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⚡ A Commander

  • Dual-pane file explorer for Windows
  • Inspired by Norton Commander
  • Extended functionality using 3rd party tools
  • Command Palette (ctrl+shft+p) to rule them all!

Fast. Keyboard-driven. Endlessly configurable.

Java Platform Build License

Out of the box, open ACommander

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A Commander workstation with multiple associated apps running (View Text File, View Image, Edit and Terminal)

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A Commander keeps file operations fast and keyboard-driven, and offloads specialized tasks — view, edit, copy, archive, convert, checksum — to proven external tools configured in config/apps.json.

📑 Table of Contents

🆕 What's New in v4.5

v4.5 is a quality-focused update that adds small but practical workflow features and fixes a set of day-to-day issues.

New Features & Enhancements

  • Open hosts file — open the Windows hosts file directly from the Command Palette
  • Report Bug / Contact — quickly open a bug/contact flow from inside the app
  • Analyze File — identify file type/content details for a single selected file
  • Extract PDF Pages (upgraded) — interactive extraction modes with page expressions (,, :, -) and chunking options
  • Natural numeric sort — filename sorting now treats numbers naturally (... 9, 10 ...)

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Ant Renamer not opening/showing correctly
  • Fixed multi-file move reliability
  • Fixed PDF merge failures
  • Fixed PDF page extraction failures
  • Fixed Hebrew rename caret/navigation behavior with arrow keys
  • Improved post-move focus to stay on the next item in the source pane

🆕 What's New in v4.0

v4.0 is a major release that brings virtual file system support, metadata editing, folder synchronization, and many quality-of-life improvements.

Virtual File System (VFS) & Remote Access

  • Virtual folders — browse archives (zip, 7z, etc.) as if they were regular directories
  • FTP / SFTP / FTPS — connect to remote servers and browse them inline, just like local paths
  • FTP-to-FTP copy — transfer files directly between two remote FTP locations

File Comparison & Synchronization

  • Compare files — diff two files side by side via ExamDiff
  • Synchronize folders — keep two directories in sync across panes

Metadata Editing

  • Edit video metadata — modify tags on video files via AtomicParsley
  • Edit image metadata — view and change EXIF/IPTC data on images via exiv2
  • Edit MP3 metadata — update ID3 tags on audio files via id3

File Operations

  • Duplicate file — quickly clone a file in the same directory
  • Copy / Paste — standard clipboard-based copy and paste support
  • View properties — inspect detailed file and folder properties
  • Advanced selection — select all, invert selection, select by mask with keyboard shortcuts
  • UPX compression — compress/decompress EXE and DLL files via UPX

UI & Usability

  • Dark / Light / Norton Commander themes — switch UI modes to match your preference
  • Improved default sorting — date and size sort descending by default; name sorts ascending
  • USB drive support — detect and browse USB disk keys seamlessly

Infrastructure

  • GitHub CI/CD — automated compile and build via GitHub Actions

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed empty bottom button bar triggering unintended actions when Alt-clicked
  • Fixed Alt+F1 / Alt+F2 path dropdowns not changing the folder
  • Fixed a bug in multi-file copying

✨ Core Features

  • Dual-pane navigation with keyboard-first workflow
  • Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) with fuzzy search and aliases
  • Data-driven action system via config/apps.json — no recompilation needed for tool changes
  • Built-in and external actions with selection/context rules
  • External task progress bar with stop button
  • Persistent state — left/right paths, theme mode, and bookmarks in config/acommander.properties
  • Sort by Name / Size / Modified (header click or palette actions)
  • Incremental in-pane filtering by typing letters/digits
  • Dark / Light / Norton Commander themes — switchable UI modes

📂 File Operations

Operation Details
Rename Single or batch via Ant Renamer
Copy / Move Between panes
Copy / Paste Clipboard-based copy and paste
Duplicate Clone a file in the same directory
Create New directory or new file
Delete With fallback unlock-delete for locked files
Secure Wipe Via SDelete
Attributes Change file/folder attributes
Properties View detailed file/folder properties
Compare Files Diff two files side by side via ExamDiff
Synchronize Folders Keep two directories in sync
Advanced Selection Select all, invert, select by mask

🌐 Virtual File System (VFS) & Remote Access

A Commander v4.0 introduces a virtual file system layer that lets you browse non-local locations as if they were regular directories.

Feature Details
Archive browsing Navigate inside zip, 7z, and other archives transparently
FTP Connect to FTP servers and browse files inline (via curl)
SFTP / FTPS Secure remote browsing over SSH or TLS (via curl)
FTP-to-FTP copy Transfer files directly between two remote servers
USB drives Detect and browse USB disk keys

🏷️ Metadata Editing

Media Type Details
Video Edit video file metadata tags via AtomicParsley
Images View and modify EXIF/IPTC metadata via exiv2
MP3 / Audio Update ID3 tags (title, artist, album, etc.) via id3

🔍 Search & Navigation

Feature Shortcut
File search (wildcard-aware) F10
Find-in-files text search (ripgrep) Alt+F10
Path dropdowns Alt+F1 / Alt+F2
Open terminal here F9
Open Explorer here Alt+F9
Bookmark / Go to / Remove bookmark via Command Palette
Sync other pane to current path via Command Palette

