nnn - type less, do more, way faster

Modes of nnn (light with filter, detail, du analyzer) with memory usage (click for a demo video)

Index

• Introduction
• Features
• Installation
  • Library dependencies
  • Utility dependencies
  • From a package manager
  • Release packages
  • From source
  • Shell completion
• Usage
  • Configuration
  • Cmdline options
  • Keyboard and mouse
    • Leader key
  • Help
• Mentions
• Developers

Introduction

nnn is a full-featured terminal file manager. It’s extremely light and fast (performance).

nnn is also a disk usage analyzer, a fuzzy app launcher, a batch file renamer and a file picker.

It runs smoothly on the Raspberry Pi, Termux on Android (demo video), Linux, macOS, BSD, Cygwin and Linux subsystem for Windows. nnn works seamlessly with DEs and GUI utilities. It’s nearly zero-config (with sensible defaults) and can be setup in less than 5 minutes.

Plugins can be run with custom keybinds. There’s an independent (neo)vim plugin. Custom plugins are easy to add.

Visit the Wiki for operational concepts, how tos, use cases, chronology and insights.

Features

• Modes
  • Detail (default), light
  • Disk usage analyzer (block/apparent)
  • File picker, (neo)vim plugin
• Navigation
  • Navigate-as-you-type with dir auto-select
  • 4 contexts (aka tabs/workspaces)
  • Bookmarks; pin and visit a directory
  • Familiar, easy shortcuts (arrows, ~, -, @)
  • Change directory at exit (easy shell integration)
• Sorting
  • Ordered pure numeric names by default (visit /proc)
  • Case-insensitive version (aka natural) sort
  • By file name, modification/access time, size, extension
• Search
  • Instant filtering with search-as-you-type
  • Regex and substring match
  • Subtree search to open or edit files (using plugin)
• Mimes
  • Open with desktop opener or specify a custom app
  • Create, list, extract archives
  • Option to open all text files in EDITOR
• Information
  • Detailed file information
  • Media information (using plugin)
• Convenience
  • Minimal configuration
  • Plugin keybinds
  • Select files across dirs; all/range selection
  • Copy, move, delete, archive, link selection
  • Batch rename selection or dir entries
  • FreeDesktop compliant trash (needs trash-cli)
  • SSHFS mounts (needs sshfs)
  • Create, rename, duplicate files and directories
  • Per-context directory color (default: blue)
  • Spawn a shell, run apps, run commands, execute file
  • Take quick notes, lock terminal (needs a locker)
  • Shortcut reference a keypress away
• Unicode support
• Follows Linux kernel coding style
• Highly optimized, static analysis integrated code
• Minimal library dependencies
• Widely available

Installation

Library dependencies

nnn needs a curses library with wide character support (like ncursesw), libreadline and standard libc. It’s possible to drop libreadline using the Makefile target norl.

Utility dependencies

Dependency	Installation	Operation
xdg-open (Linux), open(1) (macOS), cygstart (Cygwin)	base	desktop opener
file, coreutils (cp, mv, rm), findutils (xargs)	base	file type, copy, move and remove
tar, (un)zip [atool/bsdtar for more formats]	base	create, list, extract tar, gzip, bzip2, zip
sshfs, fusermount(3)	if needed	mount, unmount over SSHFS
trash-cli	optional	trash files (default action: delete)
vlock (Linux), bashlock (macOS), lock(1) (BSD)	optional	terminal locker (fallback: cmatrix)
advcpmv (Linux) (integration)	optional	copy, move progress
$VISUAL (else $EDITOR), $PAGER, $SHELL	optional	fallback vi, less, sh

From a package manager

nnn may be available in the default repos of your distro already. Find a list of known packagers below.

Expand

● Alpine Linux (apk add nnn)
● Arch Linux (pacman -S nnn)
● CentOS (yum --enablerepo=epel install nnn)
● CRUX (prt-get depinst nnn)
● Debian (apt-get install nnn)
● DPorts (pkg install nnn)
● Fedora (dnf install nnn)
● FreeBDS (pkg install nnn)
● Gentoo (emerge nnn)
● macOS/Homebrew (brew install nnn)
● MacPorts (port install nnn)
● Milis Linux (mps kur nnn)
● nixpkgs (nix-env -i nnn)
● NuTyX (cards install nnn)
● OpenBSD (pkg_add nnn)
● openSUSE (and packages for several other distros) (zypper in nnn)
● pkgsrc (pkg_add nnn)
● Raspbian Testing (apt-get install nnn)
● Slackware (slackpkg install nnn)
● SliTaz Cooking (cooker pkg nnn)
● Solus (eopkg install nnn)
● Source Mage (cast nnn)
● Termux (pkg in nnn)
● Ubuntu (apt-get install nnn)
● Void Linux (xbps-install -S nnn)

Release packages

Packages for Arch Linux, CentOS, Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu are available with the latest stable release.

From source

To cook yourself, download the latest stable release or clone this repository (risky). Then install the dependencies and compile (e.g. on Ubuntu 16.04):

$ sudo apt-get install pkg-config libncursesw5-dev libreadline6-dev
$ make
$ sudo make strip install

PREFIX is supported, in case you want to install to a different location.

