Hjson or TOML

Two formats are allowed: TOML and Hjson.

This documentation will often show you the same setting in both formats, with two tabs, like this:

setting to use if your config file is in .hjson

setting to use if your config file is in .toml

Opening the configuration file

The main configuration file is called either conf.toml or conf.hjson.

This default file's location follows the XDG convention, which depends on your system settings. This location in your case can be found on the help screen (use ?). From this screen you can directly open the configuration file in your system's editor by typing :os (shortcut for :open_stay).

The default configuration file contains several example sections that you may uncomment and modify for your goals.

The current default configuration file may be seen here: default-conf.hjson.

Default flags

Broot accepts a few flags at launch (the complete list is available with broot --help.

For example, if you want to see hidden files (the ones whose name starts with a dot) and the status of files related to git, you launch broot with

br -gh

If you almost always want those flags, you may define them as default in the configuration file file, with the default_flags setting.

default_flags: gh

default_flags = "gh"

Those flags can still be overridden at launch with the negating ones. For example if you don't want to see hidden files at a specific launch, do

br -H

Mouse Capture

Broot usually captures the mouse so that you can click or double click on items. If you want to disable this capture, you may add this:

capture_mouse: false

capture_mouse = false

Special Paths

You may map special paths to specific behaviors. You may especially want

Example configuration:

special_paths: {
    "/media/slow-backup-disk"             : no-enter
    "/home/dys/useless"                   : hide
    "/home/dys/my-link-I-want-to-explore" : enter
}

[special-paths]
"/media/slow-backup-disk" = "no-enter"
"/home/dys/useless" = "hide"
"/home/dys/my-link-I-want-to-explore" = "enter"

Be careful that those paths (globs, in fact) are checked a lot when broot builds trees and that defining a lot of paths will impact the overall speed.

Search Modes

It's possible to redefine the mode mappings, for example if you usually prefer to do exact searches:

"search-modes": {
    <empty>: regex name
    /: fuzzy path
    z/: regex path
}

[search-modes]
"<empty>" = "regex name"
"/" = "fuzzy path"
"z/" = "regex path"

Note: I'd insist on you not overwriting default mode mappings before you master how broot is used and what those modes exactly work.

Selection Mark

When the background colors aren't rendered in your terminal, aren't visible enough, or just aren't clear enough for you, you may have the selected lines marked with triangles with

show_selection_mark: true

show_selection_mark = true

Columns order

You may change the order of file attributes in file lists:

For example, if you prefer to have the branches left of the tree (as was the default in broot prior 0.18.1) you can use

cols_order: [
    mark
    git
    branch
    permission
    date
    size
    count
    name
]

cols_order = [
    "mark",
    "git",
    "branch",
    "permission",
    "date",
    "size",
    "count",
    "name",
]

The name should be kept at end as it's the only one with a variable size.

Colors by file extension

broot doesn't support LS_COLORS which isn't available on all systems and is limited to 16 system dependant colors.

But you can still give a color to files by extension:

ext_colors: {
    png: "rgb(255, 128, 75)"
    rs: "yellow"
    toml: "ansi(105)"
}

[ext-colors]
png = "rgb(255, 128, 75)"
rs = "yellow"
toml = "ansi(105)"

Syntax Theme

Broot uses syntect for syntax coloring of previewed files.

It's possible to choose any of the standard themes listed here:

syntax_theme: base16-ocean.light

syntax_theme = "base16-ocean.light"