +function keys are terminfo capabilities kf1 trough kf10. On terminals +without function key support, you can achieve the same functionality by +pressing the Esc key and then a number in the range 1 through 9 and 0 +(corresponding to F1 to F9 and F10 respectively). +.PP +The File menu has the following commands (keyboard shortcuts in parentheses): +.PP +.B Help (F1) +.PP +Invokes the built\-in hypertext help viewer. Inside the +.\"LINK2" +help viewer\&, +.\"Contents" +you can use the Tab key to select the next link and the Enter key to +follow that link. The keys Space and Backspace are used to move +forward and backward in a help page. Press F1 again to get the full +list of accepted keys. +.PP +.B Menu (F2) +.PP +Invoke the +.\"LINK2" +user menu\&. +.\"Edit Menu File" +The user menu provides an easy way to provide users with a menu and +add extra features to Midnight Commander. +.PP +.B View (F3, F13) +.PP +View the currently selected file. By default this invokes the +.\"LINK2" +Internal File Viewer +.\"Internal File Viewer" +but if the option "Use internal view" is off, it invokes an external +file viewer specified by the +.B VIEWER +environment variable. If +.B VIEWER +is undefined, the +.B PAGER +environment variable is tried. If +.B PAGER +is also undefined, the "view" command is invoked. If you use F13 +instead, the viewer will be invoked without doing any formatting or +preprocessing to the file. +.P +See +.\"LINK2" +parameters for external viewer +.\"Parameters for external editor or viewer" +for explain how you may specify an extended command line options +for external viewers. +.PP +.B Filtered View (Alt\-!) +.PP +This command prompts for a command +and its arguments (the argument defaults to the currently selected +file name), the output from such command is shown in the internal file +viewer. +.PP +.B Edit (F4, F14) +.PP +Press F4 to edit the highlighted file. Press F14 (usually F14) +to start the editor with a new, empty file. +Currently they invoke the +.B vi +editor, or the editor specified in the +.B EDITOR +environment variable, or the +.\"LINK2" +Internal File Editor +.\"Internal File Editor" +if the use_internal_edit option is on. +.P +See +.\"LINK2" +parameters for external editor +.\"Parameters for external editor or viewer" +for explain how you may specify an extended command line options +for external editors. +.PP +.B Copy (F5, F15) +.PP +Press F5 to pop up an input dialog to copy the currently selected file (or +the tagged files, if there is at least one file tagged) to the +directory/filename you specify in the input dialog. The destination +defaults to the directory in the non\-selected panel. Space for destination +file may be preallocated relative to preallocate_space configure option. +During this process, you can press C\-c or Esc to abort the operation. +For details about source mask (which will be usually either * or ^\\(.*\\)$ +depending on setting of Use shell patterns) and possible wildcards in the +destination see +.\"LINK2" +Mask copy/rename\&. +.\"Mask Copy/Rename" +.PP +F15 (usually F15) is similar, but defaults to the directory in the +selected panel. It always operates on the selected file, regardless of +any tagged files. +.PP +On some systems, it is possible to do the copy in the background by +clicking on the background button (or pressing Alt\-b in the dialog +box). The +.\"LINK2" +Background Jobs +.\"Background jobs" +is used to control the background process. +.PP +.B Link (C\-x l) +.PP +Create a hard link to the current file. +.PP +.B Absolute symlink (C\-x s) +.PP +Create a absolute symbolic link to the current file. +.PP +.B Relative symLink (C\-x v) +.PP +Create a relative symbolic link to the current file. +.PP +To those of you who don't know what links are: creating a link to a file +is a bit like copying the file, but both the source filename and the destination +filename represent the same file image. For example, if you edit one of these +files, all changes you make will appear in both files. Some people call +links aliases or shortcuts. +.PP +A hard link appears as a real file. After making it, there is no way of +telling which one is the original and which is the link. If you delete +either one of them the other one is still intact. It is very difficult +to notice that the files represent the same image. Use hard links when +you don't even want to know. +.PP +A symbolic link is a reference to the name of the original file. If +the original file is deleted the symbolic link is useless. It is quite +easy to notice that the files represent the same image. Midnight +Commander shows an "@"\-sign in front of the file name if it is a +symbolic link to somewhere (except to directory, where it shows a tilde (~)). +The original file which the link points to is shown on mini\-status line if the +.I "Show mini\-status" +option is enabled. Use symbolic links when you want to avoid the +confusion that can be caused by hard links. +.PP +When you press "C\-x s" Midnight Commander will automatically fill in the +complete path+filename of the original file and suggest a name for the link. +You can change either one. +.PP +Sometimes you may want to change the absolute path of the original into +a relative path. An absolute path starts from the root directory: +.PP +.I /home/frodo/mc/mc \-> /home/frodo/new/mc +.PP +A relative link describes the original file's location starting from the +location of the link itself: +.PP +.I /home/frodo/mc/mc \-> ../new/mc +.PP +You can force Midnight Commander to suggest a relative path by pressing +"C\-x v" instead of "C\-x s". +.PP +.B Rename/Move (F6, F16) +.PP +Press F6 to pop up an input dialog to copy the currently selected file (or +the tagged files, if there is at least one file tagged) to the +directory/filename you specify in the input dialog. The destination +defaults to the directory in the non\-selected panel. For more details +look at Copy (F5) operation above, most of the things are quite similar. +.PP +F16 (usually F16) is similar, but defaults to the directory in the +selected panel. It always operates on the selected file, regardless of +any tagged files. +.PP +On some systems, it is possible to do the copy in the background by +clicking on the background button (or pressing Alt\-b in the dialog +box). The +.\"LINK2" +Background Jobs +.\"Background jobs" +is used to control the background process. +.PP +.B Mkdir (F7) +.PP +Pop up an input dialog and creates the directory specified. +.PP +.B Delete (F8) +.PP +Delete the currently selected file or the tagged files in the +currently selected panel. During the process, you can press C\-c or +Esc to abort the operation. +.PP +.B Quick cd (Alt\-c) +Use the +.\"LINK2" +quick cd +.\"Quick cd" +command if you have full command line and want to cd somewhere. +.PP +.B Select group (+) +.PP +This is used to select (tag) a group of files. Midnight Commander +will prompt for a selection options. When +.I Files only +checkbox is on, only files will be selected. If +.I Files only +is off, as files as directories will be selected. +When +.I Shell Patterns +checkbox is on, the regular expression is much like the filename globbing +in the shell (* standing for zero or more characters and ? standing +for one character). If +.I Shell Patterns +is off, then the tagging of files is done with normal regular +expressions (see ed (1)). When +.I Case sensitive +checkbox is on, the selection will be case sensitive characters. +If +.I Case sensitive +is off, the case will be ignored. +.PP +.B Unselect group (\\\\) +.PP +Used to unselect a group of files. This is the opposite of the +.I "Select group" +command. +.PP +.B Quit (F10, S\-F10) +.PP +Terminate Midnight Commander. S\-F10 is used when you want to +quit and you are using the shell wrapper. S\-F10 will not take you +to the last directory you visited with Midnight Commander, instead +it will stay at the directory where you started Midnight Commander. +.\"NODE " Quick cd" +.SH " Quick cd" +This command is useful if you have a full command line and want to +.\"LINK2" +cd +.\"The cd internal command" +somewhere without having to yank and paste the command line. This command +pops up a small dialog, where you enter everything you would enter after +.B cd +on the command line and then you press enter. This features all the things +that are already in the +.\"LINK2" +internal cd command\&. +.\"The cd internal command" +.\"NODE " Command Menu" +.SH " Command Menu" +The +.\"LINK2" +Directory tree +.\"Directory Tree" +command shows a tree figure of the directories. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +"Find file" +.\"Find File" +command allows you to search for a specific file. +.PP +The "Swap panels" command swaps the contents of the two directory panels. +.PP +The "Switch panels on/off" command shows the output of the last shell command. +This works only on xterm and on Linux and FreeBSD console. +.PP +The "Compare directories" command compares the directory +panels with each other. You can then use the Copy (F5) command to make +the panels identical. There are three compare methods. The quick method +compares only file size and file date. The thorough method makes a +full byte\-by\-byte compare. The thorough method is not available if the +machine does not support the mmap(2) system call. The size\-only +compare method just compares the file sizes and does not check the +contents or the date times, it just checks the file size. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +"External panelize" +.\"External panelize" +allows you to execute an external program, and make the output of that +program the contents of the current panel. +.PP +The "Command history" command shows a list of typed commands. The +selected command is copied to the command line. The command history +can also be accessed by typing Alt\-p or Alt\-n. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +"Directory hotlist" +.\"Hotlist" +command makes changing of the current directory to often used directories +faster. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +"Screen list" +.\"Screen selector" +command shows a dialog window with the list of currently running +internal editors, viewers and other MC modules that support this mode. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +"Edit extension file" +.\"Edit Extension File" +command allows you to specify programs to executed when you try to +execute, view, edit and do a bunch of other thing on files +with certain extensions (filename endings). +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +"Edit Menu File" +.\"Edit Menu File" +command may be used for editing the user menu (which appears by +pressing F2). +.\"NODE " Directory Tree" +.SH " Directory Tree" +The Directory Tree command shows a tree figure of the directories. You +can select a directory from the figure and Midnight Commander will +change to that directory. +.PP +There are two ways to invoke the tree. The real directory tree command +is available from Commands menu. The other way is to select tree view +from the Left or Right menu. +.PP +To get rid of long delays, Midnight Commander creates the tree +figure by scanning only a small subset of all the directories. If the +directory which you want to see is missing, move to its parent +directory and press C\-r (or F2). +.PP +You can use the following keys: +.TP +.\"LINK2" +General movement keys +.\"General Movement Keys" +are accepted. +.TP +.B Enter. +In the directory tree, exits the directory tree and changes to this +directory in the current panel. In the tree view, changes to this +directory in the other panel and stays in tree view mode in the +current panel. +.TP +.B C\-r, F2 (Rescan). +Rescan this directory. Use this when the tree figure is out of date: +it is missing subdirectories or shows some subdirectories which don't +exist any more. +.TP +.B F3 (Forget). +Delete this directory from the tree figure. Use this to remove clutter +from the figure. If you want the directory back to the tree figure +press F2 in its parent directory. +.TP +.B F4 (Static/Dynamic). +Toggle between the dynamic navigation mode (default) and the static +navigation mode. +.PP +In the static navigation mode you can use the Up and Down keys to +select a directory. All known directories are shown. +.PP +In the dynamic navigation mode you can use the Up and Down keys to +select a sibling directory, the Left key to move to the parent +directory, and the Right key to move to a child directory. Only the +parent, sibling and children directories are shown, others are left +out. The tree figure changes dynamically as you traverse. +.TP +.B F5 (Copy). +Copy the directory. +.TP +.B F6 (RenMov). +Move the directory. +.TP +.B F7 (Mkdir). +Make a new directory below this directory. +.TP +.B F8 (Delete). +Delete this directory from the file system. +.TP +.B C\-s, Alt\-s. +Search the next directory matching the search string. If there is +no such directory these keys will move one line down. +.TP +.B C\-h, Backspace. +Delete the last character of the search string. +.TP +.B Any other character. +Add the character to the search string and move to the next directory +which starts with these characters. In the tree view you must first +activate the search mode by pressing C\-s. The search string is shown +in the mini status line. +.PP +The following actions are available only in the directory tree. They +aren't supported in the tree view. +.TP +.B F1 (Help). +Invoke the help viewer and show this section. +.TP +.B Esc, F10. +Exit the directory tree. Do not change the directory. +.PP +The mouse is supported. A double\-click behaves like Enter. See +also the section on +.