Ranger vs Explorer++

Which makes for a good choice of file explorer for those that use machines without a GUI.

There is no need for icons of files if headings are used. Previews of text documents and a simple design creates and efficient workflow.

Ranger has Vim-like keybindings which help a lot in increasing efficiency and speed up the workflow.

Ranger allows the use of various scripts for calling on individual or multiple files, for file previews, or for other operations.

In commands.py the "my_edit"-function can be extended to do whatever in python can be done. Target files can be the file under the cursor (self.fm.thisfile.path), the files marked/selected in the current tab (self.fm.thistab.get_selection() ) and the files in the copy-buffer (add/remove: ya, yr) (respectively the delete-buffer: add/remove da/dr) (both: self.fm.copy_buffer).
The most appropriate list of files can be found out automatically, like so:
if self.fm.copy_buffer:
for file in self.fm.copy_buffer:
...
elif self.fm.thistab.get_selection():
for file in self.fm.thistab.get_selection():
...
else:
file = self.fm.thisfile.path
...

Unlike other terminal file managers, Ranger can preview many files, including text files, archives, etc, but also pdf files, pictures and videos.

Makes it easy to jump to any specific folder locations you work with.

Ranger can use w3m to preview images in terminal through framebuffer.

This software is super fast and responsive in navigation.

Supports any number of viewports on folders side by side.

This may fall under "File preview", but it is a very powerful feature for PDF files in particular.

Compare to other file explorer I have used its have really fast loading speed.

Active community development as of 2021.