bat-extras: batpipe

A less (and bat) preprocessor for viewing more types of files in the terminal.

Usage

Like lesspipe, batpipe is designed to work with programs that support preprocessing with the LESSOPEN environment variable. Setting up batpipe will depend on your shell:

Bash:

eval "$(batpipe)"

Fish:

eval (batpipe)

Environment

Variable	Description
BATPIPE_TERM_WIDTH	Sets the terminal width provided to bat. If this variable starts with a hyphen (-), the number provided will be relative to the detected terminal size.

Built-in Viewers

Files	Program
Directories	eza, ls
*.tar, *.tar.gz	tar
*.zip, *.jar	unzip
*.gz	gunzip
*.xz	xz

External Viewers

For file formats that aren't supported by default, an external file viewer can be added to batpipe through the external viewer API.

External viewers are be added to batpipe by creating bash scripts inside the ~/.config/batpipe/viewers.d/ directory.

Creating Viewers

Viewers must define two functions and append the viewer's name to the $BATPIPE_VIEWERS array.

• viewer_${viewer}_supports [file_basename] [file_path] [inner_file_path]
• viewer_${viewer}_process [file_path] [inner_file_path]

The viewer_${viewer}_supports function is called to determine if the external viewer is capable of viewing the provided file. If this function returns successfully, the corresponding process function will be called.

API

$BATPIPE_VIEWERS      -- An array of loaded file viewers.
$BATPIPE_ENABLE_COLOR -- Whether color is supported. (`true`|`false`)
$BATPIPE_INSIDE_LESS  -- Whether batpipe is inside less. (`true`|`false`)

batpipe_header [pattern] [...]    -- Print a viewer header line.
batpipe_subheader [pattern] [...] -- Print a viewer subheader line.

strip_trailing_slashes [path]     -- Strips trailing slashes from a path.

Caveats

• By default, batpipe will not use colors when previewed inside less. Colors must be explicitly enabled with BATPIPE=color.

Installation

This script is a part of the bat-extras suite of scripts. You can find install instructions here.

Issues?

If you find an issue or have a feature suggestion, make a pull request or issue through GitHub! Contributions are always welcome.