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NNN(1) General Commands Manual NNN(1) NAME nnn -- The unorthodox terminal file manager. SYNOPSIS nnn [-aAcCdDeEfgHJKnQrRSuUVxh] [-b key] [-F val] [-l val] [-p file] [-P key] [-s name] [-t secs] [-T key] [PATH] DESCRIPTION nnn (Nnn's Not Noice) is a performance-optimized, feature-packed fork of noice http://git.2f30.org/noice/ with seamless desktop integration, simplified navigation, type-to-nav mode with dir auto-enter, disk usage analyzer mode, bookmarks, contexts, application launcher, familiar nav- igation shortcuts, subshell spawning and much more. It remains a simple and efficient file manager that stays out of your way. nnn opens the current working directory if PATH is not specified. If PATH is specified and it exists, nnn will open it. If the PATH doesn't exist and ends with a /, nnn will attempt to create the directory tree and open it. Otherwise, PATH is considered a path to a regular file and nnn attempts to create the complete directory tree to the file, open the parent directory and prompt to create the new file in it with the base filename. KEYBINDS Press `?' in nnn to see the list of keybinds. OPTIONS nnn supports the following options: -a auto-setup temporary NNN_FIFO (refer to the ENVIRONMENT sec- tion) -A disable directory auto-enter on unique filter match -b key specify bookmark key to open -B use bsdtar for archives (default: atool) -c indicates that the opener is a cli-only opener (overrides -e) -C 8-color scheme - color directories by context, disable file colors -d detail mode -D show directories in context color with NNN_FCOLORS set -e open text files in $VISUAL (else $EDITOR, fallback vi) [prefer- ably CLI] -E use $EDITOR for internal undetached edits -f use readline history file -F val fifo notification mode 0: notify as previewer, 1: notify as explorer -g use regex filters instead of substring match -H show hidden files -i show current file information in info bar (may be slow) -J disable auto-advance on selection (eg. selecting an entry will no longer move cursor to the next entry) -K test for keybind collision and exit -l val number of lines to move per mouse wheel scroll -n start in type-to-nav mode -o open files only on Enter key -p file copy (or pick) selection to file, or stdout if file='-' -P key specify plugin key to run -Q disable confirmation on quit with multiple contexts active -r show cp, mv progress (Linux-only, needs advcpmv; ^T shows the progress on BSD/macOS) -R disable rollover at edges (eg. pressing down while on the last entry will no longer move cursor to the first entry and vice-versa) -s name load a session by name -S persistent session -t secs idle timeout in seconds to lock terminal -T key sort order (refer to the SORTING section) keys: 'a'pparent disk usage / 'd'isk usage / 'e'xtension / 'r'everse / 's'ize / 't'ime / 'v'ersion capitalize to reverse (except 'r') -u use selection if available, don't prompt to choose between se- lection and hovered entry -U show user and group names in status bar -V show version and exit -x show notifications on selection cp, mv, rm completion (requires the .ntfy plugin) copy path to system clipboard on selection (requires the .cbcp plugin) show xterm title (if non-picker mode) -0 use null separator (instead of newline) to separate file paths in picker mode outout -h show program help and exit CONFIGURATION There is no configuration file. Associated files are at ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/ Configuration is done using a few optional (set if you need) environ- ment variables. Refer to the ENVIRONMENT section. nnn uses xdg-open (on Linux), open(1) (on macOS), cygstart on (Cygwin) and open on (Haiku) as the desktop opener. It's also possible to spec- ify a custom opener. Refer to the ENVIRONMENT section. CONTEXTS Open multiple locations with 4 contexts. The status is shown in the top left corner: - the current context is in reverse video - other active contexts are underlined - rest are inactive A new context copies the state of the previous context. Each context can have its own color. Refer to the ENVIRONMENT section. SESSIONS Sessions are a way to save and restore states of work. A session stores the settings and contexts. Sessions can be loaded at runtime or with a program option. - When a session is loaded at runtime, the last working state is saved automatically to a dedicated "auto session" session file. Session op- tion restore would restore the "auto session". - The persistent session option is global. If it is used, the last ac- tive session will be updated with the final state at program quit. - The "auto session" is used in persistent session mode if no session is active. - Listing input stream and opening a bookmark by key have a higher pri- ority to session options (-s/-S). All the session files are located by session name in the directory ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/sessions "@" is the "auto session" file. FILTERS Filters are strings (or regex patterns) to find matching entries in the current directory instantly (search-as-you-type). Matches are case-in- sensitive by default. The last filter in each context is persisted at runtime or in saved sessions. When there's a unique match and it's a directory, nnn auto enters the directory. Use the relevant program option to disable this. Special keys at filter prompt: -------- + --------------------------------------- Key | Function -------- + --------------------------------------- ^char | Usual keybind functionality Esc | Exit filter prompt but skip dir refresh Alt+Esc | Unfilter, quit context -------- + --------------------------------------- Special keys at empty filter prompt: ------ + --------------------------------------- Key | Function ------ + --------------------------------------- ? | Show help and config screen / | Toggle between string and regex : | Toggle case-sensitivity ^L | Clear filter (if prompt is non-empty) | OR apply last filter Bksp | Stay at filter prompt and refresh dir Del | Stay at filter prompt and refresh dir ------ + --------------------------------------- Common regex use cases: (1) To list all matches starting with the filter expression, start the expression with a '^' (caret) symbol. (2) Type '\.mkv' to list all MKV files. (3) Use '.*' to match any character (sort of fuzzy search). (4) Exclude filenames having 'nnn' (compiled with PCRE lib): '^(?!nnn)' In the type-to-nav mode directories are opened in filter mode, allowing continuous navigation. Additional special keys at empty filter prompt in type-to-nav mode: ------ + ------------------------ Key | Function ------ + ------------------------ ' | Go to first non-dir file + | Toggle file selection , | Mark CWD - | Go to last visited dir . | Show hidden files ; | Run a plugin by its key = | Launch a GUI application > | Export file list @ | Visit start dir ] | Show command prompt ` | Visit / ~ | Go HOME ------ + ------------------------ SORTING nnn will always show the directories first, followed by the files. String order is always case-insensitive. The sort key can be set either with the -T program option, or interac- tively using t or ^T. The following options are available: a apparent disk usage, how large the file appears to be, can be big- ger than actual disk usage in sparse files. d disk usage, amount of data taken on disk, a multiple of the block size. e extension of the file. r reverse the current order (not available with -T). s size of file, amount of data stored in the file. t time, this depends on the currently selected time type which can be changed using the T key. Options are: a access, last time the file was accessed. c change, last time the metadata of the file was changed (e.g. permissions). m modified, last time the content of the file was changed (de- fault). v version, sorts by filename while treating digit characters numeri- cally. For example: j1.png, j02.png, j3.png. c clear, revert to filename order (not available with -T). ^T cycle between filename/size/time order (not available with -T). The uppercase version of the option (except r) reverses the default or- der. By default, time and size sort keys are ordered in descending or- der, and alphabetical fields are ordered in ascending order. For exam- ple, when using the e option, the entries will be ordered by extension, in ascending order. Using E would result in descending order of the extensions. This means that e followed by r is the same as E. SELECTION nnn allows file selection across directories and contexts! There are 3 groups of keybinds to add files to selection: (1) hovered file selection toggle - deselects if '+' is visible before the entry, else adds to selec- tion (2) add a range of files to selection - repeat the range key on the same entry twice to clear selection completely (3) add all files in the current directory to selection A selection can be edited, copied, moved, removed, archived or linked. Absolute paths of the selected files are copied to .selection file in the config directory. The selection file is shared between multiple program instances. Selection from multiple instances are not merged. The last instance writing to the file overwrites earlier contents. If you have 2 instances of nnn open in 2 panes of a terminal multiplexer, you can select in one pane and use the selection in the other pane. The selection gets cleared in the nnn instance where the selection was made on mv/rm (but not on cp). nnn clears the selection after a successful operation with the selec- tion. Plugins are allowed to define the behaviour individually. To edit the selection use the _edit selection_ key. Editing doesn't end the selection mode. You can add more files to the selection and edit the list again. If no file is selected in the current