\"LINK2" +mouse support\&. +.\"Mouse Support" +.\"NODE " Find File" +.SH " Find File" +The Find File feature first asks for the start directory for the +search and the filename to be searched for. By pressing the Tree +button you can select the start directory from the +.\"LINK2" +directory tree +.\"Directory Tree" +figure. +.PP +The "File name" input field contains a filename pattern to be searched +for. It is interpreted as a shell pattern or as a regular expression +depending on the state of the "Using shell patterns" checkbox. An empty +value is valid and matches any file name. +.PP +The "Content" input field contains a string to search for within the +files. Leave this field empty to disable searching file contents. +.PP +Option "Whole words" allows select only those files containing matches that +form whole words. Like grep \-w. +.PP +You can start the search by pressing the OK button. +During the search you can stop from the Stop button and continue from +the Start button. +.PP +You can browse the filelist with the up and down arrow keys. The Chdir +button will change to the directory of the currently selected +file. The Again button will ask for the parameters for a new +search. The Quit button quits the search operation. The Panelize +button will place the found files to the current directory panel so +that you can do additional operations on them (view, copy, move, +delete and so on). To return to the normal file listing, change directory +to "..". +.PP +The 'Enable ignore directories' checkbox and input field below it +allow one to set up the list of directories that should be skip during the search +files (for example, you may want to avoid searches on a CD\-ROM or on a NFS +directory that is mounted across a slow link). List components must be separated +with a colon, here is an example: +.PP +.nf +/cdrom:/nfs/wuarchive:/afs +.fi +.PP +Relative paths are supported also. The following example shows how to skip special +directories of version control systems: +.nf +/cdrom:/nfs/wuarchive:/afs:.svn:.git:CVS +.fi +.PP +Attention: input field can contain a dot (.), this means the current absolute path. +.PP +You may consider using the +.\"LINK2" +External panelize +.\"External panelize" +command for some operations. Find file command is for simple queries +only, while using External panelize you can do as mysterious searches +as you would like. +.\"NODE " External panelize" +.SH " External panelize" +The External panelize allows you to execute an external program, and +make the output of that program the contents of the current panel. +.PP +For example, if you want to manipulate in one of the panels all the +symbolic links in the current directory, you can use external +panelization to run the following command: +.PP +.nf +find . \-type l \-print +.fi +.PP +Upon command completion, the directory contents of the panel will no +longer be the directory listing of the current directory, but all the +files that are symbolic links. +.PP +If you want to panelize all of the files that have been downloaded +from your FTP server, you can use this awk command to extract the file +name from the transfer log files: +.PP +.nf +awk '$9 ~! /incoming/ { print $9 }' < /var/log/xferlog +.fi +.PP +You may want to save often used panelize commands under a descriptive name, +so that you can recall them quickly. You do this by typing the command on +the input line and pressing Add new button. Then you enter a name under +which you want the command to be saved. Next time, you just choose that +command from the list and do not have to type it again. +.\"NODE " Hotlist" +.SH " Hotlist" +The Directory hotlist command shows the labels of the directories +in the directory hotlist. Midnight Commander will change to the +directory corresponding to the selected label. From the hotlist dialog, +you can remove already created label/directory pairs and add new ones. +To add new directories quickly, you can use the Add to hotlist command +(C\-x h), which adds the current directory into the directory hotlist, +asking just for the label for the directory. +.PP +This makes cd to often used directories faster. You may consider using the +CDPATH variable as described in +.\"LINK2" +internal cd command +.\"The cd internal command" +description. +.\"NODE " Edit Extension File" +.SH " Edit Extension File" +This will invoke your editor on the file +.IR ~/.config/mc/mc.ext.ini . +If this file does not exist and you are not root, it will be copied from +.IR %sysconfdir%/mc/mc.ext.ini . +If you are root, you can choose the file to edit: user's +.I ~/.config/mc/mc.ext.ini +or system\-wide +.IR %sysconfdir%/mc/mc.ext.ini . +The format of this file is described in detail in it. +.\"NODE " Background jobs" +.SH " Background Jobs" +This lets you control the state of any background Midnight Commander +process (only copy and move files operations can be done in the +background). You can stop, restart and kill a background job from +here. +.\"NODE " Edit Menu File" +.SH " Edit Menu File" +The user menu is a menu of useful actions that can be customized by +the user. When you access the user menu, the +file .mc.menu from the current directory is used if it exists, +but only if it is owned by user or root and is not world\-writable. +If no such file found, ~/.config/mc/menu is tried in the same way, +and otherwise mc uses the default system\-wide menu +%pkgdatadir%/mc.menu. +.PP +The format of the menu file is very simple. Lines that start with +anything but space or tab are considered entries for the menu (in +order to be able to use it like a hot key, the first character should +be a letter). All the lines that start with a space or a tab are the +commands that will be executed when the entry is selected. +.PP +When an option is selected all the command lines of the option are +copied to a temporary file in the temporary directory (usually +/usr/tmp) and then that file is executed. This allows the user to put +normal shell constructs in the menus. Also simple macro substitution +takes place before executing the menu code. For more information, see +.\"LINK2" +macro substitution\&. +.\"Macro Substitution" +.PP +Here is a sample mc.menu file: +.PP +.nf +A Dump the currently selected file + od \-c %f + +B Edit a bug report and send it to root + I=`mktemp ${MC_TMPDIR:\-/tmp}/mail.XXXXXX` || exit 1 + vi $I + mail \-s "Midnight Commander bug" root < $I + rm \-f $I + +M Read mail + emacs \-f rmail + +N Read Usenet news + emacs \-f gnus + +H Call the info hypertext browser + info + +J Copy current directory to other panel recursively + tar cf \- . | (cd %D && tar xvpf \-) + +K Make a release of the current subdirectory + echo \-n "Name of distribution file: " + read tar + ln \-s %d `dirname %d`/$tar + cd .. + tar cvhf ${tar}.tar $tar + += f *.tar.gz | f *.tgz & t n +X Extract the contents of a compressed tar file + tar xzvf %f +.fi +.PP +.B Default Conditions +.PP +Each menu entry may be preceded by a condition. The condition must +start from the first column with a '=' character. If the condition is +true, the menu entry will be the default entry. +.PP +.nf +Condition syntax: = <sub\-cond> + or: = <sub\-cond> | <sub\-cond> ... + or: = <sub\-cond> & <sub\-cond> ... + +Sub\-condition is one of following: + + y <pattern> syntax of current file matching pattern? + (for edit menu only) + f <pattern> current file matching pattern? + F <pattern> other file matching pattern? + d <pattern> current directory matching pattern? + D <pattern> other directory matching pattern? + t <type> current file of type? + T <type> other file of type? + x <filename> is it executable filename? + ! <sub\-cond> negate the result of sub\-condition +.fi +.PP +Pattern is a normal shell pattern or a regular expression, according +to the shell patterns option. You can override the global value of +the shell patterns option by writing "shell_patterns=x" on the first +line of the menu file (where "x" is either 0 or 1). +.PP +Type is one or more of the following characters: +.PP +.nf + n not a directory + r regular file + d directory + l link + c character device + b block device + f FIFO (pipe) + s socket + x executable file + t tagged +.fi +.PP +For example 'rlf' means either regular file, link or fifo. The 't' +type is a little special because it acts on the panel instead of the +file. The condition '=t t' is true if there are tagged files in the +current panel and false if not. +.PP +If the condition starts with '=?' instead of '=' a debug trace will be +shown whenever the value of the condition is calculated. +.PP +The conditions are calculated from left to right. This means +.nf + = f *.tar.gz | f *.tgz & t n +.fi +is calculated as +.nf + ( (f *.tar.gz) | (f *.tgz) ) & (t n) +.fi +.PP +Here is a sample of the use of conditions: +.PP +.nf += f *.tar.gz | f *.tgz & t n +L List the contents of a compressed tar\-archive + gzip \-cd %f | tar xvf \- +.fi +.PP +.B Addition Conditions +.PP +If the condition begins with '+' (or '+?') instead of '=' (or '=?') it +is an addition condition. If the condition is true the menu entry will +be included in the menu. If the condition is false the menu entry will +not be included in the menu. +.PP +You can combine default and addition conditions by starting condition +with '+=' or '=+' (or '+=?' or '=+?' if you want debug trace). If you +want to use two different conditions, one for adding and another for +defaulting, you can precede a menu entry with two condition lines, one +starting with '+' and another starting with '='. +.PP +Comments are started with '#'. The additional comment lines must start +with '#', space or tab. +.\"NODE " Options Menu" +.SH " Options Menu" +Midnight Commander has some options that may be toggled on and +off in several dialogs which are accessible from this menu. Options +are enabled if they have an asterisk or "x" in front of them. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Configuration +.\"Configuration" +command pops up a dialog from which you can change most of settings of +Midnight Commander. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Layout +.\"Layout" +command pops up a dialog from which you specify a bunch of options how mc +looks like on the screen. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Panel options +.\"Panel options" +command pops up a dialog from which you specify options of file manager panels. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Confirmation +.\"Confirmation" +command pops up a dialog from which you specify which actions you want to +confirm. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Appearance +.\"Appearance" +command pops up a dialog from which you specify the skin. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Display bits +.\"Display bits" +command pops up a dialog from which you may select which characters is your +terminal able to display. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Learn keys +.\"Learn keys" +command pops up a dialog from which you test some keys which are not working +on some terminals and you may fix them. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Virtual FS +.\"Virtual FS" +command pops up a dialog from which you specify some VFS related options. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +Save setup +.\"Save Setup" +command saves the current settings of the Left, Right and Options +menus. A small number of other settings is saved, too. +.\"NODE " Configuration" +.SH " Configuration" +The options in this dialog are divided into several groups: "File +operation options", "Esc key mode", "Pause after run" and "Other options". +.PP +.B File operation options +.PP +.I Verbose operation. +This toggles whether the file Copy, Rename and Delete operations are +verbose (i.e., display a dialog box for each operation). If you have a +slow terminal, you may wish to disable the verbose operation. It is +automatically turned off if the speed of your terminal is less than +9600 bps. +.PP +.I Compute totals. +If this option is enabled, Midnight Commander computes total byte +sizes and total number of files prior to any Copy, Rename and Delete +operations. This will provide you with a more accurate progress bar +at the expense of some speed. This option has no effect, if +.I Verbose operation +is disabled. +.PP +.I Classic progressbar. +If this option is enabled, the progressbar of Copy/Move/Delete operations +is always grown form left to right. If disabled, the growing direction +of progressbar follows to direction of Copy/Move/Delete operation: +from left panel to right one and vice versa. Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Mkdir autoname. +When you press F7 to create a new directory, the input line in popup dialog +will be filled by name of current file or directory in active panel. +Disabled by default. +.PP +.I Preallocate space. +Preallocate space for whole target file, if possible, before copy operation. +Disabled by default. +.PP +.B Esc key mode. +.PP +By default, Midnight Commander treats the Esc key as a key prefix. +Therefore, you should press Esc code twice to exit a dialog. But there is +a possibility to use a single press of Esc key for that action. +.PP +.I Single press. +By default this option is disabled. If you'll enable it, the Esc key +will act as a prefix key for set up time interval (see +.I Timeout +option below), and if no extra keys have arrived, then the Esc key +is interpreted as a cancel key (Esc Esc). +.PP +.I Timeout. +This options is used to setup the time interval (in microseconds) +for single press of Esc key. By default, this interval is one second +(1000000 microseconds). Also the timeout can be set via KEYBOARD_KEY_TIMEOUT_US +environment variable (also in microseconds), which has higher priority +than Timeout option value. +.PP +.B Pause after run +.PP +After executing your commands, Midnight Commander can pause, so +that you can examine the output of the command. There are three +possible settings for this variable: +.PP +.I Never. +Means that you do not want to see the output of your command. If you +are using the Linux or FreeBSD console or an xterm, you will be able to +see the output of the command by typing C\-o. +.PP +.I On dumb terminals. +You will get the pause message on terminals that are not capable of +showing the output of the last command executed (any terminal that is +not an xterm or the Linux console). +.PP +.I Always. +The program will pause after executing all of your commands. +.PP +.B Other options +.PP +.I Use internal editor. +If this option is enabled, the built\-in file editor is used to edit +files. If the option is disabled, the editor specified in the +.B EDITOR +environment variable is used. +If no editor is specified, +.B vi +is used. See the section on the +.\"LINK2" +internal file editor\&. +.\"Internal File Editor" +.PP +.I Use internal viewer. +If this option is enabled, the built\-in file viewer is used to view +files. If the option is disabled, the pager specified in the +.B PAGER +environment variable is used. +If no pager is specified, the +.B view +command is used. See the section on the +.\"LINK2" +internal file viewer\&. +.\"Internal File Viewer" +.PP +.I Ask new file name. +If this option is enabled, file name is asked before open new file in editor. +.PP +.I Auto menus. +If this option is enabled, the user menu will be invoked at startup. +Useful for building menus for non\-unixers. +.PP +.I Drop down menus. +When this option is enabled, the pull down menus will be activated as +soon as you press the F9 key. Otherwise, you will only get the menu title, +and you will have to activate the menu either with the arrow keys or with +the hotkeys. It is recommended if you are using hotkeys. +.PP +.I Shell Patterns. +By default the Select, Unselect and Filter commands will use shell\-like +regular expressions. The following conversions are performed to achieve +this: the '*' is replaced by '.*' (zero or more characters); the '?' +is replaced by '.' (exactly one character) and '.' by the literal +dot. If the option is disabled, then the regular expressions are the +ones described in ed(1). +.PP +.I Complete: show all. +By default, Midnight Commander pops up all possible +.\"LINK2" +completions +.\"Completion" +if the completion is ambiguous only when you press +.B Alt\-Tab +for the second time. For the first time, it just completes as much as +possible and beeps in the case of ambiguity. Enable this option if you +want to see all possible completions even after pressing +.B Alt\-Tab +the first time. +.PP +.I Rotating dash. +If this option is enabled, the +Midnight Commander shows a rotating dash in the upper right corner +as a work in progress indicator. +.PP +.I Cd follows links. +This option, if set, causes Midnight Commander to follow the +logical chain of directories when changing current directory +either in the panels, or using the cd command. This is the default +behavior of bash. When unset, Midnight Commander follows the +real directory structure, so cd .. if you've entered that directory +through a link will move you to the current directory's real parent +and not to the directory where the link was present. +.PP +.I Safe delete. +If this option is enabled, deleting files and directory hotlist entries +unintentionally becomes more difficult. The default selection in the +confirmation dialogs for deletion changes from +.B Yes +to +.BR No . +This option is disabled by default. +.PP +.I Safe overwrite. +If this option is enabled, overwriting files unintentionally becomes +more difficult. The default selection in the overwrite confirmation dialog +changes from +.B Yes +to +.BR No . +This option is disabled by default. +.PP +.I Auto save setup. +If this option is enabled, when you exit Midnight Commander, the +configurable options of Midnight Commander are saved in the +~/.config/mc/ini file. +.\"NODE " Layout" +.SH " Layout" +The layout dialog gives you a possibility to change the general layout +of screen. The options in this dialog are divided into several groups: +"Panel split", "Console output" and "Other options". +.PP +.B Panel split +.PP +The rest of the screen area is used for the two directory panels. You +can specify whether the area is split to the panels in +.I Vertical +or +.I Horizontal +direction. Panel layout can be changed using Alt\-, (Alt\-comma) shortcut. +.PP +.I Equal split. +By default, panels have equal sizes. Using this option you can specify +an unequal split. +.PP +.B Console output +.PP +On the Linux or FreeBSD console you can specify how many lines are shown +in the output window. This option is available if Midnight Commander runs +on native console only. +.PP +.B Other options +.PP +.I Menu bar visible. +If enabled, main menu of Midnight Commander is always visible on the top row +of screen above panels. Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Command prompt. +If enabled, command line is available. Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Keybar visible. +If enabled, 10 labels associated with F1\-F10 keys are located at the bottom +row of screen. Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Hintbar visible. +If enabled, the one\-line hints are visible below panels. Enabled by default. +.PP +.I XTerm window title. +When run in a terminal emulator for X11, Midnight Commander sets the +terminal window title to the current working directory and updates it +when necessary. If your terminal emulator is broken and you see some +incorrect output on startup and directory change, turn off this option. +Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Show free space. +If enabled, free space and total space of current file system is shown +at the bottom frame of panel. Enabled by default. +.\"NODE " Panel options" +.SH " Panel options" +.B Main panel options +.PP +.I Show mini\-status. +If enabled, one line of status information about the currently selected item +is shown at the bottom of the panels. Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Use SI size units. +If this option is enabled, Midnight Commander will use SI prefixes (base 10) +when displaying any byte sizes. If disabled (default), Midnight Commander will +use IEC prefixes (base 2). +.PP +.I Mix all files. +If this option is enabled, all files and directories are shown mixed +together. If the option is disabled (default), directories (and links to +directories) are shown at the beginning of the listing, and other files below. +.PP +.I Show backup files. +If enabled, Midnight Commander will show files ending with a tilde. +Otherwise, they won't be shown (like GNU's ls option \-B). Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Show hidden files. +If enabled, Midnight Commander will show all files that start with +a dot (like ls \-a). Disabled by default. +.PP +.I Fast directory reload. +If this option is enabled, Midnight Commander will use a trick to +determine if the directory contents have changed. The trick is to reload +the directory only if the i\-node of the directory has changed; this means +that reloads only happen when files are created or deleted. If what +changes is the i\-node for a file in the directory (file size changes, +mode or owner changes, etc) the display is not updated. In these cases, +if you have the option on, you have to rescan the directory manually +(with C\-r). Disabled by default. +.PP +.I Mark moves down. +If enabled, the selection bar will move down when you mark a file (with +Insert key). Enabled by default. +.PP +.I Reverse files only. +Allow revert selection of files only. Enabled by default. +If enabled, the reverse selection is applied to files only, not to directories. +The selection of directories is untouched. If off, the reverse selection +is applied to files as well to directories: all unselected items become +selected, and vice versa. +.PP +.I Simple swap. +If both panels contain file listing, simple swap means that panels exchange +its screen positions: left panel become right one, and vice versa. If this +option is unchecked, file listing panels exchange its content keeping listing +format and sort options. Unchecked by default. +.PP +.I Auto save panels setup. +If this option is enabled, when you exit Midnight Commander, the +current settings of panels are saved in the ~/.config/mc/panels.ini file. +Disabled by default. +.PP +.B Navigation +.PP +.I Lynx\-like motion. +If this option is enabled, you may use the arrows keys to automatically +chdir if the current selection is a subdirectory and the shell command +line is empty. By default, this setting is off. +.PP +.I Page scrolling. +If set (the default), panel will scroll by half the display when the +cursor reaches the end or the beginning of the panel, otherwise it +will just scroll a file at a time. +.PP +.I Center scrolling. +If set, panel will scroll when the cursor reaches the middle of the +panel column, only hitting the top or bottom of the panel when actually on +the first or last file. This behavior applies when scrolling one file +at a time, and does not apply to the page up/down keys. +.PP +.I Mouse page scrolling. +Controls whenever scrolling with the mouse wheel is done by pages or +line by line on the panels. +.PP +.B File highlight +.PP +You can specify whether +.I permissions +and +.I file types +should be highlighted with distinctive +.\"LINK2" +Colors\&. +.\"Colors" +If the permission highlighting is enabled, the parts of the +.I perm +and +.I mode +.\"LINK2" +display fields +.\"Listing Format..." +which apply to the user running Midnight Commander are highlighted with +the color defined by the +.I selected +keyword. If the file type highlighting is enabled, file names are colored +according to rules described in +%sysconfdir%/mc/filehighlight.ini +file. See +.\"LINK2" +Filenames Highlight +.\"Filenames Highlight" +for more info. +.PP +.B Quick search +.PP +You can specify how the +.\"LINK2" +Quick search +.\"Quick search" +mode should work: case insensitively, case sensitively or be matched +to the panel sort order: case sensitive or not. +.\"NODE " Confirmation" +.SH " Confirmation" +In this dialog you configure the confirmation options for file deletion, +overwriting files, execution by pressing enter, quitting the program, +directory hotlist entries deletion and history cleanup. +.\"NODE " Appearance" +.SH " Appearance" +In this dialog you can select the skin to be used and enable shadow +for dialogs and drop down menus. +.PP +See the +.\"LINK2" +Skins +.\"Skins" +section for technical details about the skin definition files. +.PP +.I Shadows. +If this option is enabled, all dialogs and drop down menus will have a shadow. +.\"NODE " Display bits" +.SH " Display bits" +This is used to configure the range of visible characters on the +screen. This setting may be 7\-bits if your terminal/curses supports +only seven output bits, ISO\-8859\-1 displays all the characters in the +ISO\-8859\-1 map and full 8 bits is for those terminals that can display +full 8 bit characters. +.\"NODE " Learn keys" +.SH " Learn keys" +This dialog allows you to test and redefine functional keys, cursor +arrows and some other keys to make them work properly on your terminal. +They often don't, since many terminal databases are incomplete or broken. +.PP +You can move around with the Tab key and with the vi moving keys ('h' +left, 'j' down, 'k' up and 'l' right). Once you press any cursor movement +key and it is recognized, you can use that key as well. +.PP +You can test keys just by pressing each of them. When you press a +key and it is recognized properly, OK should appear next to the name +of that key. Once a key is marked OK it starts working as usually, +e.g. F1 pressed the first time will just check that the F1 key works, +but after that it will show help. The same applies to the arrow keys. +The Tab key should be working always. +.PP +If some keys do not work properly then you won't see OK appear after +pressing one of these. Then you may want to redefine it. Do it by pressing +the button with the name of that key (either by the mouse or by Enter +or Space after selecting the button with Tab or arrows). Then a message +box will appear asking you to press that key. Do it and wait until the +message box disappears. If you want to abort, just press Escape once +and wait. +.PP +When you finish with all the keys, you can Save them. The definitions +for the keys you have redefined will be written into the [terminal:TERM] +section of your ~/.config/mc/ini file (where TERM is the name of your current +terminal). The definitions of the keys that were already working properly +are not saved. +.\"NODE " Virtual FS" +.SH " Virtual FS" +This option gives you control over the settings of the +.\"LINK2" +Virtual File System\&. +.