gexp

gexp is a CLI tool to recursively export text files from a directory, while respecting .gitignore, allowing filtering via include/exclude patterns, limiting file size, and displaying the top N largest extracted files.

Features

• Respects .gitignore – Automatically skips files and directories listed in .gitignore.
• Recursive Export – Scans all subdirectories and includes files matching criteria.
• Include/Exclude Filtering – Use patterns to specify which files should be included or excluded.
• File Size Limit – Skip files larger than a specified size.
• Binary File Detection – Automatically skips binary files.
• Top-N Largest Files Listing – Always prints the N largest extracted files to the console.
• Output to File – Optionally write the extracted contents to a file.

Installation

Install gexp from PyPI:

pip install gexp

Usage

Basic Usage

To export all text files from the current directory:

gexp

Specify a Directory

To export from a specific directory:

gexp /path/to/directory

Write Output to a File

To write the extracted files' content to a file instead of printing:

gexp -o output.txt

Limit File Size

To skip files larger than 500 KB:

gexp --max-size 500000

Filter by Name

gexp --include "*.py"

Exclude Specific Directories or Files

To exclude all files in the docs/ directory:

gexp --exclude "docs/**"

Combine Include and Exclude

To export only .py files while excluding test files:

gexp --include "*.py" --exclude "test_*.py"

Show Top N Largest Extracted Files

To print the 5 largest extracted files:

gexp --top-n 5

Full Example

Export only .md and .txt files, exclude the node_modules/ folder, limit file size to 1 MB, and save output to export.md:

gexp --include "*.md" --include "*.txt" --exclude "node_modules/**" --max-size 1000000 -o export.md

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for more details.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Happy exporting! 🚀