Description

  Introduction
The aim of the following document is to introduce functions and behavior of Servant Salamander. The program itself was designed to be user-friendly, therefore advanced users should be able to use it without reading any instructions. Yet we recommend that even they go through the following text to get an overview of program capabilities.

Contents
Appearance
System Command Line
Quick Search
Selecting of Files and Directories
Files and Directories Operations
Drag and Drop Operations and Context Menus
Viewing and Editing
Internal Viewer
Find Files
Hot Paths
User Menu
Restoring Network Connections
Comparing Directories
Changing Case of Names
Using Recycle Bin
Command line parameters of Salamand.exe
Other Useful Commands
Defined Hotkeys

Appearance
The main window of Servant Salamander is divided into three subwindows. Two panels with directory listings are side by side, and a system command line is at the bottom. Both panels are further divided into three subwindows - a directory line, a list of directories and files, and an information line. For a better understanding see the screenshot of the main window.

The directory line contains the change drive button, the current directory name, and the free space on the current drive or network volume. Click the left mouse button on the change drive button to open menu with available drives and Network Neighborhood, and the right mouse button to display context menu for the current directory. If the current drive or network volume doesn't support change notifications, automatic refresh of the list won't work, and the mark of exclamation is shown at the beginning of the directory line. The list of directories and files contains all wanted directories and files from the current directory. You can apply filters to this list and also choose if you want to see hidden and system directories and files. You can choose from two forms of this list - a brief form and a detailed form. The list in the brief form contains only names in columns (left panel in the main window screenshot). The list in the detailed form contains all information about each directory and file (right panel in the main window screenshot). The information line contains all information about the focused file or directory.

Each name in the list has a small graphical symbol for better orientation. There are special symbols for directories, executable files, associated files, and other files. Shared directories are marked by symbol of an open hand. Servant Salamander can also show the default icons provided by the system instead of these simple symbols. See the screenshot with the system icons.

For customization of the appearance, see menus Left, Options, and Right, the tab Panels in the Configuration dialog, and the Customize Colors dialog (on the tab General in the Configuration dialog). The split-line between panels can be positioned by mouse dragging. Double-click the left mouse button on the split-line to return it to the original position.

System Command Line
You can switch to the command line with Ctrl+Tab key, and with the same key or ESC key you can switch back to the panels. When the command line became active, you can type any command for the system shell, and then execute it with the Enter key. To insert the focused file or directory name from the panel to such command, use Ctrl+Enter key. Similarly, to insert the full current path from the left or right panel, use Ctrl+[ or Ctrl+] key.

On the tab General in the Configuration dialog, you can choose if the system command shell window should be closed after execution of the command. If you execute the command with Alt+Enter key, this setting for the command will be inverted.

The last thirty executed commands are stored in a command line history. Use Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down keys to scroll in this history. If the command line is active, and you need to switch to some other directory or execute some file in the panel, use Shift+Enter key or Enter key if command line is empty (ie. there is nothing to execute).

Quick Search
You can quickly find any desired name in the list of directories and files. Just start typing a name, and the first name with the typed prefix will be focused. You can extend this prefix with Right arrow key, and on the contrary you can clip this prefix with Left arrow key or Backspace key. To focus the next or previous name with the same prefix, use Down or Up arrow key. To leave quick search mode, use ESC key.

Selecting of Files and Directories
There are many ways how files and directories can be selected using the keyboard. To select the focused file or directory, use Insert or Spacebar key. To select names by the mask, use Num Plus key (numeric keypad). To unselect names by the mask, use Num Minus key (numeric keypad). Masks can contain usual wild-card characters - '*' for zero or more characters and '?' for any single character. So the mask '*a?*' will match all names containing 'a' followed by at least one character. To invert the selection, use Num Multiply key (numeric keypad). You can choose if you want to include directories into select/unselect operations on the tab General in the Configuration dialog. To select/unselect all the files and directories, use Ctrl+Num Multiply key (use this key to clear the whole selection).

