lineguard

LineGuard

A fast and reliable file linter that ensures proper line endings and clean formatting.

Features

• ✅ Newline Ending Check: Ensures files end with exactly one newline character
• ✅ Trailing Space Detection: Identifies and reports trailing whitespace at line ends
• 🚀 High Performance: Parallel file processing with progress indicators
• 🎨 Multiple Output Formats: Human-readable (with colors), JSON, and GitHub Actions formats
• 🔧 Configurable: Flexible configuration via CLI flags or .lineguardrc files
• 🔄 Auto-fix: Automatically fix issues with --fix flag
• 📁 Smart File Discovery: Glob patterns, recursive directory scanning, stdin support
• 🎯 Selective Checks: Disable specific checks via CLI flags
• 💾 Memory Efficient: Streaming support for large files (>10MB)
• 🛡️ Robust Error Handling: Graceful handling of permission errors
• 🔍 Binary File Detection: Automatically skips binary files
• 👁️ Hidden Files: Checks hidden files by default (use --no-hidden to skip)
• 🚫 Ignore Patterns: Skip files/directories with glob patterns
• 📝 File Extension Filtering: Check only specific file types
• 🔀 Git Integration: Check only files changed between commits

Installation

From Crates.io

cargo install lineguard

From GitHub Releases

Download pre-built binaries from the latest release:

# Linux/macOS
curl -L https://github.com/hydai/lineguard/releases/latest/download/lineguard-{VERSION}-{TARGET}.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv lineguard /usr/local/bin/

# Windows
# Download the .zip file and extract lineguard.exe to a directory in your PATH

From Source

git clone https://github.com/hydai/lineguard
cd lineguard
cargo install --path .

Shell Command Alternative

If you prefer not to install LineGuard, you can achieve similar functionality using standard Unix tools:

# Basic check for trailing spaces and missing newlines
find . -name "*.txt" -type f -exec bash -c 'f="$1"; grep -n "[[:space:]]$" "$f" 2>/dev/null && echo "$f: has trailing spaces"; [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$f")" ] && echo "$f: missing newline"' _ {} \;

# Fix issues automatically
find . -name "*.txt" -type f -exec bash -c 'sed -i.bak "s/[[:space:]]*$//" "$1" && rm "$1.bak"; [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$1")" ] && echo >> "$1"' _ {} \;

# Check files changed in git
git diff --name-only master HEAD | while read f; do [ -f "$f" ] && { grep -q "[[:space:]]$" "$f" && echo "$f: trailing spaces"; [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$f")" ] && echo "$f: missing newline"; }; done

See Shell Alternatives section for more examples.

Usage

Basic Usage

# Check a single file
lineguard main.rs

# Check multiple files
lineguard src/main.rs src/lib.rs

# Check with glob pattern
lineguard "src/**/*.rs"

# Check all files in directory
lineguard .

Command-Line Options

lineguard [OPTIONS] [FILES...]

Arguments:
  [FILES...]  Files or directories to check

Options:
  -r, --recursive              Recursively check directories
  -f, --format <FORMAT>        Output format [default: human] [possible values: human, json, github]
  -q, --quiet                  Suppress non-error output
  -v, --verbose                Show detailed information
      --no-color               Disable colored output
  -c, --config <CONFIG>        Path to configuration file
      --stdin                  Read file paths from stdin
      --ignore <IGNORE>        Ignore files matching pattern (can be used multiple times)
      --extensions <EXTENSIONS> File extensions to check (comma-separated)
      --no-hidden              Skip hidden files (files starting with .)
      --no-newline-check       Disable newline ending check
      --no-trailing-space      Disable trailing space check
      --fix                    Automatically fix issues
      --dry-run                Show what would be fixed without modifying files
      --from <FROM>            Check files changed since this commit (Git only)
      --to <TO>                Check files changed until this commit (Git only, default: HEAD)
  -h, --help                   Print help
  -V, --version                Print version

Advanced Usage

# Fix issues automatically
lineguard --fix src/

# Preview fixes without applying
lineguard --fix --dry-run src/

# Ignore specific patterns
lineguard --ignore "*.generated.rs" --ignore "**/target/**" .

# Check only specific file types
lineguard --extensions rs,toml .

# Use custom config file
lineguard --config path/to/.lineguardrc src/

# Disable specific checks
lineguard --no-trailing-space src/  # Only check newlines
lineguard --no-newline-check src/   # Only check trailing spaces

