The Dynamic file list

This is the first of my “not documentation but just show the features” articles about fzfm.

Most file managers show a list of files in the current directory. Some file managers can show files produced by a command. But these commands run once, and the list does not change as you operate.

In fzfm, even the initial file list that you see by default, is generated by an external program (in this case ls -N --color=always). In fact fzfm doesn’t do any file/dir operations.

The file list can be built by any command! And every time fzfm renders the main window, the command is re-run. (This makes it very different from vifm’s %U and mc’s “external panelise”, for those who know those tools).

And since fzfm is just showing the output of a command, does the output have to be actual files?. For some mindblowing examples, see:

• managing a “todo.txt” file
• drilling down into “git log -G”
• (one more coming soon…)

Example 1 – working on TODOs left in files

I tend to pepper my files with TODO items, so when I find time I try to go over them and resolve as many as I can.

In the demo below, you can see the list dwindle as I take care of each item.

Example 2 – largest files

I use gdu frequently, but it is limited in what you can do with the files it shows. You can’t move them elsewhere, zip them up, or so many other things that a file manager could do.