There are also many ways to select files and directories using the mouse. You can use the left mouse button with Shift key to select a group of files and directories. Just move focus to (select) the first name in a group and then click on the last. To select one file or directory, click the left mouse button with the Ctrl key while on it. The right mouse button is used for selecting and for displaying context menus. You can choose which of these actions will be primary on the tab System in the Configuration dialog. The second action will be available on the right mouse button with Ctrl key. To select or unselect one file or directory, click the right mouse button while on it. To select or unselect group of files and directories, press the right mouse button on the first, drag it, and release it while on the last. Or click the right mouse button on the first and then click the right mouse button with Shift key while on the last.

Files and Directories Operations
You can use standard Windows clipboard operations for the selected files and directories. It means you can copy (Ctrl+C), cut (Ctrl+X), paste (Ctrl+V) and paste shortcuts of files and directories. On the other hand, you can use also standard MS-DOS ways of working with files and directories. To rename the focused file or directory, use F2 key. To copy the selected files and directories, use F5 key. You can choose if you want to clear the readonly file attribute when copying from CD-ROM on the tab General in the Configuration dialog. To move the selected files and directories, use F6 key. To delete the selected files and directories, use F8 key or Delete key if the panel is focused (focus is not in the system command line). If you use F8 or Delete key with Shift modifier key, you will invert (flip) usage of Recycle Bin (if Delete key doesn't send files to Recycle Bin, Shift+Delete key does and vice versa). To change attributes of the selected files and directories, use Ctrl+F2 key (each attribute is represented by one checkbox control with the following meaning - checked = set it, unchecked = clear it, and third state = let it be). To create the directory, use F7 key. You can also compress and uncompress files and directories on NTFS volumes in Windows NT.

The current path from the second panel is automatically offered as a target directory for copy and move operations. In addition to the target directory, you can also specify the operation mask. Operation masks can contain special characters - '*' for the rest of the name or the extension and '?' for a single character. So the operation mask 'new_*.???' will generate names which begin with 'new_' followed with the rest of the original name (from the fifth character to the end), and end with '.' followed with three characters from the original extension. Operation masks are usually used for simpler operations like changing extensions in the group of files (you can use '*.html' for renaming .htm files to .html files, etc.).

Some file operations which work with many files and directories can take several minutes. Because of the time required, you can find useful to minimize all program's windows during such operations. The operation progress will be displayed in the taskbar. You can choose if you want to be warned by a system beep when the operation finishes (on the tab General in the Configuration dialog).

Drag and Drop Operations and Context Menus
You can drag and drop files and directories from Servant Salamander to other applications as well as back to Servant Salamander. Also you can drag and drop files and directories from other applications to Servant Salamander. We use standard cursor shapes, so you can easily distinguish among copying, moving, and creating shortcuts. To choose from these actions, use appropriate combinations of Shift and Ctrl modifier keys. You can also choose whether you want to confirm every drag&drop operation or not (see the tab General in the Configuration dialog).

The right mouse button is used for selecting of files and directories and for displaying context menus. You can choose which of these actions will be primary on the tab System in the Configuration dialog. The second action will be available using the right mouse button with the Ctrl key. The context menus are displayed for selected files and directories or for the focused file or directory if there is no selection. To open the context menus with the keyboard, use the Shift+F10 key.

Viewing and Editing
To call the viewer for the focused file, use the F3 key. To call the alternate viewer for the focused file, use the Alt+F3 key. To call the editor for the focused file, use the F4 key. To call the editor for a new file, use the Shift+F4 key. The viewer and editor to be used is selected on the tab Viewer/Editor in the Configuration dialog. This tab is also used for specifying if the passing of long file names to viewer and editor is possible (it is necessary to turn this off if you are using an MS-DOS viewer or editor).

Internal Viewer
You can call the internal viewer for the focused file either with the F3 key or Alt+F3 key (it depends on viewer settings). You can choose from two types of view - a hex view (with F4 key in the viewer) and a text view (with F5 key in the viewer). Each row in the hex view type contains 16 bytes displayed in two ways - as hexadecimal numbers and as characters. Each row in the text view contains one line of text ended by some of the defined line ends. You can choose which line 'ends' should be used, in the internal viewer's Configuration dialog. This dialog is also used for setting the tab character's width. You can select a text by pressing, dragging and releasing of the left mouse button. Then you can copy it into the clipboard. To find a text pattern, use the F7 or Ctrl+F key. To find next or previous occurrence of the same text use the F6 key or Shift+F6 key. See the
Find Files paragraph for details on pattern matching.

