unfk 1.1.0

A fast, modern CLI tool for scanning and repairing file formatting issues
Documentation

UNiversal File... Korrector?

A fast, modern CLI tool for scanning and repairing file formatting issues

Overview

unfk detects and fixes common file formatting inconsistencies across your codebase:

  • Line endings — mixed or incorrect line endings (LF vs CRLF)
  • Indentation — inconsistent tabs/spaces or wrong indent width
  • Encoding — non-UTF-8 files or encoding mismatches
  • Final newlines — missing or extra newlines at end of file
  • Trailing whitespace — spaces/tabs at end of lines
  • Blank lines (Markdown) — multiple successive blank lines in .md files

Unlike code formatters such as Prettier or Black, unfk is not concerned with code style or syntax. Instead, it focuses on low-level file hygiene issues that affect a much broader range of file types—config files, scripts, data files, documentation, and more.

unfk is aware of file type-specific conventions and applies the right defaults automatically. For example:

  • Windows batch files (.bat, .cmd) and PowerShell scripts require CRLF line endings
  • Makefile requires tabs for indentation
  • .go files use tabs by convention, while .py uses 4 spaces and .rb uses 2
  • .vb and .reg files expect CRLF

This means you can run unfk fix across a mixed codebase and trust it to do the right thing for each file type.

Markdown-Specific Features

For markdown files (.md), unfk includes additional checks:

  • Successive blank lines: Detects and optionally fixes multiple consecutive blank lines (double-spacing or more)
  • Single blank lines between paragraphs are preserved (standard markdown practice)
  • Two trailing spaces (markdown line breaks) are preserved by default

Example:

# Scan for issues including successive blank lines
unfk scan document.md

# Fix all issues including successive blank lines
unfk fix --all document.md

Installation

cargo install unfk

Quick Start

# Scan current directory for issues
unfk

# Fix all issues
unfk fix

# Preview changes without modifying files
unfk fix --dry-run

# Create a configuration file
unfk init

Commands

Command Description
unfk / unfk scan Scan for formatting issues
unfk fix Automatically repair issues
unfk init Create .unfkrc.toml config file
unfk types List supported file types
unfk config Show current configuration

Configuration

A config file is not required — unfk assumes sane defaults for most file types and modern development conventions.

EditorConfig Support

unfk automatically reads .editorconfig files if present. This lets you share formatting settings across tools and editors without duplicating configuration. The following EditorConfig properties are supported:

EditorConfig Property unfk Setting
end_of_line Line ending style
indent_style Tabs or spaces
indent_size Indent width
charset File encoding
trim_trailing_whitespace Trailing whitespace
insert_final_newline Final newline

Precedence order: CLI flags > .unfkrc.toml > .editorconfig > built-in defaults

To disable EditorConfig integration, use --no-editorconfig.

Custom Configuration

For custom rules, create .unfkrc.toml in your project root:

line-ending = "lf"
encoding = "utf-8"
final-newline = true
trailing-whitespace = "remove"

[indent]
style = "spaces"
width = 2

# Per-pattern overrides
[[rules]]
pattern = "*.py"
[rules.indent]
style = "spaces"
width = 4

Replacing Legacy Tools

unfk can replace several single-purpose legacy utilities with one modern, file-type-aware tool:

Legacy Tool unfk Equivalent
dos2unix unfk fix --line-ending lf
unix2dos unfk fix --line-ending crlf
mac2unix unfk fix --line-ending lf
fromdos / todos unfk fix --line-ending lf / crlf

Why switch?

  • File-type awareness — unfk automatically uses the correct line ending for each file type. Windows batch files stay CRLF even when you normalize everything else to LF.
  • Batch processing — Fix entire directories recursively with proper gitignore support.
  • More than line endings — While you're at it, fix indentation, encoding, final newlines, and trailing whitespace too.
  • Dry-run mode — Preview changes with --dry-run before modifying files.
  • Modern defaults — Sensible out-of-the-box behavior for contemporary development workflows.
# Convert all files to LF (respecting file-type conventions)
unfk fix --line-ending lf

# Convert specific files to CRLF
unfk fix --line-ending crlf src/scripts/*.bat

# Preview what would change
unfk fix --line-ending lf --dry-run

License

MIT