TCDir

TCDir ("Technicolor Directory") is a fast, colorized directory listing tool for Windows consoles. It’s designed as a practical dir-style command with useful defaults (color by extension/attributes, sorting, recursion, wide output, and a multi-threaded enumerator). Hat tip to Chris Kirmse whose excellent ZDir from the '90s was the original inspiration for TCDir.

Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• PowerShell 7 (pwsh) to run the build/test scripts
• Visual Studio 2026 (v18.x)
  • The free Community edition is fine, but any edition will work
  • Workload: Desktop development with C++
  • Individual components (usually included with the workload, but worth confirming):
    • MSVC v14x x64/x86 build tools
    • Windows 10/11 SDK
    • C++ unit test framework (to build/run the UnitTest project)
    • Optional (ARM64 builds/tests): MSVC v14x ARM64 build tools
  • The scripts use vswhere.exe to locate MSBuild and the test runner
• Optional: VS Code (the repo includes .vscode/ tasks wired up to scripts/Build.ps1 and scripts/RunTests.ps1)

Quick start

Build:

• Visual Studio: open TCDir.sln and Build Solution
• VS Code: run a build task (e.g. Build Release x64 (no test))
• Command line: pwsh -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\Build.ps1 -Configuration Release -Platform x64 -Target Build

Run:

• .\x64\Release\TCDir.exe

Usage

Show help:

• TCDir.exe /?

Basic syntax:

• TCDIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/O[[:]sortorder]] [/S] [/W] [/P] [/M] [/Env] [/Config]

Common switches:

• /A[:]<attributes>: filter by file attributes
• /O[:]<sortorder>: sort results
  • both /oe and /o:e forms are supported
  • N name, E extension, S size, D date/time
  • prefix - to reverse
• /S: recurse into subdirectories
• /W: wide listing format
• /P: show performance timing information
• /M: enable multi-threaded enumeration (default); use /M- to disable
• /Env: show TCDIR environment variable help/syntax/current value
• /Config: show current color configuration

Examples:

• List a folder: TCDir.exe C:\src
• Recurse and sort by extension: TCDir.exe C:\src /s /o:e
• Wide listing: TCDir.exe /w

Configuration (TCDIR environment variable)

TCDir supports customizing colors (and default switch behavior) via the TCDIR environment variable.

Syntax:

• CMD: set TCDIR=[ -<Switch> | /<Switch>] | [<Item> | Attr:<fileattr> | <.ext>] = <Fore> [on <Back>][;...]
• PowerShell: $env:TCDIR = "[ -<Switch> | /<Switch>] | [<Item> | Attr:<fileattr> | <.ext>] = <Fore> [on <Back>][;...]"

Example:

• CMD: set TCDIR=-W;D=LightGreen;S=Yellow;Attr:H=DarkGrey;.cpp=White on Blue
• PowerShell: $env:TCDIR = "-W;D=LightGreen;S=Yellow;Attr:H=DarkGrey;.cpp=White on Blue"

Decoded breakdown of the example:

• -W sets the default switch /W (wide listing) on
• D=LightGreen sets the Date display item color to LightGreen
• S=Yellow sets the Size display item color to Yellow
• Attr:H=DarkGrey sets the Hidden file attribute color to DarkGrey
• .cpp=White on Blue sets the .cpp extension color to White text on a Blue background

To see the full list of supported colors and a nicely formatted explanation, run:

• TCDir.exe /Env

To see your current color configuration:

• TCDir.exe /Config

Building

Build options

• Visual Studio: open TCDir.sln and Build Solution
• VS Code: the repo includes .vscode/ (tasks/launch/settings), with tasks wired up to scripts/Build.ps1 and scripts/RunTests.ps1
• Command line: use the PowerShell build scripts below

Build scripts

• Build: pwsh -File .\scripts\Build.ps1 -Configuration <Debug|Release> -Platform <x64|ARM64> -Target Build
• Clean: pwsh -File .\scripts\Build.ps1 -Configuration <Debug|Release> -Platform <x64|ARM64> -Target Clean
• Rebuild: pwsh -File .\scripts\Build.ps1 -Configuration <Debug|Release> -Platform <x64|ARM64> -Target Rebuild
• Build both Release targets: pwsh -File .\scripts\Build.ps1 -Target BuildAllRelease

Build outputs land under:

• x64\Debug\TCDir.exe, x64\Release\TCDir.exe
• ARM64\Debug\TCDir.exe, ARM64\Release\TCDir.exe

Tests

Run unit tests:

• pwsh -File .\scripts\RunTests.ps1

(Uses Visual Studio’s vstest.console.exe, discovered via vswhere.)

Versioning

The build number is auto-incremented by a pre-build script. Details are in BUILD_VERSION.md.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.