Specific meaning of "source" and "target"?

[ajax]

I'm a bit of a newbie with respect to MC.  Very much want to use dual panel capability to run scripts on folders/files located in one part of the file system that affect other parts of the file system.  In that, make selections in one pane (? source) and operate on selections in the other pane (? target).  With some difficulty I have been successful writing some such scripts but have now discovered that making source and target selections is something I have yet to figure how to do.

Have spent a good bit of time in the Online Documentation which I'd generally say is very impressive but have yet to find anything describing the notion of dual panels and how they relate to each other.  I'm guessing that this has something to do with the commonly used but, as best I've been able to find, undefined meaning of the terms "source" and "target".

Would be grateful if someone could either refer me to what I haven't been able to find or possibly offer a precise definition of what these terms mean with respect to MC.

[Mathias (Author)]

In dual panels file manager,  (Almost all of them, including MC) The active tab in the active panel is the source panel and the other panels is the default target.

The source panel is is the panels that will be the default source location when you select different command.

If you select some files in one panel that tab and panel will now be active since you are doing something in it, (You will have the blue frame around that panel)
then you press the copy shortcut (not using drag and drop) then the target for the copy is the path that is some in current target panel. that is the other panel.

So source is the active tab in the active panel (blue frame around that panel) and target is the active tab on the other side

With this you can use keyboard commands and be very efficent

[ajax]

Many thanks, sorry for the trouble but that is a big help.