📦 Archive, PDF, Convert & Checksum

Category Actions
Archive Pack to zip (F11) via 7-Zip GUI · Unpack (F12) via 7-Zip GUI · Extract anything (Alt+F12) via Universal Extractor · Split large file (Alt+F11) via 7z CLI
PDF Merge PDF files · Extract PDF pages (all pages, specific pages/ranges, pages-per-output chunking)
Convert Media conversion (Alt+F5) auto-routes to image or audio · Graphics via caesiumclt.exe · Audio via sndfile-convert.exe
Checksum Single file or recursive folder checksum via rhash.exe
UPX Compress/decompress EXE and DLL files via upx.exe

⌨️ Default Shortcuts

Key Action Key Action
F1 Help F7 Create Directory
F2 / Shift+F6 Rename Alt+F7 Create File
F3 View F8 / Delete Delete
F4 Edit Shift+F8 / Shift+Del Delete & Wipe
F5 Copy F9 Open Terminal Here
Alt+F5 Convert Media Alt+F9 Open Explorer Here
F6 Move F10 / Ctrl+F Search for Files
Alt+F10 Find in Files Ctrl+R Refresh Panels
F11 Pack to Zip Ctrl+Shift+P Command Palette
Alt+F11 Split Large File Alt+F1 / Alt+F2 Path Dropdown
F12 Unpack Alt+Enter Change Attributes
Alt+F12 Extract Anything

Quick tips: Tab switches active pane · Enter opens folder/file · Backspace goes to parent · F3 on a folder calculates its size.

🧰 External Tools Bundled

Tool Location
Universal Viewer apps/view/UniversalViewer
Notepad4 & TedNPad apps/edit
FastCopy apps/copy
7-Zip GUI apps/pack_unpack/7zG.exe
Universal Extractor apps/extract_all/UniExtract
PDFtk apps/pdf/pdftk.exe
Ant Renamer apps/multi_rename
ThisIsMyFile & SDelete apps/delete
ripgrep apps/search_in_files/rg.exe
Caesium CLI apps/image_convert/caesiumclt.exe
sndfile-convert apps/sound_convert/sndfile-convert.exe
rhash apps/checksum/rhash.exe
ExamDiff apps/file_compare/ExamDiff.exe
exiv2 apps/image_metadata/exiv2.exe
id3 & id3-images apps/audio_metadata
AtomicParsley apps/video_metadata/AtomicParsley.exe
UPX apps/exe_compress/upx.exe
curl apps/remote_connectivity/curl.exe

⚙️ Configuration (config/apps.json)

Every action is data-driven. Add, remove, or reconfigure tools without touching the source code.

Action Schema

{
  "id": "openVSCode",
  "label": "Open in VS Code",
  "shortcut": "Ctrl+Alt+V",
  "aliases": ["code", "vscode"],
  "contexts": ["filePane", "commandPalette"],
  "selection": "single",
  "type": "external",
  "path": "C:/Program Files/Microsoft VS Code/Code.exe",
  "args": ["${selectedFile}"],
  "refreshAfter": false,
  "prompt": {
    "title": "Optional argument",
    "label": "Value",
    "defaultValue": "${selectedName}"
  }
}

Fields

Field Required Notes
id ✅ Unique action id
label ✅ Display name
shortcut — Keyboard shortcut string
aliases — Palette search aliases
contexts — global · filePane · commandPalette
selection — none · single · multi · any · singleFile
type — builtin (default) or external
builtin — Override builtin handler id
path External Executable path
args — Argument array
refreshAfter — Refresh panes after execution
prompt — Prompt config for external actions

Placeholders in args

Placeholder Meaning
${selectedFile} First selected file path
${selectedFileQuoted} First selected file path (quoted)
${selectedFiles} All selected file paths as separate args
${selectedFilesJoined} All selected file paths as quoted, comma-joined string
${selectedName} Selected item name
${focusedPath} / ${focusedPathQuoted} Focused pane path
${targetFolder} / ${targetFolderQuoted} Opposite pane path
${promptValue} Value entered from the prompt dialog

ToolCommandBuilder also creates quoted aliases for extra placeholders (e.g. ${archiveFileQuoted} when ${archiveFile} is provided by builtin flows).

🚀 Build & Run

# Run the application
.\gradlew.bat run

# Run tests
.\gradlew.bat test

# Build fat JAR
.\gradlew.bat shadowJar

# Build Windows distribution (EXE + runtime + apps/config + zip)
.\gradlew.bat dist

Output locations:

Artifact Path
JAR + resources build/libs/
EXE build/launch4j/
Distribution dist/

🗂️ Project Layout

acommander/
├── apps/                    Bundled external tools
├── config/                  apps.json, user properties, F1 help markdown
├── src/
│   ├── main/
│   │   ├── java/            Application source
│   │   └── resources/       FXML, styles, icons, logging config
│   └── test/
│       └── java/            Unit tests
├── build.gradle             Build, packaging, launch4j, dist tasks
└── LICENSE

📄 License

Released under the Boost Software License 1.0 — see LICENSE for details.

About

Dual Pane File Explorer (NC Clone) with A Command Palette, and a Suite of 3rd Party Utils

chaiware.org/java/acommander/

Topics

norton-commander file-explorer dual-pane norton

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Readme

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BSL-1.0 license
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Releases 5

v4.5 Bugs & Features ironed out Latest
Apr 9, 2026
+ 4 releases

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