Installing the command-line executable

Assuming you have Rust/Cargo installed, run this command in a terminal:

cargo install tree2

It will make the tree2 command available in your PATH if you've allowed the PATH to be modified when installing Rust. cargo uninstall tree2 uninstalls.

Back to the crate overview.

Readme

Tree2

A high-performance directory tree visualization tool written in Rust with colors, emojis, and gitignore support. Available as both CLI tool and library crate.

Tree2

🎦 Demo

Demo

Features

🎨 Colorful Output: Beautiful colored output with emojis for better visualization
📊 File Sizes: Human-readable file sizes with color-coded values
🔒 Permission Handling: Gracefully handles permission denied errors
📋 Exclusion Support: Supports .gitignore files and custom exclude patterns (exact match only)
📋 Clipboard Support: Copy tree output directly to clipboard with -c flag
⚡ Blazing Fast: Optimized Rust implementation for maximum performance
📦 Library & CLI: Available as both command-line tool and Rust library
🦀 Memory Safe: Rust's safety guarantees ensure reliability
💻 Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Color Scheme

Folders: Bright Yellow (#FFFF00) with 📁 emoji
Files: Bright Cyan (#00FFFF) with 📄 emoji
Size Values: Light magenta (#FF80FF) - White on red background if size is 0
Size Units: Orange (#FFB380)
Permission Denied: White on red background with 🔒 emoji

Installation

Method 1: Install from crates.io

cargo install tree2

Method 2: Install from source

git clone https://github.com/cumulus13/tree2
cd tree2
cargo install --path .

Method 3: Build and run directly

git clone https://github.com/cumulus13/tree2
cd tree2
cargo run --release -- [options]

Usage

Basic Usage

# Show current directory tree
tree2

# Show specific directory
tree2 /path/to/directory

# Copy output to clipboard
tree2 -c

# Show version info
tree2 -V

Command Line Options

Usage: tree2 [OPTIONS] [PATH]

Arguments:
  [PATH]  Target directory [default: .]

Options:
  -e, --exclude <EXCLUDE>...   Exclude directories/files (exact match only)
  -c, --clipboard              Copy result to clipboard
  -V, --version                Print version information
  -h, --help                   Print help

Options Details

Flag	Long Form	Description
`-e`	`--exclude`	Exclude specific directories/files (exact match only, multiple values supported)
`-c`	`--clipboard`	Copy tree output to clipboard (without ANSI colors)
`-V`	`--version`	Show version, author, and repository information
`-h`	`--help`	Display help message

Important: Exact Match Exclusion

The -e flag uses exact match only. This means:

-e .git will exclude only .git folder
-e .git will NOT exclude .github folder
Each exclusion must match the exact name

With Exclusions

# Exclude single pattern
tree2 -e target

# Exclude multiple patterns (space-separated)
tree2 -e target .git node_modules

# Exclude multiple patterns (multiple -e flags)
tree2 -e target -e .git -e node_modules

# With clipboard
tree2 -e target -e .git -c

Examples

# Typical Rust project directory
tree2 -e target -e .git

# Python project
tree2 -e __pycache__ -e .venv -e dist

# Node.js project
tree2 -e node_modules -e dist -e .next

# With clipboard for sharing
tree2 -e target -e node_modules -c

# Specific path with exclusions
tree2 /path/to/project -e target -e .git

Usage: tree2 [OPTIONS] [PATH]

Arguments: [PATH] [default: .]

Options: -e, --exclude [...] Exclude directories/files (exact match only) -c, --clipboard Copy result to clipboard -V, --version Print version information -h, --help Print help


## Output Example

📂 /home/user/project/ ├── 📁 src/ │ ├── 📄 main.rs (12.45 KB) │ └── 📄 lib.rs (0.00 B) ├── 📁 tests/ │ └── 📄 integration_test.rs (2.10 KB) ├── 📄 Cargo.toml (1.20 KB) ├── 📄 README.md (4.50 KB) └── 🔒 [Permission Denied]


### Clipboard Output

When using `-c` flag, the output copied to clipboard is **plain text without ANSI color codes**, making it perfect for:
- Pasting into documentation
- Sharing in emails or chat
- Including in Markdown files
- Code reviews and discussions

## Library Usage

Add to your `Cargo.toml`:

```toml
[dependencies]
tree2 = "0.1.0"

Basic Example

use tree2::TreeBuilder;

fn main() {
    let tree = TreeBuilder::new()
        .path(".")
        .excludes(vec!["target", ".git"])
        .build();
    
    tree.print();
}

Advanced Example

use tree2::{TreeBuilder, TreeConfig};

fn main() {
    let config = TreeConfig {
        path: ".".into(),
        excludes: vec!["target".into(), ".git".into(), "node_modules".into()],
        show_hidden: false,
        max_depth: Some(5),
    };
    
    let tree = TreeBuilder::from_config(config).build();
    tree.print();
    
    // Or get the output as string
    let output = tree.to_string();
    println!("{}", output);
}

Dependencies

[dependencies]
clap = { version = "4.5", features = ["derive"] }
dunce = "1.0"
cli-clipboard = "0.4"
clap-version-flag = "1.0.5"

Building from Source

Prerequisites

Rust 1.60 or higher
Cargo

Build Steps

git clone https://github.com/cumulus13/tree2
cd tree2

# Debug build
cargo build

# Release build
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

# Run with arguments
cargo run --release -- -e target -c

Performance

The Rust version is optimized for performance:

Zero-cost abstractions
Minimal memory allocations
Efficient directory traversal
Fast pattern matching with HashSet
Optimized sorting algorithms

Key Improvements in Latest Version

🔧 Fixed: Exact Match Exclusion

Previously, -e .git would also exclude .github and .gitignore. Now it uses exact match only:

// Old (incorrect): .git excludes .github too
entry.starts_with(ex)  // ❌

// New (correct): exact match only
excludes.contains(entry)  // ✅

📋 New: Clipboard Support

Copy tree output with -c flag:

Automatic ANSI color stripping
Plain text output for universal compatibility
Success/error feedback messages

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

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

License

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

Author

Hadi Cahyadi

Email: [email protected]
GitHub: cumulus13

Support me on Patreon

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

Check the Issues page
Create a new issue with detailed description
Contact: [email protected]
Documentation: docs.rs/tree2

Changelog

v1.0.9

✅ Fixed exact match exclusion (.git no longer excludes .github)
✨ Added clipboard support with -c flag
📝 Improved version info with -V flag
🎨 Better color scheme with true color support
⚡ Performance optimizations

Enjoy blazing-fast directory visualization with Tree2 Rust! 🚀🦀