File Collector by Extension

This Python script recursively scans a given directory and collects files based on their extensions. It can print the output to the console or save it to a JSON file. The script is flexible, supporting indentation for pretty-printing the JSON output.

Features

• Directory Scanning: Specify the directory to scan, including repositories.
• File Filtering: Automatically skips the .git directory but includes other hidden files and folders (e.g., .gitpod.yml, .github).
• JSON Output: Collects files by extension, either pretty-printed or compact, and outputs the result as JSON.
• Flexible Output Options: Output can be printed to the console or saved to a file.

Requirements

• Python 3.x

Usage

Command-line Arguments

• --dir, -d (required): Directory of the repository to scan.
• --outfile, -o: File path where the JSON output will be saved. If not provided, output is printed to the console.
• --stdout, -s: If specified, the JSON output is printed to the console.
• --indent, -i: Indentation level for pretty-printing the JSON (optional). By default, the JSON is output in compact form (no indentation).

Example Commands

Print to console with indentation:

$ collect-files.py --dir ~/data/src/github/user/repo --stdout --indent 2

This will scan the repository located in ~/data/src/github/user/repo, and print the list of files organized by extension, with the JSON formatted using 2-space indentation.

Save to a JSON file:

$ collect-files.py -d ~/another-repo --outfile /mnt/data/another-repo.files.json

This will save the result as a compact JSON file (/mnt/data/another-repo.files.json).

Default behavior (prints compact JSON to console):

$ collect-files.py --dir ~/data/src/github/user/repo

This prints the output in a compact form to the console.

Example Output

A sample JSON output from scanning a repository might look like this:

{
    "Without_extension": [
        "/path/to/repo/Makefile"
    ],
    "py": [
        "/path/to/repo/file1.py",
        "/path/to/repo/subdir/file2.py"
    ],
    "md": [
        "/path/to/repo/README.md"
    ]
}

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.