# filebyte
A CLI tool to list files and directories with intelligent size formatting, advanced filtering and file analysis. Made in Rust
[](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
---
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[](https://buymeacoffee.com/execrooted)
---
## Aliases
You can invoke the tool as any of the following:
- `filebyte` — full name
- `fbt` — short alias
The commands below work identically with any of these names. For example:
```bash
fbt file
filebyte file
```
## Installation
### Cargo (Recommended)
```bash
cargo install filebyte
```
### Automated Installation
1. Clone the repository:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/execRooted/filebyte.git
cd filebyte
```
2. Run the installer:
```bash
sudo ./install.sh
```
The installer will automatically:
- Install Rust if not present
- Build filebyte with optimizations
- Install it system-wide to `/usr/local/bin/filebyte`
### Arch Linux (AUR)
```bash
paru -S filebyte
# Or any other AUR helper
```
**!!! Note: I don't use Arch Linux anymore. I will keep publishing to the AUR but I won't test the packages. If you find a problem, please don't hesitate to contact me**
### Windows
1. Install Rust from https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install
2. Clone the repository and run `install.bat`:
```powershell
git clone https://github.com/execRooted/filebyte.git
cd filebyte
.\install.bat
```
### Manual Build
```bash
git clone https://github.com/execRooted/filebyte.git
cd filebyte
cargo build --release
# Binary will be available at target/release/filebyte
```
## Uninstallation
```bash
cd filebyte
```
```
sudo ./uninstall.sh
```
### Arch Linux
```
paru -R filebyte
# Or any AUR helper
```
### Windows
```powershell
cd filebyte
.\uninstall.bat
```
## Usage
### Basic Usage
```bash
# List files in current directory
filebyte
# List files in specific directory
filebyte /home/user/Documents
# Show directory tree
filebyte --tree
# Analyze a specific file
filebyte -w /path/to/file.txt
# Analyze a directory as a whole
filebyte -w /path/to/directory
```
### Size Formatting
```bash
# Show permissions and modification dates (default)
filebyte
# Show file sizes in auto-detected units
filebyte -s
# Show file sizes in specific units
filebyte -s mb # Megabytes
filebyte -s gb # Gigabytes
filebyte -s b # Bytes
```
### Advanced Filtering
```bash
# Search for specific files
filebyte --search "\.rs$" # Find Rust files
filebyte --search "config" # Find files containing "config"
# Exclude files
filebyte --excluding "^\." # Hide hidden files
filebyte --excluding "temp" # Exclude temp files
# Combine search and exclusion
filebyte --search "\.txt$" --excluding "old"
# Filter by file size
filebyte --larger-than 10MB # Files larger than 10MB
filebyte --larger-than 1GB # Files larger than 1GB
filebyte --larger-than 8 GB # Space-separated also works
filebyte --larger-than bigfile.bin # Use another file's size as threshold
filebyte --larger-than 2MiB # Binary prefix also works
filebyte --larger-than 1GiB # Binary prefix also works
filebyte --smaller-than 500MB # Files smaller than 500MB
filebyte --equal-to 10MB # Files exactly 10MB
filebyte --equal-to 0 # Empty files only
# Filter by file age
filebyte --older-than 30d # Files older than 30 days
filebyte --older-than 2w # Files older than 2 weeks
filebyte --older-than 1y # Files older than 1 year
filebyte --older-than 2024-01-01 # Files older than Jan 1, 2024
filebyte --newer-than 7d # Files newer than 7 days
# Show only empty files and directories
filebyte --empty
filebyte --empty -r # Recursively find empty files/dirs
# Search inside file contents
filebyte --content "hello" # Show files containing "hello"
filebyte --content "TODO" --r # Recursively find files with TODO
# Delete or merge duplicate files
filebyte --duplicates --delete-duplicates --force
filebyte --duplicates --merge-duplicates --force
