$ ct

Cats files, lists dirs.

Tiny tool that lists directories and prints files. Replacement for cat and ls all in one. Uses exa to list files, and accepts all its options.

Install

Pre-built binaries are available on the Github Releases tab.

From source:

$ cargo install --force --git https://github.com/passcod/ct --branch main

Or clone and build with $ cargo build --release then place in your $PATH.

Usage

Use it like you would cat and ls (or rather exa), except you never again have to switch which based on what the target is:

$ ct file
all of the
file contents

$ ct dir
a-file  a-folder  an-archive.tar.xz  etc-etc-etc

Passed nothing, it lists the working directory:

$ ct
bin  README.md  target  Cargo.lock  Cargo.toml  src

Passed multiple arguments, it acts on each in turn:

$ ct file dir
=> file <=
all of the
file contents

=> dir <=
a-file  a-folder  an-archive.tar.xz  etc-etc-etc

Given exa options, it formats listings:

$ ct -l
drwxr-xr-x    - passcod 10 Dec 21:33 bin
.rw-r--r--  23k passcod 10 Dec 21:27 Cargo.lock
.rw-r--r--  558 passcod 10 Dec 21:21 Cargo.toml
.rw-r--r-- 9.0k passcod 10 Dec 21:19 LICENSE
.rw-r--r--  14k passcod 10 Dec 21:38 README.md
drwxr-xr-x    - passcod 10 Dec 21:14 src
drwxr-xr-x    - passcod 10 Dec 21:35 target

If it encounters errors, it will attempt to skip and continue as best it can:

$ ct forbidden allowed /dev/sda /proc/filesystems
failed to open file: forbidden
Permission denied (os error 13)

=> allowed <=
yes you can look here

not a dir or regular file: /dev/sda

=> /proc/filesystem <=
nodev   sysfs
nodev   tmpfs
nodev   bdev
nodev   proc
nodev   cgroup
...