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Last updated on 2008-06-17.
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pfm is a terminal-based file manager written in Perl. All pfm commands are one- or two-key commands (case-insensitive). It features colored filenames according to extension or type, a single-file and multiple-file mode, support for executing user-defined commands (including wildcards) with only two keystrokes, and use of the ReadLine library for friendly commandline editing.
The original MS-DOS version can still be obtained from ftp://ftp.flashnet.it/pub/simtelnet/msdos/fileutil/pfm314.zip
Navigation through directories is done using the arrow keys, -, +, PgUp, PgDn, home, and end.
Pressing ESC or BS will take you one directory level up (note: see BUGS below on the functioning of ESC). Pressing ENTER when the cursor is on a directory will take you into the directory. Pressing SPACE will both mark the current file and advance the cursor.
Navigation can also use the vi(1) cursor keys (hjkl), and the vi(1) control keys CTRL-F, CTRL-B, CTRL-U, CTRL-D, CTRL-Y and CTRL- E. Note that the l key is also used for creating symbolic links (see the Link command below).
ENTER
If the current file is executable, the executable will be invoked,
otherwise, the contents of the current file or directory are dis-
played on the screen (like Show).Toggle show/hide dot files.
/ Identical to Find (see above).
< Scroll the header and footer, in order to view all available com-
mands.> Scroll the header and footer, in order to view all available com-
mands.@ Allows the user to enter a perl command to be executed in the con-
text of pfm. Primarily used for debugging.F2 Jump back to the previous directory.
F7 Alternates the display between two directories.
F10 Switch between single-file and multiple-file mode.
Show/Edit/View(View the complete long filename)
siZe
For directories, reports the grand total (in bytes) of the direc-
tory and its contents.cOmmand
Allows execution of a shell command on the current files. After the
command completes, pfm will resume. You may use the following
abbreviations:\1 the current filename without extension \2 the current filename, complete \3 the full current directory path
\4 the mountpoint of the current filesystem \5 the full swap directory path (see F7 command) \6 the basename of the current directory
\\ a literal backslash
Your command
Like cOmmand (see above), except that it uses one-letter commands
that have been preconfigured in the .pfmrc file. Since version
1.84, these command keys are case-sensitive. Your commands may use
\1-\6 escapes just as in cOmmand, e.g.your[c]:tar cvf - \2 | gzip > \2.tar.gz your[w]:what \2
sHell
Spawns your default login shell until you exit from it, then
resumes.Rename
Change the name of the file to the path- and filename specified.
Depending on your Unix implementation, a different path- and file-
name on another filesystem may or may not be allowed. In multiple-
file mode, the new name must be a directoryname or a name contain-
ing a \1 or \2 escape (see cOmmand above). If the option 'clobber'
is set to no in the .pfmrc file, existing files will not be over-
written unless the action is confirmed by the user.Make new directory
Specify a new directory name and pfm will create it for you. Fur-
thermore, if you don't have any files marked, your current direc-
tory will be set to the newly created directory.Time
Change mtime (modification date/time) of the file. The format used
is converted to a format which touch(1) can use. Enter . to set the
mtime to the current date and time.tarGet
Allows to change the target that a symbolic link points to. You
must have permission to remove the current symbolic link.Link, Create a symbolic link to the current file or directory.
It makes use of the module Term::ScreenColor, which was based on Term::Screen, in turn derived from Term::Cap. Term::ScreenColor is also available on CPAN.
Furthermore, it uses the Term::ReadLine::Gnu module which adds the readline flexibility to the commmand-line editing.
I said I was porting pfm to Term::ANSIScreen. Well, I did, but I decided to change it back. There are pros and cons to both modules, and since Term::ScreenColor is published on CPAN now, and it gives me slightly cleaner code, I decided to stick with my own module.
perl -MCPAN -e 'install Term::Screen' perl -MCPAN -e 'install Term::ScreenColor' perl -MCPAN -e 'install Term::ReadLine::Gnu'
# expand pfm-1.92.2.tar.gz, then cd into it // cdd ~/try // tfe /linux/linux_bin/tgzs/pfm-1.92.2.tar.gz cd pfm-1.92.2
# to install make
sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin/ /usr/local/man/man1/ sudo make
Term-ScreenColor, which needs Term-Screen. Term-ReadLine-Gnu, which needs ncurses-devel, readline-devel.
cd Term-Screen-1.02 perl Makefile.PL make make test make install
cd Term-ScreenColor-1.09 perl Makefile.PL make make test make install
cd Term-ReadLine-Gnu-1.* perl Makefile.PL make make test make install
cd pfm-1.92.2 make
rename ~/.pfm/.pfmrc and compare it with the default config file that pfm automatically generates.
mv ~/.pfm/.pfmrc ~/.pfm/.pfmrc.old
cat ~/.pfm/.pfmrc.old | mend_quotes.pl | mend_colors.pl | mend_diskinfo.pl > ~/.pfm/.pfmrc.new
pfm
diff -wu ~/.pfm/.pfmrc.new ~/.pfm/.pfmrc
rm ~/.pfm/.pfmrc.old ~/.pfm/.pfmrc.new
documented on: 2003.10.30 Thu
need to install Term::ScreenColor and Term::Screen first.
It makes use of the module Term::ScreenColor, but although it is available on Sourceforge, it is not available on CPAN. This will probably never happen, as it seems that meanwhile, (nearly) all its functionality is covered by other modules. pfm will shift to using these modules sometime in the future.
Furthermore, it uses the Term::ReadLine::Gnu module which adds the readline flexibility to the commmand-line editing.