# Welcome to Midnight Commander

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GNU Midnight Commander (or `mc`) is a visual, dual-pane file manager. It is released under the GNU General Public License and therefore qualifies as Free Software.

Midnight Commander is a feature-rich, full-screen, text-mode application that allows you to copy, move, and delete files and entire directory trees, search for files, and execute commands in the subshell. Internal viewer, editor and diff viewer are included.

`mc` uses versatile text interface libraries such as [ncurses](https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/) or [S-Lang](https://www.jedsoft.org/slang/). This allows it to work on a regular console, inside an X Window terminal, over `ssh` connections, and in all kinds of remote shells.

![Midnight Commander screenshot](img/mc-screenshot-cropped.png)

## Installation

The easiest way to install `mc` is to use your system package manager:

=== "Debian / Ubuntu"

    ```
    # apt-get install mc
    ```

=== "Fedora / Red Hat"

    ```
    # dnf install mc
    ```

=== "FreeBSD"

    ```
    # pkg install mc
    ```

=== "OpenBSD"

    ```
    # pkg_add mc
    ```

=== "macOS"

    ```
    % brew install midnight-commander
    ```

Our [source releases]({{ extra.downloads_url }}) are kindly mirrored by OSU OSL. Our [canonical repository]({{ config.repo_url }}) is hosted on GitHub. See the [Source code](source-code.md) page for details.

## Documentation

The primary way to learn about `mc` is to use the context-sensitive online help available via ++f1++.

We also have extensive manual pages, which are the primary source of official documentation:

=== "mc"

    ```
    $ man mc
    ```

    ... or read the latest [development version]({{ extra.man_url }}/mc.html) online.

=== "mcedit"

    ```
    $ man mcedit
    ```

    ... or read the latest [development version]({{ extra.man_url }}/mcedit.html) online.

=== "mcview"

    ```
    $ man mcview
    ```

    ... or read the latest [development version]({{ extra.man_url }}/mcview.html) online.

=== "mcdiff"

    ```
    $ man mcdiff
    ```

    ... or read the latest [development version]({{ extra.man_url }}/mcdiff.html) online.

## Color schemes

Midnight Commander supports theming! Check out the skins that come with the distribution or develop your own:

* <https://skins.midnight-commander.org>

## Contributing & support

* For support, see the [Communication](communication.md) page.
* To contribute to `mc`, proceed to the ["Development" section](source-code.md).
* Release notes for the development version are collected on the [wiki]({{ config.repo_url }}/wiki).