FAR Macrovariables

• Introduction
• Passive vs Active panel
• Notes

Introduction

FAR uses the same set of macro symbols for passive and active panel, but entities on the passive panel should be prefixed with !#.  For example, !#!.! denotes the name of the current file on the passive panel.

The following special symbols can be used in file associations, user menu and the command line/command window: 

1. !! -- ! character
2. ! -- Long file name without extension
3. !~ -- Short(DOS 8.3)  file name without extension
4. !` -- Long extension 
5. !`~ -- Short(DOS 8.3)  extension without file name (ext)
6. !.! -- Long file name with extension
7. !-! -- Short(DOS 8.3)  file name with extension
8. !+! -- Similar to !-! but if a long file name was lost after performing the command, FAR will restore it
9. !@! -- Name of file with selected file names list
10. !$! -- Name of file with selected short (DOS 8.3) file names list
11. !& -- List of selected files
12. !&~ -- List of selected short (DOS 8.3) file names
13. !: -- Current drive in the format "C:" -- For remote folders - "\\server\\share"
14. !\ -- Current path
15. !/ -- Short (DOS 8.3) name of the current path
16. !=\ -- Current path considering ~symbolic links
17. !=/ -- Short (DOS 8.3) name of the current path considering symbolic links
18. !?<prompt?! -- This symbol is replaced by user input, when executing command. Several such macrovaribles are allowed in the same line, for example:

      grep !?Search for:?! !?In:?*.*! | c:\\far\\far.exe -v - 

    A history name for the init string can be supplied in the title. In such case the command has the following format:

     #!?$...

    for example:

      grep !?#$GrepHist$#Search for:?! !?In:?*.*!|far.exe -v -

    In title and init the usage of other meta-symbols is allowed by enclosing them in brackets. (e.g. grep !?Find in (!.!):?! |far.exe -v - )

Passive vs Active panel

 "!^" modifier specified before a file association symbol forces it (and all the following characters) to refer to the active panel (see note 4). For example,

•  !^!.! denotes a current file name on the active panel,
• !#!\\!^!.! - a file on the passive panel with the same name as the name of the current file on the active panel.

Notes

1. When handling special characters, FAR substitutes only the string corresponding to the special character. No additional characters (for example, quotes) are added, and you should add them yourself if it is needed. For example, if a program used in the associations requires a file name to be enclosed in quotes, you should specify program.exe "!.!" and not #program.exe !.!#.
2. The following modifiers may be used with the associations !@! and !$! :
   • 'Q' - enclose names containing spaces in quotes;
   • 'S' - use '/' instead of '\\' in pathnames;
   • 'F' - use full pathnames;
   • 'A' - use ANSI encoding.
   For example, the association #!@AFQ!# means "name of file with the list of selected file names, in ANSI encoding, include full pathnames, names with spaces will be in quotes".
3. When there are multiple associations specified, the meta-characters !@! and !$! are shown in the menu as is. Those characters are translated when the command is executed.
4. The prefixes "!#" and "!^" work as toggles for associations. The effect of these prefixes continues up to the next similar prefix. For example:

   if exist !#!\\!^!.! diff -c -p !#!\\!^!.! !\\!.!

   "If the same file exists on the passive panel as the file under the cursor on the active panel, show the differences between the file on the passive panel and the file on the active panel, regardless of the name of the current file on the passive panel"

5. If it is needed to pass to a program a name with an ending backslash, use the following meta-symbol - #!.\#. For example, to extract a rar archive to a folder with the same name

   winrar x "!.!" "!.\"

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Last modified: March, 12, 2019