File Utilities

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

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:

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:

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:

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

Compare files:

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