tools

Tools

Pre-alpha. Everything on this page is in the current build; most of it still waits for its acceptance on Windows.

Windows of their own. Find files, Multi-rename, Compare/Synchronize directories, the checksum results and each Lister open as windows of their own: move them, resize them, and they open where you left them. Beside Find files, the compare window, the checksum results and Lister you work on in the main window - its keys go to the panels while the other window does not have the keyboard; asking again (Alt+F7, a new comparison) brings the window to the front. When a copy or move asks a question (a file exists, a file cannot be read) while one of these windows has the keyboard, the main window comes to the front, where the question is. Multi-rename keeps the main window waiting until it closes. The smaller dialogs are windows of their own too, as in Total Commander, and keep the main window waiting until they close: copy, move, new folder and delete (F5 to F8), the overwrite and error questions and the progress window, backup, restore, export and import, properties, quick connect, connecting and disconnecting network drives, pack and unpack, creating checksums, split and combine, the directory hotlist and Run command. The small questions - an AI agent's call (starting on Deny), a host key, a certificate, an archive password, quitting while jobs run - open in a window above the one they belong to, one at a time. The X of the title bar and Alt+F4 do what Escape does there. Settings page Appearance, Dialogs in windows of their own, switches this off: they then open over the main window.

Find files

Alt+F7 opens Find files, as in Total Commander, starting in the active panel's folder.

• General: Search for - masks such as *.txt;*.md, exclusions after |, or a Regular expression; Case sensitive; Search in one or more folders separated by ;; Search depth (empty for all levels). Find text searches inside files, with Whole words, Regular expression, Not containing and Skip binary files; the encodings UTF-8, UTF-16 LE, UTF-16 BE and ANSI (Windows-1252) can be ticked, none ticked means automatic - as the viewer reads a file: a byte order mark, UTF-16 without one, UTF-8, else ANSI. Recent holds the masks you searched before.
• Advanced: size (Size at least, at most, in bytes or with k, M, G), age (Not older than so many days, or Modified from ... to as YYYY-MM-DD), Find files, folders or both, the attributes Hidden, Read-only, System and Archive (Either, Set, Not set), Follow links to folders, Skip hidden files and folders.
• Enter (Start search) runs the search in the background; hits appear while it runs, and Stop or Esc ends it.
• Go to file (or a double-click on a hit) shows the hit's folder in the panel with the cursor on it. F3 and F4 view or edit the hit.
• Feed to listbox shows every hit flat in the panel, like the branch view: copy, move, delete and open act on the real files.
• Closing keeps the form and the hits; Alt+F7 shows them again.
• Protected files (keys, credentials) are never searched inside.

Lister (F3)

F3 opens the file under the cursor in Lister, rCommander's viewer - or in your own viewer if you set one in Settings, page Programs, Viewer (F3). Lister reads the file a page at a time, so a file of any size opens at once.

Each Lister is a window of its own, titled Lister - [path], as in Total Commander: open several side by side, move one behind the main window, work on in the panels beside it. A new Lister opens where the last one is or was. Esc, F10 or the window's X close that Lister only. With Large dialogs in windows of their own off, Lister covers the main window instead, one over the other, and Esc closes the top one.

Key	Action
1 / 2 / 3 / 4	Text, binary (80 columns), hex, image
5	Markdown file: the preview or the text
A / S / 6 / 8	ANSI (Windows-1252), ASCII (DOS, CP437), UTF-16 LE, UTF-8
E	Next encoding (also UTF-16 BE, Latin-1 and CP437)
W	Line wrap on or off
T	Tab width 8, 4 or 2
N / P	Next / previous file of the panel
F2	Read the file again
F7, Ctrl+F	Search: text with or without Match case, or Hex bytes such as 4F 6B 0A, forward or Backward
F3 / Shift+F3	Next / previous match
Ctrl+G	Go to an offset: 0x1F, $1F, 1Fh or decimal
Arrows, PgUp, PgDn, Space, Home, End	Scroll
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+A	Copy the selected text, select all
Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- (also Ctrl+Num+ / Ctrl+Num-), Ctrl+wheel	Text a step larger / smaller
Ctrl+0	Text back to the viewer font size
Esc	Close (a running search or an open bar first)

