nnn Cheat Sheet

Overview

nnn (n-cubed) is a full-featured, blazing fast terminal file manager written in C with an extremely small footprint. It uses less than 3.5MB of resident memory and starts up instantly. nnn provides a clean, keyboard-driven interface for file navigation, search, bulk operations, and integrates with the system clipboard, desktop opener, and a rich plugin ecosystem.

nnn supports sessions, bookmarks, contexts (virtual workspaces), disk usage analysis, batch renaming, and extensive type-based file filtering. It follows the Unix philosophy, delegating operations to external tools when appropriate, and can be extended with shell-based plugins for everything from file preview to cloud sync.

Installation

# macOS
brew install nnn

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install nnn

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S nnn

# Fedora
sudo dnf install nnn

# FreeBSD
pkg install nnn

# From source
git clone https://github.com/jarun/nnn.git
cd nnn && make O_NERD=1
sudo make install

# Verify
nnn -V

Core Navigation

Key	Action
h or Left	Parent directory
l or Right or Enter	Open file/enter directory
j or Down	Next entry
k or Up	Previous entry
Home or g	First entry
End or G	Last entry
~	Go to home directory
-	Go to last visited directory
@	Go to start directory
.	Toggle hidden files
q	Quit
Q	Quit and cd to current dir

File Operations

Key	Action
Space	Select/deselect entry
a	Select all
A	Invert selection
p	Copy selected to current dir
v	Move selected to current dir
x	Delete selected
X	Delete current entry
e	Edit file in $EDITOR
n	Create new file/directory
r	Rename entry
Ctrl+R	Rename using $EDITOR
y	Copy file path(s)
Y	Copy entry name
d	Toggle detail mode
D	Show disk usage

Contexts (Virtual Workspaces)

Key	Action
1-4	Switch to context 1-4
Tab	Next context
Shift+Tab	Previous context

# nnn supports 4 contexts (like virtual desktops)
# Each context remembers its own directory and selections
# Switch with keys 1-4

Search and Filter

Key	Action
/	Filter entries (as you type)
Escape	Clear filter
Ctrl+L	Open filter (and close on match)

# Type / then start typing to filter
# Fuzzy matching by default
# Regex supported

Sorting

Key	Action
t	Toggle sort order
Ctrl+T	Toggle sort by time
s	Toggle sort by size
S	Toggle sort by extension
v	Toggle sort by version

Bookmarks

# Set up bookmarks via environment variable
export NNN_BMS='h:~/;d:~/Documents;p:~/Projects;D:~/Downloads;c:~/.config'

# In nnn:
# B - open bookmark
# Then press the shortcut key (h, d, p, etc.)

Key	Action
B or b	Show bookmarks

Plugins

# Install plugins
curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jarun/nnn/master/plugins/getplugs | sh

# Plugins are installed to ~/.config/nnn/plugins/

# Set plugin keybindings
export NNN_PLUG='f:finder;o:fzopen;p:preview-tui;d:diffs;t:nmount;v:imgview'

# In nnn, press ; then the plugin key

Essential Plugins

Plugin	Key	Description
preview-tui	p	File preview in terminal
fzopen	o	Fuzzy open with fzf
finder	f	Find files with fzf
diffs	d	Diff two files
dragdrop		Drag and drop files
nmount	t	Mount/unmount drives
imgview	v	Image viewer
autojump		Integration with autojump/zoxide

Preview Configuration

# Enable file preview with preview-tui plugin
export NNN_PLUG='p:preview-tui'

# Dependencies for preview
# bat (syntax highlighting), pistol or scope.sh
# chafa or catimg (image preview)
# ffmpegthumbnailer (video thumbnails)
# atool (archive preview)

# Use preview: press ; then p

Configuration via Environment Variables

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export NNN_OPTS="deH"                    # d=detail, e=open in $EDITOR, H=hidden
export NNN_BMS='h:~/;d:~/Documents;p:~/Projects'
export NNN_PLUG='f:finder;o:fzopen;p:preview-tui'
export NNN_FIFO='/tmp/nnn.fifo'          # For preview plugin
export NNN_ARCHIVE="\\.(7z|bz2|gz|tar|tgz|zip|zst)$"  # Archive patterns
export NNN_FCOLORS='c1e2272e006033f7c6d6abc4'  # File colors
export NNN_TRASH=1                       # Use trash instead of delete

# Colors (file type colors)
export NNN_FCOLORS='0000E63100000000F7C6D6ABC4'

# Open nnn with configuration
alias n='nnn -deH'

Command Line Options

Flag	Description
-a	Auto NNN_FIFO
-A	No directory auto-enter
-b key	Open bookmark key on start
-c	CLI-only opener
-C	Color by context
-d	Detail mode
-D	Directories in context
-e	Open text in $EDITOR
-E	Use $EDITOR for undetected
-f	Use stdin for selection
-g	Regex filter
-H	Show hidden files
-J	Disable auto-jump on select
-K	Test for keyboard input
-n	Nav-as-you-type mode
-o	Open files only on Enter
-p file	Copy selection to file
-P key	Run plugin key on start
-Q	No quit confirmation
-r	Show cp/mv progress
-R	No rollover at edges
-s name	Session name
-S	Persistent session
-t secs	Idle timeout
-T key	Sort key on start
-u	Use selection (no prompt)
-U	Show user/group
-x	Selection notification

Advanced Usage

Shell Integration (cd on quit)

# Bash/Zsh function for cd on quit
n() {
  if [ -n "$NNNLVL" ] && [ "${NNNLVL:-0}" -ge 1 ]; then
    echo "nnn is already running"
    return
  fi
  NNN_TMPFILE="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/.lastd"
  nnn "$@"
  if [ -f "$NNN_TMPFILE" ]; then
    . "$NNN_TMPFILE"
    rm -f "$NNN_TMPFILE" > /dev/null
  fi
}

Batch Rename

# Select files with Space
# Press Ctrl+R to batch rename in $EDITOR
# Modify filenames in editor
# Save and close to apply

Sessions

# Start a named session
nnn -s work

# Resume a session
nnn -s work

# Persistent session (auto-save)
nnn -S

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
No color output	Check terminal color support; set NNN_FCOLORS
Plugins not working	Install with getplugs; set NNN_PLUG variable
Preview not showing	Install bat, less; set NNN_FIFO; use -a flag
Cannot delete files	Set NNN_TRASH=1 for trash; check file permissions
cd not working on quit	Use the n() shell function, not raw nnn command
Slow on network drives	Use filter to narrow view; avoid -D flag
Key bindings differ	Check version; some keys changed between versions
Opener not working	Set $VISUAL or $EDITOR; check xdg-open on Linux