/file-operations

name: file-operations
description: Analyze files and get detailed metadata including size, line counts, modification times, and content statistics. Use when users request file information, statistics, or analysis without modifying files.

File Operations

Analyze files and retrieve metadata using Claude's native tools without modifying files.

When to Use

• "analyze [file]"
• "get file info for [file]"
• "how many lines in [file]"
• "compare [file1] and [file2]"
• "file statistics"

Core Operations

File Size & Metadata

stat -f "%z bytes, modified %Sm" [file_path]  # Single file
ls -lh [directory]                             # Multiple files
du -h [file_path]                              # Human-readable size

Line Counts

wc -l [file_path]                              # Single file
wc -l [file1] [file2]                          # Multiple files
find [dir] -name "*.py" | xargs wc -l          # Directory total

Content Analysis

Use **Read** to analyze structure, then count functions/classes/imports.

Pattern Search

Grep(pattern="^def ", output_mode="count", path="src/")        # Count functions
Grep(pattern="TODO|FIXME", output_mode="content", -n=true)    # Find TODOs
Grep(pattern="^import ", output_mode="count")                 # Count imports

Find Files

Glob(pattern="**/*.py")

Workflow Examples

Comprehensive File Analysis

1. Get size/mod time: `stat -f "%z bytes, modified %Sm" file.py` 2. Count lines: `wc -l file.py` 3. Read file: `Read(file_path="file.py")` 4. Count functions: `Grep(pattern="^def ", output_mode="count")` 5. Count classes: `Grep(pattern="^class ", output_mode="count")`

Compare File Sizes

1. Find files: `Glob(pattern="src/**/*.py")` 2. Get sizes: `ls -lh src/**/*.py` 3. Total size: `du -sh src/*.py`

Code Quality Metrics

1. Total lines: `find . -name "*.py" | xargs wc -l` 2. Test files: `find . -name "test_*.py" | wc -l` 3. TODOs: `Grep(pattern="TODO|FIXME|HACK", output_mode="count")`

Find Largest Files

find . -type f -not -path "./node_modules/*" -exec du -h {} + | sort -rh | head -20

Best Practices

• **Non-destructive**: Use Read/stat/wc, never modify
• **Efficient**: Read small files fully, use Grep for large files
• **Context-aware**: Compare to project averages, suggest optimizations

Integration

Works with:

• **code-auditor**: Comprehensive analysis
• **code-transfer**: After identifying large files
• **codebase-documenter**: Understanding file purposes