path: root/README.txt

2026/02                                                                   0.99.0



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                  888      888  888    "     8  `888'   888
                  888     d88'  888          8    Y     888
                 o888bood8P'   o888o        o8o        o888o

                             Dylan's File Manager


Initial Announcement: https://dylan.gr/1772192922

* Tiny (CONFIG_SMALL: ~90KiB, CONFIG_TINY: ~40KiB, static: ~150KiB)
* Fast (should only be limited by IO)
* No dynamic memory allocation (~1.5MiB static)
* Does nothing unless a key is pressed
* No dependencies outside of POSIX/libc
* Manually implemented TUI
* Manually implemented interactive line editor
* Efficient low-bandwidth partial rendering
* UTF8 support (minus grapheme clusters and other unruly things)
* Multiple view modes (name, size, permissions, mtime, ...)
* Multiple sort modes (name, extension, size, mtime, reverse, ...)
* Ranger-style bulk rename
* Incremental as-you-type search
* Bookmarks
* Vim-like keybindings
* Customizable keybindings
* Command system
* Multi-entry marking
* Basic operations (open, copy, move, remove, link, etc)
* Watches filesystem for changes
* CD on exit
* And more...


DEPENDENCIES
________________________________________________________________________________

Required:

- POSIX shell
- POSIX cat, cp, date, mkdir, printf, rm
- POSIX make
- POSIX libc
- C99 compiler

Optional:

- strip (for CONFIG_SMALL and CONFIG_TINY)
- clang (for CONFIG_TINY)


BUILDING
________________________________________________________________________________

$ ./configure --prefix=/usr
$ make
$ make DESTDIR="" install

The configure script takes three forms of arguments.

1) Long-opts:           --prefix=/usr --help
2) Variables:           CC=/bin/cc CFLAGS="-O3" CONFIG_TINY=1 LDFLAGS=" "
3) C macro definitions: -DMACRO -DMACRO=VALUE -UMACRO

There are three different user-centric build configurations.

1) Default:      -O2
2) CONFIG_SMALL: -Os + aggressive compiler flags
3) CONFIG_TINY:  -Oz + CONFIG_SMALL + (you must set CC to clang)

To produce a static binary, pass -static via CFLAGS.
To enable LTO, pass -flto via CFLAGS.

Everything contained within ./configure, Makefile.in, config.h.in,
config_cmd.h.in and config_key.h.in can be configured on the command-line via
./configure. See './configure --help' and also refer to these files for more
information.

Bonus example:

  ./configure \
    --prefix=/usr \
    CONFIG_TINY=1 \
    CC=clang \
    CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -flto -static" \
    -DDFM_NO_COLOR \
    -DDFM_COL_NAV="VT_SGR(34,7)"

NOTE: If you are building for an environment without support for the XTerm
alternate screen, add -DDFM_CLEAR_EDIT to your configure flags.


CONFIGURATION
________________________________________________________________________________

DFM is mostly configured at compile-time via its config files.

* ./configure:     Build system, compilation and installation.
* config.h.in:     Default settings, colors, etc.
* config_key.h.in: Keybindings.
* config_cmd.h.in: Commands.

Refer to these files for more information.


--[DPP]-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The config .in files are processed by https://github.com/dylanaraps/dpp
(see bin/dpp) so POSIX shell code can be used within them. Everything defined
by ./configure is accessible within these files.

See https://github.com/dylanaraps/dpp for more information.


--[Command-line]----------------------------------------------------------------

usage: dfm [options] [path]

options:
-H | +H        toggle hidden files (-H off, +H on)
-p             picker mode (print selected path to stdout and exit)
-o <opener>    program to use when opening files (default: xdg-open)
-s <mode>      change default sort
  n  name
  N  name reverse
  e  extension
  s  size
  S  size reverse
  d  date
  D  date reverse
-v <mode>      change default view
  n  name only
  s  size
  p  permissions
  t  time
  a  all

--help         show this help
--version      show version

path:
directory to open (default: ".")


--[Environment]-----------------------------------------------------------------

A few things can be set at runtime via environment variables. If unset in the
environment, default values are derived from the config.h.in file.

- DFM_COPYER         (The clipboard tool to use when copying PWD or file
                      contents. The tool is fed the data via <stdin>)

- DFM_BOOKMARK_[0-9] (Directory bookmarks. set DFM_BOOKMARK_[0-9] and then
                      bind act_cd_bookmark_[0-9] to the keys of your choosing)

- DFM_OPENER         (Opener script to use when opening files. This could be
                      xdg-open or a custom script (see the script/ directory))

- DFM_TRASH          (Program to use when trashing files)

- DFM_TRASH_DIR      (Path to trash directory)


--[CD On Exit]------------------------------------------------------------------

There are two ways to exit DFM.

1) act_quit           (default 'q')
2) act_quit_print_pwd (default 'Q')

Exiting with 2) will make DFM output the absolute path to the directory it was
in. This output can be passed to 'cd' to change directory automatically on exit.

