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peep: A CLI Text Viewer

Benhcmark Administrator

29/08/2025

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Upgrade Your Terminal with Peep: A Fast, Syntax-Highlighting CLI Text Viewer

If you spend any significant time in a command-line interface (CLI), you’re likely familiar with tools like cat and less. They are the workhorses for quickly viewing file contents or the output of other commands. While functional, they present information in a plain, unformatted way that can be difficult to parse, especially when dealing with code, configuration files, or structured data.

Enter peep, a modern command-line text viewer designed to enhance readability and efficiency. Built with performance in mind, this tool brings essential features like syntax highlighting and line numbers directly to your terminal, transforming how you interact with text files.

What Exactly is Peep?

At its core, peep is a fast and intuitive text viewer for your terminal. Think of it as a supercharged alternative to cat or a more visually appealing version of less. Its primary goal is not just to display text but to make that text as readable and understandable as possible, without ever leaving your command line.

Written in Rust, peep leverages the language’s strengths in speed and memory safety, ensuring it remains lightweight and responsive even with large files. Whether you’re a developer reviewing code, a sysadmin checking log files, or a DevOps engineer inspecting YAML configurations, peep offers a significantly improved viewing experience.

Key Features That Make Peep Stand Out

peep isn’t just another text viewer; it’s a productivity tool packed with features designed for modern command-line users.

• Automatic Syntax Highlighting: This is arguably the most significant feature. peep automatically detects the file type and applies color-coded syntax highlighting. This makes reading source code, scripts, and configuration files (like JSON, YAML, or TOML) dramatically easier and helps you spot errors at a glance.

• Blazing-Fast Performance: Thanks to its Rust foundation, peep is exceptionally fast. It can handle large files and piped data streams without noticeable lag, ensuring your workflow remains uninterrupted.

• Seamless Piped Content Viewing: Like its predecessors, peep integrates perfectly with the Unix philosophy of piping commands together. You can pipe the output of any command directly into peep to get an instantly readable, highlighted view. For example, viewing a directory listing becomes much clearer: ls -la | peep.

• Built-in Pager: For files or outputs that are too long to fit on one screen, peep includes a pager similar to less. This allows you to scroll through content smoothly using your arrow keys or standard navigation commands, without dumping the entire file to your screen at once.

• Line Numbers: By default, peep displays line numbers, which are invaluable for debugging, code reviews, and referencing specific parts of a file.

• Customizable Themes: To match your personal terminal aesthetic, peep supports different color themes, including the popular Nord theme, allowing you to customize the look and feel of the syntax highlighting.

Getting Started with Peep: Installation and Usage

Integrating peep into your workflow is straightforward. If you have the Rust programming language toolchain installed, the easiest way to get peep is by using Cargo, Rust’s package manager.

Installation via Cargo:

cargo install peep

Once installed, using it is as simple as you’d expect.

Basic Usage Examples:

1. View a file directly:
   Instead of cat my_script.py, use:

   peep my_script.py
   

2. View the output of another command:
   To get a highlighted view of the differences in your git repository:

   git diff | peep
   

3. Explore system logs:
   To review a system log file with better readability:
   bash
peep /var/log/syslog


The Bottom Line

While traditional tools like cat and less will always have their place for raw, unfiltered output, modern development and system administration demand more intelligent tools. peep fills a crucial gap by providing a fast, readable, and visually appealing way to view text and code in the terminal.

By adding syntax highlighting, line numbers, and an efficient pager, it helps reduce cognitive load and boosts productivity. If you’re looking to modernize your command-line toolkit and make your terminal sessions more efficient, giving peep a try is a logical next step.

Source: https://www.linuxlinks.com/peep-cli-text-viewer-tool/