nnn/plugins

nnn plugins

read ebooks with plugin gutenread (Android)

Introduction

Plugins extend the capabilities of nnn. They are executable scripts (or binaries) nnn can communicate with and trigger. This mechanism fits perfectly with the fundamental design to keep the core file manager lean and fast, by delegating repetitive (but not necessarily file manager-specific) tasks to the plugins which can be run with custom hotkeys.

nnn is language-agnostic when it comes to plugins. You can write a plugin in any (scripting) language you are comfortable in!

List of plugins

Plugin (a-z)	Description [Clears selection1]	Lang	Dependencies
autojump	Navigate to dir/path	sh	jump/autojump/ zoxide/z (needs fzf)
boom	Play random music from dir	sh	moc
bulknew	Create multiple files/dirs at once	bash	sed, xargs, mktemp
cdpath	cd to the directory from CDPATH	sh	fzf
chksum	Create and verify checksums [✓]	sh	md5sum, sha256sum
cmusq	Queue/play files/dirs in cmus player [✓]	sh	cmus, pgrep
diffs	Diff for selection (limited to 2 for directories) [✓]	sh	vimdiff, mktemp
dragdrop	Drag/drop files from/into nnn	sh	dragon
dups	List non-empty duplicate files in current dir	bash	find, md5sum, sort uniq xargs
finder	Run custom find command (stored in histfile) and list	sh	-
fixname	Clean filename to be more shell-friendly [✓]	bash	sed
fzcd	Fuzzy search multiple dirs (or $PWD) and visit file	sh	fzf, (find)
fzhist	Fuzzy-select a cmd from history, edit in $EDITOR and run	sh	fzf, mktemp
fzopen	Fuzzy find file(s) in subtree to edit/open/pick	sh	fzf, xdg-open/open
fzplug	Fuzzy find, preview and run other plugins	sh	fzf
getplugs	Update plugins to installed nnn version	sh	curl
gpg*	Encrypt/decrypt files using GPG [✓]	sh	gpg
gutenread	Browse, download, read from Project Gutenberg	sh	curl, unzip, w3m epr (optional)
imgresize	Batch resize images in dir to screen resolution	sh	imgp
imgur	Upload an image to imgur (from imgur-screenshot)	bash	-
imgview	View (thumbnail)images, set wallpaper, rename and more	sh	see in-file docs
ipinfo	Fetch external IP address and whois information	sh	curl, whois
kdeconnect	Send selected files to an Android device [✓]	sh	kdeconnect-cli
launch	GUI application launcher	sh	fzf
mimelist	List files by mime in subtree	sh	-
moclyrics	Show lyrics of the track playing in moc	sh	ddgr, moc
mocq	Queue/play selection/dir/file in moc [✓]	sh	moc
mp3conv	Extract audio from multimedia as mp3	sh	ffmpeg
mtpmount	Toggle mount of MTP device (eg. Android)	sh	gvfs-mtp
nbak	Backs up nnn config	sh	tar, awk, mktemp
nmount	Toggle mount status of a device as normal user	sh	pmount, udisks2
nuke	Sample file opener (CLI-only by default)	sh	see in-file docs
oldbigfile	List large files by access time	sh	find, sort
organize	Auto-organize files in directories by file type [✓]	sh	file
pdfread	Read a PDF or text file aloud	sh	pdftotext, mpv, pico2wave
preview-tabbed	Preview files with Tabbed/xembed	bash	see in-file docs
preview-tui	Preview with Tmux/kitty/QuickLook/xterm/$TERMINAL	sh	see in-file docs
pskill	Fuzzy list by name and kill process or zombie	sh	fzf, ps, sudo/doas
renamer	Batch rename selection or files in dir [✓]	sh	qmv/vidir
ringtone	Create a variable bitrate mp3 ringtone from file	sh	date, ffmpeg
rsynccp	Gives copy-paste verbose progress percentage [✓]	sh	rsync
splitjoin	Split file or join selection [✓]	sh	split, cat
suedit	Edit file using superuser permissions	sh	sudoedit/sudo/doas
togglex	Toggle executable mode for selection [✓]	sh	chmod
umounttree	Unmount a remote mountpoint from within	sh	fusermount
upload	Upload to Firefox Send or ix.io (text) or file.io (bin)	sh	ffsend, curl, jq, tr
wallpaper	Set wallpaper or change colorscheme	sh	nitrogen/pywal
x2sel	Copy file list from system clipboard to selection	sh	see in-file docs
xdgdefault	Set the default app for the hovered file type	sh	xdg-utils, fzf/dmenu

