File Utilities

Name: file-utils
Rating: 87
Author: ivanvza

A toolkit for common file operations using Python standard library only.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when the user needs to:

•Find files matching certain criteria (pattern, size, date)
•Count lines in files (with optional pattern matching)
•Get detailed file information (size, type, encoding)
•Compare two files (text or binary)

Available Scripts

Always run scripts with --help first to see all available options.

Script	Purpose
`find_files.py`	Find files by pattern, size, or date
`count_lines.py`	Count lines in files
`file_stats.py`	Get detailed file information
`compare_files.py`	Compare two files

Decision Tree

code

Task → What do you need?
    │
    ├─ Find files matching criteria?
    │   └─ Use: find_files.py <path> --pattern "*.py"
    │
    ├─ Count lines (or matches)?
    │   └─ Use: count_lines.py <file>
    │
    ├─ Get file information?
    │   └─ Use: file_stats.py <file>
    │
    └─ Compare two files?
        └─ Use: compare_files.py <file1> <file2>

Quick Examples

Find files:

bash

python scripts/find_files.py . --pattern "*.py"
python scripts/find_files.py /var/log --pattern "*.log" --size +1M
python scripts/find_files.py . --modified-within 7d

Count lines:

bash

python scripts/count_lines.py myfile.txt
python scripts/count_lines.py src/ --pattern "*.py" --total
python scripts/count_lines.py code.py --match "TODO"

File statistics:

bash

python scripts/file_stats.py document.txt
python scripts/file_stats.py image.png --checksum

Compare files:

bash

python scripts/compare_files.py old.txt new.txt
python scripts/compare_files.py file1.bin file2.bin --binary
python scripts/compare_files.py config1.yaml config2.yaml --unified

Size Suffixes

For find_files.py --size:

•B or no suffix: bytes
•K: kilobytes (1024 bytes)
•M: megabytes
•G: gigabytes

Prefixes:

•+1M: larger than 1 MB
•-100K: smaller than 100 KB
•1M: exactly 1 MB (rarely used)

Time Formats

For find_files.py time filters:

•7d: 7 days
•24h: 24 hours
•30m: 30 minutes
•2w: 2 weeks

Common Use Cases

•Find large log files: find_files.py /var/log --pattern "*.log" --size +100M
•Count code lines: count_lines.py src/ --pattern "*.py" --total
•Find recently modified: find_files.py . --modified-within 1d
•Check file encoding: file_stats.py data.csv
•Compare configs: compare_files.py old.conf new.conf

Notes

•All scripts use Python standard library only (no external dependencies)
•Handles both text and binary files appropriately
•Encoding detection is best-effort for text files
•Symbolic links are followed by default