Midnight Commander

Browse your files like your grandpa did. FREE | WWW.MIDNIGHT-COMMANDER.ORG

We’re glad to see the latest update to this mature and venerable file manager, which is popular among both older UNIX folks and the younger generation. In our experience, most people will know how to install Midnight Commander (or MC) on Linux, because it’s included in almost all distributions by default. It’s slightly less common than GNU C Library, but far more widespread than LibreOffice, for instance.

Midnight Commander offers a tried-and-tested twin-panel approach to managing your files and directories. Interestingly, the traditional deep-blue panels with aquamarine selections is the type of working environment where you would probably use the ‘directory’ term instead of the Window-centric ‘folder’. But we digress.

MC is an application that, despite its age, is still capable of being used on a daily basis. In real life, MC doesn’t feel as outdated as, say, Emacs, so you can start using it without further ado. A bar running along the bottom of the screen features keyboard tips for basic file operations, such as F3 for viewing, F4 for editing, F5 for copying files and so on. However, there are still some tricks you should know, to make your MC session a bit more productive.

The first one prevents you from exiting MC if you feel like it’s not your cup of tea: press ‘Ctrl - O’ to switch to the command line without leaving the program (press it again to get back). Use ‘Shift - +’ to select files and directories using your own wildcard, or press ‘Shift - *’ to select everything in current view. MC also enables you to open a directory in a new tab: press ‘Esc - O’ to open the contents on another panel. Hit ‘Ctrl - U’ to swap panels, or go with ‘Alt - I’ to make both panels identical.

Exploring Midnight Commander is a good reason to read its documentation. There are dozens more keystrokes in this file manager that can save your time and boost your productivity. MC is as solid as a cast-iron pan.