Master Ranger: The Powerful Terminal File Manager for Linux

What is Ranger

Ranger is a lightweight, Vim‑integrated terminal file manager for Linux. It displays a three‑column view: left column shows the parent directory, middle column the current directory contents, and right column a preview of the selected file or folder.

Installation

Ranger requires make, git and vim. Install them first, then install ranger from the distribution’s package manager. sudo apt install make git vim Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install ranger CentOS/Fedora/RHEL:

sudo yum install ranger

Basic usage

Start ranger: ranger Navigation keys (Vim‑style):

Page Up  ctrl +b / u

Page Down  ctrl + f / d

Top line  gg

Bottom line  G

Forward  L

Back  H

Parent dir  h

Child dir  l

Find  f

Search  /

Next  n

Previous  N

File‑management shortcuts:

New file/dir :touch xxx Delete  d D

Change permissions  cw /I /A

Copy  yy

Paste  pp

Cut  dd

Refresh  R

Press Enter to open a file and q to quit.

Configuration files

Generate the default configuration in ~/.config/ranger: ranger --copy-config=all The directory contains:

commands.py – defines console commands

rifle.py – maps file types to external programs

rc.conf – key bindings and settings

scope.sh – preview handling script

File preview

Ranger can preview many text formats (.txt, .py, .docx, .epub, .pdf) as well as images and videos. The scope.sh script selects the external program for each type.

Image preview

Terminals that support inline images (e.g., urxvt, iTerm2, Kitty, Terminology) can show image previews when the option preview_images_method = true is set in rc.conf. Other terminals such as MobaXterm or Xshell open a separate window.

PDF preview

By default ranger converts PDFs to images. To display PDFs directly, edit scope.sh and uncomment the PDF‑preview section. After saving, PDFs render in supported terminals.

Console commands

Enter commands at the bottom prompt by typing :. Useful commands include: :bulkrename – batch rename files :openwith – open the selected file with a chosen program :touch <filename> – create a new file :mkdir <dirname> – create a new directory :shell <command> – run a shell command :delete – delete files

Placeholders can be used in commands: %F – highlighted file %d – current directory %s – currently selected file %t – marked file(s)

Example: :delete %s deletes the selected file.

Options modify :shell behavior: -w – display command output (e.g., :shell -w free) -t – run in a new terminal window (e.g., :shell -t nano) -f – fork a GUI program (e.g., :shell -f firefox) r – run with root privileges

Reference

Official repository:

https://github.com/ranger/ranger