Cheetsheet for Midnight Commander

1. Starting Midnight Commander
2. Navigational and basic hot keys
3. Command line and shell window
4. Function Keys
5. Tree View Panel
6. Directory Search Panel (aka NCD panel, aka FindFolder)
7. File/Directories selection/deselection
8. Quick view
9. Quick search
10. FindFile
11. Command line execution
12. Sorting directories
13. User menu script invocation
14. Additional file commands
15. Association (extension menu) management
16. Compare directories
17. Compare files operation
18. Built-in Editor
19. Archive virtual file system
20. Infopanel and infoline
21. History and favorites

Starting Midnight Commander

Open console and type on command prompt:

mc

and press Enter.

There are other ways to start mc. If you enter a directory, it will open in that directory

mc ~/.mc

will open the current directory and ~/.mc

mc ~/.mc /usr/share/mc

will open ~/.mc and /usr/share/mc

The first directory will be in the panel you were in the last time you opened mc. e.g. if you left mc with the right panel selected, mc ~/.mc /usr/share/mc will open /usr/share/mc on the left and ~/.mc on the right.

Navigational and basic hot keys

Notes:

• CTRL-X + D (compare directories) sequence must be issued by pressing together CTRL and X, and then D button - like in Emacs editor.
• Enter has different functions depending on the context:
  • if you have text in command line (one with command prompt, above function keys in the last) it will be executed as command
  • if command line is empty than MC consults extensions file and will do something with selected file in active panel:
    • if file is executable - it will be executed
    • if function open (plugin open) is defined for this extension, it will be executed.
    • If this extension is implemented as a virtual filesystem (tar file, iso file, zip file) it will be opened in the panel as it is a directory

• TAB  or Ctrl-U is switching focus between left and right panel
• Alt-T or Esc-T Change the panel display options in round-robit fashion. This way you can switch from a dual panel display to a single panel display.
• Ctrl-s Search for a file in the panel
• Alt-s  or Esc-s incremental search
• Use up-arrow, down-arrow, page-up, page-down, home and end keys to browse the directory content.

• Ctrl-R will refresh active panel
• Ctrl-X C opens chmod dialog for marked file
• Ctrl-X O opens chown dialog for marked file
• Alt-? opens search dialog
• Ctrl-X A Open VFS list. If a ftp session times out, you can use this to free the open vfs so you can log in again.

• Insert or Ctrl-T marks or removes mark on file(s)
• Alt-G marks first file or directory in active panel
• Alt-R marks middle file or directory in active panel
• Alt-J marks last file or directory in active panel
• Ctrl-/ Look for filename given in last line of active panel (not whole screen), and jumps on first file
• * marks removes marking for all files in active panel (not directories)
• Shift+ Shift- brings up the input box where it can be given regular expression. All files with names that fill condition(s) in regular expression will be marked.
• \ (Backslash) remove marking for more data (opposite to "+")

Command line and shell window

• Alt-Enter or Esc-Enter copies selected filename in command line
• Ctrl-x p    Copies the current directory to the command line
• Ctrl-x t    Copies/pastes the currently selected filename(s) to the cl. Useful for using svn commands w/multiple files

• ??? Ctrl-Shift-Enter copies full path of selected file in the command line

• Esc-H and Alt-H shows command line history (Alt-H is used by Teraterm)
• Man page quote:

  This section lists keys which are useful to avoid excessive typing when entering shell commands.

  Alt-Enter

  copy the currently selected file name to the command line.

  C-Enter

  same a Alt-Enter. May not work on remote systems and some terminals.

  C-Shift-Enter

  copy the full path name of the currently selected file to the command line. May not work on remote systems and some terminals.

  Alt-Tab

  does the filename, command, variable, username and hostname completion for you.

  C-x t, C-x C-t

  copy the tagged files (or if there are no tagged files, the selected file) of the current panel (C-x t) or of the other panel (C-x C-t) to the command line.

  C-x p, C-x C-p

  the first key sequence copies the current path name to the command line, and the second one copies the unselected panel's path name to the command line.

  C-q

  the quote command can be used to insert characters that are otherwise interpreted by the Midnight Commander (like the '+' symbol)

  Alt-p, Alt-n

  use these keys to browse through the command history. Alt-p takes you to the last entry, Alt-n takes you to the next one.

