Skip to main content

findfmt Logo

CI Status CodeQL Analysis Documentation Status pre-commit.ci status Coverage OpenSSF Best Practices

PyPI Version Python Versions PyPI Wheel GHCR Container License: MIT

uv Ruff Type-checked: ty Docstring Coverage: 100% Conventional Commits Accessibility WCAG 2.1 AA


A .gitignore-aware file discovery and classification suite that locates files by content format, shebang, and MIME tag for automated linting, formatting, and CI pipelines.

1. Why findfmt?

Unlike traditional find or globbing tools that rely strictly on file extensions, findfmt:

  • Understands file content: Identifies format by content, shebang (#!/usr/bin/env python3), and MIME types using the identify engine.
  • Respects Git: Traverses trees hierarchically while pruning .gitignore and .git/info/exclude paths early before descending into large directories (e.g. node_modules/, .venv/).
  • Deterministic: Always returns clean, relative, deterministically sorted paths optimized for subshells, xargs, and automation.

2. Installation

Run directly with uvx:

uvx findfmt --help

Install globally:

uv tool install findfmt

Or add to your project:

uv add findfmt

2.2. With pip

pip install findfmt

2.3. With Docker / Container

docker pull ghcr.io/bdperkin/findfmt:latest
docker run --rm -v "$(pwd)":/workspace -w /workspace ghcr.io/bdperkin/findfmt:latest -t python

3. Usage

3.1. Locate Files by Tag / Format

# Locate all Python files
findfmt -t python

# Locate all YAML and JSON files
findfmt -t yaml,json

# Locate shell scripts
findfmt -t shell

3.2. Shebang Filtering

# Locate files with bash shebang
findfmt --shebang bash

# Locate scripts executing with python
findfmt --shebang python

3.3. Pipe Safely to Linters and Tools

Use -0 for NUL-delimited output with xargs -0:

# Format discovered Python files
findfmt -t python -0 | xargs -0 ruff format

# Lint shell scripts with shellcheck
findfmt -t shell -0 | xargs -r -0 shellcheck

3.4. Inspect Tags & Summaries

# Print matched files and their classification tags
findfmt --list-tags -t python

# Print summary statistics to stderr
findfmt -s

3.5. Structured Data Serialization

Export discovery results to machine-readable formats for pipelines, analysis, and notebooks:

# Export JSON array of file metadata and filter with jq
findfmt -t python --format json | jq '.[] | .path'

# Stream NDJSON (one JSON record per line)
findfmt -f jsonl

# Generate clean YAML document
findfmt -t yaml -f yaml

# Generate Jupyter Notebook with pandas DataFrame ingestion
findfmt -f ipynb > discovery.ipynb

# Export CSV with header row and process with csvkit
findfmt -f csv | csvcut -c path,tags,size_bytes

# Render aligned CSV table in terminal
findfmt -f csv-table --table-style rounded

# Generate Markdown table
findfmt -t python -f markdown

3.6. File Metadata & Presentation Options

Inspect extended Unix-style attributes and customize file presentation:

# Print permissions, ownership, and human-readable sizes
findfmt -p -u -g -h

# Print modification timestamps, sizes, and file type classification indicators
findfmt -D -h -F

# View accumulated recursive directory disk usage in a hierarchical tree
findfmt --tree --du -h

# Print filenames in double quotes, escaping embedded quotes and non-printables
findfmt -Q -q

3.7. Command Aliases & Entry Points

findfmt installs dedicated executable wrappers for frequent operations:

Command Equivalent To Description
findfiles [PATHS...] findfmt --hidden Traverse all files including hidden files
findfilemime [PATHS...] findfmt --hidden --list-tags List files with MIME & format tags
findfilefmt [TAG] [PATHS...] findfmt --hidden --tag [TAG] Filter files by format tag
findshebang [INTERPRETER] [PATHS...] findfmt --hidden --shebang [INTERPRETER] Filter scripts by shebang pattern
findfmt0 [PATHS...] findfmt --hidden --print0 NUL-delimited output for xargs -0
findsummary [PATHS...] findfmt --hidden --summary Output summary statistics to stderr