Find Files
The Find Files dialog can be opened with Alt+F7 key. You can set criteria for searching in this dialog. They include the search paths and masks, containing text, and advanced search criteria. Each found file will be from one of the search paths, will match the appropriate mask, will contain the selected text, and will suit advanced search criteria. Advanced search criteria can be set in the Advanced Find dialog (open it with the button Advanced). They include required file attributes (each file attribute has one checkbox with the following meaning - unchecked = must be cleared, checked = must be set, third state = doesn't care). They include also required file size (size must be smaller, greater, or equal to selected size) and required file last modification time (this time must be older, newer, or equal to selected time). Change only criteria which you want to use, the rest will be in predefined not used state.

When you finished settings, you can start searching with the Start button. To stop searching, use ESC key or the Stop button. During and after searching, you can view, edit, and use user-menu commands for found files. You can also execute found files with Enter key or double-clicking the left mouse button. After searching, you can focus the chosen found file in the active panel with Focus button.

The searching may take a long time, and so you can, like during file operations, minimize all windows of Servant Salamander. Operation results are then displayed in the taskbar. You can choose if you want to be warned by the system beep when searching finishes (on the tab General in the Configuration dialog).

The containing text can be specified by a simple text expression or by a regular expression (Regular expression checkbox checked). The simple text expression can be set in a text or in a hexadecimal mode (HEX-mode checkbox checked). The text mode is obvious and the hexadecimal mode can be used to set character by character in hexadecimal numbers. You can also input normal text in the hexadecimal mode, but it must be quoted using double quotes. So if you set '01 02 "text" 00', it will be a pattern with 7 characters, 2+4+1. The regular expressions are much more powerful then the simple text expressions, you can use them to find texts, which have specified attributes. These attributes are for example "pattern begins at the beginning of line", "pattern ends at the end of line", "pattern starts with some prefix and ends with some suffix", "pattern is one word from a set of words", "pattern contains only characters from some character sequence (e.g. numbers)".

Here is a short guide to regular expressions:

The following, complete description of regular expressions is taken from documentation for the REGEXP library, which is a great work of Henry Spencer.

REGULAR EXPRESSION SYNTAX
A regular expression is zero or more branches, separated by '|'. It matches anything that matches one of the branches.

A branch is zero or more pieces, concatenated. It matches a match for the first, followed by a match for the second, etc.

A piece is an atom possibly followed by '*', '+', or '?'. An atom followed by '*' matches a sequence of 0 or more matches of the atom. An atom followed by '+' matches a sequence of 1 or more matches of the atom. An atom followed by '?' matches a match of the atom, or the null string.

An atom is a regular expression in parentheses (matching a match for the regular expression), a range (see below), '.' (matching any single character), '^' (matching the null string at the beginning of line), '$' (matching the null string at the end of line), a '\' followed by a single character (matching that character), or a single character with no other significance (matching that character).

A range is a sequence of characters enclosed in '[]'. It normally matches any single character from the sequence. If the sequence begins with '^', it matches any single character not from the rest of the sequence. If two characters in the sequence are separated by '-', this is shorthand for the full list of ASCII characters between them (e.g. '[0-9]' matches any decimal digit). To include a literal ']' in the sequence, make it the first character (following a possible '^'). To include a literal '-', make it the first or last character.

AMBIGUITY
If a regular expression could match two different parts of the text, it will match the one which begins earliest. If both begin in the same place but match different lengths, or match the same length in different ways, life gets messier, as follows.

In general, the possibilities in a list of branches are considered in left-to-right order, the possibilities for '*', '+', and '?' are considered longest-first, nested constructs are considered from the outermost in, and concatenated constructs are considered leftmost-first. The match that will be chosen is the one that uses the earliest possibility.

For example, '(ab|a)b*c' could match 'abc' in one of two ways. The first choice is between 'ab' and 'a'; since 'ab' is earlier, and does lead to a successful overall match, it is chosen. Since the 'b' is already spoken for, the 'b*' must match its last possibility-the empty string-since it must respect the earlier choice.