  Alt-h

  displays the history for the current input line.

   

Function Keys

• F1 Help
• F2 Opens user menu
• F3 View selected file content
• F4 Opens file in internal text editor
• F5 Copies selected file. Default is to another panel, but it asks first.
  • Ctrl-x s       Creates symlink of the file you're currently on (defaults to
                placing that symlink in the dir in the opposite panel).
• F6 Moving file. Default is to another panel, but it asks first.
• F7 Make directory.
• F8 Delete file or directory.
• F9 Opens main menu at the top of the screen.
• F10 Ends current action; editor, viewer, dialog window or ends mc program.

NEWS CONTENTS

• 171226 : Midnight Commander Cheat Sheet ( Give Me Fish, LLC - Cross-platform C++, Scientific and Technical Programming )
• 171226 : midnight-commander-mc-guide-powerful-text-based-file-manager-for-unix ( midnight-commander-mc-guide-powerful-text-based-file-manager-for-unix, )

Old News ;-)

Midnight Commander Cheat Sheet

Give Me Fish, LLC - Cross-platform C++, Scientific and Technical Programming

Midnight Commander Cheat Sheet
==============================

Ctrl-o	 Toggles to/from cl environment
Ctrl-t	 Toggles a file onto/from the "tagged list"
Ctrl-r	 Refresh both views
Ctrl-l  Reformats the screen (I often need to after opening external files
                           such as PDFs, which cause MC to display strangely.)
Ctrl-u  Swap lhs and rhs panels

Other panel views:
Ctrl-x q    Toggles other panel to/from "quick view". Views text.
Ctrl-x i    Toggles other panel to/from "info view". Views file info.
F3	    Toggles to full panel view of text file.
Ctrl-x t    Copies/pastes the currently selected filename(s) to the cl
            [Effective for using svn commands w/multiple files]
Alt-enter   Copies currently highlighted file to the cl
Ctrl-+	    Prompts for a reg-ex string and selects files based on it
Ctrl-*      Selects all files in cwd
Ctrl-x p    Copies the current directory to the command line 
Ctrl-x s       Creates symlink of the file you're currently on (defaults to
            placing that symlink in the dir in the opposite panel).
Alt-p	    Brings to the CL the previously issued command-line within MC
Alt-n	    Brings to the CL the next issued command-line command within MC
Alt-c	    Allows you to cd while preserving whatever is on the CL
Ctrl-\	    Gets you to hotlist
Esc-tab     Completion for command line (like Bash autocomplete)
Alt-i       CD's the other panel to the current panel's CWD
Alt-o       CD's the other panel to directory you are currently highlighting
cd -        On the command line, type "cd -" to return to the directory you
            were previously in. This is very handy if you accidently change
            directories (eg, sync other pane to same dir as current pane)

Hit return when on an archive library (libMylib.a) and see what object files
  have gone into creating the library.

In order to get a pane as an FTP directory, at the MC command line, type:

cd /#ftp:mpeavy:PASSWORD@teghis.pair.com         NOTE: PASSWORD is not encrytped
cd /#ftp:mpeavy@teghis.pair.com                  To be prompted for your password (still not encrytped)
cd /#ftp:mpeavy@teghis.pair.com/home/peavy       NOTE: gets you to your home dir directly.

**BETTER** - use scp / sftp instead:

cd /#sh:mpeavy@teghis.pair.com/home/peavy       Secure. Also, starts in home

The above ftp/sftp locations can be added to the hotlist.
In configurations, can set to not show backup (~) files.

--------------

Use the External Panelize functions to filter and perform external
 commands multiple times, eg, to view all header files.

Ctrl-x !     - Enter the External Panelize input screen. Choose a command or type
            another command to be executed. 
            Eg: find all header files with:    find . -name *.h
            Save oft-used commands for re-use.
            Will save the output results in the panel you were in.
            To refresh the panel back to the orig. dir view, refresh: Ctrl-r

--------------

Colors (Background, foreground, and transparency)
  http://plug-and-pray.blogspot.com/2009/09/editing-midnight-commanders-color.html
http://my.opera.com/kurzon/blog/2009/08/08/midnight-commander-col

???