4. CLI Options

Flag Description
-t, --tag, --type TAG Match files containing specified tag(s)
-e, --exclude, --exclude-tag TAG Exclude files containing specified tag(s)
--all-tags / --no-all-tags Require match against all include tags (AND logic)
--shebang INTERPRETER Match shebang interpreter name or pattern
--no-ignore / --ignore Toggle respecting .gitignore files
--hidden / --no-hidden Toggle inspecting hidden files and directories
-d, --dirs-only List directories only, suppressing regular file entries
-l, --follow-links / --no-follow-links Follow directory symlinks with loop detection
-x, --one-file-system Confine traversal to starting directory's filesystem device
-L, --max-depth LEVEL Restrict directory traversal descent to maximum depth level
--filelimit LIMIT Skip directories exceeding child entry count threshold
--prune Omit empty directories and directories with zero matching files
-P, --pattern PATTERN Match files against wildcard or glob pattern (supports multiple -P and |)
-I, --exclude-pattern PATTERN Exclude files against wildcard or glob pattern (supports multiple -I and |)
--ignore-case / --no-ignore-case Apply case-insensitive pattern matching across -P and -I
--match-dirs / --no-match-dirs Match directories against patterns; matched directories inherit to child files
-p, --permissions / --no-permissions Print file type and permissions in standard ls -l format
-u, --user / --no-user Print file owner username (or numeric UID)
-g, --group / --no-group Print file owner group name (or numeric GID)
--inodes / --no-inodes Print filesystem inode number (st_ino)
--device / --no-device Print filesystem device number (st_dev)
--size / --no-size Print file size in bytes (st_size)
-h, --human-readable / --no-human-readable Print sizes in human-readable format with binary IEC units (K, M, G, T)
--si / --no-si Print sizes in human-readable format with SI metric units (kB, MB, GB, TB)
--du, --accumulate-size / --no-du Recursively calculate and accumulate directory disk usage sizes
-D, --mtime / --no-mtime Print date and time of last modification (st_mtime)
--ctime / --no-ctime Print date and time of last metadata status change (st_ctime)
--time-format, --timefmt FORMAT Custom strftime timestamp format (implies -D)
-F, --classify / --no-classify Append classification indicator (* executable, / dir, @ link, = socket, | FIFO, > door)
-q, --hide-control-chars / --no-hide-control-chars Replace non-printable control characters in filenames with ?
-N, --literal / --no-literal Print non-printable characters literally without masking
-Q, --quote-name / --no-quote-name Enclose filenames in double quotes ("...") with backslash escaping
-f, --format FORMAT Output format (text, json, jsonl, yaml, ipynb, csv, csv-table, tsv, markdown, rst, table, tree)
--tree / --no-tree Toggle hierarchical directory tree view (equivalent to --format tree)
--table-style STYLE Border style (rounded, simple, minimal, double, heavy, markdown, ascii, cp437, square, grid)
--pager / --no-pager Toggle interactive paging (auto-pages on TTY when lines exceed terminal height)
-i, --no-indent / --indent Omit branch indentation in tree view and strip extraneous whitespace in structured formats
-A, --ansi-lines / --no-ansi-lines Use ANSI/VT100 line drawing escapes for tree indentation lines
-S, --cp437 / --no-cp437 Use CP437 console graphics line drawing characters for tree indentation lines
-C, --color / -n, --no-color Force enable or disable ANSI color output across all output channels
--absolute, --full-path / --no-absolute Toggle absolute vs relative output paths
--relative, --relative-path / --no-relative Prepend input search path prefix to relative output paths
--list-tags / --no-list-tags Display identified classification and MIME tags alongside paths
-s, --summary / --no-summary Output summary frequency statistics to stderr
-0, --print0 / --no-print0 Delimit paths with a NUL (\0) byte for xargs -0
--known-tags List all supported classification tags and exit
-v, -V, --version Display version (--verbose adds runtime diagnostics)
--diagnostics Display runtime environment diagnostics and exit
--help-all Display comprehensive manual, env vars, and exit codes
-- [PATHS...] POSIX terminator: treat following tokens strictly as paths

5. Development & Testing

This project enforces 100% test coverage and strict type checking:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/bdperkin/findfmt.git
cd findfmt

# Install dependencies with uv
uv sync --all-groups

# Run tests and verify 100% coverage
uv run pytest

# Run linting and typing
uv run ruff check
uv run ty check

# Run full verification suite
uv run python tools/verify_quality.py

6. Governance & Community

7. License

MIT License © 2026 Brandon Perkins.

Metadata

Release files for findfmt 0.5.0

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for findfmt 0.5.0
File Size Uploaded
findfmt-0.5.0.tar.gz 167.1 kB Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for findfmt 0.5.0
File Interpreter ABI Platform
findfmt-0.5.0-py3-none-any.whl Python 3 none any Details

Total release size: 250.8 kB

Release files / findfmt-0.5.0.tar.gz

Download URL findfmt-0.5.0.tar.gz
Size 167.1 kB
Tags Source
SHA-256 checksum
How to use checksums
e0d1c3a851211610204d4a7dc13043a3db3a9168a46a145472bf121fac5b9301
BLAKE2b-256 checksum
How to use checksums
4b320f5b08b4221e5d655b766c5c365559b50228a765137173d7c3d8bc993b57
Upload date
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing?
What is trusted publishing?
Yes
Uploaded via twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14

Provenance

Provenance describes where a file came from. On PyPI, provenance is shared via attestations, which provide a verifiable record of the build or publishing details. View details, limitations and caveats.

PyPI Publish Attestation

PyPI verified that this artifact, at this checksum, originated from the publisher listed below.

Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Oct 14, 2026.

Transparency log

Release files / findfmt-0.5.0-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL findfmt-0.5.0-py3-none-any.whl
Size 83.7 kB
Tags Python 3
SHA-256 checksum
How to use checksums
9e056da702006c2a82520a217855a973396736eb7a41cd71fda225c39ae94b35
BLAKE2b-256 checksum
How to use checksums
c325ca32bd181862651654392daafa2195c24d614eb6263dc8716f1951ac0076
Upload date
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing?
What is trusted publishing?
Yes
Uploaded via twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14

Provenance

Provenance describes where a file came from. On PyPI, provenance is shared via attestations, which provide a verifiable record of the build or publishing details. View details, limitations and caveats.

PyPI Publish Attestation

PyPI verified that this artifact, at this checksum, originated from the publisher listed below.

Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Oct 14, 2026.

Transparency log

Release history Release notifications | RSS feed

0.9.0

2 release files

0.8.0

2 release files

0.7.0

2 release files

0.6.0

2 release files

0.5.1

2 release files

This release

0.5.0 This release

2 release files

0.4.1

2 release files

0.4.0

2 release files

0.3.0

2 release files

0.2.0

2 release files

0.1.1

2 release files

0.1.0

2 release files

Anthropic, PBC Visionary sponsor Bloomberg Visionary sponsor Hudson River Trading Visionary sponsor Meta Visionary sponsor NVIDIA Visionary sponsor Microsoft Sustainability sponsor Depot Continuous Integration AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page