\"Virtual File System" +.PP +Midnight Commander keeps in memory the information related to some +of the virtual file systems to speed up the access to the files in the +file system (for example, directory listings fetched from FTP servers). +.PP +Also, in order to access the contents of compressed files (for example, +compressed tar files), Midnight Commander needs to create temporary +uncompressed files on your disk. +.PP +Since both the information in memory and the temporary files on disk +take up resources, you may want to tune the parameters of the cached +information to decrease your resource usage or to maximize the speed of +access to frequently used file systems. +.PP +Because of the format of the tar archives, the +.I Tar filesystem +needs to read the whole file just to load the file entries. Since most +tar files are usually kept compressed (plain tar files are species in +extinction), the tar file system has to uncompress the file on the disk +in a temporary location and then access the uncompressed file as a +regular tar file. +.PP +Now, since we all love to browse files and tar files all over the disk, +it's common that you will leave a tar file and then re\-enter it later. +Since decompression is slow, Midnight Commander will cache the +information in memory for a limited time. When the timeout expires, all +the resources associated with the file system are released. The default +timeout is set to one minute. +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +FTP File System +.\"FTP File System" +(ftpfs) allows you to browse directories on remote FTP servers. It has +several options. +.PP +.I ftp anonymous password +is the password used when you login as "anonymous". Some sites require +a valid e\-mail address. On the other hand, you probably don't want to +give your real e\-mail address to untrusted sites, especially if you are +not using spam filtering. +.PP +ftpfs keeps the directory listing it fetches from a FTP server in a cache. +The cache expire time is configurable with the +.I ftpfs directory cache timeout +option. A low value for this option may slow down every operation on +the ftpfs because every operation would require sending a request to the +FTP server. +.PP +You can define an FTP proxy host for doing FTP. Note that most modern +firewalls are fully transparent at least for passive FTP (see below), so +FTP proxies are considered obsolete. +.PP +If +.I Always use ftp proxy +is not set, you can use the exclamation sign to enable proxy for certain +hosts. See +.\"LINK2" +FTP File System +.\"FTP File System" +for examples. +.PP +If this option is set, the program will do two things: consult the +%sysconfdir%/mc/mc.no_proxy file for lines containing host names that +are local (if the host name starts with a dot, it is assumed to be a +domain) and to assume that any hostnames without dots in their names are +directly accessible. All other hosts will be accessed through the +specified FTP proxy. +.PP +You can enable using +.I ~/.netrc +file, which keeps login names and passwords for ftp servers. See netrc +(5) for the description of the .netrc format. +.PP +.I Use passive mode +enables using FTP passive mode, when the connection for data transfer is +initiated by the client, not by the server. This option is recommended +and enabled by default. If this option is turned off, the data +connection is initiated by the server. This may not work with some +firewalls. +.\"NODE " Save Setup" +.SH " Save Setup" +At startup, Midnight Commander tries to load initialization information +from the ~/.config/mc/ini file. +If this file doesn't exist, the system\-wide file +.B %sysconfdir%/mc/mc.ini +is used. If this file doesn't exist, the system\-wide file +.B %pkgdatadir%/mc.ini +is used. If this file doesn't exist, MC uses the default settings. +.PP +The +.I Save Setup +command creates the ~/.config/mc/ini file by saving the +current settings of the +.\"LINK2" +Left, Right +.\"Left and Right Menus" +and +.\"LINK2" +Options +.\"Options Menu" +menus. +.PP +If you activate the +.I auto save setup +option, MC will always save the current settings when exiting. +.PP +There also exist settings which can't be changed from the menus. To +change these settings you have to edit the setup file with your +favorite editor. See the section on +.\"LINK2" +Special Settings +.\"Special Settings" +for more information. +.SH "" +.\"NODE "Executing operating system commands" +.SH "Executing operating system commands" +You may execute commands by typing them directly in Midnight +Commander's input line, or by selecting the program you want to +execute with the selection bar in one of the panels and hitting Enter. +.PP +If you press Enter over a file that is not executable, Midnight +Commander checks the extension of the selected file against the +extensions in the +.\"LINK2" +Extensions File\&. +.\"Edit Extension File" +If a match is found then the code associated with that extension is +executed. A very simple +.\"LINK2" +macro expansion +.\"Macro Substitution" +takes place before executing the command. +.\"NODE " The cd internal command" +.SH " The cd internal command" +The +.I cd +command is interpreted by Midnight Commander, it is not passed to +the command shell for execution. Thus it may not handle all of the +nice macro expansion and substitution that your shell does, although it +does some of them: +.PP +.I Tilde substitution. +The (~) will be substituted with your home directory, if you append a +username after the tilde, then it will be substituted with the login +directory of the specified user. +.PP +For example, ~guest is the home directory for the user guest, while +~/guest is the directory guest in your home directory. +.PP +.I Previous directory. +You can jump to the directory you were previously by using the special +directory name '\-' like this: +.B cd \- +.PP +.I CDPATH directories. +If the directory specified to the +.B cd +command is not in the current directory, then Midnight Commander +uses the value in the environment variable +.B CDPATH +to search for the directory in any of the named directories. +.PP +For example you could set your +.B CDPATH +variable to ~/src:/usr/src, allowing you to change your directory to +any of the directories inside the ~/src and /usr/src directories, from +any place in the file system by using its relative name (for example +cd linux could take you to /usr/src/linux). +.\"NODE " Macro Substitution" +.SH " Macro Substitution" +When accessing a +.\"LINK2" +user menu\&, +.\"Edit Menu File" +or executing an +.\"LINK2" +extension dependent command\&, +.\"Edit Extension File" +or running a command from the command line input, a simple macro +substitution takes place. +.PP +The macros are: +.TP +.I %i +The indent of blank space, equal the cursor column position. For edit +menu only. +.TP +.I %y +The syntax type of current file. For edit menu only. +.TP +.I %k +The block file name. +.TP +.I %e +The error file name. +.TP +.I %m +The current menu name. +.TP +.IR %f " and " %p +In file manager user menu: the current file name in selected panel. +In mcedit user menu: the name of opened file. +.TP +.I %x +The extension of current file name. +.TP +.I %b +The current file name without extension. +.TP +.I %d +The current directory name. +.TP +.I %F +The current file in the unselected panel. +.TP +.I %D +The directory name of the unselected panel. +.TP +.I %t +The currently tagged files. +.TP +.I %T +The tagged files in the unselected panel. +.TP +.IR %u " and " %U +Similar to the %t and %T macros, but in addition the files are untagged. +You can use this macro only once per menu file entry or extension file +entry, because next time there will be no tagged files. +.TP +.IR %s " and " %S +The selected files: The tagged files if there are any. Otherwise the +current file. +.TP +.I %cd +This is a special macro that is used to change the current directory +to the directory specified in front of it. This is used primarily as +an interface to the +.\"LINK2" +Virtual File System\&. +.\"Virtual File System" +.TP +.I %view +This macro is used to invoke the internal viewer. This macro can be +used alone, or with arguments. If you pass any arguments to this +macro, they should be enclosed in brackets. +.IP +The arguments are: +.I ascii +to force the viewer into ascii mode; +.I hex +to force the viewer into hex mode; +.I nroff +to tell the viewer that it should interpret the bold and underline +sequences of nroff; +.I unformatted +to tell the viewer to not interpret nroff commands for making the text +bold or underlined. +.TP +.I %% +The % character +.TP +.I %{some text} +Prompt for the substitution. An input box is shown and the text inside +the braces is used as a prompt. The macro is substituted by the text +typed by the user. The user can press Esc or F10 to cancel. This macro +doesn't work on the command line yet. +.TP +.I %var{ENV:default} +If environment variable +.I ENV +is unset, the +.I default +is substituted. Otherwise, the value of +.I ENV +is substituted. +.\"NODE " The subshell support" +.SH " The subshell support" +The subshell support is a compile time option, that works with the +shells: bash, ash (BusyBox and Debian), tcsh, zsh and fish. +.PP +When the subshell support is active, Midnight Commander will +spawn a concurrent copy of your shell (the one defined in the +.B SHELL +variable and if it is not defined, then the one in the /etc/passwd +file) and run it in a pseudo terminal, instead of invoking a new shell +each time you execute a command, the command will be passed to the +subshell as if you had typed it. This also allows you to change the +environment variables, use shell functions and define aliases that are +valid until you quit Midnight Commander. +.PP +.B bash +users may specify startup commands in ~/.local/share/mc/bashrc (fallback ~/.bashrc) +and special keyboard maps in ~/.local/share/mc/inputrc (fallback ~/.inputrc). +.PP +.B ash/dash +users (BusyBox or Debian) may specify startup commands in ~/.local/share/mc/ashrc (fallback ~/.profile). +.PP +.B zsh +users may specify startup commands in ~/.local/share/mc/.zshrc (fallback ~/.zshrc). +.PP +.B tcsh, fish +users cannot specify mc-specific startup commands at present. They have to rely on +shell-specific startup files. +.PP +The following paragraphs are relevant only when the subshell support is +active: +.PP +You can suspend applications at any +time with the sequence C\-o and jump back to Midnight Commander, if +you interrupt an application, you will not be able to run other +external commands until you quit the application you interrupted. +.PP +The basic prompt displayed by Midnight Commander is of the form +"user@host:current_path$ ". When using a capable shell, like Bash, the +prompt displayed by Midnight Commander will be the same prompt that you +are currently using in your shell. +.PP +(There's a known problem when using fish: the prompt is displayed only in +full screen mode (Ctrl-o), not when the panels are visible.) +.PP +The +.\"LINK2" +OPTIONS +.\"OPTIONS" +section has more information on how you can control subshell usage (-U/-u). +Furthermore, to set a specific subshell different from your current SHELL variable or +login shell defined in /etc/passwd, you may call MC like this: +.B SHELL=/bin/myshell mc +.\"NODE "Chmod" +.SH "Chmod" +The Chmod window is used to change the attribute bits in a group of +files and directories. It can be invoked with the C\-x c key combination. +.PP +The Chmod window has two parts \- +.I Permissions +and +.IR File . +.PP +In the File section are displayed the name of the file or directory +and its permissions in octal form, as well as its owner and group. +.PP +In the Permissions section there is a set of check buttons which +correspond to the file attribute bits. As you change the attribute +bits, you can see the octal value change in the File section. +.PP +To move between the widgets (buttons and check buttons) use the +.I arrow keys +or the +.I Tab +key. To change the state of the check buttons or to select a button +use +.I Space. +You can also use the hotkeys on the buttons to quickly activate them. +Hotkeys are shown as highlighted letters on the buttons. +.PP +To set the attribute bits, use the Enter key. +.PP +When working with a group of files or directories, you just click on +the bits you want to set or clear. Once you have selected the bits +you want to change, you select one of the action buttons (Set marked +or Clear marked). +.PP +Finally, to set the attributes exactly to those specified, you can use +the +.B [Set all] +button, which will act on all the tagged files. +.PP +.B [Marked all] +set only marked attributes to all selected files +.PP +.B [Set marked] +set marked bits in attributes of all selected files +.PP +.B [Clean marked] +clear marked bits in attributes of all selected files +.PP +.B [Set] +set the attributes of one file +.PP +.B [Cancel] +cancel the Chmod command +.\"NODE "Chown" +.SH "Chown" +The Chown command is used to change the owner/group of a file. The hot +key for this command is C\-x o. +.\"NODE "Advanced Chown" +.SH "Advanced Chown" +The Advanced Chown command is the +.\"LINK2" +Chmod +.\"Chmod" +and +.\"LINK2" +Chown +.\"Chown" +command combined into one window. You can change the permissions and +owner/group of files at once. +.