nnn

Noice is Not Noice, a noicer fork...

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Features
• Performance
• Installation
• Usage
  • Cmdline options
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Filters
  • Navigate-as-you-type mode
  • File type abbreviations
  • File handling
  • Help
• Quickstart
• How to
  • use cd .....
  • cd on quit
  • customize nlay
  • copy file path to clipboard
  • file copy. move. delete
  • boost chdir prompt
  • change file associations
• Why fork?
• Mentions
• Developers

Introduction

nnn is a fork of noice, a blazing-fast lightweight terminal file browser with easy keyboard shortcuts for navigation, opening files and running tasks. noice is developed considering terminal based systems. There is no config file and mime associations are hard-coded. However, the incredible user-friendliness and speed make it a perfect utility on modern distros.

nnn can use the default desktop opener at runtime and handle media types with nlay, a customizable bash script. nnn adds new navigation options, navigate-as-you-type mode, enhanced DE integration, a disk usage analyzer mode, comprehensive file details and much more. Add to that a huge performance boost. For a detailed comparison, visit nnn vs. noice.

If you want to edit a file in vim with some soothing music in the background while referring to a spec in your GUI PDF viewer, nnn got it! All from the same terminal session. Follow the instructions in the quickstart section and see how nnn simplifies those long desktop sessions...

Have fun with it! PRs are welcome. Check out #1.

Features

• Navigation
  • Familiar shortcuts
  • Navigate-as-you-type mode
  • Jump HOME or to the last visited directory (as usual!)
  • Jump to initial dir, chdir prompt, cd ..... (with . as PWD)
  • Roll-over at edges, page through entries
• Disk usage analyzer mode
• Search
  • Filter directory contents with search-as-you-type
  • Desktop search (default gnome-search-tool, customizable) integration
• Mimes
  • Desktop opener integration
  • Customizable bash script nlay to handle media type or action
• Information
  • Basic and detail view
  • Detailed file information
  • Media information (needs mediainfo)
• Ordering
  • Numeric order (1, 2, ... 10, 11, ...) for numeric names
  • Sort by modification time, size
• Convenience
  • Spawn a shell in the current directory
  • Invoke file path copier (easy shell integration)
  • Change directory at exit (easy shell integration)
  • Open any file in EDITOR (fallback vi) or PAGER (fallback less)
  • Open current directory in a custom GUI file browser
• Unicode support
• Highly optimized code, minimal resource usage

Performance

nnn vs. ncdu memory usage while listing 438767 files in disk usage analyzer mode:

  PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
22515 vaio      20   0   60348  48712   2240 S   0.0  0.6   0:01.11 ncdu /
22574 vaio      20   0   17588   4320   2584 S   0.0  0.1   0:00.44 nnn -d /

nnn vs. mc vs. ranger memory usage while viewing a directory with 11244 files, sorted by size:

  PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
28450 vaio      20   0   93848  51548   7724 S   0.0  0.6   0:00.64 /usr/bin/python -O /usr/bin/ranger
27265 vaio      20   0   67188  13620   6908 S   0.0  0.2   0:00.16 mc
28360 vaio      20   0   20520   6932   2512 S   0.0  0.1   0:00.20 nnn

Installation

nnn needs libreadline, libncursesw (on Linux or ncurses on OS X) and standard libc.

• Packages are available on

  • AUR
  • Homebrew
  • Ubuntu PPA
  • Debian

• Packages for Fedora 24 and CentOS 7 are available with the latest release

• 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 libncursesw5-dev libreadline6-dev
  $ make
  $ sudo make install
  

Usage

Cmdline options

usage: nnn [-d] [-S] [-v] [h] [PATH]

The missing terminal file browser for X.

positional arguments:
  PATH           directory to open [default: current dir]

optional arguments:
  -d             start in detail view mode
  -i             start in navigate-as-you-type mode
  -p             path to custom nlay
  -S             start in disk usage analyzer mode
  -v             show program version and exit
  -h             show this help and exit

> indicates the currently selected entry in nnn.

Keyboard shortcuts

                Key | Function
                   -+-
          Up, k, ^P | Previous entry
        Down, j, ^N | Next entry
           PgUp, ^U | Scroll half page up
           PgDn, ^D | Scroll half page down
     Home, g, ^, ^A | Jump to first entry
      End, G, $, ^E | Jump to last entry
Right, Enter, l, ^M | Open file or enter dir
  Left, Bksp, h, ^H | Go to parent dir
             Insert | Toggle navigate-as-you-type mode
                  ~ | Jump to HOME dir
                  & | Jump to initial dir
                  - | Jump to last visited dir
                  / | Filter dir contents
                 ^/ | Search dir in gnome-search-tool
                  . | Toggle hide .dot files
                  c | Show change dir prompt
                  d | Toggle detail view
                  D | Toggle current file details screen
                  m | Show concise mediainfo
                  M | Show full mediainfo
                  s | Toggle sort by file size
                  S | Toggle disk usage analyzer mode
                  t | Toggle sort by modified time
                  ! | Spawn SHELL in PWD (fallback sh)
                  z | Run top
                  e | Edit entry in EDITOR (fallback vi)
                  o | Open dir in NNN_DE_FILE_MANAGER
                  p | Open entry in PAGER (fallback less)
                 ^K | Invoke file name copier
                 ^L | Force a redraw
                  ? | Toggle help screen
                  q | Quit
                  Q | Quit and change directory

Filters

Filters support regexes to display only the matched entries in the current directory view. This effectively allows searching through the directory tree for a particular entry. Matching entries are shown instantly (search-as-you-type).

