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Add to SafariWhen comparing Midnight Commander vs jFileProcessor, the Slant community recommends Midnight Commander for most people. In the question“What are the best file managers for UNIX-like systems?” Midnight Commander is ranked 6th while jFileProcessor is ranked 26th. The most important reason people chose Midnight Commander is:
Midnight commander uses the full screen of the terminal in a very efficient way. It displays two panels for files horizontally. On the bottom it has the most useful commands with their corresponding key attached. All of this makes for a very intuitive interface both for beginners and experienced users.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Intuitive interface
Midnight commander uses the full screen of the terminal in a very efficient way. It displays two panels for files horizontally. On the bottom it has the most useful commands with their corresponding key attached. All of this makes for a very intuitive interface both for beginners and experienced users.
Pro Can be run in the terminal
Being a terminal application means that it's suited for people who spend most of their time on the terminal because they don't have to switch windows in order to open their file manager. It also means that they can use it both locally and remotely.
Pro Easy to use
Midnight commander is easy and intuitive to use. The most common commands are displayed in the bottom (move, copy, paste, delete, edit, view, make directory). Files can be selected with the arrow keys which move the cursor through them. The Enter key goes down in a directory. To move the focus between two panels the tab key is used.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Stable
Pro Often available in default repository
and hence easy to install by usually package manager.
Pro Lynx-like motion
Cursor+left to go to parent directory, cursor+right to go into child directory.
Pro Well-presented
Pro Easy to run commands on selected files
Find/select files in sub-folders. run touch %f or cp %f /somefolder (this is a way to copy selected files in different levels, into 1 folder, flattening out the copy).
Pro Easy rename files script
Select files. regex to match pieces of filenames, rename adding, leaving out, and reusing saved pieces.
Pro Groovy scripts to watch and act on files that get created/put into a folder.
So you can watch a folder and process files that come into it.
Pro You can make your own file associations. You can make 3 types, per suffix, per filename, per exact file.
With exact file you can create a folder of job or desktop icon names. Double-click that file to run the job since it is tied to just that specific file.
Pro Can make sftp connections
Pro You can write a script to modify your list
Your script can modify contents in the list window it is working on.
Pro Plugin scripts
Just put groovy scripts in menu-scripts folder and they will automatically run using currently selected files.
Pro Run any groovy scriptable command on a list
Run commands on your lists: grep files to find stuff, delete/copy/move files, etc.. Even copy a file to a remote host and execute it.
Pro Create and work with lists of filenames or any string
Search files and save to another file or a list window. Add or subtract one list from another.
Pro Can do count only
Just count matching search criterion.
Pro Good search
Search on modified time, file size, glob/regex name, folder depth; and/or on these and can do range.
Pro Cross-platform
Available for Linux, Windows, macOS - just needs java 7+ (written with 8).
Cons
Con File viewer: searching can be quite cumbersome
Especially searching next or previous.
Con No directory bookmarks
Con No easy way to change colors matching certain files
There probably is a possibility, but it is not easy.
Con Quirky and hard to remember shortcuts
E.g. when trying to take the current directory's path to the command line.
Con Lacks drag and drop feature
With midnight commander you cannot drag and drop files to move them around. Instead, you have to do the necessary actions in order to move files around (cut and paste or copy and delete).
Con Can only be run in the terminal
MC lacks a standalone GUI option.
Con Does not see attached phone files
No mtp:/ connected phone files.
