tap is a next-generation replacement for the Unix touch command, offering enhanced capabilities and intuitive options for file and directory manipulation.

• Create or update files and directories
• Set file permissions (with recursive option for directories)
• Write or append content to files
• Use template files for content
• Remove trailing whitespace from lines
• Check for file/directory existence without modification
• Support for glob patterns
• Set custom timestamps for files
• Convert line endings (CRLF ↔ LF)
• Force creation of parent directories
• Transform file encodings (with automatic detection)
• Structured output formats (JSON, YAML) with per-path warnings and details
• Automatically creates missing parent directories (with opt-out)
• Cross-platform compatibility

To install tap, you need to have Rust and Cargo installed on your system. If you don't have them installed, you can get them from rust-lang.org.

Once you have Rust and Cargo, you can install tap using the following command:

cargo install tap

Or, to build from source:

git clone https://github.com/crazywolf132/tap.git
cd tap
cargo build --release

The built binary will be located at target/release/tap.

Here are some examples of how to use tap:

# Create a new file or update its timestamp
tap file.txt

# Create multiple files
tap file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

# Create a directory
tap -d new_directory

# Set file permissions
tap --chmod 644 file.txt

# Set file permissions recursively
tap -R --chmod 755 src/

# Write content to a file
tap -w "Hello, World!" greeting.txt

# Append content to a file
tap -a -w "New line" existing_file.txt

# Use a template file
tap --template README.md new_file.md

# Remove trailing whitespace
tap --trim *.txt

# Check if files exist (dry run)
tap --check config/*.yml

# Set a specific timestamp
tap -t "2023-05-01 12:00:00" file.txt

# Use glob patterns
tap src/**/*.rs

# Parent directories are created automatically
tap deeply/nested/new/file.txt

# Opt out of automatic parent creation
tap --no-parent nested/file.txt

# Convert line endings
tap --line-endings crlf2lf windows_file.txt
tap --line-endings lf2crlf unix_file.txt

# Get JSON output (includes per-path warnings/details)
tap --output-format json *.txt

# Get YAML output
tap --output-format yaml config/

# Convert file encodings with automatic detection
tap --encoding utf8 mixed_encoding_files/*.txt

• -d, --dir: Create a directory instead of a file
• --chmod <MODE>: Set specific permissions (octal format, e.g., 644)
• -w, --write <CONTENT>: Add content to the file
• -t, --timestamp <TIME>: Set access and modification times (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
• -a, --append: Append content instead of overwriting
• -v, --verbose: Enable verbose output
• -R, --recursive: Apply chmod recursively (only works with directories)
• --template <FILE>: Use a template file for content
• --trim: Remove trailing whitespace from each line
• --check: Check if the file or directory exists (dry run)
• --line-endings <CONVERSION>: Convert line endings (values: crlf2lf, lf2crlf)
• --encoding <ENCODING>: Convert file encoding (values: utf8, latin1, windows-1252)
• --timestamp-format <FORMAT>: Custom timestamp format (e.g., "%Y/%m/%d %H:%M")
• --output-format <FORMAT>: Output format (values: text, json, yaml)
• --no-parent: Do not create missing parent directories (fails like classic touch)

JSON and YAML modes emit one OperationResult per requested path. Each record now contains:

• message: A human-friendly summary such as "File created" or "Directory ensured".
• warnings: Any non-fatal issues (for example, unmatched glob patterns or flags that are ignored for directories).
• details: Extra context covering follow-up actions like line-ending normalization, encoding conversions, or template writes.

Warnings are echoed to stderr automatically when running interactively or with --verbose, keeping scripted text output clean while still surfacing issues to users.

The tap application is organized into modules for better maintainability:

• cli: Command-line interface definition
• file_ops: File and directory operations
• permissions: Permission handling
• timestamp: Timestamp parsing and modification
• output: Output formatting and result handling
• glob_utils: Path expansion utilities
• main: Main program logic and orchestration

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

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

• Inspired by the original Unix touch command
• Built with Rust and clap