diffsquare

From the Author

Created by Abhrankan Chakrabarti, this project implements an efficient version of Fermat’s Difference of Squares method for factoring large integers. Written in Rust, it leverages the malachite crate for high-performance arbitrary-precision arithmetic.

Recent Update – v0.6.0

🚀 New in v0.6.0: optional file output support

New --output flag lets you write factorization results to a file.
Results are appended if the file already exists.
Useful for logging or batch processing outputs.

Key Features

diffsquare is a fast and lightweight CLI utility for factoring large integers using Fermat’s Difference of Squares method.

Efficient Fermat's Difference of Squares factorization.
Parallelized using rayon for faster factorization on multi-core systems (since v0.5.0).
Optional file output with --output flag to save results (since v0.6.0).
Support for decimal, hexadecimal, and scientific notation input.
Command-line interface with interactive fallback.
Quiet mode (-q) disables interactive prompts and hides intermediate output — useful for piping or scripting.
JSON output mode (--json) for scripting and automation.
--time-only flag for displaying only the execution time (useful for benchmarking).
Batch factorization using --stdin to read multiple newline-separated numbers from standard input (e.g., via piping or redirection).
Optional control over iteration starting point and precision.
Scientific notation used in verbose mode for large integer readability.
Execution time displayed after successful factorization.

GitHub Repository: diffsquare

Installation

Install via Cargo:

cargo install diffsquare

Ensure $HOME/.cargo/bin is in your PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"

Build Instructions

To build from source manually:

git clone https://github.com/Abhrankan-Chakrabarti/diffsquare.git
cd diffsquare
cargo build --release

🔧 Usage Examples

Run diffsquare interactively or use flags for automation:

# 🔹 Fully interactive: prompts for modulus, iteration, and precision
diffsquare

# 🔹 Provide a decimal modulus
diffsquare -n 17976931348623159077293051907890247336179769789423065727343008115

# 🔹 Provide a hexadecimal modulus
diffsquare -n 0xDEADBEEFCAFEBABE1234567890

# 🔹 Specify starting iteration (modulus still required)
diffsquare -n 0xC0FFEE123456789 -i 1000000

# 🔹 Use custom precision for verbose scientific output
diffsquare -n 0xABCD1234 -p 30

# 🔹 Combine all options and suppress output (precision not required in quiet mode)
diffsquare -n 0xCAFED00D1234 -i 50000 -q

# 🔹 JSON output for scripting and automation
diffsquare -n 0xC0FFEE123456789 --json

# 🔹 Show only execution time (no output of factors)
diffsquare -n 0xCAFED00D1234 --time-only

# 🔹 ♻️ Batch factorization from standard input (stdin)
echo -e "2761929023323646159\n3189046231347719467" | diffsquare --stdin

# 🔹 Batch factorization with threads and JSON output
cat numbers.txt | diffsquare --stdin --threads 4 --json

# 🔹 Save output to file (new in v0.6.0)
diffsquare -n 0xC0FFEE123456789 --output results.txt
cat numbers.txt | diffsquare --stdin --threads 4 --json --output results.json

Command-Line Flags

Short	Long	Description
`-n`	`--mod`	Number to factor (supports `0x` for hex or scientific notation)
`-i`	`--iter`	Starting iteration value
`-p`	`--prec`	Precision for verbose scientific output
`-q`	`--quiet`	Suppress prompts and intermediate output
	`--json`	Print result as JSON (suppresses all other output)
	`--time-only`	Display only the execution time (useful for benchmarking)
	`--stdin`	Read newline-separated numbers from standard input
	`--threads`	Number of threads for parallel factorization (default: 1)
	`--output`	Write results to specified file (appends if exists)
`-h`	`--help`	Show usage help
`-v`	`--version`	Show version

diffsquare 0.6.0