How To Install vifm on Ubuntu 18.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install vifm on Ubuntu 18.04. vifm is flexible vi-like file manager using ncurses

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install vifm on Ubuntu 18.04.

What is vifm

vifm is:

Vifm is a file manager providing a vi-like usage experience. It has similar keybindings and modes (e.g. normal, command line, visual). The interface uses ncurses, thus vifm can be used in text-only environments. It supports a wide range of features, some of which are known from the vi-editor:

  • utf8 support
  • user mappings (almost like in vi)
  • ranges in command-line commands
  • user defined commands (with support for ranges)
  • registers
  • operation undoing/redoing
  • fuse file systems support
  • trash
  • multiple files renaming
  • support of filename modifiers
  • colorschemes support
  • file name color according to file type
  • path specific colorscheme customization
  • bookmarks
  • operation backgrounding
  • customizable file viewers
  • handy less-like preview mode
  • filtering out and searching for files using regular expressions
  • one or two panes view With the package comes a plugin to use vifm as a vim file selector.

There are three methods to install vifm on Ubuntu 18.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install vifm Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install vifm using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install vifm

Install vifm Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install vifm using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install vifm

Install vifm Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install vifm using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install vifm

How To Uninstall vifm on Ubuntu 18.04

To uninstall only the vifm package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove vifm

Uninstall vifm And Its Dependencies

To uninstall vifm and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 18.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove vifm

Remove vifm Configurations and Data

To remove vifm configuration and data from Ubuntu 18.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge vifm

Remove vifm configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove vifm configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge vifm

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install vifm package on Ubuntu 18.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.