see

A minimal, cross-platform file content display utility optimized for performance and compatibility.

Overview

see is a command-line utility designed as a high-performance alternative to the traditional cat command. Built with C89 for maximum compatibility, it provides efficient file concatenation and display functionality across Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms.

Key Features

• High Performance: Optimized 64KB buffer for efficient disk I/O operations
• Cross-Platform: Native support for Windows, Linux, and macOS
• Binary Safe: Handles binary files without content modification
• UTF-8 Ready: Proper UTF-8 output handling on Windows systems
• Robust I/O: Binary mode operations prevent CRLF translation issues
• Pipe-Safe: Graceful handling of broken pipes in command pipelines
• Minimal Footprint: Single C source file with optimized binary size
• Standards Compliant: Written in C89 for broad compiler compatibility

Installation

Build from Source

Requirements:

• C compiler with C89 standard support
• Make (optional but recommended)

Using Make:

make

Manual Compilation:

gcc -std=c89 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -Wextra -Os -s -o see src/see.c

Windows Compilation:

gcc -std=c89 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -Wall -Wextra -Os -s -o see.exe src/see.c

Usage

Usage: see [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Concatenate FILE(s) to standard output.
With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Options:
  -h, --help     display this help
  -v, --version  output version information

Examples

Display a single file:

see filename.txt

Concatenate multiple files:

see file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

Read from standard input:

echo "Hello, World!" | see

Use with redirection:

see file1.txt file2.txt > combined.txt

Pipeline integration:

see logfile.txt | grep "ERROR"

Process binary files:

see image.jpg > image_copy.jpg

Technical Details

Architecture

• Language: C89 for maximum compiler compatibility
• Buffer Size: 64KB optimized for typical disk I/O performance
• Platform Handling: Conditional compilation for Windows/POSIX systems
• Error Handling: Comprehensive error checking with descriptive messages
• Signal Management: SIGPIPE handling for robust pipeline operations

Platform-Specific Features

Windows:

• UTF-8 console output configuration
• Binary mode I/O stream setup
• Windows-specific error handling

POSIX (Linux/macOS):

• SIGPIPE signal management
• Standard POSIX I/O operations
• Unix-style error reporting

Performance Characteristics

• Memory Usage: Static 64KB buffer minimizes heap allocation
• I/O Efficiency: Optimized read/write operations with partial write handling
• Error Recovery: Interrupt-safe operations with automatic retry
• Resource Management: Proper file handle cleanup and error propagation

Building

The project uses a simple Makefile with the following targets:

make build    # Build the executable
make clean    # Remove build artifacts

Documentation

For comprehensive technical documentation and implementation details, visit the DeepWiki documentation.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for complete terms and conditions.