```
### File Analysis
```bash
# Show comprehensive analysis for current directory
filebyte -p
# Analyze a specific file in detail
filebyte -f src/main.rs
# Analyze a directory's metadata
filebyte -d /home/user
# Find duplicate files
filebyte --duplicates
# Find true duplicates by content hash (SHA-256, slower but accurate)
filebyte --duplicates --content-dups
# Find true duplicates using MD5 for faster hashing
filebyte --duplicates --content-dups --hash md5
```
### Disk Operations
```bash
# List all disks
filebyte --disk list
# Analyze specific disk
filebyte --disk /dev/sda1
# Disk info with custom size units
filebyte --disk list --size gb
```
### Sorting & Export
```bash
# Sort by different criteria
filebyte --sort-by size # Largest files first
filebyte --sort-by date # Newest files first
filebyte --sort-by name # Alphabetical
# Export results
filebyte --export results.json
filebyte --export analysis.csv
```
### Interactive Menu
```bash
# Launch interactive menu
filebyte -i
filebyte --interactive
```
The interactive menu provides a user-friendly interface with the following options:
| 1 | List files in current directory |
| 2 | Analyze a specific file |
| 3 | Analyze a directory |
| 4 | Find duplicate files |
| 5 | Show directory tree |
| 6 | List all disks |
| 7 | Search for files (regex) |
| 8 | Show file type statistics |
| 9 | Bit converter (bits, kbits, mbits, gbits, tbits) |
| 0 | Exit |
Directory-based prompts in the interactive menu display the current working directory and default to it when pressing Enter.
**Bit Converter** - Option 9 allows you to convert between bits and bytes:
- Input formats: `1000 bits`, `500 kbits`, `1.5 mbits`, `2 gbits`
- Shows conversions in both bits and bytes formats
The menu automatically clears the screen between operations for a clean interface.
## Command Line Options
| `--version` | `-v` | Show version information |
| `--help` | `-h` | Show help information |
| `--size <UNIT>` | `-s` | Show file sizes with specified unit (auto, b/bytes, kb/kilobytes, mb/megabytes, gb/gigabytes, tb/terabytes) |
| `--tree` | `-t` | Show directory tree |
| `--properties` | `-p` | Show comprehensive file/directory analysis |
| `--no-color` | | Disable colored output |
| `--disk <DISK>` | `-m` | Disk operations ('list' or specific disk name) |
| `--search <PATTERN>` | `-e` | Search files using regex pattern |
| `--excluding <PATTERN>` | `-x` | Exclude files matching regex pattern |
| `--extension <EXT>` | `-E` | Only list files with the specified extension (e.g. `rs`, `txt`, `pdf`) |
| `--sort-by <CRITERIA>` | | Sort by: name, size, date |
| `--duplicates` | | Find duplicate files |
| `--content-dups` | | Verify duplicates by content hash instead of size only (true duplicates) |
| `--hash <ALGORITHM>` | | Hash algorithm for content-based deduplication (`sha256` or `md5`) |
| `--export <FILE>` | | Export results to JSON/CSV |
| `--file <FILE>` | `-f` | Analyze a specific file |
| `--directory <DIR>` | `-d` | Analyze a directory as a whole |
| `--recursive` | `-r` | Enable recursive searching and analysis |
| `--whole` | `-w` | Analyze the path as a whole (auto-detects if file or directory) |
| `--interactive` | `-i` | Enable interactive menu mode |
| `--lines` | `-l` | Count lines in files |
| `--preview [MODE]` | `-P` | Preview file contents (`N`, `f/N`, or `l/N` for first/last N lines) |
| `--exclude-dirs` | `-X` | Exclude all directories from results |
| `--top <N>` | | Show the N largest files in a directory |
| `--ignore-hidden` | | Skip hidden files and directories (dotfiles) |
| `--stat` | | Show a summary of directory statistics (file count, total size, etc.) |
| `--larger-than <SIZE>` | | Filter files larger than threshold (`10MB`, `1GB`, `8 GB`, `2MiB`, `1GiB`, or path to file) |
| `--smaller-than <SIZE>` | | Filter files smaller than threshold (`1KB`, `500MB`, `500 MB`, `2MiB`, `1GiB`, or path to file) |
