Original: Midnight Commander - A Console Based File Manager for Linux
Author: Pungki Arianto
Publication date: October 23, 2013
Translation: A. Krivoshey
Date of transfer: May 2013

If you have to work with a large number of files in a console environment, then you may find the job quite tedious. The graphical environment has file managers that help increase the speed of working with files. You don't need to remember the name and syntax of every command associated with files.

In a console environment, you must know the basic commands and their syntax to work with files. Fortunately, Linux also has a text-based file manager that runs in a console environment. It is called Midnight Commander (hereinafter we will simply call it MC).

Section headings

The Midnight Commander website says:
"GNU Midnight Commander is a visual file manager licensed under the GPL and therefore qualifies as Free Software. It is a powerful text-based, full-featured program that allows you to copy, move and delete files and directories, search for files, and run shell commands. . Also included is a built-in editor and file viewer. "

How to install Midnight Commander on Linux

By default, MC is usually not installed. On Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint, you can install it using the apt-get command:

$ sudo apt-get install mc

On RHEL, CentOS and Fedora, you can use the command:

# yum install mc

Once the installation is complete, simply enter "mc" (without quotes) in the console to run it.

Midnight Commander Features

MC has many useful functions for both users and administrators.

Copy, delete, rename / move, create directories

The MC interface is divided into two columns, independent of each other. Each column represents the active directory. You can switch between them using the Tab key. At the bottom of the screen, you can see the numbered buttons that refer to the function keys F1 - F10.
To copy a file from one directory to another, simply select it and press "F5". To copy several files at once, you must first select them using the "Insert" key.

MC will ask you for confirmation. Just click "OK" to start copying.
Deleting files is even easier. Just select the files and press "F8". Moving files is done with the "F6" keys.
Renaming files is slightly different, however. By pressing the "F6" key, you need to enter a new file name. An example of how this is done is shown below in the screenshot.

You can press "F7" to create a directory. MC will create a new directory in the current one. To see what else the MC can do with the files, press F9\u003e File.

Built-in utility for viewing files

There are many text editors available in console mode, such as vi, joe, and nano. MC has its own built-in program for viewing the contents of text files. To run it, select the file and press "F3". You can also edit the file if necessary by highlighting it and pressing "F4".
When you start the text editor for the first time, MC will ask you to select the default text editor:

[email protected] ~ $ Select an editor. To change later, run "select-editor". 1. / bin / ed 2. / bin / nano

Then, when you press the "F4" key, MC will use the text editor of your choice. If you want to change the default editor, just press "F2", select "@" and enter "select-editor" (without the quotes).

What if you want to use a different text editor not detected by MC? Let's say you want to work with Vi. This can be done differently. Find the ".selected_editor" file in your home directory. It is a hidden file, so it starts with a dot. Edit it like this:

# Generated by / usr / bin / select-editor SELECTED_EDITOR \u003d "/ usr / bin / vi"

File permissions

Files and directories have permissions that indicate who can read, write, and execute files and directories. The command to manage access rights is chmod. To find out how to use it, type "man chmod" in a terminal.
In MC you only need to select the file, then press "F9"\u003e File\u003e Chmod or "Ctrl-x" and "c". MC will show you the current access rights of the selected file and the parameters that can be changed.

File owner

Files and directories have their own owner as well as an owner group. Ownership privileges are controlled with the chmod command above. Owners are managed with the chown command.
As usual, type "man chmod" in a terminal to learn how to use it. In MC, you just need to select the file, then press "F9"\u003e File\u003e Chown, or "Ctrl-x" and "o". Now you can set the owner and owner group from the list of available users and groups.

The MC also has an "Advanced Chown" feature, which is a combination of chmod and chown, allowing you to do the two above tasks in one place. Press "F9"\u003e File\u003e Advanced Chown.

By default, MC has a dual panel interface. These panels are not just for local directories. You can connect them to a remote computer via FTP.
In this case, MC acts as an FTP client. To connect, you need to press "F9"\u003e FTP Link. MC will request connection data in the following format:

User: [email protected]_or_ip_address

If the entered data is correct, in one of the panels you will see a list of directories on the remote computer.

To disconnect the FTP connection, you can press "F9"\u003e Command\u003e Active VPS Link. In the list of Active VFS directories, you will see your FTP connection. Select it and click "Free VFSs". If you just want to switch to the local directory without breaking the FTP connection, select "Change to".