Note:

1. A plugin has to explicitly request nnn to clear the selection e.g. after operating on the selected files.

Table of contents

• Installation
• Configuration
  • Skip directory refresh after running a plugin
• Running commands as plugin
  • Skip user confirmation after command execution
  • Run a GUI app as plugin
  • Page non-interactive command output
  • Some useful key-command examples
• Access level of plugins
• Create your own plugins
  • Send data to nnn
  • Get notified on file hover
• Examples
• Contributing plugins

Installation

The following command installs or updates (after backup) all plugins:

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

Plugins are installed to ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/nnn/plugins.

Configuration

Set environment variable NNN_PLUG to assign keybinds and invoke plugins directly using the plugin shortcut (;) followed by the assigned key character. E.g., with the below config:

export NNN_PLUG='f:finder;o:fzopen;p:mocplay;d:diffs;t:nmount;v:imgview'

plugin finder can be invoked with the keybind ;f, fzopen can be run with ;o and so on... The key vs. plugin pairs are shown in the help and config screen.

Alternatively, combine with Alt (i.e. Alt+key).

To pick and run an unassigned plugin, press Enter (to enter the plugin dir) at the plugin prompt.

To run a plugin at startup, use the option -P followed by the plugin key.

If the plugins list gets too long, try breaking them up into sections:

NNN_PLUG_PERSONAL='g:personal/convert2zoom;p:personal/echo'
NNN_PLUG_WORK='j:work/prettyjson;d:work/foobar'
NNN_PLUG_INLINE='e:!go run $nnn*'
NNN_PLUG_DEFAULT='1:ipinfo;p:preview-tui;o:fzz;b:nbak'
NNN_PLUG="$NNN_PLUG_PERSONAL;$NNN_PLUG_WORK;$NNN_PLUG_DEFAULT;$NNN_PLUG_INLINE"
export NNN_PLUG

Note:

• 'g:personal/convert2zoom' will look in the personal sub-folder inside the plugin folder.
• 'b:boom;b:bulknew will result in only the first definition of b (b:boom) being used.
• A keybinding definition of more than 1 character will prevent nnn from starting.

Skip directory refresh after running a plugin

nnn refreshes the directory after running a plugin to reflect any changes by the plugin. To disable this add a - before the plugin name:

export NNN_PLUG='p:-plugin'

Running commands as plugin

To assign keys to arbitrary non-background, non-shell-interpreted cli commands and invoke like plugins, add ! (underscore) before the command.

export NNN_PLUG='x:!chmod +x $nnn;g:!git log;s:!smplayer $nnn'

Now ;x can be used to make a file executable, ;g can be used to the git log of a git project directory, ;s can be used to preview a partially downloaded media file.

Skip user confirmation after command execution

nnn waits for user confirmation (the prompt Press Enter to continue) after it executes a command as plugin (unlike plugins which can add a read to wait). To skip this, add a * after the command.

export NNN_PLUG='s:!smplayer $nnn*;n:-!vim /home/vaio/Dropbox/Public/synced_note*'

Now there will be no prompt after ;s and ;n.

Note: Do not use * with programs those run and exit e.g. cat.

Run a GUI app as plugin

To run a GUI app as plugin, add a & after !.

export NNN_PLUG='m:-!&mousepad $nnn'

Page non-interactive command output

To show the output of run-and-exit commands which do not need user input, add | (pipe) after !.

export NNN_PLUG='m:-!|mediainfo $nnn;t:-!|tree -ps;l:-!|ls -lah --group-directories-first'

This option is incompatible with & (terminal output is masked for GUI programs) and ignores * (output is already paged for user).

Notes:

1. Use single quotes for $NNN_PLUG so $nnn is not interpreted
2. (Again) add ! before the command
3. To disable directory refresh after running a command as plugin, prefix with -!

Some useful key-command examples

Key:Command	Description
e:-!sudo -E vim $nnn*	Edit file as root in vim
g:-!git diff	Show git diff
h:-!hx $nnn*	Open hovered file in hx hex editor
k:-!fuser -kiv $nnn*	Interactively kill process(es) using hovered file
l:-!git log	Show git log
n:-!vi /home/user/Dropbox/dir/note*	Take quick notes in a synced file/dir of notes
p:-!less -iR $nnn*	Page through hovered file in less
s:-!&smplayer -minigui $nnn	Play hovered media file, even unfinished download
x:!chmod +x $nnn	Make the hovered file executable
y:-!sync*	Flush cached writes

Access level of plugins

When nnn executes a plugin, it does the following:

• Changes to the directory where the plugin is to be run ($PWD pointing to the active directory)
• Passes three arguments to the script:
  1. $1: The hovered file's name.
  2. $2: The working directory (might differ from $PWD in case of symlinked paths; non-canonical).
  3. $3: The picker mode output file (- for stdout) if nnn is executed as a file picker.
• Sets the environment variable NNN_PIPE used to control nnn active directory.
• Exports the special variables.

