Comment Remover CLI

A high-accuracy Python tool for removing comments from programming files while preserving important code patterns such as color codes, URLs, and preprocessor directives.

Features

• Universal Language Support: 20+ programming languages including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, C/C++, Java, C#, Go, Rust, HTML, CSS, SQL, PHP, Ruby, and Shell scripts
• Safe Operation: Automatic backup creation before processing
• Undo Capability: Restore original files from backup
• Configurable Settings: JSON-based configuration system
• Demo Mode: Generate test files for validation
• High Performance: Efficient processing of entire directory trees
• Recursive Scanning: Processes all subdirectories automatically
• Robust Error Handling: Graceful handling of permission errors and encoding issues

Installation

From PyPI (Recommended)

pip install comment-remover-cli

From Source

git clone https://github.com/guider23/Comms.git
cd Comms
pip install .

Quick Start

# Remove comments from current directory
python -m comms.cli

# Remove comments from specific directory
python -m comms.cli /path/to/your/project

# Create demo files for testing
python -m comms.cli --demo

# Restore files from backup
python -m comms.cli --undo

# Display help information
python -m comms.cli --help

Command Line Options

python -m comms.cli [directory] [options]

Options:
  -h, --help     Show help message and exit
  --demo         Create demo files with comments for testing
  --undo         Restore files from most recent backup
  --config FILE  Use custom configuration file (default: config.json)

Supported Languages

Language	Extensions	Line Comments	Block Comments
Python	.py	#	""" """ or ''' '''
JavaScript/TypeScript	.js, .jsx, .ts, .tsx	//	/* */
Java	.java	//	/* */
C/C++	.c, .cpp, .h, .hpp	//	/* */
C#	.cs	//	/* */
Go	.go	//	/* */
Rust	.rs	//	/* */
PHP	.php	//	/* */
Ruby	.rb	#	=begin =end
Shell/Bash	.sh, .bash	#	-
SQL	.sql	--	/* */
HTML	.html, .htm	-
CSS	.css	-	/* */
SCSS/Sass	.scss, .sass	//	/* */
Lua	.lua	--	--[[ ]]
Swift	.swift	//	/* */
Kotlin	.kt, .kts	//	/* */

Pattern Preservation

The tool intelligently preserves:

• Color codes: #FF5733, #123ABC
• URLs: https://example.com, http://site.com
• Shebangs: #!/usr/bin/env python
• C Preprocessor: #include, #define, #if, #endif, etc.
• Content in strings: Comments inside quoted strings remain untouched

Example Usage

Before Processing

Python file:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# This is a comment to remove
import requests  # Another comment

def get_data():
    """This docstring stays"""
    url = "https://api.example.com"  # URL preserved
    color = "#FF5733"  # Color code preserved
    # This comment will be removed
    return requests.get(url)

After Processing

Python file:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import requests

def get_data():
    """This docstring stays"""
    url = "https://api.example.com"
    color = "#FF5733"
    return requests.get(url)

Configuration

Create a config.json file to customize behavior:

{
  "languages": {
    "python": {
      "extensions": [".py"],
      "line_comment": "#",
      "block_comment_start": "\"\"\"",
      "block_comment_end": "\"\"\""
    },
    "javascript": {
      "extensions": [".js", ".jsx"],
      "line_comment": "//",
      "block_comment_start": "/*",
      "block_comment_end": "*/"
    }
  },
  "backup_enabled": true,
  "backup_directory": ".backup",
  "skip_patterns": [
    "node_modules/",
    ".git/",
    "__pycache__/"
  ]
}

Safety Features

Automatic Backups

• All original files are backed up to .backup/ directory
• Backup directory structure mirrors your project structure
• Previous backups are overwritten on each run

Undo Operation

# Restore from most recent backup
python -m comms.cli --undo

Pre-execution Warning

The tool displays:

• Number of files to be processed
• File types detected
• Clear warning about the operation
• Requires explicit confirmation

Error Handling

• Permission errors: Gracefully skipped with warnings
• Encoding issues: Uses UTF-8 with error tolerance
• Backup failures: File processing is skipped if backup fails
• Malformed files: Processing continues with error reporting

Advanced Usage

Custom Configuration

python -m comms.cli --config custom-config.json /my/project

Processing Specific File Types

Edit config.json to limit processing to specific languages or add new ones.

Integration with Build Systems

# In your build script
python -m comms.cli src/ --config production-config.json

Technical Details

String Handling

• Properly handles escaped quotes in strings
• Supports single, double, and triple-quoted strings (Python)
• Preserves multiline strings and docstrings

Comment Detection

• State-machine based parsing for accuracy
• Context-aware comment detection
• Handles nested comment structures

Performance

• Processes files sequentially for reliability
• Memory-efficient line-by-line processing for large files
• Minimal I/O operations

Requirements

• Python 3.6 or higher
• No external dependencies
• Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/guider23/Comms.git
cd Comms
pip install -e .

Running Tests

python -m pytest tests/

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

• Issues: Report bugs on GitHub Issues
• PyPI Package: comment-remover-cli
• Documentation: Full docs at GitHub Repository

Changelog

v1.1.0

• Professional documentation
• Improved error handling
• Enhanced pattern preservation
• Updated PyPI package

v1.0.0

• Initial release
• Support for 20+ programming languages
• Automatic backup and undo functionality
• Configurable settings

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Made for developers who value clean, production-ready code.