If your network uses a proxy server, you can configure MC to work with a proxy. Press "F9"\u003e Options\u003e Virtual FS\u003e Always use ftp proxy.

Quitting Midnight Commander

To exit Midnight Command, press F9\u003e File\u003e Exit or F10.

For more details on MC capabilities, check out the Midnight Commander FAQ.

1. &&. Strictly speaking, this is not a command. If you want to execute several commands at once, put a double ampersand between them like this: first_command && second_command. The terminal will execute the commands in order. You can enter as many commands as you like.
2. alias. Assigns the names you create to long commands that you cannot remember. Enter alias command-long short-command.
3. cd. Changes the current terminal folder. When you start terminal, it uses your home folder. Enter cd folder_address, and the terminal will work with the files that are there.
4. clear. Clears all messages from the terminal window.
5. history. Displays all the commands you have recently entered. In addition, you can switch between recent commands using the Up and Down keys. If you don't want the command you entered to be recorded, put a space before it like this: your_command.
6. man. Displays a guide for programs and commands. Enter man package_name or man your command.
7. whatis. Displays a short description of a program. Enter the command and program name whatis pkgname.

To perform many actions on the system, for example, to add and remove programs, you need administrator rights, or the superuser root, as it is called in Linux.

1. sudo. This command will give you superuser rights. Enter sudo before the desired command (for example, sudo apt upgrade) to run it as an administrator. The system will ask you for a password.
2. sudo su. After this command, all the commands you entered will be executed as the superuser until you close the terminal. Use it if you need to run a lot of commands with administrator rights.
3. sudo gksudo. Command to run a GUI application with administrator rights. For example, if you want to move or modify system files, type sudo gksudo nautilus (choose the file manager you are using).
4. sudo !! ... This command will run the previously entered command with administrator rights. Useful if you typed the command without sudo.

Do not execute commands that you do not understand as the superuser.

Installing and uninstalling applications on Linux is done by package managers. Ubuntu calls the package manager apt, Fedora calls dnf, Arch and Manjaro calls pacman. They download applications from online repositories, package sources. Commands should be given to them with superuser rights.

apt (Debian / Ubuntu / Mint)

1. sudo apt install package_name. Install the required package.
2. sudo apt-add-repository repository_address. Add a third party repository.
3. sudo apt update. Update package information.
4. sudo apt upgrade. Update all packages to the most recent (run after apt update).
5. sudo apt remove package_name. Remove unnecessary package.
6. sudo apt purge package_name. Remove unneeded package with all dependencies if you want to free up more space.
7. sudo apt autoremove. Remove all unnecessary dependencies, orphaned packages and other junk.

dnf (Red Hat / Fedora / CentOS)

1. sudo dnf install package_name. Install the required package.
2. sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo repository_address. Add a third party repository.
3. sudo dnf upgrade. Update all packages to the most recent.
4. sudo dnf remove package_name. Remove unnecessary package.
5. sudo dnf autoremove. Remove all unnecessary dependencies.

pacman (Arch / Manjaro)

1. sudo pacman -S package_name. Install the required package.
2. sudo yaourt -S package_name. Install a package from the AUR if it is not in the main repository.
3. sudo pacman -Sy. Update package information.
4. sudo pacman -Syu. Update all packages to the most recent.
5. sudo pacman -R package_name. Remove unnecessary package.
6. sudo pacman -Rs package_name. Remove unneeded package with all dependencies.

You can install and uninstall multiple packages at once by simply listing them separated by a space.

sudo apt install firefox clementine vlc

If you want to install a package but don't know its exact name, enter the first few letters of the package name and press Tab twice. The package manager will show all packages that start with the same name.

1. kill. This command is used to force the termination of processes. You must enter kill PID_process. The PID of a process can be found by entering top.
2. xkill. Another command to terminate processes. Enter it, then click on the window you want to close.
3. killall. Kills processes with a specific name. For example, killall firefox.
4. top. Displays a list of running processes, sorted according to CPU consumption. A kind of terminal "System Monitor".