\"NODE "Chattr" +.SH "Chattr" +The Chattr window is used to change the attributes of a group of files +and directories on a Linux file system. It can be invoked with the C\-x e +key combination. +.PP +Not all attributes are supported or utilized by all filesystems. +List of available attribute flags is represented as a set of check buttons +which correspond to the attribute flags (see +.B chattr(1) +for details). As you change the attribute flags, you can see the symbolic +value change below file name. +.PP +To move between the widgets (buttons and check buttons) use the +.I arrow keys +or the +.I Tab +key. To change the state of the check buttons or to select a button use +.BR Space . +.PP +To set the attributes, use the Enter key. +.PP +When working with a group of files or directories, you just click on +the flags you want to set or clear. Once you have selected the flags +you want to change, you select one of the action buttons (Set marked +or Clear marked). +.PP +Finally, to set the attributes exactly to those specified, you can use +the +.B [Set all] +button, which will act on all the tagged files. +.PP +.B [Marked all] +set only marked attributes to all selected files. +.PP +.B [Set marked] +set marked flags in attributes of all selected files. +.PP +.B [Clean marked] +clear marked flags in attributes of all selected files. +.PP +.B [Set] +set the attributes of one file. +.PP +.B [Cancel] +cancel the Chattr command. +.\"NODE "File Operations" +.SH "File Operations" +When you copy, move or delete files, Midnight Commander shows the +file operations dialog. It shows the files currently being processed +and uses up to three progress bars. The file bar indicates the +percentage of the current file that has been processed so far. The +count bar shows how many of the tagged files have been handled. The +bytes bar indicates the percentage of the total size of the tagged files +that has been handled. If the verbose option is off, the file and bytes +bars are not shown. +.PP +There are two buttons at the bottom of the dialog. Pressing the Skip +button will skip the rest of the current file. Pressing the Abort +button will abort the whole operation, the rest of the files are +skipped. +.PP +There are three other dialogs which you can run into during the file +operations. +.PP +The error dialog informs about error conditions and has three choices. +Normally you select either the Skip button to skip the file or the Abort +button to abort the operation altogether. You can also select the Retry +button if you fixed the problem from another terminal. +.PP +The replace dialog is shown when you attempt to copy or move a file on +the top of an existing file. The dialog shows the dates and sizes of +the both files. Press the Yes button to overwrite the file, the No +button to skip the file, the All button to overwrite all the files, the +None button to never overwrite and the Update button to overwrite if the +source file is newer than the target file. You can abort the whole +operation by pressing the Abort button. +.PP +The recursive delete dialog is shown when you try to delete a directory +which is not empty. Press the Yes button to delete the directory +recursively, the No button to skip the directory, the All button to +delete all the directories and the None button to skip all the non\-empty +directories. You can abort the whole operation by pressing the Abort +button. If you selected the Yes or All button you will be asked for a +confirmation. Type "yes" only if you are really sure you want to do the +recursive delete. +.PP +If you have tagged files and perform an operation on them only the files +on which the operation succeeded are untagged. Failed and skipped files +are left tagged. +.\"NODE "Mask Copy/Rename" +.SH "Mask Copy/Rename" +The copy/move operations let you translate the names of files in an +easy way. To do it, you have to specify the correct source mask and +usually in the trailing part of the destination specify some wildcards. +All the files matching the source mask are copied/renamed according to +the target mask. If there are tagged files, only the tagged files +matching the source mask are renamed. +.PP +There are other options which you can set: +.PP +.B Follow links +.PP +determines whether make the symlinks and hardlinks in the source +directory (recursively in subdirectories) new links in the target +directory or whether would you like to copy their content. +.PP +.B Dive into subdirs +.PP +determines the behavior when the source directory is about to be copied, +but the target directory already exists. The default action is to copy +the contents of the source directory into the target directory. +Enabling this option causes copying the source directory itself into the +target directory. +.PP +For example, you want to copy directory +.I /foo +containing file +.I bar +to +.IR /bla/foo , +which is an already existing directory. Normally (when +.B Dive into subdirs +is not set), mc would copy file +.I /foo/bar +into the file +.IR /bla/foo/bar . +By enabling this option the +.I /bla/foo/foo +directory will be created, and +.I /foo/bar +will be copied into +.IR /bla/foo/foo/bar . +.PP +.B Preserve attributes +.PP +determines whether to preserve the permissions, timestamps and (if you +are root) the ownership of the original files. If this option is not +set, the current value of the umask will be respected. +.PP +.B Use shell patterns +.PP +When this option is on you can use the '*' and '?' wildcards in the source +mask. They work like they do in the shell. In the target mask only the '*' +and '\\<digit>' wildcards are allowed. The first '*' wildcard in the target +mask corresponds to the first wildcard group in the source mask, +the second '*' corresponds to the second group and so on. The '\\1' wildcard +corresponds to the first wildcard group in the source mask, the '\\2' wildcard +corresponds to the second group and so on all the way up to '\\9'. +The '\\0' wildcard is the whole filename of the source file. +.PP +Two examples: +.PP +If the source mask is "*.tar.gz", the destination is "/bla/*.tgz" and the +file to be copied is "foo.tar.gz", the copy will be "foo.tgz" in "/bla". +.PP +Suppose you want to swap basename and extension so that "file.c" would +become "c.file" and so on. The source mask for this is "*.*" and the +destination is "\\2.\\1". +.PP +.B Use shell patterns off +.PP +When the shell patterns option is off the MC doesn't do automatic +grouping anymore. You must use '\\(...\\)' expressions in the source +mask to specify meaning for the wildcards in the target mask. This is +more flexible but also requires more typing. Otherwise target masks +are similar to the situation when the shell patterns option is on. +.PP +Two examples: +.PP +If the source mask is "^\\(.*\\)\\.tar\\.gz$", the destination is +"/bla/*.tgz" and the file to be copied is "foo.tar.gz", the copy +will be "/bla/foo.tgz". +.PP +Let's suppose you want to swap basename and extension so that "file.c" +will become "c.file" and so on. The source mask for this is +"^\\(.*\\)\\.\\(.*\\)$" and the destination is "\\2.\\1". +.PP +.B Case Conversions +.PP +You can also change the case of the filenames. If you use '\\u' +or '\\l' in the target mask, the next character will be converted to +uppercase or lowercase correspondingly. +.PP +If you use '\\U' or '\\L' in the target mask, the next characters will +be converted to uppercase or lowercase correspondingly up to the +next '\\E' or next '\\U', '\\L' or the end of the file name. +.PP +The '\\u' and '\\l' are stronger than '\\U' and '\\L'. +.PP +For example, if the source mask is '*' ( +.I Use shell patterns +on) or '^\\(.*\\)$' ( +.I Use shell patterns +off) and the target mask is '\\L\\u*' the file names will be converted +to have initial upper case and otherwise lower case. +.PP +You can also use '\\' as a quote character. For example, '\\\\' is +a backslash and '\\*' is an asterisk. +.PP +.B Stable symlinks +.PP +commands Midnight Commander, that it should change symlinks in the target, +so that they'll point to the same location as it did before. With absolute +symbolic links this does nothing, but if you have a relative one, it will +recompute its value, adding necessary ../ and other directory parts and making +the value as short as possible (most modern filesystems keep short symlinks +inside inodes and thus don't waste much disk space). + +.\"NODE "Select/Unselect Files" +.SH "Select/Unselect Files" +The dialog of group of files and directories selection or uselection. +The +.\"LINK2" +input line +.\"Input Line Keys" +allow enter the regular expression of filenames that will be +selected/unselected. +.PP +When +.I Files only +checkbox is on, only files will be selected. If +.I Files only +is off, as files as directories will be selected. +When +.I Shell Patterns +checkbox is on, the regular expression is much like the filename globbing +in the shell (* standing for zero or more characters and ? standing +for one character). If +.I Shell Patterns +is off, then the tagging of files is done with normal regular +expressions (see ed (1)). When +.I Case sensitive +checkbox is on, the selection will be case sensitive characters. +If +.I Case sensitive +is off, the case will be ignored. +.\"NODE "Diff Viewer" +.SH "Internal Diff Viewer" +The mcdiff is a visual diff tool. You can compare two files and edit them +in\-place (diffs are updated dynamically). You can browse and view a working +copy from popular version control systems (GIT, Subversion, etc). +.PP +Following shortcuts are available in internal diff viewer of Midnight +Commander. +.TP +.B F1 +Invoke the built\-in hypertext help viewer. +.TP +.B F2 +Save modified files. +.TP +.B F4 +Edit file of the left panel in the internal editor. +.TP +.B F14 +Edit file of the right panel in the internal editor. +.TP +.B F5 +Merge the current hunk. Only the current hunk will be merged. +.TP +.B F7 +Start search. +.TP +.B F17 +Continue search. +.TP +.B F10, Esc, q +Exit from diff viewer. +.TP +.B Alt\-s, s +Toggle show of hunk status. +.TP +.B Alt\-n, l +Toggle show of line numbers. +.TP +.B f +Maximize left panel. +.TP +.B = +Make panels equal in width. +.TP +.B > +Reduce the size of the right panel. +.TP +.B < +Reduce the size of the left panel. +.TP +.B c +Toggle show of trailing carriage return (CR) symbol as ^M. +.TP +.B 2, 3, 4, 8 +Set tabulation size +.TP +.B C\-u +Swap contents of diff panels. +.TP +.B C\-r +Refresh the screen. +.TP +.B C\-o +Switch to the subshell and show the command screen. +.TP +.B Enter, Space, n +Find next diff hunk. +.TP +.B Backspace, p +Find previous diff hunk. +.TP +.B g +Go to line. +.TP +.B Down +Scroll one line forward. +.TP +.B Up +Scroll one line backward. +.TP +.B PageUp +Move one page up. +.TP +.B PageDown +Mves one page down. +.TP +.B Home, A1 +Moves to the line beginning. +.TP +.B End +Moves to the line end. +.TP +.B C\-Home +Move to the file beginning. +.TP +.B C\-End, C1 +Move to the file end. +.\"NODE "Internal File Viewer" +.SH "Internal File Viewer" +The internal file viewer provides two display modes: ASCII and hex. +To toggle between modes, use the F4 key. +.PP +The viewer will try to use the best method provided by your system or +the file type to display the information. +Some character sequences, which appear most often in preformatted manual +pages, are displayed bold and underlined, thus making a pretty display +of your files. +.PP +When in hex mode, the search function accepts text in quotes and +constant numbers. Text in quotes is matched exactly after removing +the quotes. Each number matches one byte. You can mix quoted text +with constants like this: +.PP +.nf +"String" 34 0xBB 012 "more text" +.fi +.PP +Numbers are always interpreted in hex. In the example above, "34" is +interpreted as 0x34. The prefix "0x" isn't really needed: we could type +"BB" instead of "0xBB". And "012" is interpreted as 0x12, not as an octal +number. +.PP +Here is a listing of the actions associated with each key that the +Midnight Commander handles in the internal file viewer. +.TP +.B F1 +Invoke the built\-in hypertext help viewer. +.TP +.B F2 +Toggle the wrap mode. +.TP +.B F4 +Toggle the hex mode. +.TP +.B F5 +Goto. You can specify a line number, offset or percentage of file size +of position that you want to view. +.TP +.B F7, /, ? +Start search. These keys call the dialog window that allows you to set up +the search options. If key is ? the "Backwards" option is on. +.TP +.B C\-s +Continue forward search. +.TP +.B C\-r +Continue reverse search. +.TP +.B F17, n +Continue search in the chosen direction. +.TP +.B N +Temporary change the search direction: backwards if forward search is chosen, +and vice versa. +.TP +.B F8 +Toggle Raw/Parsed mode: This will show the file as found on disk or if +a processing filter has been specified in the mc.ext.ini file, then the +output from the filter. Current mode is always the other than written +on the button label, since on the button is the mode which you enter +by that key. +.TP +.B F9 +Toggle the format/unformat mode: when format mode is on the viewer +will interpret some string sequences to show bold and underline with +different colors. Also, on button label is the other mode than current. +.TP +.B F10, Esc. +Exit the internal file viewer. +.TP +.B PageDown, space, C\-v. +Scroll one page forward. +.TP +.B PageUp, Alt\-v, C\-b, Backspace. +Scroll one page backward. +.TP +.B Down +Scroll one line forward. +.TP +.B Up +Scroll one line backward. +.TP +.B C\-l +Refresh the screen. +.TP +.B C\-o +Switch to the subshell and show the command screen. +.TP +.B "[n] m" +Set the mark n. +.TP +.B "[n] r" +Jump to the mark n. +.TP +.B C\-f +Jump to the next file. +.TP +.B C\-b +Jump to the previous file. +.TP +.B Alt\-r +Toggle the ruler. +.TP +.B Alt\-e +to change charset of displayed text may use Alt\-e (M\-e). +Recoding is made from selected codepage into system codepage. To +cancel the recoding you may select "<No translation>" in charset +selection dialog. +.PP +It's possible to instruct the file viewer how to display a file, look +at the +.