Directory mode

When you open a directory (C-x C-f and don’t choose a file, but a directory), Lem shows a list of files and directories.

Keybindings

With Lem’s GUI frontend (SDL2), you can click on files and directories.

Here is a list of keybindings.

Key-combination	Function

“n”	next line
“p”	previous line
“q”	quit
“^”	go up one directory
“Enter”	visit the file or the directory at point
“Space”	read the file
“g”	update the directory buffer
“m”	mark file
“u”	unmark file
“U”	unmark all
“t”	toggle marks (the unmarked ones become marked)
“* !”	unmark all
“* %”	mark files and directories by regex
“Q”	query-replace in marked files and directories
“D”	delete marked files and directories (recursively, with confirmation)
“C”	copy marked files and directories
“R”	rename
“s”	sort files and directories by mtime, then by size, and back to file name.
“S”	open the sort transient menu.
“S x”	sort by file extension.
“S r”	reverse the sort order.
“+”	make a directory

Key bindings added after the Lem 2.1 release:

Key-combination	Function
“C-x C-j”	find-file-directory. From a file buffer, open this file’s directory.

Opening multimedia files

Lem is smart enough to open files that it doesn’t natively support with another program. Multimedia files, for example, will be opened with your favourite media player.

Opening image files

Lem will open the following file extensions:

("png" "jpg" "jpeg" "bmp" "gif")

Opening PDF files

Lem opens a PDF file natively, we can tell it to use an external program:

;; .lem/init.lisp
(defmethod lem-core/commands/file::execute-find-file :around (executor mode pathname)
  (if (find (pathname-type pathname) '("pdf") :test #'equal)
      (open-external-file pathname)
      (call-next-method)))

Configuration

You can write your own commands to act on the selected files and directories.

Here’s how the built-in delete command is implemented:

(define-command directory-mode-delete-files () ()
  (let ((files (selected-files (current-point))))
    (when (prompt-for-y-or-n-p (format nil "Really delete files~%~{- ~A~%~}" files))
      (dolist (file files)
        (delete-file* file))
      (update-all))))

We get the list of marked items with (selected-files (current-point)), do something, and update the buffer.