Documentation - F2 Commander

Quick Start

Welcome to F2 Commander! Here's what you need to know to get started:

Tab ⭾ switches focus between the left and right panels
j/k and ↓/↑ navigate the file list up and down
Enter ⮐ enters the directory or opens the file with the system default program
Backspace ⌫ (or Enter ⮐ on the ..) navigates to the parent directory
All keys shown in the footer execute the indicated actions (copy, move, etc.)
Ctrl+P opens the Command Palette
q/F10 quits the application

Navigation

Action	Keybinding	Description
Switch panels	Tab ⭾	Focus left/right panel
Move down	j or ↓	Next entry in the list
Move up	k or ↑	Previous entry in the list
Go to top	g	Jump to first entry
Go to bottom	G	Jump to last entry
Page down	Ctrl+F, Ctrl+D, or Page Down	Scroll down one page
Page up	Ctrl+B, Ctrl+U, or Page Up	Scroll up one page
Enter directory	Enter ⮐	Enter directory or open file
Parent directory	Backspace ⌫	Navigate to parent directory
Bookmarks	b or F2	Go to bookmarked location
Go to path	Ctrl+G	Enter a path to jump to
Search	/	Incremental fuzzy search
Refresh	R	Refresh the file listing
Open in file manager	o	Open location in OS file manager
Swap panels	Ctrl+W	Swap left and right panels
Same location	Ctrl+S	Open same location in other panel

Display Control

Action	Keybinding	Description
Toggle hidden files	h	Show/hide hidden files
Sort by name (asc)	n	Order by name A-Z
Sort by name (desc)	N	Order by name Z-A
Sort by size (asc)	s	Order by size smallest first
Sort by size (desc)	S	Order by size largest first
Sort by time (asc)	t	Order by modification time oldest first
Sort by time (desc)	T	Order by modification time newest first
Calculate dir size	Ctrl+Space	Calculate size of directory under cursor

File Operations

Most actions for file and directory manipulation are shown in the footer menu. A few more actions are available in the Command Palette (Ctrl+P).

Key Mappings

F2 Commander supports two key mapping modes that can be changed in the configuration:

Vi-like Mnemonics (Default)

Designed for modern laptop keyboards where function keys may be used for media controls:

c	Copy
m	Move
D	Delete (upper case)
r	Rename
e	Edit (open in editor)
v	View (open in viewer)
x	Execute shell

Function Keys

Traditional orthodox file manager bindings:

F5	Copy
F6	Move
F7	Create directory
F8	Delete
F3	View
F4	Edit
F9	Execute shell

The current mapping is shown in the footer menu. Change the mapping in Configuration (Ctrl+P → "Configuration").

Multiple Selection

Some actions, such as copy, move and delete, can be performed on multiple entries:

Space or Shift+j/k/↓/↑	Select/unselect an entry
-	Clear all selections
+	Select all displayed entries
*	Invert selection

Shell Integration

Press x/F9 to start a subprocess with a new shell in the current location. The shell opens in the directory you're currently viewing.

To return to F2 Commander, quit the shell:

type exit and press Enter
or, press Ctrl+D

Remote File Systems (Preview)

Press Ctrl+T to open the connection dialog and connect to remote file systems.

Remote file systems support is in preview mode. Most functionality is available, but bugs are possible.

Installing Protocol Support

To connect to a remote file system you may need to install additional packages that are indicated in the "Connect" dialog upon selecting a protocol.

For example, if you installed F2 Commander with pipx, and you want to connect to an S3 bucket, you need to install the s3fs package:

pipx inject f2-commander s3fs

Common Protocols

Protocol	Package	Install Command
AWS S3	`s3fs`	`pipx inject f2-commander s3fs`
Google Cloud Storage	`gcsfs`	`pipx inject f2-commander gcsfs`
Azure ADLS	`adlfs`	`pipx inject f2-commander adlfs`
FTP/FTPS	(built-in)	-
SFTP	(built-in)	-

The "Connect" dialog is in its "alpha" version, exposing the underlying connector configuration in a generic way. Refer to the documentation of the installed additional packages for more information.

Remote Bookmarks

It is possible to persist a connection for a remote file system, to quickly reconnect without using the connection dialog. See the Configuration section below.

File Preview

F2 Commander can preview text files and images.

To open a file preview panel:

Press Ctrl+E or Ctrl+R to switch to the "Preview" panel on the left or right
Navigate to the file to preview in the other panel

Text File Preview

For text files, a preview of the file is displayed with syntax highlighting if the file type is recognized. Only the beginning of the file is shown. Use the View action (v/F3) to view the complete file in your default viewer program ($VIEWER).

Image and PDF Preview

Image preview only works in terminal emulators that support TGP or Sixel protocols.

Directory Preview

When a directory is selected, the preview panel shows a tree view of its contents.

Panel Types

F2 Commander comes with these panel types:

Files - Default panel type for file system discovery and manipulation
Preview - Preview text and image files selected in the other Files panel
Help - User manual (also invoked with ?/F1)

Use Ctrl+E and Ctrl+R to change the type of the panel on the left and right respectively.

Configuration

Press Ctrl+, to open the configuration dialog, or find "Configuration" action in the Command Palette (Ctrl+P).

Key Mapping

F2 Commander comes with two predefined key mappings:

Traditional Function-key mapping: F5 to copy file, F6 to move, etc., which is well known in orthodox file managers
Vi-like mnemonics-based mapping: c to copy, m to move, etc.

The Vi-like mapping is designed for modern laptop keyboards, provided that you use the top row keys as media keys (brightness, track control, etc.). It is enabled by default. You can easily switch to the "Function keys" in the configuration.

Themes (Colors)

Several color themes are built-in and can be changed in the configuration dialog.

At the moment the colors are not customizable (you can only use the predefined themes).

Configuration File

You typically won't need to modify the configuration file directly, as the GUI configuration dialog handles most settings. However, if absolutely needed, your configuration file location is platform-specific:

Linux: ~/.config/f2commander/config.json
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/f2commander/config.json
Windows (WSL): Check output of f2 --help

Note: The application may write to the configuration file as you use it. Be careful when manually editing.

Remote File Systems Configuration

Connection configuration for remote file systems can be persisted and accessed from the "Bookmarks" dialog.

Connection configuration is defined under file_systems in the config file, as a list of connection objects. Each connection object defines:

display_name - A title shown in the bookmarks list
protocol - Name of the protocol recognized by fsspec
path - Optional default path to navigate to upon connecting (defaults to root)
Other keys are considered to be fsspec storage_options

Example configuration for connecting to an ADLS Gen2 storage account:

file_systems = [
  {
    "display_name": "My BLOB storage",
    "protocol": "abfs",
    "params": {
      "account_name": "myaccount",
      "account_key": "mykey"
    }
  }
]

Refer to the documentation of the installed additional packages (s3fs, gcsfs, etc.) for more information about the remote file system configuration options.

F2 Commander Documentation