Sunflower Is A Dual Pane File Explorer For Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat & Fedora Linux

Sunflower is an open source dual pane file manager for Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat and Fedora Linux. Obviously it probably also works with other Linux based operating systems, but I am naming these two specifically due to the available distribution packages that I found.

This small, yet highly customizable file manager comes with a number of handy hotkeys and can be further enhanced by installing plugins. Sunflower can be quite handy for accessing documents in dual panes instead of two overlapping windows (for example when comparing directory data).

Sunflower can be installed in Ubuntu and Debian from the download link given at the end of this post, whereas, Fedora and Red Hat users can enter the below commands in the Terminal (thanks to ferramroberto).

wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/964512/lffl_fedora/sunflower-0.1.26-2.noarch.rpm
sudo rpm-ivh sunflower-0.1.26-2.noarch.rpm

You can also run the Sunflower.py file (after extracting the package) to run Sunflower (such as Ubuntu and Debian users). Alternatively, you can install the deb packages in the software center for Ubuntu and Debian.

A number of hotkeys can be used for more efficient and quick file management in Sunflower. The main window hotkeys include the following:

Main window shortcuts

  • Shortcut Description
  • CTRL + A Select all files
  • (star) (numpad) Invert selection
  • + (numpad) Select with pattern
  • – (numpad) Unselect with pattern
  • ALT + + (numpad) Select items with same extension
  • ALT + – (numpad) Unselect items with same extension
  • CTRL + F1 Show bookmarks/mounts for left panel
  • CTRL + F2 Show bookmarks/mounts for right panel
  • CTRL + ALT + P Options window
  • CTRL + H Toggle show hidden files
  • CTRL + Q Quit application
  • F11 Full screen
  • F12 Compare directories

Bookmarks can be added and edited from Options menu. Similarly,  the simple Home button enables going to the Home directory. You can also run Terminal commands from the Terminal button. The available Terminal shortcuts are as follows:

Terminal shortcuts

  • Shortcut Description
  • CTRL + SHIFT + C Copy selected text
  • CTRL + SHIFT + V Paste text from clipboard
  • CTRL + T Duplicate tab
  • CTRL + W Close tab
  • CTRL + Tab Next tab
  • CTRL + SHIFT + Tab Previous tab
  • CTRL + Z Open terminal tab

You can also utilize a number of file list shortcuts, which are as follows:

File List shortcuts

  • Shortcut
  • Description
  • CTRL + B
  • Edit bookmarks
  • CTRL + D
  • Bookmark current directory
  • CTRL + T
  • Duplicate tab
  • CTRL + SHIFT + T
  • Open selected directory in new tab
  • CTRL + W
  • Close tab
  • CTRL + Tab
  • Next tab
  • CTRL + SHIFT + Tab
  • Previous tab
  • CTRL + Z
  • Open terminal tab
  • CTRL + R
  • Reload list
  • CTRL + C
  • Copy selected items to clipboard
  • CTRL + X
  • Cut selected items to clipboard
  • CTRL + V
  • Paste selected items from clipboard
  • Backspace, Left
  • Go to parent directory
  • ALT + Letter
  • Quick search (default behavior, can be changed)
  • Menu or SHIFT + F10
  • Open file/directory menu
  • CTRL + Menu
  • Open with menu
  • CTRL + Left/Right
  • Inherit path from/on the oposite panel
  • ALT + F3
  • Enable/disable fast media preview
  • F4
  • Open text editor
  • F5
  • Copy selection
  • F6
  • Move selection
  • F7
  • Create directory
  • CTRL + F7
  • Create empty file
  • F8 / Delete
  • Delete selection
  • Enter, Right
  • Execute selected item or open directory

For more information, check out the below video:

Download Links:

(Python File)

Download Sunflower

(Deb Packages for Ubuntu and Debian)

Download Ubuntu 11.04 Natty i386/amd64
Download Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick i386/amd64
Download Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid i386/amd64