nnn
A terminal file manager of about 150 KB that starts instantly, uses under 4 MB of memory and needs almost no configuration.
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1 more ways to get nnn
Package managers
- Homebrew
brew install nnn
About nnn
nnn is built around being small and fast. The binary is roughly 150 KB, it typically needs less than 3.5 MB of resident memory, it works with only eight colours if that is all the terminal has, and it does all its arithmetic in integers to avoid touching the floating point unit. It is disk-IO sensitive, doing few reads and writes, and minimises screen refreshes.
Despite that it is a full file manager: disk usage analysis, batch renaming, launching applications and picking files for other programs. A plugin repository adds live previews, mounting disks, find and list, file and directory diffs and uploads, and a patch framework hosts the larger, more opinionated user-submitted changes.
It runs on Linux, macOS, BSD, Haiku, Cygwin, WSL, a Raspberry Pi and Termux on Android.
Strengths
- About 150 KB and typically under 3.5 MB of memory in use
- Analyses disk usage, batch renames, launches apps and picks files
- Large plugin repository for previews, mounting, diffs and uploads
- Runs on Linux, macOS, BSD, Haiku, Cygwin, WSL, the Pi and Termux
Limitations
- No Windows build outside Cygwin or WSL
- Previews and many conveniences need plugins and external programs
- The keybindings are terse and take a while to internalise
- Configuration is environment variables rather than a config file
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source under a BSD 2-clause licence.
- License
- BSD-2-Clause
- Developer
- jarun
- Platforms
- macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- A file manager on a machine where memory and startup time actually matter
- Categories
- File managers
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Utilities); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 3 sources on file.
Alternatives to nnn
Compare allSoftware that can replace nnn for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Yazi
A terminal file manager where nothing blocks: every read, preview and copy happens asynchronously.
Yazi is a fully asynchronous terminal manager with built-in image previews and Lua plugins that also runs on Windows, but it is heavier and configured through TOML files.
ranger
A console file manager with vi keybindings and a three-column view showing parent, current and preview.
ranger offers a three-column view with vi keys and configuration in Python, but Python startup makes it noticeably slower and development has slowed.
superfile
A terminal file manager with a modern, colourful interface, built in Go with themes and plugin support.
superfile trades nnn's minimalism for a themed interface with built-in previews and fuzzy search, installable on Windows, though it is heavier and younger with fewer plugins.
xplr
Explore files with a configurable terminal interface.
xplr is an MIT-licensed terminal file explorer on macOS and Linux with scriptable navigation, but customisation requires configuring the surrounding workflow.
broot
Navigate large directory trees and find files in the terminal.
broot focuses on tree navigation and interactive search and runs on Windows, but changing the parent shell directory requires shell integration.
Midnight Commander
Two-panel file manager for the terminal, with an editor and remote access.
Midnight Commander uses a two-panel layout with a built-in editor and remote filesystem browsing, with function-key bindings instead of nnn's terse keys.
