Midnight Commander
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 Terminal View of MC |
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| Latest release | 4.6.2 / February 01, 2009 |
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| Operating system | Unix-like, Microsoft Windows |
| Type | File manager |
| License | GPL |
| Website | http://www.midnight-commander.org/ |
GNU Midnight Commander (mc) is a free cross-platform orthodox file manager and a clone of Norton Commander.
Midnight Commander is a console application with a text user interface. The main interface consists of two panels which display the file system. It is used in a similar way to many other programs run in the Unix shell. Arrow keys control file selection, the insert key is used to select files and the Function Keys perform operations such as renaming, editing and copying files. Later versions of the Midnight Commander additionally have mouse support for easier operation. Such versions are aware of GPM and X terminal emulators which support mouse reporting. When running inside an X terminal, these versions can update the name of the window in which Midnight Commander runs (if allowed by the terminal emulator).
Midnight Commander's features include the ability to view the contents of RPM package files, to work with common archive formats as if they were simply another directory, and to function as an FTP or FISH client. Midnight Commander also includes an editor called mcedit. mcedit's features include syntax highlighting for certain languages, and the ability to work in both ASCII and hex modes. Users also have the option to replace mcedit with the editor of their choice (Options Menu>Configuration>[Don't] Use Internal Edit).
Midnight Commander can also rename groups of files, unlike a number of other file managers that can only rename one file at a time. This is convenient for manipulating large collections of files, e.g. to make them conform to a new naming convention. Midnight Commander can also move files to a different directory at the same time as it renames them. It lets the user specify the original and resulting file names using wildcard characters. This makes the power of regular expressions in Unix or Linux available for renaming files, with a convenient user interface. In addition, the user can select whether or not to utilize "shell patterns" (automatic grouping of wildcards). All of these features are available by using the File > Rename/Move menu selection. (Pressing F1 would then produce a brief explanation of the options, including examples of how to use wildcards.)
Midnight Commander is now included in most Linux distributions and is licensed under GNU General Public License.
It is very popular on Linux due to being based on versatile text interfaces, such as Ncurses or S-Lang, which allow it to work on a regular console, inside an X Window terminal, over SSH connections and all kinds of remote shells.
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[edit] Unicode support
Official Midnight Commander builds still do not support UTF-8 locales.[1] There are, however, unofficial patches in the developer's site [2] and from Red Hat and SUSE (added input, editor, viewer).[3]
These patches rely on specific details of the S-Lang interface, and (because S-Lang's interfaces differ from curses) do not provide Unicode support when built with curses.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The official site of GNU Midnight Commander
- GNU Midnight Commander MP – a fork based on mc 4.1.x
- The Midnight Commander for WIN 32 – a distribution for Microsoft Windows
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