Update README for simplified version

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Jeremie Fraeys 2026-02-10 20:27:42 -05:00
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@ -20,63 +20,40 @@ src/
├── main.zig # Main program entry point
├── types.zig # Data structures and types
├── parser.zig # Command line argument parsing
├── search.zig # Man page search functionality
├── display.zig # Output formatting and display
└── performance.zig # Essential performance optimizations
└── search.zig # Man page search functionality
```
### Module Responsibilities
- **`types.zig`**: Contains `ManEntry`, `ManEntryList`, and `SearchConfig` structures
- **`parser.zig`**: Handles command line argument parsing, validation, and help text
- **`search.zig`**: Manages man page searching, parsing, and path resolution
- **`display.zig`**: Formats and displays search results and progress information
- **`performance.zig`**: Essential optimizations for fast string operations and I/O
- **`main.zig`**: Orchestrates the program flow and coordinates between modules
## Performance Features
The tool is optimized for speed while maintaining simplicity:
- **Early filtering**: Section filtering happens during parsing for better performance
- **Efficient I/O**: Optimized buffer sizes and reading strategies
- **Fast string operations**: Optimized string comparisons for common cases
- **Memory efficiency**: Exponential growth strategy for collections
- **POSIX optimization**: Common man page directories checked first
- **`search.zig`**: Manages man page searching and keyword matching
## Usage
### Basic Search
```bash
manwhere sleep # Find all man pages mentioning "sleep"
# Output:
# sleep
# appsleepd
```
### Interactive Selection with fzf
```bash
manwhere sleep | fzf | xargs man # Select and open a man page
```
### Section Filtering
```bash
manwhere -s 1 sleep # Find only commands (section 1)
manwhere --section 3 sleep # Find only library functions (section 3)
```
### Verbose Mode
```bash
manwhere -v sleep # Show timing and processing details
manwhere --verbose sleep # Same as above
```
### Path Resolution
```bash
manwhere --paths sleep # Show file paths (slower but more detailed)
```
### Combined Options
```bash
manwhere -v --paths -s 1 sleep # Verbose, with paths, section 1 only
manwhere -s 1 -s 3 sleep # Search sections 1 and 3
```
### Help
```bash
manwhere -h # Show help message
manwhere --help # Same as above
```
## Man Page Sections
@ -98,30 +75,47 @@ manwhere --help # Same as above
### Build Commands
```bash
# Debug build (good for development)
# Debug build (for development)
zig build
# Release build (maximum performance)
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
# Clean build
zig build clean
```
### Install to ~/.local/bin
```bash
# Release build (installs to ~/.local/bin)
zig build release
```
## Performance
The tool is designed to be fast and efficient:
- **Typical search time**: ~10ms
- **Memory usage**: Minimal (streams results)
- **No database required**: Scans filesystem directly
- **Typical search time**: 700-800ms for common keywords
- **Section filtering**: 20-30% faster than searching all sections
- **Path resolution**: Adds ~200-300ms for detailed results
- **Memory usage**: ~8-12MB for typical searches
- **Scalability**: Handles large result sets efficiently
## Design Philosophy
This tool follows Unix philosophy: do one thing well and compose with other tools.
- **No interactive mode**: Use `fzf`, `dmenu`, or similar tools
- **No descriptions**: Fast name-only output
- **No verbose mode**: Silent operation for scripts
- **No formatted output**: Plain text for easy parsing
## Example Workflows
### Find and open a man page
```bash
manwhere printf | fzf | xargs man
```
### Quick lookup with preview
```bash
manwhere sleep | fzf --preview 'man {}'
```
### Scripting
```bash
# Find all SSL-related functions
manwhere ssl | while read name; do
man 3 "$name" 2>/dev/null && break
done
```
## POSIX Compatibility
@ -130,33 +124,6 @@ Works reliably on:
- **macOS**: Standard paths plus Homebrew (`/opt/homebrew/share/man`) and MacPorts (`/opt/local/share/man`)
- **Other Unix-like systems**: Standard man page directory structures
## Error Handling
The program provides clear error messages for:
- Invalid command line options
- Missing required arguments
- Invalid section numbers
- Multiple keywords (not supported)
- Search failures
## Why Simple and Fast?
This tool prioritizes:
1. **Reliability** - Works consistently across POSIX systems
2. **Speed** - Essential optimizations without complexity
3. **Simplicity** - Easy to understand, maintain, and debug
4. **POSIX compatibility** - No platform-specific dependencies
5. **Performance** - Fast enough for daily use without over-engineering
## Contributing
The simple structure makes it easy to:
- Add new search features
- Implement different output formats
- Add support for additional platforms
- Extend the man page section detection
- Optimize performance further
## License
This project is open source. See the source code for license details.