F5: Copy

From windows Commande Help

This command copies files and whole directories from the source directory to another directory.

Select the files you want to copy and press F5.

This opens a dialog box where you can type the target path and a file mask. As a default, the path of the target window is presented together with *.* as the file mask. You can use any type of valid DOS file name including wild cards as your target file name. In the field below, you can define that only specific files should be copied. Example: You can copy only files with the extension *.txt (also applies to files in subdirs!).

To copy a file in the same directory (to a different name), press SHIFT+F5. If you are running Windows 95/98 or NT new shell you can create shortcuts with CTRL+SHIFT+F5.

With the button labeled Tree you can choose the target directory from a directory tree. If you want to choose from a different directory, you can specify the drive (including the :) in the dialog box before selecting the Tree button.

If the source directory shows the contents of an archive, the dialog to unpack files is shown. You can now also unpack files directly from an archive to an FTP server! The files will then first be unpacked to a temporary directory, and then uploaded to the remote server. The reverse (FTP to archive) isn't supported. The danger is too high that after a long download, the pack operation fails, and the downloaded files are lost.

Alternatively, if the target directory shows the contents of an archive (and the source directory shows a normal directory), the dialog to pack files is shown.

If you want to create a new archive and pack the selected files into it, simply press ALT+F5. This will open a dialog box to pack files. With ALT+SHIFT+F5 the files will be deleted after packing. New: You can now also pack files directly from one archive to another!

If you want to unpack the archive under the cursor (or the selected archives), press ALT+F9. After giving the target directory (and if desired a file mask), all files from the archive will be unpacked.

In the 32-bit version, the copy, unpack (zip only) and pack operations can be moved to the background by pressing the 'Background' button during the copy operation. This allows to do other things in Windows Commander during the operation. You need to press F2 or CTRL+R to refresh the directory after a background operation completes. Otherwise modified files will not be shown.
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Drag & Drop

From windows Commande Help

Drag & Drop

Select some files, click on them with your left mouse button and hold it down. Move the mouse pointer to the other file window or to any other application which supports drag & drop. The mouse pointer will change its shape during this process:

A slashed circle means that the application under the pointer will not accept a Drop, or that the dragged files have the wrong extension.

An arrow with three little squares attached to it means that the application is ready to accept the files. If you now release the left mouse button the files are accepted by the application.

If the mouse points to a subdirectory or an archive (in Windows Commander), a frame will appear around it. This means that the selected files will be moved/copied there if you release the left mouse button. If the whole target directory is full of directory entries, you can make a Drop to the target directory itself by releasing the files a little above or below the target directory.

The buttons View (F3), Edit (F4) and Delete (F8) can also be a target for Drag&Drop actions. The initiated actions are the same as if you just press the button(s) directly.

You can also drop files on the button bar. If you drag a file onto an icon, the corresponding program is started with this file (or the first marked file). If you drag a file on a blank space in the bar, or if you hold down the SHIFT key during the drop, the file will be inserted into the bar at this position.

If you have set Windows Commander to left mouse button selection mode, you can use the right mouse to Drag&Drop too. In this case, you will get a menu when dropping the files which allows to choose between copy, move, and create shortcut.

Examples for Drag&Drop:


- Drag the selected files from the root to the target directory. This will copy the files after confirmation by the user.

- Drag the files to a subdirectory to copy them there.

- Keep the ALT or SHIFT key depressed to move the files instead of copying them. This will be shown by a minus (-) sign in the drag cursor.

- Keep the CTRL and SHIFT key depressed to create shortcuts of the files instead of copying them. This will be shown by an arrow sign in the drag cursor. This will only work in Windows 95/98 and Windows NT new shell.

- Drag the files to an archive to add them to this archive.

- You can drag a single file to the print manager (Win 3.1) to print it. If the file is associated for printing with a program, this program will be loaded and the file is printed.

- Some other programs like Paintbrush, Write, Cardfile and a few Shareware programs also support Drag&Drop. Just try it out. (Caution with trashcans, they will delete your files!)

- You can drag a file to the task bar in Windows 95/98/NT, but you cannot drop it there. Instead dragging files to the taskbar will bring the associated program to the front, so you can drop the files there.

- You can now drop files on the Desktop, and even on Explorer folders (Win95/98/NT only).

- Drag a file to the command line to add its short (DOS) name to it. To add the long name, press Ctrl+Enter instead. Holding down Shift adds the name with full path.
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Keyboard layout

From windows Commande Help
Key Action

F1 Help
F2 Reread source window
F3 List files
F4 Edit files
F5 Copy files
F6 Rename or move files
F7 Create directory
F8 Delete files


F9 Activate menu above source window (left or right)
F10 Activate left menu or deactivate menu
ALT+F1 change left drive
ALT+F2 change right drive
ALT+F3 Use alternate (external or internal) viewer
ALT+F4 Exit
ALT+F5 Pack files