\"LINK2" +Edit Extension File section +.\"Edit Extension File" + +.\"NODE "Internal File Editor" +.SH "Internal File Editor" +The internal file editor is a full\-featured full screen editor. It can +edit files up to 64 megabytes. It is possible to edit binary files. +The internal file editor is invoked using +.B F4 +if the +.I use_internal_edit +option is set in the initialization file. +.PP +The features it presently supports are: block copy, move, delete, cut, +paste; key for key undo; pull\-down menus; file insertion; macro +commands; regular expression search and replace; S\-arrow text highlighting +(if supported by the terminal); insert\-overwrite toggle; word wrap; +autoindent; tunable tab size; syntax highlighting for various file +types; and an option to pipe text blocks through shell commands like +indent and ispell. +.PP +Sections: +.IP +.\"LINK2" +Options of editor in ini\-file +.\"Internal File Editor / options" +.PP +The editor is very easy to use and requires no tutoring. To see what +keys do what, just consult the appropriate pull\-down menu. Other keys +are: Shift movement keys do text highlighting. +.B C\-Ins +copies to the file +.B mcedit.clip +and +.B S\-Ins +pastes from mcedit.clip. +.B S\-Del +cuts to +.BR mcedit.clip , +and +.B C\-Del +deletes highlighted text. Mouse highlighting also works, and you +can override the mouse as usual by holding down the shift key +while dragging the mouse to let normal terminal mouse highlighting +work. +.PP +To define a macro, press +.B C\-R +and then type out the key +strokes you want to be executed. Press +.B C\-R +again when finished. You can then assign the macro to any key you +like by pressing that key. The macro is executed when you press +.B C\-A +and then the assigned key. The macro is also executed if +you press Meta, Ctrl, or Esc and the assigned key, provided that the +key is not used for any other function. Once defined, the macro +commands go into the file +.B ~/.local/share/mc/mcedit/mcedit.macros +You can delete a macro by deleting the +appropriate line in this file. +.PP +To change charset of displayed text may use Alt\-e (M\-e). +Recoding is made from selected codepage into system codepage. To +cancel the recoding you may select "<No translation>" in charset +selection dialog. +.PP +.B F19 +will format the currently highlighted block (plain text or C or C++ +code or another). This is controlled by the +file +.B %pkgdatadir%/edit.indent.rc +which is copied to +.B ~/.local/share/mc/mcedit/edit.indent.rc +in your home directory the first time you use it. +.PP +The editor also displays non\-us characters (160+). When editing +binary files, you should set +.B display bits +to 7 bits in the options menu to keep the spacing clean. + +.\"NODE "Internal File Editor / options" +.SH "Options of editor in ini\-file" + +Some editor options of ini\-file are described in this section. +Options are placed in [Midnight\-Commander] section +.TP +.I editor_wordcompletion_collect_entire_file +Search autocomplete candidates in entire of file or just from +begin of file to cursor position (0) + +.\"NODE "Screen selector" +.SH "Screen selector" +Midnight Commander supports running many internal modules (such as +editor, viewer and diff viewer) simultaneously and switching between +them without closing open files. Using several file managers at a time, +however, is not currently supported. +.PP +Let's call each of these modules a screen. There are three ways to +switch between screens, using one of these global shortcuts: +.TP +.B Alt\-} +switch to the next screen; +.TP +.B Alt\-{ +switch to the previous screen; +.TP +.B Alt\-` +open a dialog window with the list of currently open screens (or use the +"Screen list" menu item). +.\"NODE "Completion" +.SH "Completion" +Let Midnight Commander type for you. +.PP +Attempt to perform completion on the text before current position. MC +attempts completion treating the text as variable (if the text begins +with +.BR $ ), +username (if the text begins with +.BR ~ ), +hostname (if the text begins with +.BR @ ) +or command (if you are on the command line in the position where you +might type a command, possible completions then include shell reserved +words and shell built\-in commands as well) in turn. If none of these +matches, filename completion is attempted. +.PP +Filename, username, variable and hostname completion works on all input +lines, command completion is command line specific. If the completion +is ambiguous (there are more different possibilities), MC beeps and the +following action depends on the setting of the +.\"LINK2" +Complete: show all +.\"Configuration" +option in the +.\"LINK2" +Configuration +.\"Configuration" +dialog. If it is enabled, a list of all possibilities pops up next to +the current position and you can select with the arrow keys and +.B Enter +the correct entry. You can also type the first letters in which the +possibilities differ to move to a subset of all possibilities and +complete as much as possible. If you press +.B Alt\-Tab +again, only the subset will be shown in the listbox, otherwise the first +item which matches all the previous characters will be highlighted. As +soon as there is no ambiguity, dialog disappears, but you can hide it by +canceling keys +.BR Esc , +.B F10 +and left and right arrow keys. If +.\"LINK2" +Complete: show all +.\"Configuration" +is disabled, the dialog pops up only if you press +.B Alt\-Tab +for the second time, for the first time MC just beeps. +.PP +Apply escaping of \fB?\fR, \fB*\fR, and \fB&\fR symbols (as \fB\\?\fR, \fB\\*\fR, +and \fB\\&\fR) in filenames to disallow use them as metasymbols in regular +expressions when substitution is performed in the input line. + +.\"NODE "Virtual File System" +.SH "Virtual File System" +Midnight Commander is provided with a code layer to access the file +system; this code layer is known as the virtual file system switch. The +virtual file system switch allows Midnight Commander to manipulate +files not located on the Unix file system. +.PP +Currently, Midnight Commander is packaged with some Virtual File +Systems (VFS): the +.I local +file system, used for accessing the regular Unix file system; the +.IR ftpfs , +used to manipulate files on remote systems with the FTP protocol; the +.IR tarfs , +used to manipulate tar and compressed tar files; the +.IR undelfs , +used to recover deleted files on ext2 file systems (the default file +system for Linux systems), +.I fish +(for manipulating files over shell connections such as rsh and ssh). +If the code was compiled with +.I sftpfs +(for manipulating files over SFTP connections). +.PP +A generic +.I extfs +(EXTernal virtual File System) is provided in order to easily expand +VFS capabilities using scripts and external software. +.PP +The VFS switch code will interpret all of the path names used and will +forward them to the correct file system, the formats used for each one +of the file systems is described later in their own section. +.\"NODE " FTP File System" +.SH " FTP File System" +The FTP File System (ftpfs) allows you to manipulate files on remote +machines. To actually use it, you can use the +.I FTP link +item in the menu or directly change your current directory using the +.I cd +command to a path name that looks like this: +.PP +.I ftp://[!][user[:pass]@]machine[:port][remote\-dir] +.PP +The +.IR user , +.I port +and +.I remote\-dir +elements are optional. If you specify the +.I user +element, Midnight Commander will login to the remote machine as that +user, otherwise it will use anonymous login or the login name from the +.I ~/.netrc +file. The optional +.I pass +element is the password used for the connection. Using the password in +the VFS directory name is not recommended, because it can appear on the +screen in clear text and can be saved to the directory history. +.PP +To enable using FTP proxy, prepend +.B ! +(an exclamation sign) to the hostname. +.PP +Examples: +.PP +.nf + ftp://ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx/linux/local + ftp://tsx\-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/packages + ftp://!behind.firewall.edu/pub + ftp://guest@remote\-host.com:40/pub + ftp://miguel:xxx@server/pub +.fi +.PP +Please check the +.\"LINK2" +Virtual File System +.\"Virtual FS" +dialog box for ftpfs options. +.\"NODE " Tar File System" +.SH " Tar File System" +The tar file system provides you with read\-only access to your tar +files and compressed tar files by using the chdir command. To change +your directory to a tar file, you change your current directory to the +tar file by using the following syntax: +.PP +.I /filename.tar/utar://[dir\-inside\-tar] +.PP +The mc.ext.ini file already provides a shortcut for tar files, this means +that usually you just point to a tar file and press return to enter +into the tar file, see the +.\"LINK2" +Edit Extension File +.\"Edit Extension File" +section for details on how this is done. +.PP +Examples: +.PP +.nf + mc\-3.0.tar.gz/utar://mc\-3.0/vfs + /ftp/GCC/gcc\-2.7.0.tar/utar:// +.fi +.PP +The latter specifies the full path of the tar archive. +.\"NODE " FIle transfer over SHell filesystem" +.SH " FIle transfer over SHell filesystem" +The fish file system is a network based file system that allows you to +manipulate the files in a remote machine as if they were local. To use +this, the other side has to either run fish server, or has to have +bash\-compatible shell. +.PP +To connect to a remote machine, you just need to chdir +into a special directory which name is in the following +format: +.PP +.I sh://[user@]machine[:options]/[remote\-dir] +.PP +The +.I user, +.I options +and +.I remote\-dir +elements are optional. If you specify the +.I user +element, Midnight Commander will try to login on the remote +machine as that user, otherwise it will use your login name. +.PP +The available +.I options +are: +.nf + 'C' \- use compression; + 'r' \- use rsh instead of ssh; + port \- specify the port used by remote server. +.fi +If the +.I remote\-dir +element is present, your current directory on the remote machine will be +set to this one. +.PP +Examples: +.PP +.nf + sh://onlyrsh.mx:r/linux/local + sh://joe@want.compression.edu:C/private + sh://joe@noncompressed.ssh.edu/private + sh://joe@somehost.ssh.edu:2222/private +.fi +.\"NODE " SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) filesystem" +.SH " SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) filesystem" +The SFTP file system is a network based file system that allows you to +manipulate the files in a remote machine as if they were local. +.PP +To connect to a remote machine, you just need to chdir +into a special directory which name is in the following +format: +.PP +.I sftp://[user@]machine:[port]/[remote\-dir] +.PP +The +.I user, +.I port +and +.I remote\-dir +elements are optional. If you specify the +.I user +element, Midnight Commander will try to login on the remote +machine as that user, otherwise it will use your login name. +.I port +\- specify the port used by remote server (22 by default). +If the +.I remote\-dir +element is present, your current directory on the remote machine will be +set to this one. +.PP +Examples: +.PP +.nf + sftp://onlyrsh.mx/linux/local + sftp://joe:password@want.compression.edu/private + sftp://joe@noncompressed.ssh.edu/private + sftp://joe@somehost.ssh.edu:2222/private +.fi +.PP +When establishing the connection, server key fingerprint is verified using +the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file. If the host/key pair is not found or the host is found, +but the key doesn't match, an appropriate message is shown. +There are three buttons in the message dialog: +.PP +.B [Yes] +add new host/key pair to the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file and continue. +.PP +.B [Ignore] +do not add new host/key pair to the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file, but continue +nevertheless (at you own risk). +.PP +.B [No] +abort connection. +.\"NODE " Undelete File System" +.SH " Undelete File System" +On Linux systems, if you asked configure to use the ext2fs undelete +facilities, you will have the undelete file system available. +Recovery of deleted files is only available on ext2 file systems. The +undelete file system is just an interface to the ext2fs library to +retrieve all of the deleted files names on an ext2fs and provides and +to extract the selected files into a regular partition. +.PP +To use this file system, you have to chdir into the special file name +formed by the "undel://" prefix and the file name where the actual +file system resides. +.PP +For example, to recover deleted files on the second partition of the +first SCSI disk on Linux, you would use the following path name: +.PP +.nf + undel://sda2 +.fi +.PP +It may take a while for the undelfs to load the required information +before you start browsing files there. +.\"NODE " EXTernal File System" +.SH " EXTernal File System" +.B extfs +allows you to integrate numerous features and file types into GNU Midnight +Commander in an easy way, by writing scripts. +.PP +Extfs filesystems can be divided into two categories: +.PP +1. Stand\-alone filesystems, which are not associated with any existing +file. They represent certain system\-wide data as a directory tree. +You can invoke them by typing +.I "cd fsname://" +where fsname is an extfs short name (see below). Examples of such +filesystems include audio (list audio tracks on the CD) or apt (list of +all Debian packages in the system). +.PP +For example, to list CD\-Audio tracks on your CD\-ROM drive, type +.PP +.nf + cd audio:// +.fi +.PP +2. 'Archive' filesystems (like rpm, patchfs and more), which represent +contents of a file as a directory tree. It can consist of 'real' files +compressed in an archive (urar, rpm) or virtual files, like messages +in a mailbox (mailfs) or parts of a patch (patchfs). To access such +filesystems +.I fsname:// +should be appended to the archive name. Note that the archive itself +can be on another vfs. +.PP +For example, to list contents of a zip archive documents.zip type +.PP +.nf + cd documents.zip/uzip:// +.fi +.PP +In many aspects, you could treat extfs like any other directory. For +instance, you can add it to the hotlist or change to it from directory +history. An important limitation is that you cannot invoke shell +commands inside extfs, just like any other non\-local VFS. +.PP +Common extfs scripts included with Midnight Commander are: +.TP +.B a +access 'A:' DOS/Windows diskette +.RI ( "cd a://" ). +.TP +.B apt +front end to Debian's APT package management system +.RI ( "cd apt://" ). +.TP +.B audio +audio CD ripping and playing +.RI ( "cd audio://" +or +.IR "cd device/audio://" ). +.TP +.B bpp +package of Bad Penguin GNU/Linux distribution +.RI ( "cd file.bpp/bpp://" ). +.TP +.B deb +package of Debian GNU/Linux distribution +.RI ( "cd file.deb/deb://" ). +.TP +.B dpkg +Debian GNU/Linux installed packages +.RI ( "cd deb://" ). +.TP +.B hp48 +view and copy files to/from a HP48 calculator +.RI ( "cd hp48://" ). +.TP +.B lslR +browsing of lslR listings as found on many FTPs +.RI ( "cd filename/lslR://" ). +.TP +.B mailfs +mbox\-style mailbox files support +.RI ( "cd mailbox/mailfs://" ). +.TP +.B patchfs +extfs to handle unified and context diffs +.RI ( "cd filename/patchfs://" ). +.TP +.B rpm +RPM package +.RI ( "cd filename/rpm://" ). +.TP +.B rpms +RPM database management +.RI ( "cd rpms://" ). +.TP +.B ulha, urar, uzip, uzoo, uar, uha +archivers +.RI ( "cd archive/xxxx://" +where xxxx is one of: +.IR ulha , +.IR urar , +.IR uzip , +.IR uzoo , +.IR uar , +.IR uha ). +.PP +You could bind file type/extension to specified extfs as described in the +.\"LINK2" +Edit Extension File +.\"Edit Extension File" +section. Here is an example entry for Debian packages: +.PP +.nf + regex/\.deb$ + Open=%cd %p/deb:// +.fi +.\"NODE "Colors" +.SH "Colors" +Midnight Commander will try to detect if your terminal supports +color using the terminal database and your terminal name. Sometimes +it gets confused, so you may force color mode or disable color mode +using the \-c and \-b flag respectively. +.PP +If the program is compiled with the S\-Lang screen manager instead of +ncurses, it will also check the variable +.B COLORTERM, +if it is set, it has the same effect as the \-c flag. +.PP +You may specify terminals that always force color mode +by adding the +.I color_terminals +variable to the Colors section of the initialization file. This will +prevent Midnight Commander from trying to detect if your terminal +supports color. Example: +.PP +.nf +[Colors] +color_terminals=linux,xterm +color_terminals=terminal\-name1,terminal\-name2... +.fi +.PP +The program can be compiled with both ncurses and S\-Lang, ncurses does +not provide a way to force color mode: ncurses uses just the +information in the terminal database. +.PP +Midnight Commander provides a way to change the default colors. +Currently the colors are configured using the environment variable +.B MC_COLOR_TABLE +or the Colors section in the initialization file. +.PP +In the Colors section, the default color map is loaded from the +.I base_color +variable. You can specify an alternate color map for a terminal by +using the terminal name as the key in this section. Example: +.PP +.nf +[Colors] +base_color= +xterm=menu=magenta:marked=,magenta:markselect=,red +.fi +.PP +The format for the color definition is: +.PP +.nf + <keyword>=<fgcolor>,<bgcolor>,<attributes>:<keyword>=... +.fi +.PP +The colors are optional, and the keywords are: normal, selected, disabled, marked, +markselect, errors, input, inputmark, inputunchanged, commandlinemark, +reverse, gauge, header, inputhistory, commandhistory. Button bar colors are: +bbarhotkey, bbarbutton. Status bar color: statusbar. Menu colors are: menunormal, +menusel, menuhot, menuhotsel, menuinactive. Dialog colors are: dnormal, dfocus, +dhotnormal, dhotfocus, dtitle. Error dialog colors are: errdfocus, errdhotnormal, +errdhotfocus, errdtitle. Help colors are: helpnormal, helpitalic, helpbold, +helplink, helpslink, helptitle. Viewer colors are: viewnormal, viewbold, +viewunderline, viewselected. Editor colors are: editnormal, editbold, editmarked, +editwhitespace, editlinestate. Popup menu colors are: pmenunormal, pmenusel, +pmenutitle. +.PP +.I header +determines the color of panel header, the line that contains column titles +and sort mode indicator. +.PP +.I input +determines the color of input lines used in query dialogs. +.PP +.I gauge +determines the color of the filled part of the progress bar (gauge), +which is used to show the user the progress of file operations, such as +copying. +.PP +.I disabled +determines the color of the widget that cannot be selected. +.PP +The dialog boxes use the following colors: +.I dnormal +is used for the normal text, +.I dfocus +is the color used for the currently selected component, +.I dhotnormal +is the color used to differentiate the hotkey color in normal +components, whereas the +.I dhotfocus +color is used for the highlighted color in the currently selected +component. +.PP +Menus use the same scheme but uses the menunormal, menusel, menuhot, menuhotsel +and menuinactive tags instead. +.PP +Help uses the following colors: +.I helpnormal +is used for normal text, +.I helpitalic +is used for text which is emphasized in italic in the manual page, +.I helpbold +is used for text which is emphasized in bold in the manual page, +.I helplink +is used for not selected hyperlinks and +.I helpslink +is used for selected hyperlink. +.PP +Popup menu uses following colors: +.I pmenunormal +is used for non\-selected menu items and as a main color of popup menu window, +.I pmenusel +is used for selected menu item, +.I pmenutitle +is used for popup menu title. +.PP +The possible colors are: black, gray, red, brightred, green, +brightgreen, brown, yellow, blue, brightblue, magenta, brightmagenta, +cyan, brightcyan, lightgray and white. And there is a special keyword +for transparent background. It is 'default'. The 'default' can only be +used for background color. Another special keyword "base" means mc's main +colors. When 256 colors are available, they can be specified either as +color16 to color255, or as rgb000 to rgb555 and gray0 to gray23. Example: +.PP +.nf +[Colors] +base_color=normal=white,default:marked=magenta,default +.fi +.PP +Attributes can be any of bold, italic, underline, reverse and blink, appended by a +plus sign if more than one are desired. The special word "none" means no +attributes, without attempting to fall back to base_color. Example: +.PP +.nf +menuhotsel=yellow;black;bold+underline +.fi + +.\"NODE "Skins" +.SH "Skins" +You can change the appearance of Midnight Commander. +To do this, you must specify a file that contain descriptions of colors +and lines to draw boxes. Redefining of the colors is entirely compatible +with the assignment of colors, as described in Section +.\"LINK2" +Colors\&. +.\"Colors" +.PP +If your skin contains any true\-color definitions, you should define +the 'truecolors' key set to TRUE value in [skin] section. If true\-color +is not used but 256\-color is, you should define '256colors' instead. +.PP +A skin\-file is searched on the following algorithm (to the first one found): +.IP +.br +1) command line option +.B \-S <skin> +or +.B \-\-skin=<skin> +.br +2) Environment variable +.B MC_SKIN +.br +3) Parameter +.B skin +in section +.B [Midnight\-Commander] +in config file. +.br +4) File +.B %sysconfdir%/mc/skins/default.ini +.br +5) File +.B %pkgdatadir%/skins/default.ini + +.PP +Command line option, environment variable and parameter in config file may +contain the absolute path to the skin\-file (with the extension \.ini +or without it). Search of skin\-file will occur in (to the first one found): +.IP +1) +.B ~/.local/share/mc/skins/ +.br +2) +.B %sysconfdir%/mc/skins/ +.br +3) +.B %pkgdatadir%/skins/ +.br + +.PP +For getting extended info, refer to: +.IP +.\"LINK2" +Description of section and parameters +.\"Skins sections" +.br +.\"LINK2" +Color pair definitions +.\"Skins colors" +.br +.\"LINK2" +Color and attribute aliases +.\"Skins aliases" +.br +.\"LINK2" +Draw lines +.\"Skins lines" +.br +.\"LINK2" +Compatibility +.\"Skins oldcolors" +.br + +.\"NODE " Skins sections" +.SH " Description of section and parameters" + +Section +.B [skin] +contain metainfo for skin\-file. Parameter +.I description +contain short text about skin. + +.PP +Section +.B [filehighlight] +contain descriptions of color pairs for filenames highlighting. +Name of parameters must be equal to names of sections into +filehighlight.ini file. +See +.\"LINK2" +Filenames Highlight +.\"Filenames Highlight" +for getting more info. + +.PP +Section +.B [core] +describes the elements that are used everywhere. +.TP +.I _default_ +Default color pair. Used in all other sections if they not contain +color definitions +.TP +.I selected +cursor +.TP +.I marked +selected data +.TP +.I markselect +cursor on selected data +.TP +.I gauge +color of the filled part of the progress bar +.TP +.I input +color of input lines used in query dialogs +.TP +.I inputmark +color of input selected text +.TP +.I inputunchanged +color of input text before first modification or cursor movement +.TP +.I commandlinemark +color of selected text in command line +.TP +.I reverse +reverse color +.PP +Section +.B [dialog] +describes the elements that are placed on dialog windows (except error dialogs). +.TP +.I _default_ +Default color for this section. Used [core]._default_ if not specified +.TP +.I dfocus +Color of active element (in focus) +.TP +.I dhotnormal +Color of hotkeys +.TP +.I dhotfocus +Color of hotkeys in focused element + +.PP +Section +.B [error] +describes the elements that are placed on error dialog windows +.TP +.I _default_ +Default color for this section. Used [core]._default_ if not specified +.TP +.I errdhotnormal +Color of hotkeys +.TP +.I errdhotfocus +Color of hotkeys in focused element + +.PP +Section +.B [menu] +describes the elements that are placed in menu. This section describes +system menu (called by F9) and user\-defined menus (called by F2 in panels +and by F11 in editor). +.TP +.I _default_ +Default color for this section. Used [core]._default_ if not specified +.TP +.I entry +Color of menu items +.TP +.I menuhot +Color of menu hotkeys +.TP +.I menusel +Color of active menu item (in focus) +.TP +.I menuhotsel +Color of menu hotkeys in focused menu item +.TP +.I menuinactive +Color of inactive menu + +.PP +Section +.B [help] +describes the elements that are placed on help window. +.TP +.I _default_ +Default color for this section. Used [core]._default_ if not specified +.TP +.I helpitalic +Color pair for element with +.B italic +attribute +.TP +.I helpbold +Color pair for element with +.B bold +attribute +.TP +.I helplink +Color of links +.TP +.I helpslink +Color of active link (on focus) + +.PP +Section +.B [editor] +describes the colors of elements placed in editor. +.TP +.I _default_ +Default color for this section. Used [core]._default_ if not specified +.TP +.I editbold +Color pair for element with +.B bold +attribute +.TP +.I editmarked +Color of selected text +.TP +.I editwhitespace +Color of tabs and trailing spaces highlighting +.TP +.I editlinestate +Color for line state area + +.PP +Section +.B [viewer] +describes the colors of elements placed in viewer. +.TP +.I viewunderline +Color pair for element with +.B underline +attribute + +.\"NODE " Skins colors" +.SH " Color pair definitions" +Any parameter in skin\-file contain definition of color pair. +.PP +Color pairs described as two colors and the optional attributes +separated by ';'. First field sets the foreground color, second +field sets background color, third field sets the attributes. +Any of the fields may be omitted, in this case value will be +taken from default color pair (global color pair or from default +color pair of this section). +.PP +Example: +.br +.nf +[core] + # green on black + _default_=green;black + # green (default) on blue + selected=;blue + # yellow on black (default) + # underlined yellow on black (default) + marked=yellow;;underline +.fi + +.PP +Possible colors (names) and attributes are described in +.\"LINK2" +Colors\&. +.\"Colors" +section. + +.\"NODE " Skins aliases" +.SH " Color and attribute aliases" +This optional section might define aliases for single colors (not color pairs) +as well as combination of attributes; in other words, for semicolon\-separated +fragments of parameters. Aliases can refer to other aliases as long as they +don't form a loop. +.PP +Example: +.br +.nf +[aliases] + myfavfg=green + myfavbg=black + myfavattr=bold+italic +[core] + _default_=myfavfg;myfavbg;myfavattr +.fi + +.\"NODE " Skins lines" +.SH " Draw lines" +Lines sets in section +.B [Lines] +into skin\-file. By default single lines are used, but you may redefine +to usage of any utf\-8 symbols (like to lines, for example). +.PP +.I WARNING!!! +When you build Midnight Commander with the ncurses screen library +usage of drawing lines is limited! +Possible only drawing a single lines. +For all questions and comments please contact the developers of ncurses. + +.PP +Descriptions of parameters +.BR [Lines] : +.TP +.I lefttop +left\-top line fragment. +.TP +.I righttop +right\-top line fragment. +.TP +.I centertop +down branch of horizontal line +.TP +.I centerbottom +up branch of horizontal line +.TP +.I leftbottom +left\-bottom line fragment +.TP +.I rightbottom +right\-bottom line fragment +.TP +.I leftmiddle +right branch of vertical line +.TP +.I rightmiddle +left branch of vertical line +.TP +.I centermiddle +cross of lines +.TP +.I horiz +horizontal line +.TP +.I vert +vertical line +.TP +.I thinhoriz +thin horizontal line +.TP +.I thinvert +thin vertical line + + +.\"NODE " Skins oldcolors" +.SH " Compatibility" + +Appointment of color by skin\-files fully compatible with +the appointment of the colors described in +.\"LINK2" +Colors\&. +.\"Colors" +section. +.PP +In this case, reassignment of colors has priority over the skin file and is +complementary. + +.\"NODE "Filenames Highlight" +.SH "Filenames Highlight" +Section [filehighlight] in current skin\-file contains key names as +highlight groups and values as color pairs. Color pairs is documented +in +.\"LINK2" +Skins +.\"Skins" +section. +.PP +Rules of filenames highlight are placed in %pkgdatadir%/filehighlight.ini file +(~/.config/mc/filehighlight.ini). +Name of section in this file must be equal to parameters names in +[filehighlight] section (in current skin\-file). +.PP +Keys in these groups are: +.TP +.I type +file type. If present, all other options are ignored. +.TP +.I regexp +regular expression. If present, 'extensions' option is ignored. +.TP +.I extensions +list of extensions of files. Separated by ';' sign. +.TP +.I extensions_case +(make sense only with 'extensions' parameter) make 'extensions' +rule case sensitive (true) or not (false). +.PP +`type' key may have values: +.nf +\- FILE (all files) + \- FILE_EXE +\- DIR (all directories) + \- LINK_DIR +\- LINK (all links except stale link) + \- HARDLINK + \- SYMLINK +\- STALE_LINK +\- DEVICE (all device files) + \- DEVICE_BLOCK + \- DEVICE_CHAR +\- SPECIAL (all special files) + \- SPECIAL_SOCKET + \- SPECIAL_FIFO + \- SPECIAL_DOOR +.fi +.PP + +.\"NODE "Special Settings" +.SH "Special Settings" +Most of Midnight Commander settings can be changed from the +menus. However, there are a small number of settings which can only be +changed by editing the setup file. +.PP +These variables may be set in your ~/.config/mc/ini file: +.TP +.I clear_before_exec +By default, Midnight Commander clears the screen before executing a +command. If you would prefer to see the output of the command at the +bottom of the screen, edit your ~/.config/mc/ini file and change the value of +the field clear_before_exec to 0. +.TP +.I confirm_view_dir +If you press F3 on a directory, normally MC enters that directory. If +this flag is set to 1, then MC will ask for confirmation before changing +the directory if you have files tagged. +.TP +.I ftpfs_retry_seconds +This value is the number of seconds Midnight Commander will wait +before attempting to reconnect to an FTP server that has denied the +login. If the value is zero, the login will no be retried. +.TP +.I max_dirt_limit +Specifies how many screen updates can be skipped at most in the internal +file viewer. Normally this value is not significant, because the code +automatically adjusts the number of updates to skip according to the +rate of incoming keystrokes. However, on very slow machines or +terminals with a fast keyboard auto repeat, a big value can make screen +updates too jumpy. +.IP +It seems that setting max_dirt_limit to 10 causes the best behavior, +and that is the default value. +.TP +.I mouse_move_pages_viewer +Controls if scrolling with the mouse is done by pages or line by line +on the internal file viewer. +.TP +.I only_leading_plus_minus +Allow special treatment for '+', '\-', '*' in the command line (select, +unselect, reverse selection) only if the command line is empty. You +don't need to quote those characters in the middle of the command line. +On the other hand, you cannot use them to change selection when the +command line is not empty. +.TP +.I alternate_plus_minus +If true, use '+', '\-', '\\' and '*' keys normally. For select/unselect, +use 'Alt\-+', 'Alt\--' and 'Alt\-*'. +.TP +.I show_output_starts_shell +This variable only works if you are not using the subshell support. +When you use the C\-o keystroke to go back to the user screen, if this +one is set, you will get a fresh shell. Otherwise, pressing any key +will bring you back to Midnight Commander. +.TP +.I timeformat_recent +Change the time format used to display dates less than 6 months from +now. +See strftime or date man page for the format specification. If this +option is absent, default timeformat is used. +.TP +.I timeformat_old +Change the time format used to display dates older than 6 months from +now or for dates in the future. +See strftime or date man page for the format specification. If this +option is absent, default timeformat is used. +.TP +.I torben_fj_mode +If this flag is set, then the home and end keys will work slightly +different on the panels, instead of moving the selection to the first +and last files in the panels, they will act as follows: +.IP +The home key will: Go up to the middle line, if below it; else go to the +top line unless it is already on the top line, in this case it will go +to the first file in the panel. +.IP +The end key has a similar behavior: Go down to the middle line, if over +it; else go to the bottom line unless you already are at the bottom +line, in such case it will move the selection to the last file name in +the panel. +.TP +.I use_file_to_guess_type +If this variable is on (the default) it will spawn the file command to +match the file types listed on the +.\"LINK2" +mc.ext.ini file\&. +.\"Edit Extension File" +.TP +.I xtree_mode +If this variable is on (default is off) when you browse the file system +on a Tree panel, it will automatically reload the other panel with the +contents of the selected directory. +.TP +.I fish_directory_timeout +This variable holds the lifetime of a directory cache entry in seconds. The +default value is 900 seconds. +.TP +.I clipboard_store +This variable contains path (with options) to the external clipboard +utility like 'xclip' to read text into X selection from file. +For example: +.PP +.nf +clipboard_store=xclip \-i +.fi +.TP +.I clipboard_paste +This variable contains path (with options) to the external clipboard +utility like 'xclip' to print the selection to standard out. +For example: +.PP +.nf +clipboard_paste=xclip \-o +.fi +.TP +.I autodetect_codeset +This option allows use the `enca' command to autodetect codeset of text files +in internal viewer and editor. List of valid values can be obtain by the +`enca \-\-list languages | cut \-d : \-f1' command. Option must be located +in the [Misc] section. +.PP +For example: +.PP +.nf +autodetect_codeset=russian +.fi +.\"NODE "Parameters for external editor or viewer" +.SH "Parameters for external editor or viewer" +Midnight Commander provides a way for specify an options for external editors +and viewers. Midnight Commander tries to search the +"[External editor or viewer parameters]" section in the system initialization file +(the mc.lib file located in Midnight Commander's library directory) +and then in the ~/.config/mc/ini file. The option name should be equal to the name +(full pathname) of external editor or viewer. The option value can contain following +variables: +.TP +.I %filename +The filename to edit/view. +.TP +.I %lineno +The start line in the opening file. +.PP +For example: +.PP +.nf +[External editor or viewer parameters] + vi=%filename +%lineno + joe=%filename +%lineno + more=%filename +%lineno +.fi +.PP +Start line is passed to the external editor/viewer only if it is called from the +.\"LINK2" +Find file +.\"Find File" +results window. +.PP +If external editor/viewer is launched via F4/F3 keys, MC hopes that program +(at least "joe", but probably others too) has an own feature that by default +opens the file where it was last open. MC doesn't prevent external editor/viewer +to save and restore position in opened files. +.\"NODE "Terminal databases" +.SH "Terminal databases" +Midnight Commander provides a way to fix your system terminal +database without requiring root privileges. Midnight Commander +searches in the system initialization file (the mc.lib file located in +Midnight Commander's library directory) and in the +~/.config/mc/ini file for the section +"terminal:your\-terminal\-name" and then for the section +"terminal:general", each line of the section contains a key symbol that +you want to define, followed by an equal sign and the definition for the +key. You can use the special \\e form to represent the escape character +and the ^x to represent the control\-x character. +.PP +The possible key symbols are: +.PP +.nf +f0 to f20 Function keys f0\-f20 +bs backspace +home home key +end end key +up up arrow key +down down arrow key +left left arrow key +right right arrow key +pgdn page down key +pgup page up key +insert the insert character +delete the delete character +complete to do completion +.fi +.PP +For example, to define the key insert to be the Escape + [ + O + p, you +set this in the ini file: +.PP +.nf +insert=\\e[Op +.fi + +.PP +Also now you can use +.I extended learn keys. +For example: + +.nf + ctrl\-alt\-right=\\e[[1;6C + ctrl\-alt\-left=\\e[[1;6D +.fi + +.PP +This means that ctrl+alt+left sends a \\e[[1;6D escape sequence +and therefore Midnight Commander interprets "\\e[[1;6D" as C\-Alt\-Left. + +.PP +The +.I complete +key symbol represents the escape sequences used to invoke the completion +process, this is invoked with Alt\-tab, but you can define other keys to do +the same work (on those keyboard with tons of nice and unused keys +everywhere). +.SH "" +.\"NODE "FILES" +.SH "FILES" +Full paths below may vary between installations. They are also affected +by the +.B MC_DATADIR +environment variable. If it's set, its value is used instead of +%pkgdatadir% in the paths below. +.PP +.I %pkgdatadir%/help/mc.hlp +.IP +The help file for the program. +.PP +.I %pkgdatadir%/mc.ext.ini +.IP +The default system\-wide extensions file. +.PP +.I ~/.config/mc/mc.ext.ini +.IP +User's own extension, view configuration and edit configuration +file. They override the contents of the system wide files if present. +.PP +.I %sysconfdir%/mc/mc.ini +.RE +.I %pkgdatadir%/mc.ini +.IP +System\-wide setup files for Midnight Commander, used only if the user +doesn't have his own +.B ~/.config/mc/ini +file. If %sysconfdir%/mc/mc.ini exists, %pkgdatadir%/mc.ini isn't used. +.PP +.I %pkgdatadir%/mc.lib +.IP +Global settings for Midnight Commander. Settings in this file +affect all users, whether they have ~/.config/mc/ini or not. Currently, only +.\"LINK2" +terminal settings +.\"Terminal databases" +are loaded from mc.lib. +.PP +.I ~/.config/mc/ini +.IP +User's own setup. If this file is present then the setup is loaded +from here instead of the system\-wide startup file. +.PP +.I %pkgdatadir%/hints/mc.hint +.IP +This file contains the hints displayed by the program. +.PP +.I %pkgdatadir%/mc.menu +.IP +This file contains the default system\-wide applications menu. +.PP +.I ~/.config/mc/menu +.IP +User's own application menu. If this file is present it is used instead +of the system\-wide applications menu. +.PP +.I ~/.cache/mc/Tree +.IP +The directory list for the directory tree and tree view features. +.PP +.I ~/.local/share/mc.menu +.IP +Local user\-defined menu. If this file is present, it is used instead of +the home or system\-wide applications menu. +.PP +To change default root directory of MC, you can use +.B MC_PROFILE_ROOT +environment variable. The value of MC_PROFILE_ROOT must be an absolute path. +If MC_PROFILE_ROOT is unset or empty, HOME variable is used. If HOME is unset +or empty, MC directories are get from GLib library. +.\"SKIP_SECTION" +.SH "LICENSE" +This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public +License as published by the Free Software Foundation. See the built\-in +help for details on the License and the lack of warranty. +.\"NODE "AVAILABILITY" +.SH "AVAILABILITY" +The latest version of this program can be found at +http://ftp.midnight\-commander.org/. +.\"NODE "SEE ALSO" +.SH "SEE ALSO" +ed(1), gpm(1), terminfo(1), view(1), sh(1), bash(1), +tcsh(1), zsh(1). +.PP +.nf +Midnight Commander's page on the World Wide Web: + https://www.midnight\-commander.org/ +.fi +.\"NODE "AUTHORS" +.SH "AUTHORS" +Authors and contributors are listed in the AUTHORS file in the source +distribution. +.\"NODE "BUGS" +.SH "BUGS" +See the file TODO in the distribution for information on what remains to +be done. +.PP +If you want to report a problem with the program, please create bugreport +at https://www.midnight\-commander.org/. +.PP +Provide a detailed description of the bug, the version of the program +you are running +.RI ( "mc \-V" +displays this information), the operating system you are running the +program on. If the program crashes, we would appreciate a stack trace. |