• The status line shows mode, encoding, line endings and the position in the file. A search runs over the whole file with its progress in the status line; Esc stops it. A file is read only where it is shown, also on a server: on FTP the end or the middle of a large file opens at once, and a search backwards reads ahead in growing pieces over one connection each, so a match near the start of a 256 MiB file is found in seconds.
• Select text with the mouse.
• Text size: Ctrl++ and Ctrl+-, or Ctrl with the mouse wheel, make the text a step larger or smaller, from 6 to 72 points, in the text, binary, hex, DOS and Markdown views; Ctrl+0 goes back to the viewer font size. The status line names the new size, and the line at the top stays at the top. The size stays with that Lister, also for the files N and P step to; the next Lister opens at the viewer font size again. Settings, page Appearance: A changed text size - Is saved as the viewer font size stores every change there instead, so every viewer opens at it (Ctrl+0 then stores the default 13); Ctrl+wheel, Ctrl++ and Ctrl+- change the viewer's text size off turns the keys off.
• Images (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, BMP, ICO) show fit to the window or zoomed: Num+, + or = larger, Num- or - smaller - with Ctrl, or Ctrl and the mouse wheel, too, Ctrl+0 fits again - F fit or 100 %, R and Shift+R turn a quarter right or left (not saved). A picture with more than 32 million pixels - a long scan, a panorama - is shown scaled down to that many, its own size still in the status line and for the zoom (Settings, page Appearance: Largest picture shown at full detail). Only files above 256 MiB, 256 million pixels or 32768 pixels a side are refused, and a damaged one says so.
• .nfo and .diz open in the DOS character set (code page 437) without wrapping, so their box-drawing art stays whole; S switches any text to DOS, A back to ANSI (Settings, page Appearance: Open as DOS text (code page 437) lists the extensions). DOS text draws its lines exactly as tall as the font's full block, so the block characters of the art join without gaps; Let the blocks of DOS art touch switches that off.
• Markdown (.md, .markdown) shows as a preview: headings, emphasis, lists, quotes, code blocks in the viewer's font, tables and links, light and dark as the window is. 5 switches between the preview and the text, as Total Commander's 5 does for HTML; 1 to 4, a search or an encoding key show the text. Settings, page Appearance, Show Markdown files as a preview off opens such files as text, and 5 still shows the preview.
  • Select in the preview as in a browser: drag with the mouse, also across paragraphs, lists, tables and code; Shift+click extends, a double click takes a word, a triple click a line. Ctrl+A selects all, Ctrl+C copies the selection as plain text. Settings, page Appearance, Select and copy in the Markdown preview off turns this off for the files opened afterwards.
  • The file is never trusted: images are not loaded, only their alt text shows; HTML in the file is shown as text, never run; a link opens only on a click and only when it is http, https or mailto, in your browser or mail program. Any other link (file:, javascript:, a relative one) never opens - the status line says so; hover a paragraph to see where its links lead.
  • A file over 4 MiB opens as text, and the status line says why.

Quick View (Ctrl+Q)

Ctrl+Q turns the other panel into a preview of the entry under the cursor, and back. It follows the cursor: a file shows as in Lister - a Markdown file as its preview - a folder as its number of files and folders and the size of its files. Tab into the Quick View gives it Lister's keys; Ctrl++, Ctrl+- and Ctrl+0 size its text there, and the size stays as the cursor moves on.

Multi-rename

Ctrl+M opens Total Commander's multi-rename tool on the selected files, or on the file under the cursor. It renames nothing until you press Start; Escape closes it without a change.

• Rename mask (Alt+N) and Extension (Alt+X) take the placeholders below; the buttons beside them and More placeholders add one at the end of the mask you typed in last. A mistake in a mask shows under it with its position.
• Search for (Alt+S) and Replace with (Alt+R): several terms separated by |, with ^ Case, 1x (only the first hit), [E] (also in the extension), RegEx and Subst.
• Upper/lower case (Alt+C) for the whole new name; Counter (Alt+T) with start, step and digits for [C].
• The preview lists old name, new name and conflict for every file and follows each input. While there is a conflict, Start stays off. Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down move a file, Alt+O sorts by the old name - the order is what the counter counts.
• A \ in the new name moves the file into a subfolder of its folder, made when it is missing (photos\[N]). A name that leaves the folder - ..\x, C:\x, \\server\x, an empty part such as a\\b - is a conflict, never a rename.
• Presets: type a name and Save (F2); Rename and Delete manage them, (Alt+D) resets every field, Last used brings back the last rule. Presets survive a restart.
• Write a log (Alt+L) writes each old → new pair carried out to a file you name (or pick with Browse...).
• Undo (Alt+U) reverses the last multi-rename.

An AI assistant can do the same over MCP: preview, run, undo, and keep presets.

