filebyte

A CLI tool to list files and directories with intelligent size formatting, advanced filtering and file analysis. Made in Rust

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If you found this project interesting and want to help me out, buy me a coffee :)

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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:

fbt file
filebyte file 

Installation

Cargo (Recommended)

cargo install filebyte

Automated Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/execRooted/filebyte.git
cd filebyte

2. Run the installer:

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)

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:

git clone https://github.com/execRooted/filebyte.git
cd filebyte
.\install.bat

Manual Build

git clone https://github.com/execRooted/filebyte.git
cd filebyte
cargo build --release
# Binary will be available at target/release/filebyte

Uninstallation

cd filebyte

sudo ./uninstall.sh

Arch Linux

paru -R filebyte
# Or any AUR helper

Windows

cd filebyte
.\uninstall.bat

Usage

Basic Usage

# 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

# 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

# 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

# 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

# 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

# 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

# Launch interactive menu
filebyte -i
filebyte --interactive

The interactive menu provides a user-friendly interface with the following options:

Option	Description
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

Option	Short	Description
--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
--max-depth <N>		Limit recursive search depth (requires --recursive)
--json		Output results as JSON to stdout
--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

# 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

# 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

# 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
filebyte --disk list -s gb | head -10

# Deep analysis of entire filesystem
filebyte -r / -s gb --sort-by size | head -20

# Find all executables recursively
filebyte -r --search "\.(exe|bin|sh)$" --sort-by size

# Quick file analysis - no flags needed!
filebyte important.txt

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Made by execRooted