← XeFM crftwr/xefm on GitHub · craftware

Dual-Pane File Management

XeFM shows two directories side by side, which makes copying, moving, and comparing between them far quicker than in a single-pane manager. One pane is active (highlighted, with the cursor); the other is inactive. Press Tab to switch which is active.

Each pane keeps its own current directory, cursor position, selection, sort mode, filter, and history — they are fully independent.

Actions

Press F1 in XeFM for the keys these are on — the help is built from your own KEY_BINDINGS, so it is always the truth for your config.

Action	What it does
`switch_pane`	Switch active pane
`focus_left` / `focus_right`	Focus that pane; unbound by default
`sync_current_to_other`	Sync current pane’s directory to the other pane
`sync_other_to_current`	Sync other pane’s directory to the current pane
`copy_files`	Copy selected files to the other pane’s directory
`move_files`	Move selected files to the other pane’s directory
`compare_selection`	Compare files/directories between panes
`adjust_pane_left`	Move the pane boundary left (left pane smaller)
`adjust_pane_right`	Move the pane boundary right (left pane larger)

Copy/move always target the other pane, so the usual workflow is: point each pane at a directory, select in one, and act.

Workflow tips

These patterns are what the two panes are really for:

Copy/move between directories — point one pane at the source and the other at the destination, select the files, then copy or move them across.
Compare two directories — put both panes on related directories and run compare_selection to list files unique to each pane (or in both), then copy/move to reconcile them.
Backup — source on the left, backup location on the right; select every file with toggle_select_files, then copy them across.
Work in one directory from both sides — sync_current_to_other mirrors the current directory into the other pane, handy for selecting from one view while scrolling another part of a large directory in the second.
Browse an archive — navigate one pane into an archive (archive://...) and copy files out to the regular filesystem in the other pane.
S3 transfers — local filesystem in one pane, an S3 bucket (s3://...) in the other, to copy between local and cloud storage.

Pane size

Adjust the vertical boundary with [ (left pane smaller) and ] (left pane larger). The ratio is saved and restored on restart. Set the startup default in ~/.xefm/config.py:

DEFAULT_LEFT_PANE_RATIO = 0.5  # 50/50 (default); 0.6 = wider left, 0.4 = wider right

State persistence

XeFM remembers each pane’s current directory, cursor position, the pane ratio, and which pane was active between sessions, stored in ~/.xefm/state.json.

Command-line arguments

Set the starting directory for each pane when launching XeFM:

# Left pane only
python3 -m xefm --left /path/to/directory

# Right pane only
python3 -m xefm --right /path/to/directory

# Both panes
python3 -m xefm --left ~/documents --right ~/downloads