vifm: How to set right window to see content of dir or file highlighted in left window

For versions prior to 0.8.1 (released on 2016-01-17)

Add command similar to the following one to your ~/.vifm/vifmrc file as one of the last of :fileview commands (because the order in which they appear matters and you don't want it to follow fileview *):

fileview */ tree %c

For 0.8.1 and up

Previewing directories is builtin now, just don't redefine viewer for */ and it will work (you can use *[^/] pattern for :fileviewer command to don't match directories).

Then turn on quick view with:

view

You can add this command to your vifmrc. Or add tui to 'vifminfo' (e.g. with set vifminfo+=tui in vifmrc) to make vifm save quick view state between sessions.

Extra

I also would suggest to add a mapping to switch quick view mode with a key in normal mode to your ~/.vifm/vifmrc file:

nnoremap w :view<cr>

By the way

Sample configuration file of vifm contains commands like these.

(like in ranger)

If you need closer resemblance, take a look at 'millerview' and 'milleroptions' options.

I'm not yet allowed to comment, so I provide an answer to get my points.

In addition to xaizek's answer

fileview */ tree %c

I have added

fileview ../ tree %c -L 1

below that to be able to see what is in the parent directory while scanning the contents of a directory. This is just for cosmetic completeness. (parent directory is not picked up by */)

I don't think you can without, possibly, writing your own command.

vifm is designed as a Midnight Commander like two-pane file explorer. It means that each pane can be considered as a "source" or "target" for your file manipulations. The right pane is pretty much totally disconnected from the left pane and can't be consired a "preview" of the content of some directory on the left pane.

ranger is designed after Mac OS X's Finder's column view where you don't have that notion of "source/target".

I guess it's one style or another. I've got both on all my machines and can't decide which one to throw away as each program has its strong points.

I'm not allowed to comment.

To go a bit further than Svenn comment, you can add to your .vifmrc:

" Normal dirs
fileview */ tree %c -L <depth>

" Hidden dirs  
fileview *./ tree %c -L <depth>

" .. Parent dir
fileview ../ tree %c -L <depth>

Please, note that order has its importance if you want to set a different depth for each kind of folder. Svenn's wildcard doesn't work for hidden directories (vifm version: 0.9.1 and tree v1.7.0.