Midnight Commander
Midnight Commander is a visual file manager and shell for Unix-like systems. It allows you to easily manage files and folders, copy/move files, view file contents, and run shell commands. Useful for power users who want an efficient file manager.
file-manager
shell
unix
visual-interface
Midnight Commander: A Visual File Manager & Shell
A Unix-like system file manager and shell offering easy file management, copying/moving files, viewing contents, and running shell commands, ideal for power users seeking efficiency
What is Midnight Commander?
Midnight Commander (also known as mc) is an open-source visual file manager and shell for Unix-like systems. It provides a text-based user interface that allows users to efficiently manage files and directories, copy/move/delete files, view file contents, edit files, and execute shell commands.
Some key features of Midnight Commander include:
- Two-panel interface for easy file operations between directories
- Extensive keyboard shortcuts for efficient navigation and file tasks
- Built-in text editor for editing files on the fly
- Support for archives like tar, gzip, bzip2 for compressed file management
- Advanced search within files and filtering by attributes like modification time
- Shell support for executing commands and scripts
- Customizable interface with support for add-ons and color/theme changes
Midnight Commander is very lightweight, fast, and does not require much system resources to run. It works great over low-bandwidth terminal connections. The keyboard-driven interface makes it perfect for power users looking for an efficient file manager replacement to the default available on most Unix-like systems.
Midnight Commander Features
Features
- Two panel interface for easy file management
- Built-in text editor and file viewer
- Shell access from within the program
- Navigation via keyboard shortcuts
- Support for archives like tar and zip
- Plugin system for extensibility
- Available for Linux, BSD, and other Unix-like systems
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Lightweight and fast
Very efficient for power users
No mouse needed for navigation
Extensible via plugins
Cross-platform - works on many Unix systems
Cons
Steep learning curve
Not as intuitive as GUI file managers
Limited support for non-Unix systems
Official Links
The Best Midnight Commander Alternatives
Top File Management and File Managers and other similar apps like Midnight Commander
Here are some alternatives to Midnight Commander:
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