xplr version 0.21.0 was released last week. If you haven't already, go ahead and install the latest version. This post will try to break down the changelog in the release in an easy-to-digest manner, looking through the perspective of different user groups.

For Regular Users (who don't yet have a custom init.lua)

This release contains several bug fixes, mostly for macOS users. Other than bug fixes, v0.20.1 introduced some changes to improve the quality of usage, such as: dropping the default $SHELL, instead of bash when spawning xplr shell by typing :!, displaying the help menu in full screen when in intermediate modes. Then v0.20.2 introduced changes to improve the UI, and make in more $NO_COLOR friendly.

But the most exciting changes came in v0.21.0.

Search

* You can now search files using skim/fzf search syntax. Which means, to search files starting with "foo", you type "/^foo", to search files ending with "bar", you type "/barquot; and so on.

* You can toggle the search algorithm while in search mode by pressing ctrl-a. Or by pressing ctrl-f for fuzzy search and ctrl-r for regex search.

* Toggle between ordered and unordered search while in search mode by pressing ctrl-z.

* Or even sort the files manually by temporarily switching to sort mode by pressing ctrl-s when in search mode.

Selection

* The selection list will be retained after each operation, unless the files are renames, moved, deleted on unselected manually. This allows us to perform multiple operations on the selected files, without having to re-select them again.

* See the full selection list in a $PAGEER such as less by typing :sl.

* Edit the selection list in your favorite $EDITOR by typing :se.

* Create soft link or hard link of the selected items by typing :ss or :sh.

* If file name conflict occurs when moving, copying or creating soft/hard links, etc. xplr will add a suffix, instead of skipping or overwriting them.

* The selection panel will display the shorthand format of the paths based on your current directory to make them more visible.

* You can navigate between the selected paths by pressing ctrl-n and ctrl-p in default mode.

Permissions

* By focusing on a path and typing :p you can edit its permissions interactively.

UI

* xplr will try to respect the $LS_COLORS environment variable. TIP: you can use vivid, to generate the value for your favorite color theme.

* Style and colors will be applied to only the file name, instead of the whole row in the table.

* The selection list will also display colored paths.

For Advanced Users and Plugin Authors

For advanced users and plugin authors, there are tons of new utility functions and UI/theming improvements. v0.20.1 introduced JSON and YAML utilities, and xplr.util.version. Then v0.21.0 introduced... way too many to list here.

Hooks

Two new hooks were introduced in v0.20.2: on_mode_switch and on_mode_switch.

Search

Checkout the new messages to improve the search experience.

Also, checkout the default search configurations.

UI

New layouts Static and Dynamic to replace the less flexible CustomContent layout.

Also, don't forget to check out the new utilities that for styling and theming.

See the new init.lua to get a feel of how they can be used to apply more customized styles.