Viewing and modifying files

1. cat. When used with a single text file (like this: cat filepath), it displays its contents in a terminal window. If you specify two or more files, cat path_to_file_1 path_to_file_2, it will glue them together. If you type cat path_to_file_1\u003e new_file, it will concatenate the contents of the specified files into a new file.
2. chmod. Allows you to change the file permissions. This can be useful if you want to make changes to the system file.
3. chown. Changes the owner of the file. Should be run with superuser rights.
4. file. Displays information about the specified file.
5. nano. Opens a simple text editor. You can create a new text file or open an existing one: nano file_path.
6. rename. Renames a file or multiple files. The command can also be used for files by mask.
7. touch. Changes the date when the specified file was last opened or modified.
8. wget. Downloads files from the internet to a terminal folder.
9. zip. Unpacks and compresses archives.

Creating and deleting files and folders

1. mkdir. Creates a new folder in the current terminal folder or in the specified folder: mkdir path_to_folder.
2. rmdir. Deletes the specified folder.
3. rm. Deletes files. It can delete both a separate file and a group corresponding to certain characteristics.

Copying and moving files

1. cp. Creates a copy of the specified file in the terminal folder: cp path_to_file. Or, you can specify the destination cp filepath path to copy.
2. mv. Moves a file from one folder to another. You can specify a name for the relocatable file. Funnily enough, on Linux this command can be used to rename files as well. Just specify the same folder where the file is located and a different name.

Find files

1. find. Search for files by specific criteria such as name, type, size, owner, creation and modification date.
2. grep. Search for text files containing specific strings. The criteria are very flexible.
3. locate. Search for files and folders whose names match the request and display their paths in the file system.

1. lsblk. This command demonstrates what disks are on your system and what partitions they are divided into. The command also displays the names of your partitions and drives, in the format sda1, sda2, and so on.
2. mount. Mounts drives, devices, or file systems for you to work with. Usually devices are connected automatically as soon as you click on them in the file manager. But sometimes you may need to mount something manually. You can mount anything: disks, external drives, partitions, and even ISO images. This command must be executed with superuser rights. To mount an existing disk or partition, enter mount sdX.
3. umount. Dumps filesystems. The umount sdX command will unmount the file system of the external media so you can eject it.
4. dd. This command copies and converts files and sections. It has many different uses. For example, dd if \u003d / dev / sda of \u003d / dev / sdb will make an exact copy of the sda \u200b\u200bpartition on the sdb partition. dd if \u003d / dev / zero of \u003d / dev / sdX will overwrite the contents of the specified media with zeros so that the information cannot be recovered. And dd if \u003d ~ / Downloads / ubuntu.iso of \u003d / dev / sdX bs \u003d 4M will make bootable media from the image with the distribution you downloaded.

Linux commands for user management

1. useradd. Registers a new user. Enter useradd username and the user will be created.
2. userdel. Removes user account and files.
3. usermod. Changes the user account. Can move the user's home folder or set a date when the account will be locked.
4. passwd. Changes account passwords. A regular user can change the password of his own account only, the superuser can change the password of any account.

Linux commands for network management

1. ip. Multifunctional team for working with the network. The ip address show command displays information about network addresses, ip route controls routing, and so on. By issuing the commands ip link set ethX up, ip link set ethX down, you can enable and disable connections. The ip command has many uses, so it's best to read the manual or type ip --help before using it.
2. ping. Shows whether you are connected to the network and helps determine the quality of the connection.

And something else

Finally, there are the main Linux commands. They display a cow that can talk to you (don't ask what the developers are using).

1. cowsay whatever. The cow will say what you tell her.
2. fortune | cowsay. The cow will give out a smart (or not so) thought or quote.
3. cowsay -l. Lists all animals that can be displayed in the terminal. If you suddenly don't like cows.
4. fortune | cowsay -f animal_from_list. The animal of your choice begins to shower with quotes, sometimes appropriate.
5. sudo apt-get install fortunes fortune-mod fortunes-min fortunes-ru. Will make the whole zoo speak Russian. Without this, animals quote Twain and Wilde.

These are not all Linux commands. If you need to know in detail the parameters and how to use Linux commands, you can use the built-in tutorial. Type man your command or your command --help.

Users, unlike testers and enthusiasts, are always conservative. Linux users are no exception. This is especially noticeable not in working environments, but in specific application programs, "loyalty" to which remains for a very long time.

The explanation is simple. The working environment is an important element, but essentially auxiliary. The main user tool is an application program. The user may for some time put up with the method of launching applications that is inconvenient for him personally or the unpleasant color of the icons. But if in some new text editor the keyboard shortcuts that are usual for it do not work, then there will be no transition to it.