session, this op- tion attempts to list the selection file. nnn can show the total size of non-filtered selected files listed in a directory. For directories, only the size of the directory is added by default. To add the size of the contents of a directory, sort by disk usage (aka du mode). FIND AND LIST There are two ways to search and list: - feed a list of file paths as input - search using a plugin (e.g. finder) and list the results File paths must be NUL-separated ('\0'). Paths and can be relative to the current directory or absolute. Invalid paths in the input are ig- nored. Input processing limit is 16,384 paths or 64 MiB (max_paths x max_path_len) of data. To list the input stream, start nnn by writing to its standard input. E.g., to list files in current directory larger than 1M: find -maxdepth 1 -size +1M -print0 | nnn or redirect a list from a file: nnn < files.txt Handy bash/zsh shell function to list files by mime-type in current di- rectory: # to show video files, run: list video list () { find . -maxdepth 1 | file -if- | grep "$1" | awk -F: '{printf "%s%c", $1, 0}' | nnn } A temporary directory will be created containing symlinks to the given paths. Any action performed on these symlinks will be performed only on their targets, after which they might become invalid. > or l on a symlink in the listing dir takes to the target file. Press - to return to the listing dir. Press Enter to open the symlink. Listing input stream can be scripted. It can be extended to pick (op- tion -p) selected entries from the listed results. BOOKMARKS There are 2 ways (can be used together) to manage bookmarks. (1) Bookmark keys: See NNN_BMS under ENVIRONMENT section on how to set bookmark keys. The select bookmark key b lists all the bookmark keys set in NNN_BMS in the bookmarks prompt. (2) Symlinked bookmarks: A symlinked bookmark to the current directory can be created with the B key (or manually under ~/.config/nnn/book- marks). Pressing Enter at the bookmarks prompt takes to this directory. If NNN_BMS is not set, the select bookmark key directly opens it. On entering a bookmark, the directory where the select bookmark key was pressed is set as the previous directory. Press - to return to it. UNITS The minimum file size unit is byte (B). The rest are K, M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y (powers of 1024), same as the default units in ls. ENVIRONMENT The SHELL, VISUAL (else EDITOR) and PAGER environment variables are used. A single combination of arguments is supported for SHELL and PAGER. NNN_OPTS: binary options to nnn export NNN_OPTS="cEnrx" NNN_OPENER: specify a custom file opener. export NNN_OPENER=nuke NOTE: nuke is a file opener available in the plugin repository. NNN_BMS: bookmark string as key_char:location pairs separated by ;: export NNN_BMS="d:$HOME/Docs;u:/home/user/Cam Uploads;D:$HOME/Downloads/" These bookmarks are listed in the help and config screen (key ?). NNN_PLUG: directly executable plugins as key_char:plugin pairs sepa- rated by ;: export NNN_PLUG='f:finder;o:fzopen;p:mocplay;d:diffs;t:nmount;v:imgview' NOTES: 1. To run a plugin directly, press ; followed by the key. 2. Alternatively, combine with Alt (i.e. Alt+key). 3. To skip directory refresh after running a plugin, prefix with -. export NNN_PLUG='p:-plugin' To assign keys to arbitrary non-background cli commands and invoke like plugins, add ! before the command. export NNN_PLUG='x:!chmod +x "$nnn";g:!git log;s:!smplayer "$nnn"' To pick and run an unassigned plugin, press Enter at the plugin prompt. To run a plugin at startup, use the option `-P` followed by the plugin key. NOTES: 1. Place $nnn (or exported variables) in double quotes ("$nnn") 2. Use single quotes for $NNN_PLUG so "$nnn" is not interpreted 3. (Again) add ! before the command 4. To disable directory refresh after running a command as plugin, prefix with -! 5. To skip user confirmation after command execution, suffix with * Note: Do not use * with programs those run and exit e.g. cat export NNN_PLUG='y:-!sync*' 6. To run a GUI app as plugin, add a & after !. export NNN_PLUG='m:-!&mousepad "$nnn"' 7. To show the output of run-and-exit commands which do not need user input, add | (pipe) after ! Note: This option is incompatible with & (terminal output is masked for GUI programs) and ignores * (output is already paged for user). export NNN_PLUG='m:-!|mediainfo "$nnn";t:-!|tree -ps;l:-!|ls -lah --group-directories-first' EXAMPLES: ------------------------------------ + ------------------------------------------------- Key:Command | Description ------------------------------------ + ------------------------------------------------- c:!convert "$nnn" png:- | xclip | Copy image to clipboard -sel clipboard -t image/png* | C:!cp -rv "$nnn" "$nnn".cp* | Create a copy of the hovered file e:-!sudo -E vim "$nnn"* | Edit file as root in vim g:-!git diff | Show git diff h:-!hx "$nnn"* | Open hovered file in hx hex editor k:-!fuser -kiv "$nnn"* | Interactively kill process(es) using hovered file l:-!git log | Show git log n:-!vi /home/user/Dropbox/dir/note* | Take quick notes in a synced file/dir of notes p:-!less -iR "$nnn"* | Page through hovered file in less s:-!