Browse Files
From your notes session, open the neighboring todo.txt through the file tree.
- Press
C-x t tto show the tree on the left. - Its immediate entries are already shown. Use Up/Down to select
todo.txt. - Press Enter to open it. Keyboard focus returns to the editing pane.
You can also click todo.txt to select and open it. Clicking a directory
expands or collapses it. For selection-only clicks, set
mouse.tree_activate_on_click = false in startup configuration, then use Enter
to open the selected entry.
The default ordinary-font presentation looks like this when your directory is
named notes; other entries are omitted:
▾ ◆ notes/
≡ notes.txt
≡ todo.txt
◆ identifies the root and ≡ identifies documents. Directories have a /
kind symbol and a separate ▸ disclosure; Right changes it to ▾ and shows
the children. Source files use λ, configuration files =, other files ·
and symlinks @. The symbols remain useful without color.
The tree starts at the parent directory of the file used to launch rev. Launching without a file uses the current directory. File visits follow the file's parent unless you chose a directory explicitly or configured cwd rooting. An explicit directory root stays selected when you visit files elsewhere.
To return to the tree, press C-x t f. Right expands a directory; Left
collapses it or moves to its parent. C-g returns to editing while leaving
the tree visible. C-x t t hides it.
You can also open a file directly with C-x C-f. Type part of its name and
use Tab to fill the highlighted suggestion. The first match is highlighted,
even when several names share a prefix. Up/Down chooses another suggestion;
Tab fills it and Enter opens it.
Tab continues through a completed directory inside the prompt. Enter accepts
the directory itself, closes the prompt and opens its tree.
With todo.txt highlighted, typing to and pressing Tab fills the prompt even
when tomorrow.txt also matches:
Find file: todo.txt
Run rev . to browse the current directory, or pass another directory path.
Its tree opens with immediate entries shown and child directories collapsed.
Hiding and showing it later preserves your selection and deliberate collapse.
To combine browsing with editing, start with rev ., use C-x C-f and Tab to
complete a file, then press Enter. Split with C-x 3 and click another file in
the tree: it opens in the editing pane you last selected. Each pane wraps at its
own width. C-g cancels a Find File prompt without opening the draft path;
resizing preserves the documents and their source positions.
To try minimal labels, edit decorated in the existing [tree] table of your
startup configuration, then restart rev:
[tree]
decorated = false
Your file rows now look like this, with the same navigation and click behavior:
v notes/
notes.txt
todo.txt
Set decorated = true and restart to restore symbols and entry colors. The
preferences chapter explains how to edit startup settings;
merge these excerpts into existing tables rather than adding duplicate tables.
If your terminal already uses a Nerd Fonts-compatible font, set nerd_fonts
to true in its existing [gutter] table and restart:
[gutter]
nerd_fonts = true
This changes both decorated tree icons and gutter bookmarks. Minimal tree labels stay minimal. The default is false; rev does not install or detect fonts. If icons appear as boxes, set it back to false for ordinary symbols.
The file tree reference covers file creation, rename, deletion and refresh. Focused prompts describes path completion in detail.
Next: Set Your Preferences.