CTRL-X + D sequence must be issued by pressing together CTRL and X, and then D button - like in Emacs editor. A shortcut which should be mentioned here is ESC+0,1,2…9 which replaces all function keys F1 to F10. It is indispensable in terminals which do not support F1-F10 buttons.

midnight-commander-mc-guide-powerful-text-based-file-manager-for-unix

Section 1 – Menu bar: Located at the top of the screen and has the following options. Press F9 (or) Esc 9 to access the menu bar.

• Left – Options to control the display of the left directory panel
• File – Options to manipulate files
• Command – Options to edit various mc configuration files
• Options – Options to change layout, setup VFS
• Right – Options to control the display of the right directory panel

Section 2 – Directory panels: Located in the middle and occupies large part of the screen. By default, it displays both left and right directory browsing panels, where you can view contents of two different directories at the same time.

Section 3 – Function keys: Located at the bottom and has following options. Press Esc key followed by the corresponding menu number to access these functions.

1. Help – Display in-built mc help.
2. Menu – Displays user defined menu items. You can create custom menu item to execute some complex steps of operations on the selected file. for e.g. compress the selected file and copy to a remote server with a single click. To edit the menu item file, click F9 (invoke menu bar) -> Command -> Edit Menu File
3. View – View the selected file content using mcview, a viewer for midnight commander.
4. Edit – Edit the selected file using mcedit, an editor for midnight commander.
5. Copy – Copy the selected file. If both panels are displayed, it will copy the file to the other panel. mc will ask for confirmation before doing any changes such as, copy file, delete file, move file etc.,
6. RenMov – Move/Rename the selected file.
7. Mkdir – Create a new directory under the selected directory.
8. Delete – Delete the selected file.
9. PullDn – This will highlight the Menu Bar. This option is helpful when F9 doesn't work to invoke the menu bar.
10. Quit – To quite midnight commander, press Esc key followed by 0.

Section 4 – Command Line prompt: Using midnight commander does not take away the command line from power user. You can start typing an Unix command anytime and press enter to execute it. Command line prompt is located towards the bottom of the screen.

3. Basic keyboard shortcuts

Most of the mc keyboard shortcuts fall in one of the following category:

• C-<chr>: Press Control key and a character key at the same time. For e.g. C-u to swap left and right panels.
• M-<chr>: Press Alt key and a character key at the same time. For Alt key commands, you can also press ESC key, release it and press the character key.
• S-<chr>: Press Shift key and a character key at the same time.
• C-<chr1> <chr2>: Press Control key and a character key at the same time, release it and press another character key again. For e.g. C-x d to compare directories.

Following are some basic keyboard operation

• Tab: To switch from one panel to another.
• M-t: Change the panel display options. i.e Switch from a dual panel display to a single panel display.
• C-s: Search for a file.
• Use up-arrow, down-arrow, page-up, page-down, home and end keys to browse the directory content.

4.Sample mc usage scenarios

• Copy multiple files together using 'Insert' and F5: Highlight a file and press 'Insert' key to tag the file for group selection. Repeat this process for multiple files that you wish to copy. Selected files will be displayed in a different color. Pressing F5 will display the following copy dialog screen, defaulting the destination directory location to the directory displayed in the other panel

  

  Fig: Copy multiple files together using mc UI

• Display additional file information: To display additional file attributes in the directory panels, press F9 -> Left or Right -> Listing Mode, and select "Full File List"
• View the content of any compressed file using F3: Select the file and press F3 to view the content of the file. For e.g. Select a rpm file and press F3, to view the content of the rpm file.
• Toggle between command line and mc using C-o: Press C-o (Control key followed by o) to toggle between full command-line and mc user interface.
• Confirm file operations: To avoid mistakes, enable confirmation for copy, delete, overwrite and execute functions. Press F9 -> Options -> Confirmations, which will display the following screen.

  

  Fig: Setup file operation confirmations

Recommended Links

Softpanorama Recommended

Top articles

Sites

Midnight Commander Cheat Sheet from Give Me Fish, LLC

Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotes :  Somerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose Bierce :  Bernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOS :  Programming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC development :  Scripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-Month :  How to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least

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Last modified: September, 12, 2017