File Operations skill

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