Filters do not stack on top of each other. They are applied anew every time. There are 4 ways to reset a filter: ^L, an empty filter expression, a search with no results or an extra backspace at the filter prompt (like vi).

If you want to list all matches starting with the filter expression (a common use case), start the expression with a ^ (caret) symbol.

If nnn is invoked as root the default filter will also match hidden files.

Navigate-as-you-type mode

In this mode directories are opened in filter mode, allowing continuous navigation. Works best with the arrow keys.

File type abbreviations

The following abbreviations are used in the detail view:

Symbol	File Type
/	Directory
*	Executable
|	Fifo
=	Socket
@	Symbolic Link
b	Block Device
c	Character Device

File handling

nnn is designed to play files using multiple strategies (in order of decreasing priority):

• Set NNN_OPENER to let a desktop opener handle it all. E.g.:

  export NNN_OPENER=xdg-open
  export NNN_OPENER="gio open"
  export NNN_OPENER=gvfs-open
  

• If nnn recognizes the file extension, it invokes nlay (which invokes the players). Default apps:

  • mpv - audio and video
  • viewnior - image
  • zathura - pdf
  • vim - plain text
  • gnome-search-tool - search
  • to add, remove recognized extensions in nnn, see how to change file associations

• If a file without any extension is a plain text file, it is opened in EDITOR (fallback vi)

• Set NNN_FALLBACK_OPENER as the fallback opener. E.g.:

  export NNN_FALLBACK_OPENER=xdg-open
  export NNN_FALLBACK_OPENER="gio open"
  export NNN_FALLBACK_OPENER=gvfs-open
  

• To enable the desktop file manager key, set NNN_DE_FILE_MANAGER. E.g.:

  export NNN_DE_FILE_MANAGER=thunar
  export NNN_DE_FILE_MANAGER=nautilus
  

• mediainfo is required to view media information

Help

$ man nnn

To lookup keyboard shortcuts at runtime, press ?.

Quickstart

Add the following to your shell’s rc file for the best experience:

1. If you want to open nnn in detail mode each time:

    alias n='nnn -d'
   

2. Set your preferred desktop opener as fallback. E.g.:

    export NNN_FALLBACK_OPENER=xdg-open
   

3. Set a desktop file manager to open directories with (if you need). E.g.:

    export NNN_DE_FILE_MANAGER=thunar
   

4. Start nnn.

    n
   

How to

use cd .....

To jump to the n^th level parent, with PWD at level 0, use n + 1 dots. For example, to jump to the 6 parent of the current directory, use 7 dots. If the number of dots would take you beyond / (which isn’t possible), you’ll be placed at /.

cd on quit

Pick the appropriate file for your shell from misc/quitcd and add the contents to your shell’s rc file. You’ll need to spawn a new shell for the change to take effect. You should start nnn as n (or modify the function name to something else).

As you might notice, nnn uses the environment variable NNN_TMPFILE to write the last visited directory path. You can change it.

customize nlay

nlay is a tiny standalone media type player by itself. To know how to customize or extend its functionality, please visit nlay on wiki.

copy file path to clipboard

nnn can pipe the absolute path of the current file to a copier script. For example, you can use xsel on Linux or pbcopy on OS X.

Sample Linux copier script:

#!/bin/sh

echo -n $1 | xsel --clipboard --input

export NNN_OPENER:

export NNN_COPIER="/home/vaio/copier.sh"

Start nnn and use ^K to copy the absolute path (from /) of the file under the cursor to clipboard.

file copy, move, delete

nnn doesn’t support file copy, move, delete inherently. However, it simplifies the workflow:

1. copy the absolute path to a file by invoking the file path copier (^K)
2. spawn a shell in the current directory (!)
3. while typing the desired command, copy the file path (usually ^-Shift-V)

boost chdir prompt

nnn uses libreadline for the chdir prompt input. So all the fantastic features of readline (e.g. case insensitive tab completion, history, reverse-i-search) is available to you based on your readline configuration.

change file associations

If NNN_OPENER is not set, nnn tries to recognize a file by the file extension and invokes nlay. To change the extensions recognized by nnn, modify the assocs structure in config.def.h (it’s easy). Then re-compile and install.

If you want to add a file extension mainline, please raise a bug. Without it nnn will not invoke nlay.

nlay has provisions (disabled by default) to handle a specific file extension too. However, the extension should be recognized by nnn first.

Why fork?

I chose to fork because:

• one can argue my approach deviates from the goal of the original project - keep the utility suckless. In my opinion evolution is the taste of time.
• I would like to have a bit of control on what features are added in the name of desktop integration. A feature-bloat is the last thing in my mind. Check out nnn design considerations for more details.

Mentions

• It’s FOSS
• FOSSMint

Developers

1. Copyright © 2014-2016 Lazaros Koromilas
2. Copyright © 2014-2016 Dimitris Papastamos
3. Copyright © 2016-2017 Arun Prakash Jana