DFM – dmenu File Manager

https://github.com/amarakon/dfm

The dmenu file manager is the best and fastest way to manage files! It is even faster than using the terminal, but has the perks of a graphical user interface. Therefore, it has the best of both worlds. You can use it to quickly open files in literally around one second. And unlike graphical file managers, it supports shell abbreviations such as .., *, and ~. You can also quickly go back to any directory by typing part of its name! This is my best project so far, and it is definitely criminally underrated. I guess it is better explained visually:

# Modes
dfm --open # Open the selection
dfm --print # Print the selection

# Copying
dfm --copy # Copy the selection
dfm --copy=primary # Copy the selection to the primary clipboard
dfm --no-copy # Do not copy (always overrides `--copy`)

# Miscellaneous
dfm --cat # Concatenate the selections
dfm --sensitive # Use case-sensitive matching
dfm --insensitive # Use case-insensitive matching
dfm --length=LENGTH # Set dmenu's length to LENGTH
dfm --full # Use the full path for the prompt
dfm --abbreviated # Use the abbreviated path for the prompt

# Help
dfm --help # Print the help message and exit

By default, DFM uses the open mode. You can enter a directory by pressing the Return key. Similarly, you can select a file by pressing the Return key. Return will use the selected file or directory. If you want to use the text in the prompt, use Shift+Return. To autocomplete the text in the prompt with the current selection, simply press Tab. To select multiple files, press Control+Return on each selection and press Return on the last one. (This requires the multi-selection dmenu patch.)

All shell abbrevations work. You can use a wildcard (*) to select all the files. You can go to the home directory by typing ~. Keep in mind that these will not work if there is literarlly a file or directory called * or ~. Use . to refresh the current directory or .. to go back to the parent directory. A better way to go back to multiple parent directories is to use the “backtrack” feature.

One of the best features of DFM is the ability to quickly backtrack to any directory. This allows you to type a directory you passed in the prompt to return to it instead of constantly doing ... If you are in the /home/amarakon/.local/src/amarakon/dfm directory, you can type .local in the prompt and press Return to quickly backtrack to the /home/amarakon/.local directory. You do not even need to type the full name! You can type .l instead of .local for example. If there is more than one match, it will use the closest one. For example, if I was in the /home/amarakon/.local/src/amarakon/dfm directory and I chose to return to amarakon, It will return me to /home/amarakon/.local/src/amarakon. It was inpired by bd.

1. dmenu
2. perl (for case-insensitive matching)
3. sesame or xdg-utils (sesame is preferred because it supports multi-selection and it is faster.)
4. xclip (clipboard support)

git clone https://github.com/amarakon/dfm
cd dfm
make install

sudo eselect repository add amarlay git https://github.com/amarakon/amarlay
sudo emerge --sync amarlay
sudo emerge x11-misc/dfm

cd dfm
sudo make uninstall

sudo emerge -c x11-misc/dfm

# Remove my overlay (optional)
sudo eselect-repository remove -f amarlay
sudo emerge --sync

You can change the default options for DFM via the configuration file. The default location for it is ~/.config/dfm/dfm.conf.

copy=true # Copy to clipboard
cat=true # Concatenate the selection
case_sensitivity=sensitive # Use case-sensitive matching
length=30 # Set dmenu's length to 30
path=full # Use the full path

copy=false # Do not copy to clipboard
print=true # Print the selection
path=abbreviated # Use the abbreviated path

open=true # Open the selection with the default program
case_sensitivity=insensitive # Use case-insensitive matching

copy=primary # Copy to primary clipboard

copy=secondary # Copy to secondary clipboard

copy=buffer-cut# Copy to buffer-cut clipboard