FreeBSD Manual Pages
SFF(1) General Commands Manual SFF(1) NAME sff -- simple and fast terminal file manager SYNOPSIS sff [-bcHmvh] [-d keys] [path] DESCRIPTION sff (simple file finder) is a simple, fast, and feature-rich terminal file manager inspired by nnn and guided by the suckless philosophy. It consists of two parts: a core program and an extension script. The core program is designed as a pure file browser and selector with mini- mal built-in functionality. All file operations, such as copying, mov- ing, and deleting, are implemented by the extension script. For more details, see the EXTENSION SCRIPT section. sff opens the current working directory if path is not specified. OPTIONS The following options are available: -b Force the program to run in browse mode. For more details, see the RUNNING MODE section. -c Enable case sensitivity when sorting by filename. -d keys Specify the details to show by default. Valid keys include: - t: time - o: owner & group - p: permissions - s: size - n: none -H Show hidden files. -h Display program help and exit. -m Mix directories and files when sorting. -v Print version information and exit. KEY BINDINGS Press '?' or 'F1' in sff to see the list of key bindings for built-in functions. Press Alt+'/' in sff to see the list of key bindings for extension functions and plugins. CONFIGURATION sff does not use a runtime configuration file. To customize sff, you need to edit config.h and recompile the program. config.h is a source code file which is included by sff.c (the main source code module). It is a C language header file, and serves as the configuration file for default settings, key bindings, and colors. EXTENSION SCRIPT The extension functions are provided by a POSIX-compliant shell script named sff-extfunc, which is installed by default in /usr/lib/sff/ or /usr/local/lib/sff/. You can easily customize key bindings for extension functions and plug- ins, modify existing functions, or add your own functions by editing this file. It is generally not recommended to directly modify the sys- tem-wide sff-extfunc. Instead, copy it to the user's config directory and make modifications there. The user's config directory is required for executing extension func- tions. This directory is either $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sff or ~/.config/sff, whichever is encountered first. If this directory does not exist, the program will attempt to create it when calling an extension function. During initialization, sff determines the location of sff-extfunc by checking the following directories in order, and uses the first occur- rence found: 1. The user's config directory 2. The directory containing the currently running sff executable 3. /usr/local/lib/sff/ 4. /usr/lib/sff/ TABS The tab status is displayed in the top-left corner of the screen. Five tab indicators are shown, with the current tab highlighted in reverse video. Tabs 1 through 4 are regular tabs and are indicated by '*' when inactive. When switching to an inactive tab, the new tab will be acti- vated and use the current directory path as its starting path. The fifth tab is a special tab, indicated by '#', dedicated to handling search results. SELECTION The names of the selected files are highlighted in reverse video. By default, the file under the cursor is automatically selected. When a file selection operation is performed by the user, the program enters manual selection mode, and the file under the cursor will no longer be automatically selected. Clearing all selections causes the program to exit manual selection mode and return to the default state. sff allows file selection across directories. Each tab maintains its own independent selection state. The second set of numbers in the bot- tom status bar (highlighted in reverse video) indicates the total num- ber of selected files in the current tab. When an extension function is executed, if it sends a request, the ab- solute paths of the selected files are delivered to the extension func- tion via a FIFO. FILTERS Filters are strings used to dynamically list matching files in the cur- rent directory. When a filter is enabled, it appears above the bottom status bar, and the program enters input mode. In this mode, you can perform the following actions: - Enter a filter matching string (matching is case-insensitive). - Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the cursor. - Press Enter or Esc to exit input mode while keeping the filter active. - Press '/' to disable the filter. The filter only applies to the current directory. When navigating away from the current directory, the filter is automatically disabled. QUICK FIND Quick Find is used to quickly locate a file within the current direc- tory. When Quick Find is enabled, it appears above the bottom status bar, and the program enters input mode. In this mode, you can perform the following actions: - Enter a search string to match filenames. - Enter '/' as the first character to navigate to the root direc- tory. - Press Tab or '/' to enter the directory under the cursor and clear the search string. - Press the Left Arrow key to go to the parent directory. - Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the cursor. - Press Enter or Esc to exit Quick Find. Matching is case-insensitive and prioritizes matches at the beginning of filenames. If no filename starts with the search string, it matches filenames containing the string. Upon a match, the cursor jumps to the first matching file. ADVANCED SEARCH Advanced Search is an extension function based on the find command. It requires two inputs: 1. Filename pattern: This is passed to the -name option of the find command. So remember to use wildcards when necessary. For exam- ple, to search for files containing 'lib' in their name, enter '*lib*' instead of just 'lib'. If you do not want to search by filename, enter '*' to match all files. 2. Additional search options: Here, you can provide more options for the find command, such as '-size +4k' to search for files larger than 4KB. If no additional options are needed, leave this field blank and press Enter. After both inputs are provided, the executed command will be: find ./ input2 -name "input1" The search results are sent back to sff and listed in the fifth tab, where you can further process them. UNDO AND REDO sff supports undoing or redoing the last file operation. Supported op- erations include: - Create new files - Copy-paste (when none of the pasted files already exist) - Cut-paste (when none of the pasted files already exist) - Rename - Duplicate Undo/redo actions apply across different tabs and even different sff instances. A file operation performed in one sff instance can be un- done or redone in another instance. RUNNING MODE Browse Mode: A green reversed 'B' is displayed in the bottom-left corner of the screen as an indicator. This can be considered a safe mode. In this mode, extension functions are disabled, and sff does not make any changes to the file system. The program is forced into browse mode and cannot exit this mode until termination under the following conditions: - When the -b option is used while running sff - During initialization, if certain non-fatal errors occur (e.g., the sff-extfunc file is missing). Sudo Mode: A red reversed 'S' is displayed in the bottom-left corner of the screen as an indicator. When sff is run as a regular user and switched to sudo mode, the fol- lowing operations are executed with superuser privileges: - All extension functions - File editing However, all other operations are still performed by the current user. When sff is run as the superuser, the program will always run in sudo mode until termination or can be switched to browse mode. All opera- tions are performed by the superuser. PLUGINS Plugins are shell scripts used to extend functionality. They are in- voked by the extension script, which also sets their keybindings. By default, plugins are installed in /usr/lib/sff/plugins/ or /usr/local/lib/sff/plugins/. Detailed information about a plugin should usually be provided as com- ments at the beginning of the script. To view this information, refer directly to the plugin file. If you wish to modify or add your own plugins, it is recommended to do so in the plugins directory within the user's config directory. For details on the user's config directory, see the EXTENSION SCRIPT sec- tion. When the extension script invokes a plugin, it searches for the plugin in the following locations in order and uses the first match found: 1. The plugins directory in the user's config directory 2. The plugins directory where the currently running extension script resides 3. /usr/local/lib/sff/plugins/ 4. /usr/lib/sff/plugins/ ENVIRONMENT EDITOR: The default text editor used in the program. If not set, 'vi' is used. HOME: The home directory used by the program. If not set, '/' is used. AUTHORS Shi Yanling <sylphenix@outlook.com> HOMEPAGE https://codeberg.org/sylphenix/sff FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly August 30, 2025 SFF(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | KEY BINDINGS | CONFIGURATION | EXTENSION SCRIPT | TABS | SELECTION | FILTERS | QUICK FIND | ADVANCED SEARCH | UNDO AND REDO | RUNNING MODE | PLUGINS | ENVIRONMENT | AUTHORS | HOMEPAGE
Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sff&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.0.quarterly>