In the particular case where no '|'s are present and there is only one '*', '+', or '?', the net effect is that the longest possible match will be chosen. So 'ab*', presented with 'xabbbby', will match 'abbbb'. Note that if 'ab*' is tried against 'xabyabbbz', it will match 'ab' just after 'x', due to the begins-earliest rule.

Hot Paths
Hot paths are used to access frequently visited directories. There are twenty hotkeys for ten hot paths, ten for defining and ten for getting to the defined hot path. To define the current directory as the hot path, use Shift+Ctrl+number key, where number is 0 to 9. To get to the defined hot path, use Ctrl+number key or menu Commands/Go to Hot Path. You can also define hot paths from the tab Hot Paths in the Configuration dialog.

User Menu
The user menu is a list of user menu items. Each item contains an item title, a command, and item execution flags. The item title is used for displaying in the User Menu dialog. The command will be executed after choosing an item. Commands can contain predefined variables which will be expanded before execution. These variables are parts of a full filenames of selected files and directories:

  • %d - the drive (e.g. 'c:')
  • %p - the long path name (e.g. '\Program Files\Microsoft Internet\')
  • %h - the short path name (e.g. '\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\')
  • %f - the long file name (e.g. 'read this file.txt')
  • %s - the short file name (e.g. 'READTH~1.TXT')
  • %% - the character '%' (if you need to use the character '%')
  • The item flags are used for choosing a type of the execution. These types are a direct execution and an execution through the system shell (with and without closing the shell window after execution). The direct execution is good for windowed applications. The executing through the system shell is usable for console oriented applications with some interesting output and for execution queues (pipes, redirected input and output, etc.).

    You can define the user menu on the tab User Menu in the Configuration dialog. This tab is a little bit complicated. There are buttons for adding, modifying, and deleting of the user menu items. The focused item is parsed into the item name, the command, and the execution flags. After modifying these parsed data, you must use the button Modify to modify the user menu item. To change the order of the user menu items, use Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down keys in the listview control Menu Items.

    You can open the User Menu dialog with the list of the user menu items from the panels and from the Find Files dialog with F9 key.

    Restoring Network Connections
    If some network connection is not accessible during the logon operation, the system temporarily disables this connection. To restore such a network connection, just change the drive to the appropriate disabled network volume with Alt+F1 or Alt+F2 key. If the network volume becomes inaccessible during work, and you'll try to access it, it may take a long time to the system to recognize this error. If this occurs, you can press ESC key to continue with the Servant Salamander (waiting for the system error runs in a separate thread).

    Comparing Directories
    The command Compare Directories is in the menu Commands. With this command you can compare contents of current directories in the left and the right panel. After comparing, files that are not present in the other panel and files that are newer or bigger will be selected in both panels.

    Changing Case of Names
    The command Change Case is in the menu Files. With this command you can change case of the selected directory (including subdirectories or not) and file names to lower, upper, and mixed case. This is usable when you need to transfer files and directories from a case-insensitive file system to a case-sensitive file system.

    Using Recycle Bin
    You can enable deleting files and directories through the system Recycle Bin. This allows you to recover deleted files and directories. You can use the system Recycle Bin for all files and directories or only for files that match at least one of specified masks. By specifying the masks you can distinguish between important files (e.g. your text documents and your source codes) and files which you can easily restore from other sources (e.g. executables, libraries, or system files). Whether use the system Recycle Bin or not can be set on the tab System in the Configuration dialog.

    Command line parameters of Salamand.exe
    You can specify current directories in panels after execution of Servant Salamander. These directories can be passed to Salamand.exe as first and second command line parameter. So 'Salamand.exe "C:\Program Files" D:\' will execute Servant Salamander with "C:\Program Files" in the left panel and "D:\" in the right panel.

    Other Useful Commands
    You can get detailed information about the current drive or network volume with the command Drive Information from the menu Commands. If the system associations were changed, you need to refresh cached associations in Servant Salamander. You can do this by restarting Servant Salamander or by the command Reread Associations from the menu Commands. You can open special folders like My Computer, Recycle Bin, Control Panel, or Network Neighborhood directly from Salamander using the submenu Open Folder from the menu Commands.

