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Asked: 2026-05-10T22:03:38+00:00

Given a file tree – a directory with directories in it etc, how would

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Given a file tree – a directory with directories in it etc, how would you write a script to create a diagram of the file-tree as a graphic file that I can embed in a word processor document. I prefer vector (SVG, EPS, EMF…) files. The tool must run on Windows, but preferably cross-platform. The tool may be commercial but preferably free.

Update 2012-02-20. The question was related to a documentation sub project. I had to explan where files (in particular resources and configuration files) reside. I ended up with using dos tree command. I both screen grabbed the result (for short folders) AND for longer folders I redirected to a text file, which I then edited. For example if a subfolder contained 20 similarly typed files that individually were not important to the point I was making, I left just two and replaced the rest with one … line. I then printed out the file to console again and screen grabbed it. Before screen grabbing I had to modify foreground color to black and background color to white, to look better and save ink in a document should that be printed.

It is very surprising that there is no better tool for it. If I had time, I’d write a Visio Extension or may be some command line that produces SVG. SVG being HTML5 substandard, would even allow painless inclusion into online documentation.

Update 2017-10-17. I am sorry that this question was removed as not belonging to SO. So I have re-worded it. I need a script – not a WYSIWYG tool. So any scripting language or library is ok. So it is a code – writing question, and I believe belongs to SO.

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  1. Copying and pasting from the MS-DOS tree command might also work for you. Examples:

    tree

    C:\Foobar>tree C:. ├───FooScripts ├───barconfig ├───Baz │   ├───BadBaz │   └───Drop ...

    tree /F

    C:\Foobar>tree C:. ├───FooScripts │    foo.sh ├───barconfig │    bar.xml ├───Baz │   ├───BadBaz │   │    badbaz.xml │   └───Drop ...

    tree /A

    C:\Foobar>tree /A C:. +---FooScripts +---barconfig +---Baz ¦   +---BadBaz ¦   \---Drop ...

    tree /F /A

    C:\Foobar>tree /A C:. +---FooScripts ¦    foo.sh +---barconfig ¦    bar.xml +---Baz ¦   +---BadBaz ¦   ¦    badbaz.xml ¦   \---Drop ...

    Syntax [source]

    tree [drive:][path] [/F] [/A]

    drive:\path — