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Basic use cases
nnn
unfolds on use. Some exquisite stuff you can do:
- Instantly load, sort, filter thousands of files
- Type to navigate with automatic dir selection
- List input stream and pick entries to stdout or file as list
- Write a plugin in any language and talk to
nnn
-
find
/fd
/grep
/ripgrep
/fzf
fromnnn
and list innnn
- Never lose context - start where you quit
- Mount any cloud storage service in a few keypresses
- Select files from anywhere (not just a single dir)
- Unlimited bookmarks, plugins, cmds with custom hotkeys
- Edit and preview markdown, man page, HTML
- Open a file and auto-advance to the next
- Filter filtered entries, export list of visible files
- Configure the middle mouse click to do anything
- Multi-location (or subtree) fuzzy search and visit a file
- Load four dirs with custom settings at once
- Notifications on
cp
,mv
,rm
completion - Auto-sync selection to system clipboard
- Access selection from another instance of
nnn
- Open text files detached in another pane/tab/window
- Mount and modify archives
- Create files/dirs/duplicates with parents (like
mkdir -p
) - Toggle hidden with ., visit
$HOME
with ~, last dir with - - Mark a frequently visited dir at runtime
- Sort by modification, access and inode change time
- Compile out/in features with make variables
- Watch matrix text fly or read fortune messages
- Configure in 5 minutes!
There are 2 ways (can be used together) to manage bookmarks.
Set environment variable NNN_BMS
as a string of key_char:location
pairs separated by semicolons (;
):
export NNN_BMS="d:$HOME/Documents;u:/home/user/Cam Uploads;D:$HOME/Downloads/"
The bookmarks are listed in the help and config screen (key ?).
Create symlinks to bookmarked locations within the bookmarks
directory in the nnn
config directory.
Enter at the bookmarks prompt takes to this directory. If NNN_BMS
is not set, it happens directly on bookmarks key.
To add a new bookmark, visit the directory and press B. Note that , only remembers a location in memory.
To jump back and forth a specific directory during a session, you can mark the directory (key ,). Visit it anytime using the Bookmark key followed by ,. If a directory is marked, the Bookmark key lists ,
as well.
Pick the appropriate file for your shell from misc/quitcd
and add the contents to your shell's rc file. You'll need to spawn a new shell for the change to take effect. You should start nnn
as n
(or your preferred function name/alias).
By default, when ^G is pressed, nnn
writes the last working directory to
${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/.lastd
To cd on quit always, export the environment variable NNN_TMPFILE
set to your preferred file path.
The extra key ^G to cd on quit is to avoid writing to a file every time nnn
quits and allows on-demand cd on quit.
To configure nnn
to cd to the $PWD
of the exited bash
subshell, add the following in .bashrc
:
nnn_cd()
{
if ! [ -z "$NNN_PIPE" ]; then
printf "%s\0" "0c${PWD}" > "${NNN_PIPE}" !&
fi
}
trap nnn_cd EXIT
Add a plugin with the following contents:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Description: Start an interactive bash shell.
export nnn="$1"
bash -i
You can also use the run cmd as plugin method:
s:!bash -i*
Mount status external storage devices can be toggled in a REPL using the plugin nmount
.
For auto-mounting external storage drives use udev rules or udisks wrappers.
In addition to Live Previews, there is an independent plugin imgview
to browse images/thumbnails of image, video or audio files in the terminal. Among other viewer utilities, it supports sxiv
(opens its own window) which is particularly useful to browse images in a directory, set the wallpaper or copy image path to clipboard (instructions).
While the user can preview the hovered image in preview-tabbed
and rename it, the following procedure is an alternative approach. It requires the imgview
plugin (with sxiv
) and dmenu
(zenity
can replace dmenu
).
Save sxiv
key-handler ~/.config/sxiv/exec/key-handler
with the following content:
#!/usr/bin/env sh
# ^X-^R: prompt for new image name (needs `dmenu`) and `mv`
# ^X-^C: copy the image path to X clipboard (needs `xclip`)
# Example zenity prompt:
# name="$(zenity --entry --display=:0.0 --text "rename $file to")" 2> /dev/null
while read -r file
do
case "$1" in
"C-r")
name="$(dmenu -p "rename $file to: ")" 2> /dev/null
if [ -n "$name" ]; then
mv "$file" "$name"
fi
;;
"C-c")
printf "%s" "$file" | xclip -selection clipboard ;;
*)
printf "Sorry, I don't understand"
exit 1
;;
esac
done
Now hover on an image or directory and open it with the imgsxiv
plugin. Browse images and press ^X
followed by ^R
to rename an image.
For file operations visit sxiv issue #228.
The plugin pdfview
can convert and render PDF files as text in the terminal.
It has 2 methods to convert PDF to text. Please go through the script for the details.
-
Set up a script (say
ewrap
) to open the editor in a newtmux
split-pane or a newxfce4-terminal
tab/window (you may want to change the terminal and the editor in the sample snippet below):#!/usr/bin/env sh if [ -n "$TMUX" ] ; then # tmux session running tmux split-window -h "vim \"$*\"" else # Remove option --tab for new window xfce4-terminal --tab -e "vim \"$*\"" fi
-
Make
ewrap
executable and drop it somewhere in your$PATH
. -
Set
$VISUAL
(or$EDITOR
if you don't have$VISUAL
) toewrap
:export VISUAL=ewrap
-
Start
nnn
with the program option-e
.
Notes:
-
IMPORTANT: Use the program option
-E
with detached text editing enabled.nnn
internal operations which need to wait for the editor (like batch rename, copy/move as) wouldn't work as usual because the control returns tonnn
after the terminal emulator is spawned. To avoid this, set$VISUAL
as above and$EDITOR
to a CLI editor (likevim
). The program option forces$EDITOR
to be used for internal operations (overriding$VISUAL
which takes precedence otherwise). - If you are already using
nuke
as opener modify it to useewrap
for text files. You can also enhanceewrap
(re-use code fromnuke
) to handle text files by file type and use the right program (e.g. w3m for html, man for man pages). That way you don't have to change the opener. - If you are using a tiling window manager, the new terminal window with the editor would open beside your current window. In case of traditional window managers, the new window will be placed as per the window manager's placement configuration e.g. smart or centered on XFCE4.
Another options is to combine and use nnn
with a multiplexer like dvtm
:
There are several ways to run commands from nnn
:
- Launch a shell within the current directory. This is your regular shell.
- Use the prompt key to show the prompt and enter your command. The commands are invoked using the
$SHELL
so you can use commands, aliases (in~/.zshenv
for zsh), environment variables, pipes, redirections. - You can also assign keys to arbitrary non-background cli commands (non-shell-interpreted) you use frequently and invoke like plugins. (instructions).
The prompt (non-readline nnn
-internal one) can remember the last executed command. Sometimes it may be desirable copy a command from shell history to the prompt. Keybinds can be configured to copy a command from bash/zsh prompt to the system clipboard. You can use these at the subshell prompt and paste the command at the prompt with Ctrl-Shift-V.
# bash: add in ~/.bashrc
# copy current line to clipboard with ^]
if [[ -n $DISPLAY ]]; then
copy_line_to_x_clipboard () {
printf %s "$READLINE_LINE" | xsel -ib
}
bind -x '"\C-]": copy_line_to_x_clipboard'
fi
# zsh: add in ~/.zshrc
# copy current line to clipboard with ^U
if [[ -n $DISPLAY ]]; then
x-kill-whole-line () {
zle kill-whole-line
print -rn -- "$CUTBUFFER" | xsel -ib
}
zle -N x-kill-whole-line
bindkey '\C-u' x-kill-whole-line
fi
If you use !
to spawn a shell in the current directory and your shell is bash or zsh, it could be nice to add:
[ -n "$NNNLVL" ] && PS1="N$NNNLVL $PS1"
To your shell's rc. This will have your prompt indicate that you are within a shell that will return you to nnn
when you are done.
This together with cd on quit becomes a powerful combination. In addition, the quitcd scripts check $NNNLVL
to guard against nesting.
GUI applications can be launched using a drop-down menu using plugin launch
. nnn
picks it up from the plugin location. If launch
is not found, nnn
shows a regular prompt for the application executable name.
To configure launch
as an independent app launcher add a keybind to open launch in a terminal e.g.,
xfce4-terminal -e "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/plugins/launch
GUI applications can also be launched from the prompt. Use &
to launch in background so nnn
isn't blocked.
Note:
- You can also launch an instance of your favorite terminal in the current directory (open terminal here...) this way.
If you are a sudoer, open a new instance of nnn
from the built-in prompt with sudo nnn
.
