Exploring the Midnight Commander interface
The Midnight Commander interface displays five sections; the menu bar, directory panels, hint line, command line, and function key labels.
The following illustration identifies the main interface components that you see when you start Midnight Commander, including 1) Console Menu Bar, 2) directory panels, 3) hint bar and command line, 4) Midnight Commander Menu Bar, and 5) function keys.
You can use the mouse or the keyboard to navigate in the directory panels. You can also customize how Midnight Commander displays files in the directory panels. For example, you can change the sort order of files, or filter the file lists to view only files with a .JPG extension. You can also work in four different panel modes. For example, Quick View mode displays in the inactive panel the file you selected in the working directory.
Menu Bar
The Menu Bar lets you change the appearance of the left and right directory panels, perform operations on selected files, and perform general operations within the application, such as searching for a file.
Directory panels
The double directory panels let you view two directories simultaneously. Midnight Commander also supports single panel mode. The panel that contains the selection bar is the current directory panel. You perform most operations on files in the current directory panel, however some operations also use the inactive directory panel. For example, when you copy a file to a new folder, you choose the file to copy in the directory panel, then you choose the destination folder from the inactive directory panel.
Hint line
The Hint line displays suggestions about commands and functions in Midnight Commander. You can turn this feature off.
Command line
The Command line lets you execute system commands from within Midnight Commander. For more information about system commands, see "Performing file operations using the command line," and "Working with a shell."
Function key labels
The Function key labels located at the bottom of the Midnight Commander interface let you perform functions such as displaying Help or viewing a file. You can activate these functions using the function keys (F1, F2, F3, etc.) or by clicking the function using the mouse.