Unix Utilities

A collection of basic Unix command-line utilities implemented in Go. This project recreates fundamental Unix tools to help understand their inner workings and practice Go programming.

Prerequisites

• Go 1.16 or higher must be installed on your system
• Basic knowledge of command-line operations

Implemented Utilities

This project includes the following Unix utilities:

1. ls - List Directory Contents

Lists all files and directories in the current working directory with color coding for executables.

Features:

• Lists all files in the current directory
• Color codes executable files in green for easy identification
• Displays regular files with standard formatting

Usage:

go run ls.go

Example Output:

.git  cat.go  grep.go  ls.go  main.go  test.txt  ws.go

Note: Executable files will appear in green in the terminal

---

2. cat - Concatenate and Display File Contents

Reads and displays the complete content of a specified file.

Features:

• Reads any text file
• Displays content to standard output
• Error handling for missing or unreadable files

Usage:

go run cat.go <filename>

Example:

go run cat.go test.txt

Example Output:

first line for testing
second line for testing
third line for testing
fourth line for testing
fifth line for testing

---

3. grep - Search for Text in Files

Searches for a target string within a file and highlights matching occurrences.

Features:

• Searches for a specific string in a file
• Highlights matching text in red
• Word-based pattern matching

Usage:

go run grep.go <filename> <search_string>

Example:

go run grep.go test.txt "testing"

Example Output:

first line for testing
second line for testing
third line for testing
fourth line for testing
fifth line for testing

Note: Matching words will be highlighted in red in the terminal

---

4. ws - Word Statistics (Word Count)

Displays statistics about a file including the number of lines, words, and bytes.

Features:

• Counts the number of lines in a file
• Counts the total number of words
• Displays the file size in bytes

Usage:

go run ws.go <filename>

Example:

go run ws.go test.txt

Example Output:

Lines: 5
Words: 16
Bytes: 116

---

Installation

No installation is required. Simply clone the repository and run the utilities using go run:

git clone https://github.com/ashusevim/Unix-Utilities.git
cd Unix-Utilities

Project Structure

Unix-Utilities/
├── ls.go      # List directory contents utility
├── cat.go     # Display file contents utility
├── grep.go    # Search text in files utility
├── ws.go      # Word statistics utility
├── main.go    # (Currently unused)
└── test.txt   # Sample test file

How to Use

Each utility can be run independently using the go run command. Make sure you're in the project directory before running any commands.

Notes

• These utilities are simplified versions of their Unix counterparts
• They serve as educational implementations to understand basic file operations in Go
• Color coding in terminal output uses ANSI escape codes

Contributing

Feel free to contribute by:

• Adding new Unix utilities
• Improving existing implementations
• Adding more features to current utilities
• Reporting bugs or suggesting enhancements

License

This project is open source and available for educational purposes.