SmCLI

A simple and lightweight cross-platform CLI tool for file management and directory exploration.

SmCLI is a cross-platform command line tool written in C++ for file management, search, and directory visualization.

It provides fast CLI utilities for copying, moving, and searching files, as well as displaying directory trees directly from the terminal.

Supports:

• macOS
• Linux
• Windows

Quick Example

smcli show
smcli search report
smcli du /Users/user/Movies
smcli copy file.txt to backup/
smcli move file.txt to archive/

Project Structure

• build.sh: The main build script for the project.
• src/: Contains all the C++ source code (.cpp files).
• include/: Contains all the C++ header files (.h, .hpp files).
• completions/: Contains shell completion scripts.
• dist/: Contains installers and other distribution-related files.
• bin/: Contains the compiled executable.
• .smcliignore: Local configuration file for ignoring specific files and directories.
• .smcliignore-global: Global ignore file (located next to the smcli binary).

Installation

Choose the installer for your operating system from the dist/installers/ directory.

🍎 macOS

1. Open Terminal.
2. Navigate to the macOS installer directory:

   cd dist/installers/smcliMac

3. Run the installer:

   chmod +x install.sh
   ./install.sh

4. Restart your terminal or run source ~/.zshrc (for Zsh) or source ~/.bash_profile (for Bash) to enable auto-completion.

🐧 Linux

1. Open Terminal.
2. Navigate to the Linux installer directory:

   cd dist/installers/smcliLinux

3. Run the installer:

   chmod +x install.sh
   ./install.sh

4. Restart your terminal to activate the command and auto-completion.

🪟 Windows

1. Ensure you have a C++ compiler (like MinGW/g++) installed and added to your PATH.
2. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as Administrator.
3. Navigate to the Windows installer directory:

   cd dist\installers\smcliWin

4. Run the installer:

   install.bat

---

Manual Building (Alternative)

If you prefer to build manually, you can use the provided Makefile or build.sh script:

# Using Makefile
make clean all

# Using build.sh
./build.sh

The compiled binary will be located in the bin/ directory.

Features

show

Displays a tree-like map of the specified directory or the current directory if no path is provided. File and directory sizes are displayed in a human-readable format (B, KB, MB, GB, TB).

Smart Ignoring: Automatically reads local .smcliignore (searching up the tree) and global .smcliignore-global to skip unnecessary files.

Usage:

# Show map of the current directory
smcli show

# Show map of a specific directory
smcli show /path/to/directory

# Limit tree display to 2 levels deep
smcli show /path/to/directory --depth 2

# Exclude multiple items manually
smcli show --exclude node_modules --exclude .git --exclude "*.log"

# Show all files, bypassing all ignore rules
smcli show --no-ignore

Options:

• --depth <N>: Limit tree display to N levels deep.
• --exclude <name>: Exclude specific files or directories (can be used multiple times).
• --no-ignore: Show all files, bypassing .smcliignore and global ignore.

du (Disk Usage)

Visualizes disk space usage with beautiful progress bars, showing which folders take up the most space.

Example output: [████████░░] 80% (2GB) /Users/user/Movies

Usage:

# Analyze current directory
smcli du

# Analyze a specific path
smcli du /path/to/folder

Global Ignore Management

Manage a global list of patterns to ignore across all your projects.

# Add a pattern (e.g., all temp files) to global ignore list
smcli --exclude-add-global "*.tmp"

# Add a specific folder to global ignore
smcli --exclude-add-global "build/"

copy (Alias: cp)

Copies a file or directory from a source to a destination. Optionally, you can specify a new name for the copied item. If a conflict occurs (item with the same name already exists and no new name is provided), a " copy" suffix will be added to the new item's name.

Usage:

# Copy 'file.txt' to 'destination_dir/'
smcli copy file.txt to destination_dir/
smcli cp file.txt to destination_dir/

# Copy 'folder_a' to 'destination_dir/' as 'new_folder_name'
smcli copy folder_a to destination_dir/ as new_folder_name
smcli cp folder_a to destination_dir/ as new_folder_name

move (Alias: mv)

Moves (renames) a file or directory from a source to a destination. Optionally, you can specify a new name for the moved item. If a conflict occurs (item with the same name already exists and no new name is provided), a " copy" suffix will be added to the new item's name.

Usage:

# Move 'file.txt' to 'destination_dir/'
smcli move file.txt to destination_dir/
smcli mv file.txt to destination_dir/

# Move 'folder_a' to 'destination_dir/' as 'new_folder_name'
smcli move folder_a to destination_dir/ as new_folder_name
smcli mv folder_a to destination_dir/ as new_folder_name

import (Alias: get)

Copies a file or directory from a source to the current working directory where smcli is executed. Optionally, you can specify a new name for the imported item. If a conflict occurs (item with the same name already exists and no new name is provided), a " copy" suffix will be added to the new item's name.

Usage:

# Import 'path/to/file.txt' to the current directory
smcli import /path/to/file.txt
smcli get /path/to/file.txt

# Import 'path/to/folder_a' to the current directory as 'imported_folder'
smcli import /path/to/folder_a as imported_folder
smcli get /path/to/folder_a as imported_folder

search (Alias: find)

Searches for files and folders matching a query with advanced filtering and content search.

Usage:

# Search for items with "report" in their name
smcli search report
smcli find report

# Search INSIDE file contents (Content Search)
smcli search "TODO" --content

# Search with multiple manual excludes
smcli search "fix" --exclude "dist" --exclude "bin" --exclude "*.bak"

# Search with size filters (e.g., find large files)
smcli search "" --min-size 100MB --max-size 2GB

# Search by modification date
# (Find files modified in the last 3 days)
smcli search "" --newer-than 3

# Search for image files only
smcli search vacation -img

# Search for video files only
smcli search family -vid

# Search for exact name match (case-insensitive)
smcli search my_document.pdf --exact-name

# Search bypassing all ignore rules (local and global)
smcli search "API_KEY" --content --no-ignore

Flags:

• -f: Search for files only.
• -fl: Search for folders only.
• -c, --content: Search inside file contents.
• -img: Search for image files (e.g., .jpg, .png, .gif).
• -vid: Search for video files (e.g., .mp4, .mov, .avi).
• --min-size <S>: Search files larger than size S (e.g., 10MB).
• --max-size <S>: Search files smaller than size S.
• --newer-than <N>: Modified in the last N days.
• --older-than <N>: Modified more than N days ago.
• --exclude <name>: Exclude specific name (can be used multiple times).
• --exact-name: Search for exact name match (case-insensitive).
• --depth <N>: Limit search to N levels deep.
• --no-ignore: Search all files, bypassing ignore files.

Note on macOS Permissions for search command: On macOS, for the search command to access all directories (especially personal folders like Documents, Downloads, Desktop, etc.), you might need to grant "Full Disk Access" to your terminal application (e.g., Terminal.app, iTerm2.app). You can do this in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access. If permissions are not granted, the search command will skip inaccessible directories and report them at the end.

Tab Completion

Tab completion for smcli now supports commands, aliases, flags, and path completion for arguments that expect a file or directory path.

To enable tab completion for smcli, you need to source the completion script for your shell.

For Bash, add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

source /path/to/smcli-completion.sh

For Zsh, add the following to your ~/.zshrc:

source /path/to/smcli-completion.sh

Keywords

cli tool
command line utility
cpp cli tool
file manager cli
terminal file search
cross platform cli
disk usage visualizer