Vifm: The Vim Way to Manage Files

Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:35:08 +0800

Introduction

Vifm is a TUI dual-pane file manager. You can dramatically improve your productivity with Vifm, and it will feel quite natural if you are familiar with Vim bindings.

Motions

Vifm uses Vim keybindings:

h - go one level up in the directory tree
l - enter the directory highlighted by the cursor
j and k - move up and down in the pane to select items
H, M, and L - go to the top, middle, and bottom of the content list
m and ' - mark a location with a label and later jump to the marked location
- :marks command - show all the marks
  - In the Marks view, use dd to delete bookmarks

Window Operations

Tab key - switch between the two panes
Hold Ctrl and press w, then s - switch the layout to a horizontal split
Hold Ctrl and press w, then v - switch the layout to a vertical split
Hold Ctrl and press w, then o - switch to a one-pane layout. To switch back to a two-pane layout, use either C-w s or C-w v.
- Notice that in the one-pane layout, there are still two open panes, but only one of them is displayed. Tab still works to switch between the two panes.
C-w H or C-w L - switch the current pane to the left or right.

File Operations

File Management

cw - ‘change word’ means to rename the file in vifm
- cW - with capital W, change the base name of the file
- A - append to the file name, similar to A in vim
dd - delete (cut) the current item
- u - undo to restore the deleted item
- p - put (paste) the deleted (cut) item in the current position
yy - yank (copy) the item
- p - put (paste) the yanked (copied) item
Ctrl + g - show detailed information about a file or directory

File Selection

There are multiple ways to select items:

t - toggle item selection
:select <item_name> - select the desired items, such as select a.txt, select *txt, and select */
- Notice that the selection is cumulative
- select - select the current item / show the number of selected items
- Esc - deselect all
v - enter visual mode for selection
- Enter - end the selection
- Esc - deselect all
:invert s - invert the selection

Delete and Restore

dd can delete (cut) files, and under the hood, the files are moved to the ‘vifm trash’. To view the location of the trash, use the :trashes command.

┌── Non-empty trash directories ────────┐
│ /home/chsu/.local/share/vifm/Trash    |

To list the trashed items, use the :lstrash command.

┌── Original paths of files in trash ──────────┐
│ /home/chsu/Downloads/my_backups.zip          |

To restore deleted items, enter the corresponding trash directory, toggle the files to restore with t, and finally use the :restore command.

Filters

There are three basic file filters:

dot files filter: displays or hides hidden files and directories
local filter: keeps matching files and directories in the current directory
permanent filter: sets a global filter to filter out matching files and directories

Dot Files Filter

Key bindings:

za - toggle the visibility of dot files
zo - show dot files
zm - hide dot files

Notice that the dot files filter does not affect the special . and .. directories, whose appearance is controlled by set dotdirs.

rootparent - show “../” in root directory of file system
nonrootparent - show “../” in non-root directories of file system
treeleafsparent - show “../” in empty directories of tree view

By default, set dotdirs returns dotdirs=nonrootparent,treeleafsparent.

Local Filter

=<regex> creates a local filter:

it keeps the items matching the filter
it automatically resets when the directory is changed

Permanent Filter

The permanent filter is split into two parts:

zf - add the selected files to the permanent filter implicitly
:filter <regex> - set the filter explicitly to filter out or hide matching files

Notice that the permanent filter behaves like a global option: even if we navigate to another directory, the permanent filter affects that directory as well.

Key bindings:

:filter or zO - clear the filters, including both explicit and implicit filters
:filter! or :invert - invert the filter
- So, if we’d like to use :filter as the command to ‘keep’ specific items in one step, use :filter! <pattern_to_keep_item>

:filter? - view the current filter

Filter -- Flags -- Value
Local
Explicit    ---->    .*txt
Implicit
Press ENTER or type command to continue

The filter information below shows:

  Filter -- Flags -- Value
Local
Explicit    ---->    file2
Implicit    I        ^file1$|^dump\.txt$
Press ENTER or type command to continue

file2 is set explicitly by :filter file2.
file1 and dump.txt are set implicitly by zf.
Setting an explicit filter with :filter <regex> clears the implicit filter.

Sorting

There are two approaches to sorting:

:sort - set a simple global sorting order
set sort=<sort keys> - set a complex global sorting order

Notice that the sorting order affects all directories globally.

`:sort` for Simple Sorting Order

The :sort command shows the available sorting criteria to choose from.

![Sorting criterion]

C-n and C-p Emacs key bindings can be used.
Alternatively, simply use the shortcut letter.