# Pipe files from other commands
find . -name "*.rs" | lineguard --stdin

# Check files changed in the last commit
lineguard --from HEAD~1 .

# Check files changed between specific commits
lineguard --from abc123 --to def456 .

# Check files changed since a tag
lineguard --from v1.0.0 src/

# Combine with other options
lineguard --from main --fix --format json .

Output Examples

Human-Readable Format (Default)

✗ src/main.rs
  - Missing newline at end of file
  - Line 45: Trailing spaces found

✓ src/lib.rs

Summary: 1 file with issues, 2 total issues found

JSON Format

lineguard --format json src/

{
  "files_checked": 3,
  "files_with_issues": 1,
  "total_issues": 2,
  "issues": [
    {
      "file": "src/main.rs",
      "issues": [
        {
          "type": "missing_newline",
          "line": null,
          "message": "Missing newline at end of file"
        },
        {
          "type": "trailing_space",
          "line": 45,
          "message": "Trailing spaces found"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "errors": [
    {
      "file": "src/protected.rs",
      "error": "Permission denied (os error 13)"
    }
  ]
}

GitHub Actions Format

lineguard --format github src/

Configuration File

LineGuard supports configuration files to customize its behavior. Create a .lineguardrc file in your project root (see .lineguardrc.example for reference):

# .lineguardrc
[checks]
newline_ending = true      # Check for proper newline at end of file
trailing_spaces = true     # Check for trailing spaces

# Ignore patterns (glob format)
ignore_patterns = [
    "**/target/**",
    "**/.git/**",
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "*.generated.*",
]

# File extensions to check (default: all text files)
file_extensions = [
    "rs", "toml", "md", "txt",
    "js", "ts", "jsx", "tsx",
    "py", "go", "java", "c", "cpp", "h", "hpp",
    "yml", "yaml", "json", "xml",
]

Configuration files are searched in the following order:

1. Path specified with --config flag
2. .lineguardrc in the current directory
3. .lineguardrc in parent directories (up to the root)

CLI flags always override configuration file settings.

Exit Codes

• 0 - Success, no issues found
• 1 - Issues found in checked files
• 2 - Error in command-line arguments
• 3 - File access or I/O error
• 4 - Configuration error

Development

This project follows strict Test-Driven Development (TDD) practices. See IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md for development guidelines.

Building

cargo build

Testing

cargo test

Code Quality

cargo fmt --all -- --check  # Check code formatting
cargo fmt --all             # Auto-format code
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings  # Run linter

Shell Alternatives

While LineGuard provides superior performance and features, you can achieve similar basic functionality using standard Unix tools. These examples use find, grep, sed, and other common utilities.

Basic Checks

# Check single file for issues
check_file() {
    local file="$1"
    grep -n '[[:space:]]$' "$file" 2>/dev/null && echo "$file: has trailing spaces"
    [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$file")" ] && echo "$file: missing newline at EOF"
}

# Check all text files in current directory
find . -type f -name "*.txt" -exec bash -c '
    f="$1"
    grep -n "[[:space:]]$" "$f" 2>/dev/null && echo "$f: has trailing spaces"
    [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$f")" ] && echo "$f: missing newline"
' _ {} \;

# Recursive check with multiple extensions
find . -type f \( -name "*.rs" -o -name "*.md" -o -name "*.txt" \) -exec bash -c '
    echo -n "Checking $1... "
    issues=0
    grep -q "[[:space:]]$" "$1" && { echo -n "trailing spaces, "; issues=1; }
    [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$1")" ] && { echo -n "missing newline, "; issues=1; }
    [ $issues -eq 0 ] && echo "OK" || echo "FAILED"
' _ {} \;

Fix Issues

# Remove trailing spaces from files
find . -name "*.txt" -type f -exec sed -i 's/[[:space:]]*$//' {} \;

# Add missing newlines
find . -name "*.txt" -type f -exec bash -c '[ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$1")" ] && echo >> "$1"' _ {} \;

# Fix both issues at once
fix_file() {
    local file="$1"
    # Remove trailing spaces
    sed -i.bak 's/[[:space:]]*$//' "$file" && rm "$file.bak"
    # Add newline if missing
    [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$file")" ] && echo >> "$file"
}