This, in turn, can create problems for migrants. Lacking the burden of the past, they choose objectively the best tools, but thereby limit the ability of experienced users to give them any advice. By the way, this is often observed in practice and is perceived by some newcomers as unfriendly veterans. While in reality their recommendations are quite sincere - they can help with configuring vim, they are practically unfamiliar with kate.

A significant proportion of experienced Linux users work with console file managers, preferring them to the more intuitive Dolphin or Nautilus. Although they are using the KDE or GNOME desktops.

Thus, even beginners should know what is commonly called Linux classics. Including console file managers.

Midnight commander

It is the most popular console file manager for Linux. The program is included by default in a large number of distributions. A lot of documentation has already been compiled for it, so learning the rules for working with the application will not be difficult for users of different skill levels.

MC supports all basic file operations: copying, renaming, deleting, changing ownership and access rights, creating links, directories, etc. The program can work not only with local, but also remote file systems via FTP and SSH access.

The program also has additional features: working with archives, built-in search, viewing and editing files using its own MCEdit module. Thus, relatively complex operations can be performed in MC.

The file manager interface is a familiar two-pane interface. Its effectiveness has long been proven in practice.

The app is fully localized.

Ranger

It is a console file manager. By default, its interface is three-pane: the first column displays a list of directories, the second - a list of files, and the third is intended for viewing files, including graphic formats. At the same time, all standard operations for programs of this type are supported, although not in the most obvious way.

However, the lack of visibility makes the Ranger not very user-friendly for copy and move operations. The strengths of this app are navigation, search and browsing. A convenient system of bookmarks contributes to this.

The program is configured by directly editing the configuration file. This may seem inconvenient, although in practice everything is different due to the clear structure of this file. The user can define the number of columns, sort order, status bar appearance, color scheme, etc.

Distributed under the terms of the GNU GPLv3.

WCM Commander

This is a file manager, which is often called a clone of the famous FAR. Of course, experienced users will say that this is somewhat exaggerated, but nevertheless the similarities are quite close, at least at the level of the most popular operations. In particular, the keyboard shortcut Shift + F1, familiar to many, works the same way.

Additional features of WCM Commander are quite serious even for an experienced user: an editor with syntax highlighting for the most common programming languages \u200b\u200band the ability to change encodings, access to remote file systems via SMB and FTP / SFTP with the ability to launch files, history and autocompletion, support for external color schemes, and etc.

The program is perfectly Russified, and much deeper than the interface items. In particular, the text search function allows you to use all the encodings of the Russian language at once.

Distributed under the terms of the MIT license.

Vifm

This is a console file manager for Vim fans. Even the name of the program stands for Vi File Manager.

The main feature of vifm is vim-style controls. For example, to move through files, you can use not only the arrow keys, but also the "j" and "k" buttons, go to the last file of the current directory by pressing "G", etc.

Vifm allows you to use directory and file labels to quickly jump to the desired location using a hotkey. Searching in vifm is done in the same way as in vim - by pressing "/". The application has its own built-in commands: "com" to display a list of custom commands, "marks" to show marks, "only" to hide the second column, and so on.

Distributed under the terms of the GNU GPLv2.

Last File Manager

It is an easy to use console file manager. By default, the program has a traditional two-pane view, although it can work in a single-pane mode.

Both externally and functionally, Last File Manager is very similar to Midnight Commander. At least a user who has mastered one program will not have problems with another - the same keys are responsible for the most popular operations.

Distributed under the terms of the GNU GPLv3.

By analogy with Windows OS, Linux has a certain set of commands for the most convenient and fast work in the operating system. But if in the first case we call the utility or perform an action from the "Command line" (cmd), then in the second system the actions are performed in the terminal emulator. In fact, "Terminal" and "Command line" - It is the same.

For those who have recently begun acquaintance with the line of operating systems of the Linux family, we present below a register of the most significant commands that every user needs. Note that tools and utilities called from "Terminal"are preinstalled on all Linux distributions and do not need to be preloaded.

File management

Any operating system cannot do without interacting with various file formats. Most users are accustomed to using a file manager for these purposes, which has a graphical shell. But all the same manipulations, or even a larger list of them, can be carried out using special commands.

