InterScan

A lightweight, Windows-only, terminal-based file structure previewer written in modern C++.

InterScan recursively scans a directory and prints a clean, tree-like view of folders and files with color-coded output, optional file-extension ignoring, and robust input parsing.

Built for developers who want clarity

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✨ Features

• 📁 Recursive directory traversal (full depth)
• 🎨 Color-coded output (folders, tree branches, extensions)
• 🚫 Ignore file extensions via --ignore or --ignore:
• 🧼 Sanitized and flexible input parsing
• 🪟 Native Windows API (fast, no dependencies)
• ⚡ Single-file project (easy to compile & modify)

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🖥️ Platform Support

• Windows only (uses Win32 APIs)
• Tested on Windows 10 / 11

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📦 Project Structure

This is a single-file project by design:

InterScan/
├── InterScan.cpp
├── README.md
└── .gitignore

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🛠️ Build Instructions

Using g++ (MinGW / MSYS2)

g++ InterScan.cpp -o interscan -std=c++17

Using MSVC (Developer Command Prompt)

cl /std:c++17 InterScan.cpp

This will generate:

• interscan.exe

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▶️ Usage

Run the program and enter input when prompted.

Enter Path :

You can provide:

• Just a path
• A path + ignore flags
• Quoted paths
• Multiple extensions

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✅ Valid Input Formats

All of the following inputs are valid and supported.

1️⃣ Path only

H:\programming

"H:\My Projects"

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2️⃣ Ignore extensions (colon syntax)

H:\programming --ignore: .cpp .json .py

H:\programming --ignore:.cpp,.json,.py

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3️⃣ Ignore extensions (space syntax)

H:\programming --ignore .cpp .json .py

H:\programming --ignore cpp json py

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4️⃣ Mixed separators (all valid)

H:\programming --ignore .cpp,.h&.txt

H:\programming --ignore cpp, h & txt

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5️⃣ Case-insensitive flags

H:\programming --IGNORE .CPP .JSON

H:\programming --Ignore: .Cpp .JsOn

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6️⃣ Path with quotes + ignore

"H:\My Projects" --ignore .exe .dll

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7️⃣ Ignore flag without extensions

H:\programming --ignore

➡️ Result: behaves like normal scan (nothing ignored)

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🌳 Output Example

programming\
|-->[assets]
|    |-->logo.png
|    |-->banner.jpg
#-->[src]
     |-->main.cpp
     |-->utils.h

• Folders are shown in brackets: [folder]
• Extensions are color-highlighted
• Tree branches are visually aligned

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🎨 Console Colors

InterScan uses Windows console color attributes:

Type	Color
Folder	Blue
Tree lines	Magenta
Extensions	Red
Prompt	Green
Default	Light Gray

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⚠️ Notes & Limitations

• Windows-only (uses windows.h)
• Symbolic links are treated as files
• Extremely large directories may take time

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🚀 Why InterScan?

InterScan was built to:

• Avoid AI misunderstanding folder structures
• Quickly visualize project layouts
• Replace heavy GUI tools with a fast CLI
• Stay hackable and minimal

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🧠 Future Ideas

• Folder ignore support
• File/folder counters (summary)
• Export tree to text / markdown
• CLI arguments instead of prompt

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📄 License

MIT License — do whatever you want, just don’t blame me 😄

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👤 Author

BinaryOxide GitHub: https://github.com/BinaryOxide

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If it pokes your folders and shows the truth — it did its job.