Ranger Cheat Sheet

Overview

Ranger is a console-based file manager with vim-style keybindings. It provides a three-column view where the left column shows the parent directory, the middle column is the current directory, and the right column shows a preview of the selected file or subdirectory. Ranger aims to be visually pleasing and efficient, making file navigation fast without leaving the terminal.

Ranger is written in Python and supports file previews for text, images (in compatible terminals), PDFs, archives, and more through external tools. It features tabs, bookmarks, tagging, custom commands, and extensive configuration through Python-based config files.

Installation

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install ranger

# Fedora
sudo dnf install ranger

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S ranger

# macOS via Homebrew
brew install ranger

# pip (any platform)
pip install ranger-fm

# Install optional preview dependencies
sudo apt install w3m-img highlight atool mediainfo poppler-utils

Preview Dependencies

Tool	Purpose
w3m-img / ueberzug	Image previews in terminal
highlight / bat	Syntax-highlighted text preview
atool	Archive content listing
pdftotext (poppler)	PDF text preview
mediainfo	Audio/video metadata
ffmpegthumbnailer	Video thumbnail previews

First-Time Setup

# Generate default config files
ranger --copy-config=all

# Creates:
# ~/.config/ranger/rc.conf      - Keybindings and settings
# ~/.config/ranger/rifle.conf   - File opener rules
# ~/.config/ranger/scope.sh     - File preview script
# ~/.config/ranger/commands.py  - Custom commands

Navigation

Key	Action
h	Move to parent directory
j	Move down
k	Move up
l	Open file/enter directory
gg	Go to top of list
G	Go to bottom of list
H	Go back in history
L	Go forward in history
~	Go to home directory
gh	Go to home directory
gd	Go to /dev
ge	Go to /etc
gm	Go to /media
gM	Go to /mnt
gt	Go to /tmp
gu	Go to /usr
gv	Go to /var
gR	Go to ranger config dir

File Operations

Selection

Key	Action
Space	Toggle selection on current file
v	Invert selection
V	Enter visual (select) mode
uv	Clear all selections

Cut, Copy, Paste

Key	Action
yy	Copy (yank) selected files
dd	Cut selected files
pp	Paste files
po	Paste with overwrite
pl	Create symlinks to copied files
pL	Create relative symlinks
ud	Clear cut buffer
uy	Clear copy buffer

File Management

Key	Action
:touch filename	Create new file
:mkdir dirname	Create new directory
:rename newname	Rename selected file
cw	Rename (opens rename prompt)
a	Rename - append before extension
A	Rename - append at end
I	Rename - insert at beginning
:delete	Delete selected files (confirms)
dD	Delete selected files (confirms)

Bulk Rename

# Select files then run:
:bulkrename
# Opens filenames in $EDITOR, edit and save to apply

Search and Filter

Key	Action
/	Search for file by name
n	Next search result
N	Previous search result
f	Quick filter/find
zf	Toggle filter (regex)
:filter pattern	Filter files by regex
:filter_inode_type d	Show only directories
:filter_inode_type f	Show only files

Tabs

Key	Action
Ctrl+N	Open new tab
Ctrl+W	Close current tab
Tab	Next tab
Shift+Tab	Previous tab
Alt+1-Alt+9	Go to tab N

Bookmarks

Key	Action
m<key>	Set bookmark to current directory
'<key>	Go to bookmark
um<key>	Delete bookmark

Sorting

Key	Action
or	Sort by natural order (default)
os	Sort by size
ot	Sort by file type
oa	Sort by access time
oc	Sort by change time
om	Sort by modification time
on	Sort by name
oe	Sort by extension

Display Options

Key	Action
zh	Toggle hidden files
zp	Toggle previews
zP	Toggle directory previews
zi	Toggle image previews
S	Open shell in current directory
W	View task manager

Configuration (rc.conf)

# ~/.config/ranger/rc.conf

# Show hidden files
set show_hidden true

# Preview settings
set preview_files true
set preview_directories true
set preview_images true
set preview_images_method ueberzug

# Column ratios (parent:current:preview)
set column_ratios 1,3,4

# Appearance
set draw_borders both
set unicode_ellipsis true
set confirm_on_delete multiple

# VCS integration (git, hg, svn)
set vcs_aware true
set vcs_backend_git enabled

# Mouse support
set mouse_enabled true

# Sorting
set sort natural
set sort_case_insensitive true
set sort_directories_first true

# Custom keybindings
map <C-f> fzf_select
map X shell -f extract %f
map Z shell tar -czf %f.tar.gz %s
map mkd console mkdir%space
map crf console touch%space

# Bookmarks
map gD cd ~/Downloads
map gP cd ~/Projects

File Opener Configuration (rifle.conf)

# Text files
mime ^text, label editor = ${VISUAL:-$EDITOR} -- "$@"

# Images
mime ^image, has feh = feh -- "$@"
mime ^image, has sxiv = sxiv -- "$@"

# Video/Audio
mime ^video, has mpv = mpv -- "$@"
mime ^audio, has mpv = mpv -- "$@"

# Documents
ext pdf, has zathura = zathura -- "$@"
ext docx?, has libreoffice = libreoffice -- "$@"

# Archives
ext tar|gz|bz2|xz|zip|rar|7z, has atool = atool -x -- "$@"

Custom Commands (commands.py)

from ranger.api.commands import Command
import os

class fzf_select(Command):
    def execute(self):
        import subprocess
        fzf = self.fm.execute_command(
            "find . -type f 2>/dev/null | fzf",
            stdout=subprocess.PIPE
        )
        stdout, _ = fzf.communicate()
        if fzf.returncode == 0:
            selected = os.path.abspath(stdout.decode('utf-8').strip())
            if os.path.isdir(selected):
                self.fm.cd(selected)
            else:
                self.fm.select_file(selected)

Shell Commands

Prefix	Behavior
!command	Run command and wait for input
@command	Run command in background
#command	Run command and page output
s / S	Open shell in current directory

Macros

Macro	Meaning
%f	Current file
%d	Current directory
%s	Selected files
%t	Tagged files

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
No image previews	Install ueberzug or w3m-img; set preview_images_method
Slow startup	Reduce scope.sh complexity; disable VCS
No syntax highlighting	Install highlight or bat
Colors look wrong	Check terminal color support; set TERM=xterm-256color
Cannot delete files	Check file permissions
Custom commands not loading	Check commands.py syntax; restart ranger
Key mappings not working	Check for conflicts in rc.conf
Previews not updating	Press zp to toggle; check scope.sh permissions