ft (FileTools)

ft (FileTools) is a powerful command-line utility designed for developers, DevOps, and power users who need to manage complex file operations across different operating systems without the headache of syntax fragmentation.

💡 Why ft?

In a world of find, grep, and rsync, why do you need another tool?

• Consistency is King: Tired of writing different scripts for PowerShell, Bash, and Zsh? ft provides a unified syntax (POSIX-style paths, Globbing, and Regex) that works identically on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• Beyond Filenames: Filter files by human-readable sizes (e.g., --size_ge=100M), relative time (e.g., --time_le='1 week ago'), and deep MIME-type detection.
• Async Performance: Built with asynchronous file streams, ft handles massive datasets with minimal memory footprint and high throughput.

🚀 Core Superpowers:

1. Smart Filtering: Combine Glob patterns with metadata filters (Size, Mod-time, MIME) to pinpoint exactly what you need.
2. Incremental Mirroring: The mirror command allows for efficient data synchronization, processing only what has changed.
3. Secure Erasure: Not just rm. The erase command provides multi-pass secure wiping for sensitive data.
4. Content Search: Use a unified Regex engine across all platforms to find and extract data, avoiding the "GNU vs BSD grep" trap.
5. Declarative Automation (The execute & shell engine):

• Stop writing messy .sh or .bat files.
• Use YAML configurations to define complex workflows.
• Leverage built-in dynamic variables like $CURDATE or $AGODATE1WEEK for rolling backups and log rotation.

🛠 Target Audience:

• Developers: Automate build artifact cleanup or source code scanning.
• SysAdmins/DevOps: Implement cross-platform backup/sync tasks without dependencies.
• Testers: Quickly generate or clean up large-scale test data environments.

📦 Zero Dependencies:

ft is distributed as a single, standalone binary for major architectures (including ARM64 and RISC-V). No Python, Node.js, or Ruby runtime is required. Just download and run.

Stop fighting with platform-specific quirks. Master one tool, manage every environment.

Reasons to use ft over alternatives:

1. If you find find syntax too cryptic: ft offers a much more intuitive, modern flag system.
2. If you work in Docker/Alpine: The static binary is perfect for minimal containers where standard tools are stripped down.
3. If you need "Relative Time" filtering: No more calculating timestamps; just say 1 month ago.
4. If you want to move from CLI to GUI: ft is the core engine for FileShows, meaning your CLI logic can eventually scale to a full GUI ecosystem.