$ cd "$(dfm)"
$ var=$(dfm)
$ dfm > file


USAGE
________________________________________________________________________________

DFM is a single column file-manager with VIM like keybindings. Its basic usage
is pretty straightforward and anything non-obvious can be divined by looking
at the actions each key is bound to.


--[Statusline]------------------------------------------------------------------

The statusline is as follows:

 1/1 [RnHE] [1+] ~0B /path/to/current/directory/<query>

 1/1        - The entry number under the cursor and the total visible entries.

 [RnHE]     - Indicators.

              R - Shown when DFM is running as root.
              n - Current sort mode: [n]ame, [N]ame reverse, [s]ize,
                  [S]ize reverse, [d]ate modified, [D]ate modified reverse,
                  [e]xtension. If the current directory is too large, in place
                  of sort mode, [T] is shown.
              H - Shown when hidden files are enabled.
              E - Shown when a command fails. This indicates that the user must
                  check the alternate buffer (bound to 'z' by default) to see
                  the error messages left by the command failure.

 [1+]       - Number of marked files, hidden when 0.

 ~0B        - Approximate size of directory (shallow, excludes sub-directories).

 /path/to   - The current directory.
 /<query>   - The search query if the list was filtered.


--[View Modes]------------------------------------------------------------------

There are five view modes: Normal, Size, Permissions, Date Modified and All.
The view mode can be cycled by pressing <Tab> by default.

All is the sum of the other view modes and gives an idea of what is shown:

-rwxr-xr-x    16m    4.0K .git/
-rwxr-xr-x     2h    4.0K bin/
-rwxr-xr-x     4d    4.0K script/
-rwxr-xr-x    32m    4.0K lib/
-rwxr-xr-x    16h    4.0K platform/
-rw-r--r--    16m      0B .config_macro.h
-rw-r--r--    16m     62B .gitignore
-rw-r--r--     4d    1.0K LICENSE.md
-rw-r--r--    16m    1.8K Makefile
-rw-r--r--     8h    1.8K Makefile.in
-rw-r--r--    32s    6.6K README.txt
-rw-r--r--    16m    4.0K config.h
-rw-r--r--    32m    4.0K config.h.in
-rw-r--r--    32m    6.5K config_cmd.h
-rw-r--r--    32m    6.5K config_cmd.h.in
-rw-r--r--    16m    6.5K config_key.h
-rw-r--r--    32m    6.5K config_key.h.in
-rwxr-xr-x    16m    3.5K configure*
-rwxr-xr-x    16m    130K dfm*
-rw-r--r--    32m     72K dfm.c

 2/20 [nH] ~268K /home/dylan/kiss/fork/dfm


--[Sort Modes]------------------------------------------------------------------

There are seven sort modes: Name, Name reverse, Size, Size reverse,
Date modified, Date modified reverse, Extension. The sort mode can be cycled by
pressing '`' (backtick) by default.

The "Name" sort performs a natural/human sort and puts directories before files.


--[Prompt]----------------------------------------------------------------------

The area where searches and commands are inputted is a complete interactive line
editor supporting all the usual actions (left/right scroll, insert,
bracketed clipboard paste, backspace, delete, prev/next word, etc).
The default keybindings match what is found in readline and POSIXy shells.

As of now there is no <Tab> complete or up/down arrow history cycling.

NOTE: The prompt is implemented as a gap buffer. There are two buffers, cursor
left and cursor right with the cursor sitting inbetween both buffers. When it
comes time to commit the input it is simply joined together. Make not of this
detail as it is necessary to know it when creating your own bound commands.


--[Searching]-------------------------------------------------------------------

There are two search modes: Startswith and Substring. Startswith is bound to '/'
by default and Substring to '?'. They each perform a case-sensitive and
incremental as-you-type search on the current directory's entries.

Pressing <Enter> confirms the search and the results become navigable. If there
is only one match, pressing <Enter> will open the entry in a single press.


--[Marking]---------------------------------------------------------------------

Files can be marked and unmarked (spacebar by default). There are also shortcuts
to navigate between marks, select all, clear all and to invert the selection.

The marks can be operated on in three ways.

1) Foreach: A command is executed once per mark.
2) Bulk:    A command is executed once and given the list of marks as its argv.
3) Shell:   A shell command is executed (sh -euc "<cmd>" <marks argv>)

NOTE: All three can also be executed in the background.
NOTE: If nothing is marked, the entry under the cursor is operated on.

These operations are defined as "commands" which can be typed or bound to keys.
To avoid copying data, only the basenames of marks are passed to commands and
the commands are exec'd in the directory containing them.

Example:

  'cp -f %m %d' -> PWD=/path/to/mark_dir cp -f a b c /path/to/pwd


--[Commands]--------------------------------------------------------------------

Commands are simply strings which are minimally transformed into argvs and
executed. Modifiers control how the string will be transformed and executed.

