Mini Files

Navigate and manipulate file system

See more details in Features and Documentation.

[!NOTE] This was previously hosted at a personal echasnovski GitHub account. It was transferred to a dedicated organization to improve long term project stability. See more details here.

⦿ This is a part of mini.nvim library. Please use this link if you want to mention this module.

⦿ All contributions (issues, pull requests, discussions, etc.) are done inside of 'mini.nvim'.

⦿ See whole library documentation to learn about general design principles, disable/configuration recipes, and more.

⦿ See MiniMax for a full config example that uses this module.

If you want to help this project grow but don't know where to start, check out contributing guides of 'mini.nvim' or leave a Github star for 'mini.nvim' project and/or any its standalone Git repositories.

Demo

https://github.com/nvim-mini/mini.nvim/assets/24854248/530483a5-fe9a-4e18-9813-a6d609fc89ff

Features

• Navigate file system using column view (Miller columns) to display nested directories. See :h MiniFiles-navigation for overview.

• Opt-in preview of file or directory under cursor.

• Manipulate files and directories by editing text buffers: create, delete, copy, rename, move. See :h MiniFiles-manipulation for overview.

• Use as default file explorer instead of netrw.

• Configurable:

  • Filter/prefix/sort of file system entries.
  • Mappings used for common explorer actions.
  • UI options: whether to show preview of file/directory under cursor, etc.
  • Bookmarks for quicker navigation.

See :h MiniFiles-examples for some common configuration examples.

Notes:

• This module is written and thoroughly tested on Linux. Support for other platform/OS (like Windows or MacOS) is a goal, but there is no guarantee.

• This module silently reacts to not enough permissions:

  • In case of missing file, check its or its parent read permissions.
  • In case of no manipulation result, check write permissions.

Dependencies

For full experience needs (still works without any of suggestions):

• Enabled 'mini.icons' module to show icons near file/directory names. Can fall back to using nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons plugin.

Quick start

Navigation

• Run :lua MiniFiles.open().

• Navigate:

  • Press j/k to navigate down/up.
  • Press l to expand entry under cursor: show directory or open file in the most recent window.
  • Press h to go to parent directory.
  • Type m<char> to set directory path of focused window as bookmark <char>. Jump to it with '<char>. Go back to before the latest jump with ''.
  • Type g? for more information about other available mappings and bookmarks.
  • Move as in any other buffer ($, G, f/t, etc.).

For deeper overview, see :h MiniFiles-navigation.

Manipulation

• Navigate to the directory in which manipulation should be done.

• Edit buffer in the way representing file system action:

  • Create file/directory: create new line like file or dir/.
  • Create file/directory in the descendant directory: create new line like dir/file or dir/nested/.
  • Delete file/directory: delete whole line representing that entry.
  • Rename file/directory: change text to the right of that entry's icon.
  • Copy file/directory: copy whole line and paste it in target directory.
  • Move file/directory: cut whole line and paste it in target directory.

• Press =; read confirmation dialog; confirm with y/<CR> or not confirm with n/<Esc>.

For deeper overview, see :h MiniFiles-manipulation.

Installation

This plugin can be installed as part of 'mini.nvim' library (recommended) or as a standalone Git repository.

There are two branches to install from:

• main (default, recommended) will have latest development version of plugin. All changes since last stable release should be perceived as being in beta testing phase (meaning they already passed alpha-testing and are moderately settled).
• stable will be updated only upon releases with code tested during public beta-testing phase in main branch.

Here are code snippets for some common installation methods (use only one):

• 'mini.nvim' library:

  Branch	Code snippet
  Main	Follow recommended 'mini.deps' installation
  Stable	Follow recommended 'mini.deps' installation

• Standalone plugin:

  Branch	Code snippet
  Main	add('nvim-mini/mini.files')
  Stable	add({ source = 'nvim-mini/mini.files', checkout = 'stable' })

• 'mini.nvim' library:

  Branch	Code snippet
  Main	{ 'nvim-mini/mini.nvim', version = false },
  Stable	{ 'nvim-mini/mini.nvim', version = '*' },

• Standalone plugin:

  Branch	Code snippet
  Main	{ 'nvim-mini/mini.files', version = false },
  Stable	{ 'nvim-mini/mini.files', version = '*' },

• 'mini.nvim' library:

  Branch	Code snippet
  Main	Plug 'nvim-mini/mini.nvim'
  Stable	Plug 'nvim-mini/mini.nvim', { 'branch': 'stable' }

• Standalone plugin:

  Branch	Code snippet
  Main	Plug 'nvim-mini/mini.files'
  Stable	Plug 'nvim-mini/mini.files', { 'branch': 'stable' }

Important: don't forget to call require('mini.files').setup() to enable its functionality.

Note: if you are on Windows, there might be problems with too long file paths (like error: unable to create file <some file name>: Filename too long). Try doing one of the following:

• Enable corresponding git global config value: git config --system core.longpaths true. Then try to reinstall.
• Install plugin in other place with shorter path.

Default config

-- No need to copy this inside `setup()`. Will be used automatically.
{
  -- Customization of shown content
  content = {
    -- Predicate for which file system entries to show
    filter = nil,
    -- Highlight group to use for a file system entry
    highlight = nil,
    -- Prefix text and highlight to show to the left of file system entry
    prefix = nil,
    -- Order in which to show file system entries
    sort = nil,
  },

  -- Module mappings created only inside explorer.
  -- Use `''` (empty string) to not create one.
  mappings = {
    close       = 'q',
    go_in       = 'l',
    go_in_plus  = 'L',
    go_out      = 'h',
    go_out_plus = 'H',
    mark_goto   = "'",
    mark_set    = 'm',
    reset       = '<BS>',
    reveal_cwd  = '@',
    show_help   = 'g?',
    synchronize = '=',
    trim_left   = '<',
    trim_right  = '>',
  },

  -- General options
  options = {
    -- Whether to delete permanently or move into module-specific trash
    permanent_delete = true,
    -- Whether to use for editing directories
    use_as_default_explorer = true,
  },

  -- Customization of explorer windows
  windows = {
    -- Maximum number of windows to show side by side
    max_number = math.huge,
    -- Whether to show preview of file/directory under cursor
    preview = false,
    -- Width of focused window
    width_focus = 50,
    -- Width of non-focused window
    width_nofocus = 15,
    -- Width of preview window
    width_preview = 25,
  },
}

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