tidyname

A small, dependency-free command-line utility for cleaning, normalizing, and transliterating file names.

t i d y n a m e is the Zig-generation of a project that began life as an experimental Python file-renaming script, became a structured Python package, and was later rewritten in Rust. This repository is intentionally a fresh Zig project with its own Git history.

Why another implementation?

The goal is not a mechanical Rust-to-Zig port. The earlier implementations provide the behavioral lineage; this project uses that experience to build a smaller, explicit Zig application around the same useful core.

Features

• filename normalization and separator cleanup
• Russian Cyrillic-to-Latin transliteration
• extension filtering
• recursive directory traversal
• collision-safe renaming
• dry-run preview
• verbose change reporting
• zero third-party runtime dependencies
• macOS, Linux, and Windows targets through Zig's cross-compilation toolchain

Usage

tidyname [PATH] [OPTIONS]

Examples:

tidyname
tidyname ./downloads --dry-run -v
tidyname ./downloads -r -e csv -e txt

--dry-run is strongly recommended before applying a batch rename.

Development

This project targets Zig 0.16.0 or newer.

zig build
zig build test
zig build run -- --help
zig fmt --check src build.zig

The latest stable Zig release is currently 0.16.0. The project uses the 0.16 std.Io filesystem APIs rather than the pre-0.16 std.fs interfaces.

Lineage

experimental Python script
        ↓
structured Python package
        ↓
Rust implementation
        ↓
Zig reimplementation (this repository)

Previous generation: renamex.

The earlier repositories remain independent projects. This repository starts at commit 0 and develops as a Zig-native codebase.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.