read-rs

A simple Rust command-line tool to read and display the contents of a text file like cat. Supports UTF-8 text files only.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Shaurya-Sethi/read-rs.git
   cd read-rs

2. Install the tool globally using Cargo:

   cargo install --path .

   This will make read-rs available in your system's PATH.

Usage

Once installed, run the tool with a file path:

read-rs <FILE_PATH>

For development or local testing:

cargo run -- <FILE_PATH>

Or run the built binary directly:

./target/debug/read-rs <FILE_PATH>

Help and Version

The tool automatically provides help and version information:

read-rs --help
read-rs --version

Example:

read-rs fixtures/hello.txt

Output:

Hello, world!

Behavior

• Prints the file contents to stdout.

• Prints errors to stderr.

• Exit codes:

  • 0 → success
  • 1 → user error (file not found, not readable, not UTF-8, or path is a directory)
  • 2 → unexpected/internal error

Limitations

• Only works with UTF-8 encoded text files.
• Binary files and non-UTF-8 text are not supported.

License

MIT