&smplayer -minigui "$nnn" | Play hovered media file, even unfinished download x:!chmod +x "$nnn" | Make the hovered file executable y:-!sync* | Flush cached writes ------------------------------------ + ------------------------------------------------- Online docs: https://github.com/jarun/nnn/tree/master/plugins NNN_ORDER: directory-specific sort key. export NNN_ORDER='t:/home/user/Downloads;S:/tmp' NOTE: Sort keys can be a/d/e/r/s/t/v (refer to the SORTING section). Path must be absolute. Timestamps for entries modified/created within 5 minutes are shown in reverse. NNN_COLORS: string of color numbers for each context, e.g.: # 8 color numbers: # 0-black, 1-red, 2-green, 3-yellow, 4-blue (default), 5-magenta, 6-cyan, 7-white export NNN_COLORS='1234' # xterm 256 color numbers (converted to hex, 2 symbols per context): # see https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1482942/93023823-46a6ba80-f5e1-11ea-9ea3-6a3c757704f4.png export NNN_COLORS='#0a1b2c3d' # both (256 followed by 8 as fallback, separated by ';') export NNN_COLORS='#0a1b2c3d;1234' NOTE: If only 256 colors are specified and the terminal doesn't support, default is used. NNN_FCOLORS: specify file-type specific colors: export NNN_FCOLORS='c1e2272e006033f7c6d6abc4' Specify file-specific colors in xterm 256 color hex numbers (2 symbols per color). Order is strict, use 00 to omit/use default terminal color. Defaults: ------------------------- + --- + ------------- Order | Hex | Color ------------------------- + --- + ------------- Block device | c1 | DarkSeaGreen1 Char device | e2 | Yellow1 Directory | 27 | DeepSkyBlue1 Executable | 2e | Green1 Regular | 00 | Normal Hard link | 60 | Plum4 Symbolic link | 33 | Cyan1 Missing OR file details | f7 | Grey62 Orphaned symbolic link | c6 | DeepPink1 FIFO | d6 | Orange1 Socket | ab | MediumOrchid1 Unknown OR 0B regular/exe | c4 | Red1 ------------------------- + --- + ------------- If the terminal supports xterm 256 colors or more, file-specific colors will be rendered. To force the 8-color scheme use option -C. If xterm 256 colors aren't supported, 8-color scheme will be used. NNN_ARCHIVE: archive extensions to be handled silently (default: bzip2, (g)zip, tar). export NNN_ARCHIVE="\\.(7z|bz2|gz|tar|tgz|zip)$" NOTE: Non-default formats may require a third-party utility. NNN_ARCHMNT: optional archive mounter utility (default: archivemount). export NNN_ARCHIVE='fuse-archive' NNN_SSHFS: specify custom sshfs command with options: export NNN_SSHFS='sshfs -o reconnect,idmap=user,cache_timeout=3600' NOTE: The options must be comma-separated without any space between them. NNN_RCLONE: pass additional options to rclone command: export NNN_RCLONE='rclone mount --read-only --no-checksum' NOTE: The options must be preceded by "rclone" and max 5 flags are supported. NNN_TRASH: trash (instead of rm -rf) files to desktop Trash. export NNN_TRASH=cmd NOTES: 1. cmd is the name/path of the binary that nnn will call for trashing files. E.g to use macOS's native `trash' command: export NNN_TRASH="trash" 2. Special value "1" and "2" for cmd will use trash-cli and gio trash respectively. NNN_SEL: absolute path to custom selection file. export NNN_SEL='/tmp/.sel' NNN_FIFO: path of a named pipe to write the hovered file path: export NNN_FIFO='/tmp/nnn.fifo' NOTES: 1. Overridden by a temporary path with -a option. 2. If the FIFO file doesn't exist it will be created, but not removed (unless it is generated by -a option). Online docs: https://github.com/jarun/nnn/wiki/Live-previews NNN_LOCKER: terminal locker program. export NNN_LOCKER='bmon -p wlp1s0' export NNN_LOCKER='cmatrix' NNN_TMPFILE: always cd on quit and write the command in the file speci- fied. export NNN_TMPFILE='/tmp/.lastd' NNN_HELP: run a program and show the output on top of the program help page. export NNN_HELP='fortune' NNN_MCLICK: key emulated by a middle mouse click. export NNN_MCLICK='^R' NOTE: Only the first character is considered if not a Ctrl+key combo. nnn: this is a special variable. Set to the hovered file name before starting the command prompt or spawning a shell. NO_COLOR: disable ANSI color output (overridden by NNN_COLORS). AUTHORS Arun Prakash Jana <engineerarun@gmail.com>, Lazaros Koromilas <lostd@2f30.org>, Dimitris Papastamos <sin@2f30.org>. HOME https://github.com/jarun/nnn FreeBSD ports 15.0 Mar 23, 2025 NNN(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | KEYBINDS | OPTIONS | CONFIGURATION | CONTEXTS | SESSIONS | FILTERS | SORTING | SELECTION | FIND AND LIST | BOOKMARKS | UNITS | ENVIRONMENT | AUTHORS | HOME
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