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built snub, a fast and lightweight recursive file search tool for Windows, written in modern C (C17). File Explorer and PowerShell often crawl on large codebases — so I wrote something that doesn’t.

snub is: - Fully multithreaded - Avoids indexing entirely - Supports globbing, size/date filters, result limiting, and JSON output - Packaged as a single small executable

No dependencies. Just raw C and the WinAPI.

GitHub: https://github.com/seeyebe/snub

Would love feedback on C idioms, WinAPI practices, or ideas for portability and better build flow.

7 comments

  • ethan_smith

     

    3 days ago

     

    [ - ]

    Consider adding a `-x` flag to exclude directories (like node_modules, .git) which would make this even more valuable for devs working with large codebases.

    seeyebe

     

    3 days ago

     

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    Great suggestion, thanks! snub already skips common dirs like node_modules, .git, .svn, and __pycache__ by default (you can turn that off with --no-skip), but an explicit -x/--exclude flag for user-supplied patterns would be even more useful

  • FerkiHN

     

    3 days ago

     

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    Wow bro, this is amazing! I’m also a fan of writing raw WinAPI code in C — and seeing a fast, no-dependency, single-exe utility like this in 2025 feels like a breath of fresh air. I especially love how snub avoids indexing and gives full control — feels like grep meets Windows-native power.

    I starred the repo instantly — and if you’re ever curious, I’m also working on a terminal-based image viewer written in C for retro and embedded use cases. But honestly, snub is super clean and deserves way more attention!

    Respect from a fellow low-level dev FerkiHN

    Github: https://github.com/Ferki-git-creator/phono-in-terminal-image...

    seeyebe

     

    3 days ago

     

    [ - ]

    Hey, really appreciate that. means a lot coming from someone else in the raw C/WinAPI trenches. Just checked out phono too; super cool concept, I love seeing C used in unexpected spaces like that. Definitely gonna take a look at it properly today. Respect right back, Ferki. glad snub landed with you.

    FerkiHN

     

    3 days ago

     

    [ - ]

    Really appreciate your reply and kind words If you end up liking the project after checking it out, feel free to drop a star — it always gives me a boost to keep building :) Either way, I’ll be following your updates on snub. Projects like that inspire me a lot.