Where Does Ranger Store Config?
Ranger centers on ~/.config/ranger with rc.conf plus rifle.conf. Seed defaults and overrides.
Last updated
Ranger keeps rc.conf, rifle.conf, scope.sh, and commands in ~/.config/ranger, honoring XDG_CONFIG_HOME. Nothing exists until you seed it: ranger --copy-config=all copies commented defaults without touching existing files.
Bookmarks, tags, and history persist in the same dir. Cache and data split to ~/.cache/ranger and ~/.local/share/ranger, each settable with --cachedir and --datadir. Run with --clean to test whether the config or the system is at fault.
Where Ranger stores this, by platform
~/.config/ranger/rc.conf
Main options file; rifle.conf beside it maps openers. Seed with ranger --copy-config=all. --confdir redirects the whole tree for portable setups.
Frequently asked questions
ranger has no config files, what now
Normal on fresh installs. Run ranger --copy-config=all to generate rc.conf, rifle.conf, scope.sh, and commands.py with full comments. Edit after seeding, never before.
how do i back up ranger
Copy ~/.config/ranger for settings plus bookmarks and tags inside it. Data and cache roots travel separately only when you redirected them with flags.
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