mini.files: “Edit” Mode to Allow Full Normal-Mode Text Editing of Filenames

[Or1g3n]

I really love mini.files — it’s incredibly fast for navigating directory structures and offers the same intuitive editing style that I enjoy from oil.nvim.

There’s one area, though, where I often run into friction: editing file or directory names that require horizontal movement. When I’m trying to move the cursor left or right during a rename, I occasionally press h or l in normal mode out of habit. Since those keys are bound to navigation/open actions in mini.files, this can cause accidental directory jumps or opening files unintentionally.

Doing simple operations like delete or move feels very smooth, but more precise text-editing inside a filename sometimes becomes tricky because of these conflicting key behaviors.

Feature Proposal: “Edit Mode” Toggle

I think it would be extremely useful to have a keybinding that:
• Locks mini.files into a dedicated “edit mode”, where its normal navigation mappings (like h/l) are temporarily disabled,
• Allows the user to freely use full normal-mode text editing keys to adjust file/dir names,
• And then, with another toggle, exit edit mode and return to regular mini.files navigation behavior.

This would let users make precise edits without worrying about triggering unintended file-navigation actions.

[drowning-cat]

It seems like a really confusing and bad idea. You can simply remap the keys however you want. For example:

go_out = "H",
go_in = "L",
go_out_plus = "<C-h>",
go_in_plus = "<C-l>",

[Or1g3n]

There is nothing confusing about it. Mini.files is a mix of file tree and oil.nvim behavior. What I am suggesting is a way to turn on an "oil" mode so you can get a pure editing experience without have to rethink anything. I think this would prevent users from having both mini.files and oil installed.

[drowning-cat]

I’ll explain my reasoning as well. Neovim already has multiple modes, and mini.files adds its own set of bindings on top of that, essentially another mode. Adding yet another mode with instead of just overriding keys feels unnecessary. It’s basically trading off two keys for an entire new mode. I haven’t used oil.nvim, so I can’t say how good it is, but sometimes it’s just not worth overcomplicating things. Still, I might be wrong here.

[echasnovski]

What I am suggesting is a way to turn on an "oil" mode so you can get a pure editing experience without have to rethink anything.

Unfortunately, you would still have to "rethink" something based on how manipulation tracking works. I believe 'oil.nvim' has similar behavior.

And, of course, having both 'mini.files' and 'oil.nvim' installed feels like an overfitting to one particular case. I don't think the issue brought up here is bad enough to resort to other plugin for manipulating file system.

[Or1g3n]

I can't speak to the complexity of implementing this. In my mind which could be way off, the implementation would be a simple key map that toggles (enables/disables) the mini.files navigation based keymaps; not navigation within the buffer but across directory buffers. So it's not truly a "new mode" it's just a way to temporarily disable directory movement so you get full access to normal mode editing.

If this somehow breaks the way mini.files tracks changes then I can see why this would be a no-go. Hopefully I am explaining this clearly. No worries if you still think this isn't a possible feature. Fyler seems to have solved this but it lacks the quick navigation across directories that I think makes mini.files stand out amongst all other file tree solutions.

[Or1g3n]

For what it's worth (in case anyone else is looking for this sort of thing), the implementation was pretty easy and works for what I was hoping for. If inside a mini.files buffer, <Leader>ee essentially disables the navigation behavior (go_in/go_out) so I can edit with full normal mode; pressing again resumes normal navigation behavior. Obviously the below can be more robust since this assume users are using h, l for moving across directories but in my set up this works fine and does exactly what I would have expected it to.

		-- Custom Edit Mode Toggle for mini.files
		local edit_mode_active = false
		local function toggle_edit_mode()
		    edit_mode_active = not edit_mode_active
		    if edit_mode_active then
			vim.keymap.del('n', 'h', { buffer = buf_id })
			vim.keymap.del('n', 'l', { buffer = buf_id })
			vim.notify('MiniFiles: Edit mode enabled', vim.log.levels.INFO)
		    else
			vim.keymap.set('n', 'h', function() minifiles.go_out() end, { buffer = buf_id, desc = 'Minifiles: Left navigation' })
			vim.keymap.set('n', 'l', function() minifiles.go_in() end, { buffer = buf_id, desc = 'Minifiles: Right navigation' })
			vim.notify('MiniFiles: Edit mode disabled', vim.log.levels.INFO)
		    end
		end
		-- Toggle edit mode with <Leader>ee
		vim.keymap.set('n', '<Leader>ee', toggle_edit_mode, { buffer = buf_id, desc = 'Toggle MiniFiles Edit Mode' })

[echasnovski]

Thanks for the idea!

This sounds interesting (and not a bad idea per se, @drowning-cat). I've definitely been burnt by this use case in the past.

However, my suggestion is to use different forms of horizontal navigation instead of j and k when inside explorer window. I usually resort to fFtT keys. For example, fa to navigate to the letter which is start of the change and ct. to change file/directory name's suffix (but keep extension).

There are also other ways of mitigating this:

• Use arrows.
• Enter Insert mode and navigate within it. Like with 'mini.basics' <M-hjkl>.
• Remap go_in and go_out keys as @drowning-cat suggested.

So all in all, I think adding this type of complexity to 'mini.files' doesn't fit the whole 'mini.nvim' design, since there are solid workarounds.

[Or1g3n]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I definitely see the valid workarounds and already use most of the ones mentioned. I guess I was looking for a type of "oil" mode where I didn't have to rethink anything and just edit like a normal neovim buffer. I may just try to code this in my own config. Thanks!