FAR2L(1)

📦
version 2.9.1~beta · 3 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 FAR2L — the manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for FAR2L(1) — and if you're reading this you're about to meet the two-panel file manager that runs in your terminal and lowkey changed my whole life. It's the Linux fork of FAR Manager v2, and there is genuinely so much here. Buckle up. 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

far2l — a two-panel file manager, with a built-in terminal and other usefulness´es. ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

far2l [OPTION] [-cd APATH -cd PPATH]]
far2ledit [OPTION] [FILENAME]

that's it, that's the shape of it. two ways in: the manager itself, and the editor. 💅

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

So like — far2l is a Linux fork of FAR Manager v2, which is a directory browser / file manager for Unix-like operating systems. That's the whole vibe. It browses your dirs, it manages your files, it has a terminal inside it, it's giving main character energy from the very first keypress. 🔥

✨ OPTIONS ✨

every single one, no skips, periodt:

  • -h — shows you the short help and then dips. 👋
  • --version — prints the version of the program and exits. simple. iconic.
  • -a — turns OFF displaying characters with codes 0 - 31 and 255.
  • -ag — turns OFF displaying pseudographics with codes > 127.
  • -an — turns OFF pseudographics characters entirely. gone. not invited. 💀
  • -co — forces FAR to load plugins from the cache only.
  • -cd APATH|PPATH — changes the panel's directory to the path you specify. APATH = the path for the active panel (a folder, or a file, or an archive, or a command with a prefix). PPATH = same deal but for the passive panel.
  • -m — do not load macros.
  • -ma — do not execute auto-run macros.
  • -u IDENTITY OR /PATH/NAME — lets you specify a separate settings IDENTITY, or an FS location (as /PATH/NAME). heads up: this overrides whatever the FARSETTINGS environment variable was set to.
  • -v FILENAME — view the file you named. 👀
  • -v - COMMAND LINE — executes the given COMMAND LINE and opens the viewer with its output. yes, it pipes straight into the viewer, slay.
  • -e[LINE[:POS]] [FILENAME] — edits the specified file, with optional cursor position specification — or opens an empty new file if you don't give one. 🍓
  • -e[LINE[:POS]] - COMMAND LINE — executes the given command line and opens the editor with its output.
  • -set:PARAMETER=VALUE — overrides a configuration parameter. see far:config for the details, bestie. example time:
far2l -set:Language.Main=English -set:Screen.Clock=0 -set:XLat.Flags=0xff -set:System.FindFolders=false

look at that. four overrides in one breath. 💅

🌈 BACKEND-SPECIFIC OPTIONS 🌈

this is the part where we talk about how far2l draws itself on your screen. buckle in, there's a lot, and I'm obsessed with all of it:

  • --tty — force using the TTY backend only (this disables GUI/TTY autodetection).
  • --notty — don't fall back to the TTY backend if the GUI backend failed.
  • --norgb — don't use true (24-bit) colors.
  • --nodetect, --nodetect=[x|xi][f][w][a][k][e] — don't detect whether the TTY backend supports X11/Xi input and clipboard interaction extensions, and/or disable detection of specific things: f = FAR2l terminal extensions, w = win32, a = apple iTerm2, k = kovidgoyal's kitty input modes, e = emodjie VS16 suffix. and if you use this switch with no parameters at all, it disables all of this functionality, forcing plain terminal mode for the TTY backend. so much power in one flag. 👑
  • --mortal — terminate instead of going to background when it gets SIGHUP. (This is the default if you're in a Linux TTY.)
  • --immortal — go to background instead of terminating when it gets SIGHUP. (This is the default if you're not in a Linux TTY.) not me picking immortality every time 😭
  • --x11 — force the GUI backend to run on X11/Xwayland (it forces GDK_BACKEND=x11).
  • --wayland — force the GUI backend to run on Wayland (it forces GDK_BACKEND=wayland).
  • --SDL — force the GUI backend to run as SDL instead of WX.
  • --ee=N — ESC expiration in msec (default is 100, 0 to disable), so you don't have to double-press ESC. only valid in TTY mode without FAR2L extensions. 🧚
  • --primary-selection — use PRIMARY selection instead of CLIPBOARD X11 selection (GUI backend only, bestie).
  • --maximize — force maximize the window upon launch (GUI backend only).
  • --nomaximize — don't maximize the window upon launch, even if it has a saved maximized state (GUI backend only).
  • --size=WxH — set the initial window size in characters (GUI backend only). WxH, obviously. ✨
  • --clipboard=SCRIPT — use an external clipboard handler script that implements get/set of text clipboard data via its stdin/stdout.

🫶 ENVIRONMENT 🫶

  • FARSETTINGS — overrides the location of user settings and configuration files (see the -u option up there ⬆️).
  • FAR2L_ARGS — literally every option (except -h and -u) can also be set through this environment variable. for example: export FAR2L_ARGS="--tty --nodetect" and then a plain simple far2l will force-start only the TTY backend. set it once, forget it, live your life. 🌸

🎀 FULL HELP 🎀

far2l has historically had its own contextual help system, and you can find it by pressing F1 wherever you are in its TUI. any time. any screen. just press it. iykyk. 💖

⭐ LICENSE ⭐

This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. See the built-in help for details on the License and the lack of warranty. 🫶

🌈 AVAILABILITY 🌈

the latest version of this program can be found at:

https://github.com/elfmz/far2l

💅 SEE ALSO 💅

and also — Linux fork of FAR Manager v2 on the World Wide Web:

https://github.com/elfmz/far2l

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Authors and contributors are listed in the copyright file. they ate. 💖

💀 BUGS 💀

If you want to report a problem with the program, please create a bugreport at:

https://github.com/elfmz/far2l/issues

and please, bestie, provide a detailed description of the bug, plus the version of the program you're running. And if the program crashes, we would really appreciate a stack trace. 🙈

okay that's the whole thing 💖 and one last thing before you go: this page was for FAR2L Version 2.9.1, dated October 2026 — so go forth, press F1, and slay. ✨🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from