Related comands

:invert o - invert the sorting order
:invert? o - display the sorting order, either descending or ascending

`set sort` for Complex Sorting Order

The syntax is :set sort=<sort keys>, and the available keys are:

   [+-]ext     - extension of files and directories
   [+-]fileext - extension of files only
   [+-]name    - name (including extension)
   [+-]iname   - name (including extension, ignores case)
   [+-]type    - file type (dir/reg/exe/link/char/block/sock/fifo)
   [+-]dir     - directory grouping (directory < file)
   [+-]gid     - group id (*nix only)
   [+-]gname   - group name (*nix only)
   [+-]mode    - file mode (file type + permissions) in octal (*nix only)
   [+-]perms   - permissions string (*nix only)
   [+-]uid     - owner id (*nix only)
   [+-]uname   - owner name (*nix only)
   [+-]nlinks  - number of hard links (*nix only)
   [+-]inode   - inode number (*nix only)
   [+-]size    - size
   [+-]nitems  - number of items in a directory (zero for files)
   [+-]groups  - groups extracted via regexps from vifm-'sortgroups'
   [+-]target  - symbolic link target (empty for other file types)
   [+-]atime   - time accessed (e.g., read, executed)
   [+-]ctime   - time changed (changes in metadata, like mode)
   [+-]mtime   - time modified (when file contents is changed)

+ - ascending order
- - descending order

Notes:

Multiple sorting keys can be set simultaneously, e.g. :set sort=+size,-name.
:set sort displays the current sort setting.

Configuration

The configuration file is located at:

Linux: ~/.config/vifm/vifmrc
Windows: $env.appdata/vifm/vifmrc

Bookmarks

The corresponding configuration section is shown below:

" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" :mark mark /full/directory/path [filename]

" mark b ~/bin/
mark h ~/
mark s ~/Sandbox/
mark l ~/Downloads/
mark o ~/Documents/
mark t ~/Temp/

In the configuration above, several directories are configured, so the '<mark> key binding navigates to the corresponding directory immediately.

File Handler

To open a file with the desired program, a file handler needs to be configured. The configuration contains many pre-configured file handlers for different file types, but those programs may not be installed on the OS. For example, to open PDF files with the zathura program:

" Pdf
filextype {*.pdf},<application/pdf> zathura %c %i &, apvlv %c, xpdf %c

In vifm, move the cursor to a PDF file and press Enter to open it with zathura. Notice that zathura needs to be installed on the OS.

File Previewer

Similarly, a file previewer needs to be configured so that file contents can be previewed with e and w.

fileviewer {*.7z},<application/x-7z-compressed> 7z l %c

Key bindings:

e - view the contents, instead of editing the file
- e on a directory shows the tree structure of the directory. Notice: do NOT preview a directory containing many files/subdirectories. It may freeze the program.
- Enter opens a file instead of viewing its contents in vifm
w - view file/directory contents in the other pane
- Shift + Tab - switch the cursor to the other pane to scroll through the preview contents
  - A single Tab shifts the ‘focus’ to the other file pane. Remember that even if there is only one pane displayed, there are still two open panes under the hood.
- w again to exit preview mode

Metadata Columns

Metadata columns such as size, atime, etc. can be configured to display in the UI with the command below:

:set viewcolumns=<column_setting>

<column_setting> has the following format: [width][{name}].

[width] - can be either a number or - representing automatic sizing
[{name}] - metadata columns to display; the supported columns are listed below
- {name} - filename
- {ext} - file extension
- {size} - file size
- {perms} - permissions (like -rwxr-xr-x)
- {mtime} - modification time
- {atime} - access time
- {ctime} - change time
- {dir} - directory indicator (/ for dirs)
- {type} - file type indicator (/, @, |, etc.)
- {target} - symlink target
- {nlinks} - number of hard links
- {inode} - inode number
- {uid} - user ID
- {gid} - group ID

Some examples

-{size} - automatic width for displaying the size of files
6{name} - a width of 6 characters for displaying the name. If the file/directory name exceeds 6 characters, it is not truncated; the 6 is simply ignored
-{name},-{size},-{mtime} - set multiple columns simultaneously

Interaction with Shell

:!<external_command> allows you to run external commands in vifm. The external command is executed in a shell. For example, create a README file with the command below:

:!touch README

echo $SHELL shows which shell program vifm uses.

Macros

Command macros are expanded to values at runtime. Two commonly used macros are shown below:

%c - the current file under the cursor
%f - all selected files

To illustrate macros, use 7z with %f to create a ZIP file:

t - select the files and directories to be zipped
!7z a <desired_zip_file_name> %f - compress the selected files and directories into a ZIP file

File Manager on Tech Notes by ClaudeXu

Vifm: The Vim Way to Manage Files

Introduction

Motions

Window Operations

File Operations

File Management

File Selection

Delete and Restore

Filters

Dot Files Filter

Local Filter

Permanent Filter

Sorting

:sort for Simple Sorting Order

set sort for Complex Sorting Order

Configuration

Bookmarks

File Handler

File Previewer

Metadata Columns

Interaction with Shell

Macros

`:sort` for Simple Sorting Order

`set sort` for Complex Sorting Order