    Defined Hotkeys
    There are many hotkeys defined in Servant Salamander. These can speed up your work with files and directories. You can find all the functions, also, in a menu together with associated hotkey.

    • Alt+F1 - change the drive in the left panel
    • Alt+F2 - change the drive in the right panel
    • Shift+Ctrl+A, ..., Shift+Ctrl+Z - change the drive in the focused panel to A:, ..., Z:
    • Insert - select the focused file or directory in the focused panel
    • Spacebar - select the focused file or directory in the focused panel
    • Num Plus - select files and directories in the focused panel
    • Num Minus - unselect files and directories in the focused panel
    • Num Multiply - invert the selection in the focused panel
    • Ctrl+Num Multiply - select/unselect all files and directories
    • Num Divide - open a new system shell window
    • F5 - copy the selected files and directories
    • F6 - move the selected files and directories
    • F7 - create the directory in the focused panel
    • F8 - delete the selected files and directories
    • Delete - only in the panels, delete the selected files and directories
    • F2 - rename the focused file or directory
    • Ctrl+F2 - change attributes of the selected files and directories
    • Ctrl+F7 - change case of the selected files and directories
    • Backspace - only in the panels, go to the parent directory in the focused panel
    • Ctrl+PageUp - go to the parent directory in the focused panel
    • Ctrl+\ - change the directory in the focused panel to root directory
    • Ctrl+Backspace - in panels, go to the root directory (same as Ctrl+\)
    • Ctrl+Backspace - in command line, delete whole word to the left
    • Alt+Enter - only in the panels, show properties of the focused file or directory
    • Ctrl+Enter - insert the name of the focused file or directory to the system command line
    • Ctrl+[ - insert the full name of the current directory in the left panel to the system command line
    • Ctrl+] - insert the full name of the current directory in the right panel to the system command line
    • Ctrl+Shift+Enter - insert the full name of the current directory in the focused panel to the system command line
    • Ctrl+Up - only in the system command line, list up in the commands history
    • Ctrl+Down - only in the system command line, list down in the commands history
    • Shift+Enter - only in the system command line, same function as Enter in the panel
    • F9 - open the user menu
    • Alt+F7 - find files
    • Ctrl+F9 - refresh the list of directories and files in the focused panel
    • Alt+F10 - calculate space occupied by the selected files and directories
    • Shift+F10 - displays context menu for selected files and directories
    • Shift+F7 - change the current directory
    • Ctrl+F1 - display the Drive Information dialog
    • Ctrl+F10 - compare directories
    • Ctrl+F12 - choose filter for the focused panel
    • Ctrl+F3 - sort files in the focused panel by name
    • Ctrl+F4 - sort files in the focused panel by extension
    • Ctrl+F5 - sort files in the focused panel by time
    • Ctrl+F6 - sort files in the focused panel by size
    • F3 - view the focused file
    • Alt+F3 - view the focused file by alternate viewer
    • F4 - edit the focused file
    • Shift+F4 - edit the new file
    • F11 - connect the network drive
    • F12 - disconnect the network drive
    • Shift+Ctrl+0, ..., Shift+Ctrl+9 - define hot-path number 0, ..., 9 to the current directory
    • Ctrl+0, ..., Ctrl+9 - change the directory in the focused panel to hot-path number 0, ..., 9
    • Ctrl+Alt+0, ..., Ctrl+Alt+9 - change the directory in the second panel to hot-path number 0, ..., 9
    • Ctrl+C - copy the selected files and directories to clipboard
    • Ctrl+X - cut the selected files and directories to clipboard
    • Ctrl+V - paste the files and directories from clipboard to the current directory
    • Ctrl+A - select/unselect all files and directories
    • Ctrl+R - refresh the focused panel
    • Ctrl+L - display the Drive Information dialog
    • Ctrl+Q - calculate space occupied by the selected files and directories
    • Ctrl+F - find files
    • Ctrl+U - swap panels

    You can e-mail me any comments and suggestions:
    P.Solin@sh.cvut.cz
    For the most recent version of this document, go to Servant Salamader's pages

    Last updated in March 16, 1998