You can also have a short and sweet (but powerful) alias (which also works at the nnn
prompt):
alias N='sudo -E nnn -dH'
To use nnn
as a file picker and redirect the output to other programs, use picker
.
Ways to pick files:
- to pick a single file and quit, hover on it and press Enter
- to pick selection and quit, select file(s) and press Enter or q
Notes:
- pressing Enter on a directory enters it; when trying to pick a directory, e.g. to pipe to
cd
, use single file selection - to discard selection and quit, press ^G
Example picker mode use cases:
// list some files
ls -l $(nnn -p -)
-rw-rw-r-- 1 vaio vaio 14722 Jul 10 07:24 /home/vaio/GitHub/nnn/CHANGELOG
-rw-rw-r-- 1 vaio vaio 1472 Jul 7 21:49 /home/vaio/GitHub/nnn/LICENSE
-rw-rw-r-- 1 vaio vaio 1697 Jul 10 07:24 /home/vaio/GitHub/nnn/Makefile
// Attach some files and send a mail
neomutt -a $(nnn -p -) ...
// append some files to MOC playlist
mocp -a $(nnn -p -)
nnn
integrates with SSHFS and rclone to support remote mounts. The mount points (for remotes as well as archives) are created within:
${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/mounts
Upon successful unmount, the mount points are removed.
Example primary setup: connect to SSH sever from desktop.
To connect to and mount remote shares using SSHFS, nnn
requires the ssh configuration file ~/.ssh/config
to have the host entries. sshfs reads this file.
Example host entry for a Termux environment on Android device:
Host *
ServerAliveInterval 300
ServerAliveCountMax 2
Host phone
HostName 192.168.43.1
User u0_a117
Port 8022
Compression no
Ciphers chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com
ProxyJump jumphost
Host phone
will be mounted at ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/mounts/phone
.
If you need to pass options to the sshfs
command, you can do so:
export NNN_SSHFS='sshfs -o reconnect,idmap=user,cache_timeout=3600'
Options must be preceded by sshfs
and comma-separated without any space between them.
The remote needs to be configured and authenticated beforehand (one-time activity). The name used to configure is all nnn
needs to connect and mount (as well as unmount) the remote service locally.
Like SSHFS, if you need to pass options, use the dedicated environment variable:
export NNN_RCLONE='rclone mount --read-only --no-checksum'
A maximum of 5 flags can be passed.
Tip: To list all the remotes in the rclone config file: rclone listremotes
The unmount option (which also unmounts mounted archives BTW) works in 2 ways:
- hover on the mount point, press u (this works for both remotes and archives)
- if the current entry is not a mount point,
nnn
prompts for the remote host name
Notes:
-
nnn
opens the mount point in a smart context after successful mounts. - More information on SSHFS.
Open your note file OR directory (if your editor supports opening a dir like vim
) in your favourite editor like a plugin (see plugin docs for more info):
export NNN_PLUG=n:-!vim /home/vaio/Dropbox/Public/Docs/Notes/note*
To keep the file synced across systems you may want to specify a file synced by a cloud storage service or stored in a network share.
Use the plugin dragdrop
.
To duplicate the current entry:
- press ^R
- keep the name unchanged in the prompt and press Enter
- in the next prompt ("copy name"), provide the preferred name (and optionally the path to the duplicate file) for the duplicate and press Enter
Note:
- To cancel the rename or duplicate operations, press Enter in both prompts without changing the file name.
To create symbolic or hard links in batch:
- select the file(s) you want to link
- go to the target directory
- press n
- press
s
for symbolic link orh
for hard link - enter the link prefix (or
@
for no prefix)
The reasons only prefix is allowed (and not full name):
- avoid prompting for link names one by one for a selection
- having the same prefix groups the newly created links together
To show all files starting with dot (.
, hidden files on Linux):
export LC_COLLATE="C"
Further reading.
Most modern terminal emulators have the option to disable bold fonts.
- The nnn magic!
- Add bookmarks
- Configure cd on quit
- Sync subshell
$PWD
- Hot-plugged drives
- Image, video, pdf
- Detached text
- Run commands
- Launch applications
- Open as root
- File picker
- Remote mounts
- Synced quick notes
- Drag and drop
- Duplicate file
- Create batch links
- Hidden files on top
- Disable bold fonts
- Themes
- Live previews
- File icons
- Custom keybinds
- CLI-only opener
- Desktop integration
- cp mv progress
- Control active dir
- Termux tips
- Pager as opener
- Working with lftp
- Power toys