# Apply fixes to all matching files
find . -name "*.txt" -type f -exec bash -c '
    sed -i.bak "s/[[:space:]]*$//" "$1" && rm "$1.bak"
    [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$1")" ] && echo >> "$1"
' _ {} \;

Git Integration

# Check files changed in last commit
git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD | while read f; do
    [ -f "$f" ] && {
        grep -q '[[:space:]]$' "$f" && echo "$f: trailing spaces"
        [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$f")" ] && echo "$f: missing newline"
    }
done

# Check files changed between branches
git diff --name-only master feature-branch | while read f; do
    [ -f "$f" ] && check_file "$f"
done

# Check staged files before commit
git diff --cached --name-only | while read f; do
    [ -f "$f" ] && {
        grep -n '[[:space:]]$' "$f" && { echo "$f has trailing spaces"; exit 1; }
        [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$f")" ] && { echo "$f missing newline"; exit 1; }
    }
done

Advanced Examples

# Parallel processing with GNU parallel (if installed)
find . -name "*.txt" -type f | parallel -j+0 '
    echo -n "{}: "
    grep -c "[[:space:]]$" {} | { read n; [ $n -gt 0 ] && echo -n "$n trailing spaces, "; }
    [ -n "$(tail -c 1 {})" ] && echo -n "missing newline, "
    echo "checked"
' | grep -v "0 trailing.*checked$"

# Generate report similar to LineGuard
check_all() {
    local total=0 issues=0
    while IFS= read -r file; do
        ((total++))
        local has_issue=0
        if grep -q '[[:space:]]$' "$file"; then
            echo "✗ $file: trailing spaces on lines $(grep -n '[[:space:]]$' "$file" | cut -d: -f1 | tr '\n' ' ')"
            has_issue=1
        fi
        if [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$file")" ]; then
            echo "✗ $file: missing newline at EOF"
            has_issue=1
        fi
        [ $has_issue -eq 1 ] && ((issues++))
        [ $has_issue -eq 0 ] && echo "✓ $file"
    done < <(find . -name "*.txt" -type f)
    echo
    echo "Checked $total files, found issues in $issues files"
    [ $issues -gt 0 ] && return 1 || return 0
}

Shell Function for .bashrc/.zshrc

Add this function to your shell configuration for easy access:

lineguard_check() {
    local pattern="${1:-*}"
    local recursive="${2:-}"
    local find_depth=""

    [ "$recursive" != "-r" ] && find_depth="-maxdepth 1"

    find . $find_depth -name "$pattern" -type f ! -path '*/\.*' -exec bash -c '
        file="$1"
        has_issue=0

        # Check trailing spaces
        if trailing=$(grep -n "[[:space:]]$" "$file" 2>/dev/null); then
            echo -e "\033[0;31m✗\033[0m $file"
            echo "  Trailing spaces on lines:"
            echo "$trailing" | cut -d: -f1 | while read ln; do echo "    Line $ln"; done
            has_issue=1
        fi

        # Check newline at EOF
        if [ -s "$file" ] && [ -n "$(tail -c 1 "$file")" ]; then
            [ $has_issue -eq 0 ] && echo -e "\033[0;31m✗\033[0m $file"
            echo "  Missing newline at end of file"
            has_issue=1
        fi

        [ $has_issue -eq 0 ] && echo -e "\033[0;32m✓\033[0m $file"
        exit $has_issue
    ' _ {} \;
}

# Usage:
# lineguard_check "*.txt"      # Check .txt files in current directory
# lineguard_check "*.rs" -r    # Recursively check .rs files

Comparison

Feature	LineGuard	Shell Commands
Performance	Fast (parallel Rust)	Slower (sequential bash)
Binary file detection	Automatic	Manual with file command
Progress bar	Yes (for large sets)	No
Configuration file	Yes (.lineguardrc)	No
Output formats	Human, JSON, GitHub	Basic text only
Cross-platform	Yes	Unix/Linux/macOS only
Memory usage	Efficient streaming	Depends on file size
Error handling	Comprehensive	Basic
Installation	Required	Uses built-in tools

Choose LineGuard for production use and comprehensive checking. Use shell commands for quick checks or when installation is not possible.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

This site is open source. Improve this page.