| `--equal-to <SIZE>` | | Filter files equal to threshold (`10MB`, `1GB`, `8 GB`, `2MiB`, `1GiB`, or path to file) |
| `--older-than <DURATION>` | | Filter files older than duration (`30d`, `2w`, `1y`, `yyyy-mm-dd`, `30 d`) |
| `--newer-than <DURATION>` | | Filter files newer than duration (`7d`, `1w`, `7 d`) |
| `--empty` | | Show only empty files and directories |
| `--content <PATTERN>` | | Search for pattern inside file contents |
| `--delete-duplicates` | | Delete duplicate files, keeping the first occurrence |
| `--merge-duplicates` | | Merge duplicate files by hard linking |
| `--force` | | Skip confirmation prompts for destructive actions |
## Examples
### Everyday Usage
```bash
# Quick directory overview (shows permissions & dates)
filebyte
# Find large files with sizes
filebyte -s --sort-by size
# Analyze disk usage
filebyte --disk list -s gb
# Find all PDFs
filebyte --search "\.pdf$"
# List only files with a specific extension
filebyte --extension rs
filebyte -E txt
# Recursively list only files with a specific extension
filebyte --extension rs --recursive
filebyte -E txt -r
# Check a specific file's details
filebyte -f important.txt
# Get directory metadata
filebyte -d /home/user/projects
# Search recursively through directories
filebyte -r --search "\.rs$"
# Recursively exclude hidden files and sort by size
filebyte -r --excluding "^\." --sort-by size
# Count lines in all files in current directory
filebyte -l
# Count lines recursively, excluding target directories
filebyte -lr -x target
# Exclude all directories from output
filebyte -X
# Find files larger than 100MB
filebyte --larger-than 100MB
# Find files smaller than 1KB
filebyte --smaller-than 1KB
# Find files exactly matching a size
filebyte --equal-to 50MB
filebyte --equal-to 2MiB
# Find files older than 30 days
filebyte --older-than 30d
# Find files newer than 1 week
filebyte --newer-than 1w
# Show only empty files and directories
filebyte --empty
# Search for text inside files
filebyte --content "TODO"
# Recursively search for text inside files
filebyte --content "FIXME" -r
# Recursively search for text inside files
filebyte --content "FIXME" -r
# Delete duplicate files (keeps first occurrence)
filebyte --duplicates --delete-duplicates --force
# Merge duplicates by hard linking
filebyte --duplicates --merge-duplicates --force
# Recursively search for a file by name
filebyte -r -f filename
# Gets the file info for foo and counts the lines of the bar file
filebyte -f foo -l bar
# Gets the info for foo and bar
filebyte foo bar
# Gets the info for foo and bar directory
filebyte foo bar/
```
### Advanced Analysis
```bash
# Comprehensive file analysis
filebyte -p --export analysis.json
# Find and sort duplicates by size
filebyte --duplicates -s --sort-by size
# Exclude system files and sort by date
filebyte --excluding "^\." --sort-by date
# Recursively analyze entire project structure
filebyte -r -p /home/user/projects
# Find all config files recursively
filebyte -r --search "config" --sort-by date
# Analyze path as whole (auto-detects file or directory)
filebyte -w /path/to/something
# Search with full paths shown
filebyte -r -e kilo
# Preview file contents (first/last N lines)
filebyte --preview 20 important.txt
filebyte -P 5 src/main.rs
filebyte -Pf notes.txt
filebyte -Pl notes.txt
filebyte -Pf 20 notes.txt
filebyte -Pl 20 notes.txt
filebyte -Pf20 notes.txt
filebyte -Pl20 notes.txt
filebyte -P f:5 notes.txt
filebyte -P l:5 notes.txt
```
### Power User Tips
```bash
# Monitor large directories
filebyte /var/log -s mb --sort-by size
# Find recently modified config files
filebyte --search "config" --sort-by date -p
# Disk space analysis
# Deep analysis of entire filesystem
# Find all executables recursively
# Quick file analysis - no flags needed!
filebyte important.txt
```
---
***Made by execRooted***