Plugins can also read the .selection file in the config directory.

Create your own plugins

Plugins can be written in any scripting language. However, POSIX-compliant shell scripts runnable in sh are preferred.

Make the file executable. Drop it in the plugin directory. Optionally add a hotkey in $NNN_PLUG for frequent usage.

Send data to nnn

nnn provides a mechanism for plugins to send data to nnn to control its active directory or invoke the list mode. The way to do so is by writing to the pipe pointed by the environment variable NNN_PIPE. The plugin should write a single string in the format (<->)<ctxcode><opcode><data> without a newline at the end. For example, 1c/etc.

The optional - at the beginning of the stream instructs nnn to clear the selection. In cases where the data transfer to nnn has to happen while the selection file is being read (e.g. in a loop), the plugin should create a tmp copy of the selection file, inform nnn to clear the selection and then do the subsequent processing with the tmp file.

The ctxcode indicates the context to change the active directory of.

Context code	Meaning
+	smart context (next inactive else current)
0	current context
1-4	context number

The opcode indicates the operation type.

Opcode	Operation
c	change directory
l	list files in list mode
p	picker file overwritten

For convenience, we provided a helper script named .nnn-plugin-helper and a function named nnn_cd to ease this process. nnn_cd receives the path to change to as the first argument, and the context as an optional second argument. If a context is not provided, it is asked for explicitly. To skip this and choose the current context, set the CUR_CTX variable in .nnn-plugin-helper (or in the specific plugin after sourcing .nnn-plugin-helper) to 1. Usage examples can be found in the Examples section below.

Get notified on file hover

If NNN_FIFO is set, nnn will open it and write every hovered files. This can be used in plugins and external scripts, e.g. to implement file previews.

Don't forget to fork in the background to avoid blocking nnn.

For more details on configuration and usage of the preview plugins, visit Live Previews.

Examples

There are many plugins provided by nnn which can be used as examples. Here are a few simple selected examples.

Show the git log of changes to the particular file along with the code for a quick and easy review.

#!/usr/bin/env sh

git log -p -- "$1"

Change to directory in clipboard using helper script

#!/usr/bin/env sh

. $(dirname $0)/.nnn-plugin-helper

nnn_cd "$(xsel -ob)"

Change directory to the location of a link using helper script with specific context (current)

#!/usr/bin/env sh

. $(dirname $0)/.nnn-plugin-helper

nnn_cd "$(dirname $(readlink -fn $1))" 0

Change to arbitrary directory without helper script

#!/usr/bin/env sh

printf "cd to: "
read -r dir

printf "%s" "0c$dir" > "$NNN_PIPE"

Send every hovered file to X selection

#!/usr/bin/env sh

if [ -z "$NNN_FIFO" ] ; then
    exit 1
fi

while read FILE ; do
    printf "%s" "$FILE" | xsel
done < "$NNN_FIFO" &
disown

Quick find (using fd)

#!/usr/bin/env sh

. "$(dirname "$0")"/.nnn-plugin-helper

printf "pattern: "
read -r pattern

if [ -n "$pattern" ]; then
    printf "%s" "+l" > "$NNN_PIPE"
    eval "fd -HI $pattern -0" > "$NNN_PIPE"
fi

Quick grep (using rg)

#!/usr/bin/env sh

. "$(dirname "$0")"/.nnn-plugin-helper

printf "pattern: "
read -r pattern

if [ -n "$pattern" ]; then
    printf "%s" "+l" > "$NNN_PIPE"
    eval "rg -l0 --hidden -S $pattern" > "$NNN_PIPE"
fi

Contributing plugins

1. Add informative sections like Description, Notes, Dependencies, Shell, Author etc. in the plugin.
2. Add an entry in the table above.
3. Keep non-portable commands (like notify-send) commented so users from any other OS/DE aren't surprised.
4. The plugin file should be executable.
5. If your plugin stores data, use ${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/nnn. Document it in-file.