bfs (Browse File System) implements for emacs a dynamic tree view of the file system à la ranger.

Put bfs.el in your load path and add this to your init file:

(require 'bfs)

To start bfs "environment" in the selected frame, run:

M-x bfs

Then in the child window (the center window), you can press the keys p, n, M-p, M-n, b and f to select the files to be previewed.

You can scroll the preview window (the right window) from the child window by pressing the keys <SPC> and <backspace>.

You can quit bfs either by:

1. pressing the key q or,
2. calling any command that invalidates bfs "environment" (see bfs-check-environment).

For instance, your bfs "environment" stops to be valid:

• when you switch to a buffer not attached to a file,
• when you modify the layout deleting or rotating windows,
• when you run any command that makes the previewed buffer no longer match the child entry (filename in the child window).

Note 1: If you call bfs with universal argument, bfs starts by previewing the "file" (see bfs-child-default) of the current-buffer in the preview window. If you call bfs without universal argument, bfs starts with the last file you've visited in the bfs "environment".

Note 2: You can only have one bfs "environment" running at a time.

Note 3: All the commands (except bfs) are provided via the bfs-mode-map that is the local map used in the child window (the center window).

Note 4: You can use isearch commands to select files in the child window, the preview window will be updated automatically.

bfs provides two commands bfs-find-file and bfs-project-find-file respectively bound to C-f and M-f to find files. Those commands automatically update bfs "environment" once you've selected the file.

If what you want is to find a file and leave bfs "environment", just use the emacs built-in commands find-file and project-find-file.

bfs comes with its mark system that allows you to mark child entries and kill marked entries (not the files). The commands provided are bound in bfs-mode-map as follow:

You can filter the files listed in the child window with the following commands:

1. bfs-hide-dotfiles (bound to .) toggles the visibility of dotfiles,

2. bfs-narrow (bound to /) dynamically filters (narrows) bfs child buffer to filenames matching a regexp read from minibuffer.

I'll document this section later.

But until it is done you can find most of the user options in the section User options of bfs.el file.

I've never used ranger so I won't miss nothing from it. Another consequence is that I'm not trying to implement the features it offers. But, I really like its layout. I think it offers so far the best way to discover code bases and to browse file systems.

From the beginning, the unique goal of bfs has been to give to emacs users a way to dynamically visualize the structure of their file system with file preview. Nothing more

bfs is not a file manager. It doesn't provide any commands to copy, paste, rename, modify ownership, compress files... Those features are already implemented in others tools like dired and wdired. And if you need to do more elaborated tasks on your files you still can use your favorite shell.

bfs doesn't try to replace or re-implement features from those tools.

However, bfs is implemented in such a way that it is possible to implement these features on top of each other in separate packages.