Work with text

Introducing into "Terminal" commands that directly interact with files will sooner or later need to edit them. The following commands are used to work with text documents:

Process management

Long-term use of the OS during one session stimulates the appearance of many active processes that can significantly degrade the performance of the computer to the point that it will not be comfortable to work with it.

This situation can be easily corrected by terminating unnecessary processes. In Linux, the following commands are used for this purpose:

User environment

Important commands include not only those that allow you to interact with system components, but also those that perform more trivial tasks that contribute to the convenience of working at the computer.

user management

When more than one person works at one computer, then the best option would be to create several users. However, you need to know the commands to interact with each of them.

View documents

No user is able to remember the meaning of all commands in the system or the location of all executable files of a program, but three easy-to-remember commands can come to the rescue:

Network management

To configure the Internet and in the future to successfully make adjustments to the network parameters, you need to know at least a few commands responsible for this.

Conclusion

Knowing all of the above commands, even a beginner who has just installed a Linux-based system for himself will be able to perfectly interact with it, successfully solving the assigned tasks. At first glance, it may seem that the list is very difficult to remember, but with frequent execution of one or another command, over time, the main ones will be embedded in memory, and you will not need to refer to the instruction presented by us every time.

BeeSoft Commander 2.23

BeeSoft Commander is a young project, an uncomplicated file manager, written in the UNIX-way spirit. According to the unwritten rule, the program should fulfill only its direct responsibilities and nothing more.

The file manager uses the QT library and is very quick to launch from within the KDE environment. The toolbar is not customizable, but it contains virtually all the main functions of the program. You can work with multiple tabs. The right mouse button is responsible for selecting files - a tribute to the old tradition of Norton Commander. Many file operations are performed using function keys, according to the old standard also laid down by Peter Norton.

BeeSoft Commander contains a good FTP client that allows you to connect to multiple servers and save connection settings. The developers did not bother to implement viewing and editing of various documents. With the built-in editor, you can only modify text documents. If other types of files are found, the program either switches to HEX mode, or a chaotic set of characters is displayed. Editing is not available.

BeeSoft Commander does not need complicated configuration. You can specify the fonts and colors of the panels, adjust the width of the columns. And, in fact, that's where the fun of traveling through the settings ends.

Official site:

Worker is one of the most unusual file managers out there. The first thing you should immediately pay attention to is that there is no need to install any additional graphics libraries besides X11.

All control of the file manager is concentrated in numerous buttons located at the bottom of the application's working window. By clicking on the status bar, you switch groups of buttons. Each button calls a separate function. Both built-in Worker tools and external utilities designed to process files can act as functions.

Worker is tightly integrated with Midnight Commander and allows you to use the rules for processing archives of the console file manager. In addition, by default, MC is used as the file editor (Edit File function).

The Worker distribution includes only a text file viewer. All other actions (viewing graphics and videos, editing any types of data ...) are left to external programs. The default text editor is xedit, which is not surprising. xedit also only uses the X11 library.

Among the predefined functions (buttons) you can find converting audio information, converting graphics, mounting devices and much more.

The file manager is very unusual, which will of course make it difficult to learn from scratch. On the other hand, all competitors either use powerful graphics libraries (QT, GTK) or work in text mode. Worker in this light seems to be a kind of compromise solution.

Pivot table

GUI	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	-	+	+
Graphics Library	QT	GTK2	GTK1	GTK2	QT	QT	-	GTK2	-	GTK2	X11
Tabs	+	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	+	-	-
FTP client	+	-	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+
FTP protocol: //	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	-	-	-
SMB protocol: //	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	+	-	-	-
HTTP protocol: //	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-
Document thumbnails	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	-	-	-
Text editor	+	+	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	-	-
Viewing images	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-
Watching video	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-
HTML View	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	-	-	-
RTF Viewer	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-
DOC view	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	-	-	-
HEX editor	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-
File type highlighting	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	+	-	-
Quick folders (Bookmarks)	-	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	-
Folder history	-	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-
Frequently visited folders	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	-
Quick Launch Panel (Menu)	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	+	-	-
Plugins	-	+	-	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-
Multitasking	-	-	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-

	BeeSoft Commander 2.23
	emelFM2 0.1.6
	Gentoo 0.11.55
	GNOME Commander 1.2.0
	Konqueror 3.5.2
	Krusader 1.70.0
	Nautilus 2.12.2
	Tux Commander 0.4.101
	Text File Managers and Worker

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