Placeholders, as in Total Commander (upper and lower case matter):

Placeholder	Stands for
[N]	The name without the extension
[E]	The extension
[A]	The name with the extension
[P], [G]	The parent folder's name, the grandparent's
[N1]	One character (the first); [N-1] the last
[N2-5], [N2-]	Characters 2 to 5, 2 to the end
[N2,5]	Five characters from the second
[N-8,5], [N-8-5], [N2--5], [N-5-]	Counted from the end: five from the 8th-last, the 8th-last to the 5th-last, 2 to the 5th-last, the 5th-last to the end
[C]	The counter with the rule's start, step and digits
[C10+5:3]	A counter of its own: start 10, step 5, 3 digits (each part optional); :a as many digits as the last number needs
[Y], [y], [M], [D]	Year, two-digit year, month, day of the modification time
[h], [H], [m], [s], [i], [i1]	Hour (24), hour (12), minute, second, am/pm, a/p
[YMD], [hms]	Several date parts in one bracket
[U], [L], [F], [n]	From here on upper case, lower case, each word capitalised, unchanged
[[], []]	A literal [ or ]

The ranges work on [E], [A], [P] and [G] too. Anything else in brackets is an error that names its position.

• Preview first: every new name, and every conflict - two entries getting the same name, a name already taken, a name Windows refuses. A plan with a conflict renames nothing.
• Swaps and rings (a → b → a) and case-only changes (readme.TXT → README.txt) work, through temporary names.
• Undo reverses the latest multi-rename as far as it got, also after a cancel or a crash, and refuses as a whole when an entry has changed since.
• Key and credential files are never renamed this way.

Compare files by content

Ctrl+Shift+F3 compares two files side by side: the two selected files of the active panel, or the files under the cursors of both panels. Changed, inserted and deleted lines are tinted; Alt+Down and Alt+Up jump to the next and previous difference. Ignore white space, Ignore case and Ignore line endings compare again. Text is read as the viewer reads it (UTF-8, UTF-16 with or without a byte order mark, else ANSI with €, quotes and dashes). A binary file, or one too large to compare line by line, is compared byte by byte: both sizes and the first differing byte. The window only shows - it does not edit.

The conflict question of a copy (When a target exists) has a Compare button that opens the two files the same way; the question waits underneath.

Compare directories (Shift+F2)

Shift+F2 compares the files of the two panels' folders by name, size and time (two seconds apart still count as equal) and selects in each panel the files the other side lacks, has older, or has in another size. Subfolders are not compared; for that, synchronize. With Num+, Num- and Shift+F2 select folders too on (Settings, page Folders) it also selects the folders only one side has.

Synchronize directories

Alt+Shift+F2 opens Synchronize directories for the folders of the two panels.

• Mode: Both ways, Left to right, Right to left, or asymmetric: Make right like left and Make left like right, the only modes that delete.
• Options: Subdirectories, By content, Ignore date, Ignore 1 hour (daylight saving), a time tolerance in seconds (2 by default, for FAT), and Files masks such as *.rs *.toml | *.bak target\.
• Compare (Enter) runs in the background; Stop or Escape cancels it. The list shows each row with its action (→, ←, delete, = or ≠) and filters Differences, All, Equal, Left only, Right only. A click on the action, or Space, changes it; F3 or a double click compares a pair of files by content.
• Synchronize... asks first: the copies each way, the deletes (which you can untick), Delete permanently (otherwise into the recycle bin) and Ask before replacing a file. The jobs then run in the background queue with its progress window and questions.

Links to folders and devices are not compared, so no loop can arise.

Checksums

Ctrl+Shift+F9 creates checksum files for the selection (folders with every file in them): choose the checksum - CRC32 (.sfv), MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512 or BLAKE3 - and either one checksum file for each file or one file for all. The files use the same format as sha256sum and md5sum, so other tools read them. The result lists each file with its checksum, in a window of its own beside the main window; checks that finish while it is open join the list.

Ctrl+Shift+F10 on one or more checksum files checks the files they list; the result names every line OK, different, missing or unreadable, the problems first. A name in a checksum file that points outside its folder is reported, never opened.

Enter or a double click on a checksum file - .sfv, .md5, .sha, .sha1, .sha256, .sha512, .b3 or .blake3 - checks it the same way, just that one file, whatever else is selected. Its context menu has Verify checksums too. Settings, page Folders, Enter verifies checksum files turns this off: Enter then opens the file in its program.

Split and combine

Ctrl+Shift+F11 splits the file under the cursor into parts name.001, name.002, ... in the other panel's folder, with a .crc file as Total Commander writes it. Type a part size (bytes, or with KB, MB, GB) or choose 100 MB, 1 GB, 4 GB minus one byte (FAT32) or 4.7 GB (DVD); the dialog shows how many parts that makes. The target folder can be typed or picked with Browse..., in split and in combine.

Ctrl+Shift+F12 on the .001 part or the .crc file combines the parts again. Every part must be there; with a .crc file the result is checked, and a file that does not match is removed.

Checksums, split and combine run as jobs of the background queue: pause, background and cancel as for a copy. A cancelled split or combine removes what it had written; nothing is ever overwritten. Total Commander has no keys for these four - it reaches them through its Files menu; rCommander has no menu bar yet, so they sit on Ctrl+Shift+F9 to F12.