FFINDEX_BUILD(1)

🌸 FFINDEX_BUILD — ok bestie let's build an index 🌸

Hiii so this is the manual for ffindex_build, and yes it lives in section 1 of the manual (User Commands, if you're keeping score) 💅. Buckle up, we're indexing files like it's nothing.

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✨ NAME ✨

ffindex_build — build a file index from files chilling in directories. It's giving "organize my whole life in one command" energy 🗂️✨

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so here's the whole vibe, the actual usage line, character for character, no notes:

USAGE: ffindex_build [-a|-v] [-s] [-f file]* OUT_DATA_FILE
OUT_INDEX_FILE [-d 2ND_DATA_FILE -i 2ND_INDEX_FILE] [DIR_TO_INDEX|FILE]*

Now let's go flag by flag because every single one matters, periodt 💖

• -a — append files/indexes. Also needed if you wanna sort an already existing ffindex, so don't skip it, ok?
• -d FFDATA_FILE — a second ffindex data file, used for inserting/appending. Two data files, one destiny 🙈
• -i FFINDEX_FILE — a second ffindex index file, for inserting/appending. The matching bestie to -d fr fr 💞
• -f FILE — a file that contains a list of file names, one per line. And listen: -f can be specified up to 4096 times. Yes, four thousand ninety-six. Iconic behavior honestly 👑
• -s — sort the index file, so that the index can actually be queried. More append operations can still be done without sorting, so you're not locked in forever, bestie.
• -v — print version and other info, then exit. A little "hi, who am I" moment 🎀
• -h — display this help message. The original helpful girl 💅

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• FFINDEX_MAX_INDEX_ENTRIES — allocate memory for this number of entries. Manifest that memory, bestie ✨

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

Example 1: Create a brand-new ffindex containing all the files from the "bar/" directory — say it has myfile1.txt, myfile2.txt in there — and sort (-s) it so that, like, ffindex_get can actually use it:

$ ffindex_build -s foo.ffdata foo.ffindex bar/

Example 2: Add (-a) more files: myfile3.txt, myfile4.txt.

$ ffindex_build -a foo.ffdata foo.ffindex myfile3.txt myfile4.txt

Example 3: Oops 😭 forgot to sort it (-s), so just do it afterwards like the main character you are:

$ ffindex_build -as foo.ffdata foo.ffindex

💀 NOTE 💀

This was compiled with a maximum key/filename length of 63 and a default maximum of 80000000 entries. If those numbers aren't your vibe, you can change them in the sources. That's it, that's the tea 🍵

Designed and implemented by Andreas Hauser <andy@splashground.de> — absolute legend behavior, we love to see it 🫶

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👑 BUGS 👑

User feedback is very welcome, especially bugs, performance issues, and — last but definitely not least — the convenience of the programs and the API. Tell us if it's not serving 💅

Email Andreas Hauser at hauser@genzentrum.lmu.de 💌

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lowkey if you found a bug, that's not a you problem, that's a "please email us" problem. no cap. 🐛

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and that's the whole page, bestie — you ate this, gn ✨

This was ffindex_build version 0.999, dated January 2026, from FFINDEX_BUILD(1). Love that for us 💖🎀🦋