cli-speed-tools

CLI Speed Tools

Overview

Modern CLI tools provide 10-100x speed improvements over standard utilities while adding useful features like git status, syntax highlighting, and fuzzy search.

Quick Reference

Task	Slow (avoid)	Fast (use)
List files	ls, ls -la	eza -la, eza --tree
Search content	grep -r, find	rg (ripgrep)
Find files	find	fd
View files	cat	bat
Fuzzy search	—	fzf
Kill processes	kill, pkill	fk (fkill)
Dir navigation	cd everywhere	z (frequency-based)

When to Use

digraph cli_speed {
    "Need to list/search files?" [shape=diamond];
    "Task: list directory" [shape=box];
    "Task: search file contents" [shape=box];
    "Task: find files by name" [shape=box];
    "Task: view file contents" [shape=box];

    "Need to list/search files?" -> "Task: list directory" [label="list"];
    "Need to list/search files?" -> "Task: search file contents" [label="search content"];
    "Need to list/search files?" -> "Task: find files by name" [label="find by name"];
    "Need to list/search files?" -> "Task: view file contents" [label="view"];
}

Core Tools

EZA (Modern ls)

# Detailed list with icons, git status, dirs first
eza -la --icons --git --group-directories-first

# Tree view (2 levels deep)
eza --tree --level=2 --git --icons

Ripgrep (rg)

# Search for pattern in all files
rg "pattern"

# Case-insensitive search with context
rg "pattern" -i -C 2

# Search specific file types
rg "pattern" -t ts -t js

FD (Fast find)

# Find files by name
fd "filename"

# Find by extension
fd "\.ts$"

# Include hidden files
fd "pattern" --hidden

BAT (Enhanced cat)

# View file with syntax highlighting
bat filename.txt

# View specific lines
bat filename.txt -l 10-20