:echo hello                -> echo hello
:echo %f world             -> foreach entry: echo <entry> world
:echo %m world             -> echo <entry_1> <entry_2> ... world'.
:<waycopy                  -> foreach entry: (stdin) waycopy

In addition to these modifiers are the following:

%p                         -> Path to PWD.
$WORD                      -> Expand environment variable.
&                          -> Run in background (must be last word)..

NOTE: None of the above transformations pass through or incur the cost of
running within a shell. They are merely pointer arrays passed to exec().

NOTE: %m and %f cannot be combined and only the first occurrence of %m or %f is
evaluated. Also, %m and %f must appear on their own.

If these are too limiting, prepending a '!' bypasses DFM's internal command mode
and sends it all to the shell.

:!echo "$@"                -> sh -euc 'echo "$@"' <entry_1> <entry_2> ...
:!echo "$1" "$2"           -> sh -euc 'echo "$1" "$2"' <entry_1> <entry_2> ...


--[Bound Commands]--------------------------------------------------------------

Commands can be bound to keys. When a command is bound it can either run
straightaway or open the interactive prompt with pre-filled information.
Flas can also be set to better integrate the command into DFM.

Move is defined as follows:

  FM_CMD(cmd_move,
    .prompt = CUT(":"),                - The prompt.
    .left   = CUT("echo mv -f %m %d"), - Text left of cursor.
    .enter  = fm_cmd_run,              - Callback.
    .config = CMD_NOT_MARK_DIR |       - Forbid running in mark directory.
              CMD_MUT |                - Command may mutate directory.
              CMD_EXEC_MARK |          - Skip interactive mode if marks.
              CMD_CONFLICT,            - Prompt on conflicts.
  )

Chown is defined as follows:

  FM_CMD(cmd_chown,
    .prompt = CUT(":"),
    .left   = CUT("chown"),
    .right  = CUT(" %m"),              - Text right of cursor.
    .enter  = fm_cmd_run,
    .config = CMD_MUT,
  )

This opens the interactive prompt and puts the cursor between chown and %m so
the user can add additional information.

  :chown | %a

In addition to fm_cmd_run, fm_cmd_run_sh can be set to bypass DFM's internal
command mode to run the command in the shell.

See the config_key.h.in and config_cmd.h.in files for more information.


DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
________________________________________________________________________________

* I employed many tricks in order to keep memory usage low whilst still allowing
  for fast operations and relatively large directory trees.

* When a directory too large for DFM is entered the statusline sort indicator is
  replaced with [T] to signify truncation and the statusline colored red.
  Truncation occurs when the name storage or entry list is exhausted,
  whichever comes first. The limits are reasonable and unlikely to be reached
  outside of synthetic directory trees so this isn't really a problem.

* File operations using coreutils commands work but aren't as nice as having
  fully integrated internal operations. I was working on it but it ended up
  being a massive pain in the ass so I abandoned the idea. It's not enough to
  use the POSIX functions as you will be left fighting TOCTOU race conditions,
  control flow hell, error handling madness and other crap. A solution is to
  conditionally use each OS's extension functions (ie, Linux's copy_file,
  renameat2, O_TMPFILE, AT_EMPTY_PATH, etc) but then you end up stuck in
  preprocessor ifdef soup.

* UTF8 support intentionally excludes grapheme clusters, emojis and other
  complicated things. Everything else should work just fine though.

* DFM will do partial rendering wherever possible and also tries to do as little
  display IO as it can (this is what I mean by low-bandwidth in the feature
  list).

* The TUI is manually implemented using VT100 escape sequences and a few
  optional modern ones (bracketed paste, XTerm alt screen,
  synchronized updates). Look at lib/term.h, lib/term_key.h, lib/vt.h and scan
  dfm.c for VT_.* to see how it works.

* The number of marks is bounded only when it comes to materializing them. For
  1000 marks dfm needs the space to construct an argv to accommodate them. This
  is not all, if a 'cd' is performed, space is also needed to store the mark
  entry names as the new directory will overwrite them. Marks are stored on the
  end of the directory storage growing towards its middle. In other words,
  /materialized/ marks are stored in the free space not taken up by directory
  entries. This creates two scenarios.

  1) Inside the same directory as the marks dfm can mark and operate on all of
     the entries without needing any extra memory as the marks are virtual.
     However, if %m is used inside the mark directory, dfm must materialize them
     and the number is bounded by whatever unused memory is available. This
     doesnt limit operation on files as dfm will process the marks in chunks.

     %f: 900 marks -> n/a       -> cmd <arg>  x 900
     %m: 900 marks -> 300 slots -> cmd <args> x 3

  2) Outside of the directory dfm needs space to materialize the marks so marks
     that travel are bounded.

  In short:

     - in      mark dir + %f == boundless mark operations.
     - in      mark dir + %m == boundless mark operations (chunked).
     - outside mark dir + %f == bounded mark operations.
     - outside mark dir + %m == bounded mark operations.


CONCLUSION
________________________________________________________________________________

I had a lot of fun writing this.
Thank you for reading.

Also check out dpp: https://github.com/dylanaraps/dpp
And my blog: https://dylan.gr