ALT+SHIFT+F5 Pack files
ALT+F7 Find
ALT+F8 Opens the history list of the command line
ALT+F9 Unpack specified files
ALT+F10 Opens a dialog box with the current directory tree
SHIFT+F2 Compare file lists
SHIFT+F4 Create new text file and load into editor
SHIFT+F5 Copy files (with rename) in the same directory
SHIFT+F10 Show context menu
SHIFT+CTRL+F5 Create shortcuts of the selected files (Windows 95/98/NT new shell only)
SHIFT+F6 Rename files in the same directory
SHIFT+ESC Minimizes Windows Commander to an icon

ALT+left/right Go to previous/next dir of already visited dirs
ALT+down Open history list of already visited dirs (like the history list in a WWW browser)

NUM + expand selection
NUM - shrink selection

NUM * invert selection

CTRL+NUM + select all
CTRL+NUM - deselect all
ALT+NUM + select all files with the same extension
CTRL+PgUp
or Backspace Change to parent directory (cd ..)
CTRL+< Jump to the root directory (most European keyboards)
CTRL+\ Jump to the root directory (US keyboard)
CTRL+PgDn Open directory/archive (also self extracting .EXE archives)

CTRL+left/right Open directory/archive and display it in the target window. If the cursor is not on a directory name, the current directory is displayed instead.

CTRL+F1 File display 'brief' (only file names)
CTRL+F2 File display 'full' (all file details)

CTRL+F3 Sort by name
CTRL+F4 Sort by extension
CTRL+F5 Sort by date/time
CTRL+F6 Sort by size
CTRL+F7 Unsorted

CTRL+F8 Display directory tree
CTRL+F9 Print file under cursor using the associated program
CTRL+F10 Show all files
CTRL+F11 Show only programs
CTRL+F12 Show user defined files

TAB Switch between left and right file list

Letter Redirect to command line, cursor jumps to command line
INSERT Select file or directory.
SPACE Select file or directory (as INSERT). If SPACE is used on an unselected directory under the cursor, the contents in this directory are counted and the size is shown in the "full" view instead of the string <'DIR>. This can be disabled through 'Configuration' - 'Options' - 'Operation' - 'Selection with Space'.

ENTER Change directory / run program / run associated program / execute command line if not empty. If the source directory shows the contents of an archive, further information on the packed file is given.

SHIFT+ENTER 1. Runs command line / program under cursor with preceding command /c and leave the program's window open. Only works if NOCLOSE.PIF is in your Windows directory!

2. With ZIP files: use alternative choice of these (as chosen in Packer config): (Treat archives like directories <-> call associated program, i.e. winzip or quinzip)
3. Inside an archive file: Unpack the file under the cursor and treat it like an archive (zip in zip processing)

ALT+SHIFT+ENTER
If the cursor stands on a directory, the contents of all directories in the current directory are counted. The sizes of the directories are then shown in the "full" view instead of the string <'DIR>.
ALT+ENTER Show property sheet.

CTRL+B Directory branch: Show contents of current dir and all subdirs in one list
CTRL+D Open directory hotlist ('bookmarks')

CTRL+F Connect to FTP server
CTRL+SHIFT+F Disconnect from FTP server
CTRL+I Switch to target directory
CTRL+L Calculate occupied space (of the selected files)
CTRL+M Change FTP transfer mode
CTRL+N New FTP connection (enter URL or host address)
CTRL+P Copy current path to command line
CTRL+Q Quick view panel instead of file window
CTRL+R Reread source directory

CTRL+T Multi-Rename-Tool
CTRL+U Exchange directories

CTRL+C (32 bit) Copy files to clipboard

CTRL+X (32 bit) Cut files to clipboard
CTRL+V (32 bit) Paste from clipboard to current dir.

ALTGR+Letter(s) or
CTRL+ALT+Letter(s)
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What is Windows Commander?

From windows Commande Help

Windows Commander is a file manager for Windows (TM) similar to the Windows Explorer. But Windows Commander uses a different approach: it has two fixed windows side by side like a well-known file manager for DOS.

Here are some key features of Windows Commander:


- Keyboard functions similar to the DOS original.
- Supports Drag & Drop with the mouse, including to the print manager.
- Extended copying, moving, renaming and deleting of entire trees (Enables deleting "full" directories).
- Archives are handled like subdirectories. You can easily copy files to and from archives. The appropriate archiving program is automatically called. pkzip, arj, lha, rar, uc2 and ace are all supported.
- Start-menu (User-defined commands) to place your frequently used DOS or Windows programs into a drop-down menu. The actual directory and/or the file under the cursor can be delivered to the application.
- Command line for the simple starting of programs with parameters, simply by typing the program name or by pressing CTRL+ENTER or CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.

- Enhanced search function with full text search in any files across multiple drives.
- Built in file viewer (F3) to view files of ANY SIZE in hex, binary or text format, using either the ASCII- (DOS) or the ANSI- (Windows) character set. The line width and font size can now be changed.
- Internal Unzip by Info-Zip, which allows unzipping without calling an external program! The source code in Turbo-Pascal is free and can be obtained directly from the author.
- Configurable button bar to start external programs or internal menu commands.
- Configurable main menu.
- Internal unpackers for ZIP, ARJ, LZH, GZ, TAR, RAR and ACE formats.
- Internal ZIP packer, based on ZLib by Jean-loup Gailly.
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