A comprehensive, powerful command-line file management tool with advanced features for Linux.
Powerful file operations, MD5 checksums, hex viewing, recursive size analysis, device-wide search, and desktop integration — all from your terminal.
By using this software, you agree to the full disclaimer terms.
Summary: Software provided "AS IS" without warranty. You assume all risks for file operations, deletions, and system interactions.
Full legal disclaimer: See DISCLAIMER.md
- 📊 Recursive size analysis - Scan folders and see detailed size breakdowns
- 🗑️ Safe deletion - Delete files and folders with confirmation prompts
- 📖 Text file viewer - View any text file with paging support
- 🔍 Hex/Binary viewer - Examine raw file contents in hexadecimal format
- 🔐 MD5 hash calculator - Generate and verify file checksums
- 📂 Open location - Open current or selected path in system file explorer
- 🔎 Device-wide search - Find files by pattern with preview and navigation
- 📁 Interactive directory navigation - Change working directory with tab completion
- 💾 Detailed file info - View metadata, timestamps, sizes, and MD5
- 🖥️ Desktop integration - Create .desktop entries for app menu and desktop
- 🎨 Color-coded output - Beautiful terminal UI with intuitive color coding
- ⚡ Tab completion - Auto-complete file and directory paths
# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S python python-pip
# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip
# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install python3 python3-pip
# No additional Python packages required — uses only standard library!-
Clone the repository:
cd ~ git clone https://github.com/aixandrolab/ cli-files-manager.git cd cli-files-manager
-
Run directly (development mode):
python app.py
-
Create desktop entries (from within the app):
- Launch:
cli-files-manager - Select option
10→🖥️ DESKTOP ENTRY - Choose menu integration (application menu, desktop, or both)
- Launch:
# Launch the interactive menu
cli-files-manager
# Inside the application:
# 1. Analyze folder size
📊 ANALYZE SIZE → /home/user/Downloads
# 2. Search for files
🔎 SEARCH → pattern: *.txt
# 3. View file in hex
🔍 VIEW HEX → select any binary file
# 4. Calculate MD5
🔐 MD5 HASH → select any file
# 5. Create desktop shortcut
🖥️ DESKTOP ENTRY → create system integration| Option | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 📊 ANALYZE SIZE | Analyze file/folder size with progress bar |
| 2 | 🗑️ DELETE | Permanently delete files or folders |
| 3 | 📖 VIEW TEXT | Display text file content with pager |
| 4 | 🔍 VIEW HEX | Show binary/hexadecimal file view |
| 5 | 🔐 MD5 HASH | Calculate MD5 checksum of any file |
| 6 | 📂 OPEN LOCATION | Open path in system file explorer |
| 7 | 🔎 SEARCH | Search entire device for files by pattern |
| 8 | 📁 CHANGE DIR | Change working directory with TAB completion |
| 9 | 💾 FILE INFO | Show detailed file metadata |
| 10 | 🖥️ DESKTOP ENTRY | Install app to system menu/desktop |
| 0 | 🚪 EXIT | Exit application |
# Select option 1, enter path or press Enter for current directory
📁 /home/user/Downloads
# Output example:
[████████████████████████████████████████] 1250/1250 files
📁 TOTAL SIZE: 2.45 GB# Select option 7
🔍 Enter search pattern: *.mp3
📁 Search root: /home/user/Music
# Results show all matches with sizes and paths
# You can select any result to: open location, view, delete, get MD5, or see info# Select option 5
📂 Enter file path: /path/to/file.iso
# Output:
MD5 Hash of file.iso:
a1b2c3d4e5f678901234567890123456# Select option 4
📂 Enter file path: binary_file.bin
# Output shows hex dump with ASCII representation:
00000000 89 50 4e 47 0d 0a 1a 0a 00 00 00 0d 49 48 44 52 .PNG........IHDR
00000010 00 00 02 00 00 00 02 00 08 06 00 00 00 ... etc# Select option 10
👉 Choose option: 3 (Both)
# Output:
✅ SUCCESS
✓ Application Menu: /home/user/.local/share/applications/ cli-files-manager.desktop
✓ Desktop: /home/user/Desktop/ cli-files-manager.desktop
✓ Icon found at: /opt/ cli-files-manager/data/icons/icon.png cli-files-manager/
├── app.py # Main entry point
├── utils/
│ ├── asciiart.py # ASCII logo and separators
│ ├── colors.py # Terminal color definitions
│ ├── completer.py # Tab completion handler
│ ├── desktop_entry.py # .desktop file creator
│ └── file_manager.py # Core file management logic
├── data/
│ ├── icons/
│ │ └── icon.png # Application icon
│ └── images/
│ └── main_menu.png # Menu screenshot (documentation)
├── .gitignore
├── LICENSE # BSD 3-Clause License
└── README.md # This file
- Pure Python 3 — Uses only standard library (no external dependencies)
- Tab completion — Powered by Python's
readlinemodule with custom path completer - Recursive scanning — Efficient directory walking with real-time progress
- Hex viewer — Binary-safe reading with hexdump-style formatting
- MD5 calculation — Streaming hash computation for files of any size
- Desktop integration — Generates freedesktop.org-compatible
.desktopfiles - Paging support — Uses
less/morefor long output, falls back to inline display
⚠️ Deletion is permanent — No recycle bin, files are removed immediately- ✅ All operations require confirmation — Especially destructive actions
- 🔒 No data collection — Works completely offline, no telemetry
- 📁 Respects permissions — Cannot access files without proper OS permissions
- 🖥️ Desktop files are safe — Created in user directories, not system-wide
# Install readline if missing (usually included)
# For minimal Python installations:
pip3 install readline# Install less (or use more):
sudo apt install less # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo pacman -S less # Arch# Update desktop database:
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/
# Log out and back in, or restart your desktop environment# Run with appropriate user permissions
# Do NOT run as root unless necessary
# Check file ownership: ls -la /path/to/file# Run with verbose output (no arguments - just use menu)
python app.py- Author: Alexander Suvorov
- GitHub: @aixandrolab
- Repository: aixandrolab/cli-files-manager
- License: BSD 3-Clause
- Smart 2FA Manager — TOTP 2FA manager for Linux (Bash)
- Smart File Manager CLI — This project
- More tools at aixandrolab
Licensed under BSD 3-Clause License • Copyright (©) 2026, Alexander Suvorov
Made with ❤️ for terminal lovers who want powerful file management at their fingertips.