• Compilation notes on Raspberry Pi
• Instructions for Cygwin

Shell completion

Option completion scripts for Bash, Fish and Zsh can be found in respective subdirectories of misc/auto-completion/. Please refer to your shell’s manual for installation instructions.

Usage

Configuration

nnn supports the following environment variables for configuration. All of them are optional (set if you need). There is no config file. Associated files are stored under ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/.

Example export	Description
NNN_BMS='d:~/Documents;D:~/Docs archive/'	key-bookmark pairs [max 10]
NNN_PLUG='o:fzy-open;p:mocplay;m:nmount;t:thumb'	key-plugin pairs (x-key to run) [max 10]
NNN_USE_EDITOR=1	open text files in $VISUAL (else $EDITOR, fallback vi)
NNN_CONTEXT_COLORS='1234'	specify per context color [default: ‘4444’ (all blue)]
NNN_SSHFS_OPTS='sshfs -o reconnect,idmap=user'	specify SSHFS options
NNN_NOTE='/home/user/Dropbox/notes'	absolute path to note file [default: none]
NNN_OPENER=mimeopen	custom file opener
NNN_IDLE_TIMEOUT=300	idle seconds to lock terminal [default: disabled]
NNN_COPIER=copier	clipboard copier script [default: none]
NNN_TRASH=1	trash files to the desktop Trash [default: delete]

Cmdline options

usage: nnn [-a] [-b key] [-d] [-H] [-i] [-n] [-o]
           [-p file] [-r] [-s] [-S] [-t] [-v] [-h] [PATH]

The missing terminal file manager for X.

positional args:
  PATH   start dir [default: current dir]

optional args:
 -a      use access time
 -b key  open bookmark key
 -d      detail mode
 -H      show hidden files
 -i      nav-as-you-type mode
 -n      version sort
 -o      press Enter to open files
 -p file selection file (stdout if '-')
 -r      show cp, mv progress on Linux
 -s      string filters [default: regex]
 -S      du mode
 -t      disable dir auto-select
 -v      show version
 -h      show help

Keyboard and mouse

Press ? in nnn to see the list anytime.

 NAVIGATION
          ↑ k  Up          PgUp ^U  Scroll up
          ↓ j  Down        PgDn ^D  Scroll down
          ← h  Parent dir  ~ ` @ -  HOME, /, start, last
        ↵ → l  Open file/dir     .  Toggle show hidden
         g ^A  First entry    G ^E  Last entry
            b  Pin current dir  ^B  Go to pinned dir
       Tab ^I  Next context      d  Toggle detail view
         , ^/  Lead key    N LeadN  Context N
            /  Filter/Lead  Ins ^T  Toggle nav-as-you-type
          Esc  Exit prompt   ^L F5  Redraw/clear prompt
            q  Quit context  Lead'  First file
         Q ^Q  Quit  ^G  QuitCD  ?  Help, config
 FILES
           ^O  Open with...      n  Create new/link
            D  File detail   ^R F2  Rename/duplicate
     ⎵ ^K / Y  Select entry/all  r  Batch rename
         K ^Y  Toggle selection  y  List selection
            P  Copy selection    X  Delete selection
            V  Move selection   ^X  Delete entry
            f  Create archive    C  Execute entry
           ^F  Extract archive   F  List archive
            e  Edit in EDITOR    p  Open in PAGER
 ORDER TOGGLES
           ^J  du                S  Apparent du
            s  Size    E  Extn   t  Time modified
 MISC
         ! ^]  Shell   ^N  Note  L  Lock
         R ^V  Pick plugin  F12 xK  Run plugin key K
            c  SSHFS mount       u  Unmount
           ^P  Prompt            =  Launcher

Note: Help & settings, file details and archive listing are shown in the PAGER. Use the PAGER-specific keys in these screens.

Mouse click	Function
Left single on context number	Visit context
Left single on top row after context numbers	Visit parent
Left single/double on last 2 rows	Toggle nav-as-you-type
Left single	Select context or entry
Left double	Select context or open entry

Leader key

The Leader/Lead key provides a powerful multi-functional navigation mechanism. It is case-sensitive and understands contexts, bookmarks and location shortcuts.

Key	Function
1-4	Go to/create selected context
]	Go to next active context
[	Go to previous active context
key	Go to bookmarked location
'	Go to first file in directory
~ </kbd> <kbd>@</kbd> <kbd>-</kbd> | Go to HOME, /`, start, last visited dir |
.	Toggle show hidden files
q	Quit context

When the filter is on, / works as an additional Leader key.

Help

$ nnn -h
$ man nnn

To lookup keyboard shortcuts at runtime, press ?.

Mentions

• FOSSMint
• Hacker News 1
• Hacker News 2
• It’s FOSS
• LinuxLinks1
• LinuxLinks2
• Suckless Rocks
• Ubuntu Full Circle Magazine - Issue 135

Developers

1. Copyright © 2014-2016 Lazaros Koromilas
2. Copyright © 2014-2016 Dimitris Papastamos
3. Copyright © 2016-2019 Arun Prakash Jana

Contributions are welcome. Please visit the ToDo list.