# Virtual file systems (VFS)

A basic OFM feature is VFS, this an abstracted layer over all kinds of archived information (ZIP files, FTP servers, TAR archives, NFS filesystems, SAMBA shares, ISO cd/dvd images, RPM catalogs, etc.), which allows the user to access all the information in these divergent types of filesystems transparently - just like entering an ordinary sub-directory. &krusader; supports several virtual file systems:

- Remote connections VFS: provides the capability of working with a remote connection session (FTP, NFS, Samba, FISH, SFTP) like with local filesystems. It is perfect for complex remote operations and almost as powerful as most standalone GUI remote clients.

- Archive VFS: allows to browse archives in VFS as it was a directory (ace, arj, bzip2, deb, gzip, iso, lha, rar, rpm, tar, zip and 7-zip).

- Search VFS: Feed to listbox places the search results in VFS.

- Synchronizer VFS: places the synchronizer results in VFS.

Actions you perform on the files in VFS are performed on the 'real' files. You do not just delete files from the VFS - you delete them from your hard drive. Limitations: you cannot create directories inside a VFS.

It is possible to keep the directory structure when doing a copy from a virtual folder to a non virtual folder, by selecting the "Keep virtual directory structure" check box of the copy dialog. Imagine the following virtual folder:

    $ file:/home/myhome/mydir1/myfile1

    $ file:/home/myhome/mydir1/myfile2

    $ file:/home/myhome/mydir2/myfile3

Then do the following steps:

- go to the virtual folder and select the files

- select a destination folder (non virtual!)

- press F5-> copy dialog appears

- Check Keep virtual directory structure

- Select `/home/myhome/` for base &URL;

- Start copy by pressing OK

The result will be:

    $ destinationdir/mydir1/myfile1

    $ destinationdir/mydir1/myfile2

    $ destinationdir/mydir2/myfile3