Ranger
Ranger is a text-based file manager written in Python with vi-style key bindings. It has an extensive set of features , and you can accomplish file management tasks with a few keystrokes with no need for the mouse.
Contents
Web Resources
- Ranger web page.
- Arch Linux forum thread.
- GitHub-page
- DotShare.it configurations.
Installation
Ranger is included in the Community repository. Or, use the ranger-git PKGBUILD in AUR.
Running
To start Ranger, launch a terminal such as xterm, and type the command ranger
. Or, you can use the command
xterm -e ranger
Comparison with other File Managers
Compared to graphical mouse-based file managers, Ranger is much more efficient, but still visually beautiful. Ranger has one pane with multiple columns for different directories in the path, and file previews on the right. Compared to double-pane file managers, Ranger shows more directory and file information. You can quickly move between directories using keystrokes, bookmarks or the command history. Previews of files and directory contents automatically show up for the current selection. Ranger's features include: vi-style key bindings, bookmarks, selections, tagging, tabs, command history, the ability to make symbolic links, several console modes, and a task view. Ranger has customizable commands and key bindings, including bindings to external scripts. The closest competitor is Vifm, which has two panes and vi-style key bindings, but has fewer features overall.
Documentation
Ranger's man page can be opened by typing ?
. You can also press 1?
for a list of key bindings, 2?
for a list of commands and 3?
for a list of settings.
Customization
After startup, Ranger creates a directory ~/.config/ranger/
. You can copy the default configuration files to this directory with the command
ranger --copy-config=all
and edit them as you like. Some basic knowledge of python is useful here. options.py
controls general options, rc.conf
controls startup commands and key bindings, commands.py
controls the commands which are launched with the ":" key, and apps.py
controls the applications used when a given type of file is launched. You can launch files with "l" (ell) or "<Enter>". You need only include changes from the default files, but be sure to include any necessary headers. Also, if you change part of a function, be sure to include the whole thing, since you're redefining that function.
Binding keys
Use the file ~/.config/ranger/rc.conf
to modify key bindings. There are many keybindings already defined, and you can learn the syntax by reading the file.
The following example shows how to use "DD" to move selected files to a directory ~/.Trash/
. Put this code in ~/.config/ranger/rc.conf
# move to trash map DD shell mv -t /home/myname/.config/ranger/Trash %s
Defining commands
Continuing the above example, adding the following entry to ~/.config/ranger/commands.py
would define a command to empty the trash directory ~/.Trash
.
class empty(Command): """ :empty Empties the trash directory ~/.Trash """ def execute(self): self.fm.run("rm -rf /home/myname/.Trash/{*,.[^.]*}")
To use it, you would type ":empty<Enter>", using tab completion if desired.
Starting programs in the background
In many cases, launching a file will make Ranger unusable until the program you used to launch the file is closed. The following example shows how to change this for html files. In ~/.config/ranger/apps.py
, change
if f.extension in ('html', 'htm', 'xhtml', 'swf'): return self.either(c, 'firefox', 'opera', 'elinks')
to
if f.extension in ('html', 'htm', 'xhtml', 'swf'): c.flags += 'd' return self.either(c, 'firefox', 'opera')
The option "d" stands for "detached". We removed "elinks" because it's a text-mode browser, and cannot be detached
Useful commands
Archive Related
These commands use atool to perform archive operations.
Extraction
The following command implements archive extraction by copying (yy) one or more archive files and then executing ":extracthere" on the desired directory.
import os from ranger.core.loader import CommandLoader class extracthere(Command): def execute(self): """ Extract copied files to current directory """ copied_files = tuple(self.fm.env.copy) if not copied_files: return def refresh(_): cwd = self.fm.env.get_directory(original_path) cwd.load_content() one_file = copied_files[0] cwd = self.fm.env.cwd original_path = cwd.path au_flags = ['-X', cwd.path] au_flags += self.line.split()[1:] au_flags += ['-e'] self.fm.env.copy.clear() self.fm.env.cut = False if len(copied_files) == 1: descr = "extracting: " + os.path.basename(one_file.path) else: descr = "extracting files from: " + os.path.basename(one_file.dirname) obj = CommandLoader(args=['aunpack'] + au_flags \ + [f.path for f in copied_files], descr=descr) obj.signal_bind('after', refresh) self.fm.loader.add(obj)
Compression
The following command allows the user to compress several files on the current directory by marking them and then calling ":compress <package name>". It supports name suggestions by getting the basename of the current directory and appending several possibilities for the extension.
import os from ranger.core.loader import CommandLoader class compress(Command): def execute(self): """ Compress marked files to current directory """ cwd = self.fm.env.cwd marked_files = cwd.get_selection() if not marked_files: return def refresh(_): cwd = self.fm.env.get_directory(original_path) cwd.load_content() original_path = cwd.path parts = self.line.split() au_flags = parts[1:] descr = "compressing files in: " + os.path.basename(parts[1]) obj = CommandLoader(args=['apack'] + au_flags + \ [os.path.relpath(f.path, cwd.path) for f in marked_files], descr=descr) obj.signal_bind('after', refresh) self.fm.loader.add(obj) def tab(self): """ Complete with current folder name """ extension = ['.zip', '.tar.gz', '.rar', '.7z'] return ['compress ' + os.path.basename(self.fm.env.cwd.path) + ext for ext in extension]
Image Mounting
The following command assumes you are using cdemu as your image mounter and some kind of system like autofs which mounts the virtual drive to a specified location ('/media/virtualrom' in this case). Don't forget to change mountpath to reflect your system settings.
To mount an image (or images) to a cdemud virtual drive from ranger you select the image files and then type ':mount' on the console. The mounting may actually take some time depending on your setup (in mine it may take as long as one minute) so the command uses a custom loader that waits until the mount directory is mounted and then opens it on the background in tab 9.
import os, time from ranger.core.loader import Loadable from ranger.ext.signals import SignalDispatcher from ranger.ext.shell_escape import * class MountLoader(Loadable, SignalDispatcher): """ Wait until a directory is mounted """ def __init__(self, path): SignalDispatcher.__init__(self) descr = "Waiting for dir '" + path + "' to be mounted" Loadable.__init__(self, self.generate(), descr) self.path = path def generate(self): available = False while not available: try: if os.path.ismount(self.path): available = True except: pass yield time.sleep(0.03) self.signal_emit('after') class mount(Command): def execute(self): selected_files = self.fm.env.cwd.get_selection() if not selected_files: return space = ' ' self.fm.execute_command("cdemu -b system unload 0") self.fm.execute_command("cdemu -b system load 0 " + \ space.join([shell_escape(f.path) for f in selected_files])) mountpath = "/media/virtualrom/" def mount_finished(path): currenttab = self.fm.current_tab self.fm.tab_open(9, mountpath) self.fm.tab_open(currenttab) obj = MountLoader(mountpath) obj.signal_bind('after', mount_finished) self.fm.loader.add(obj).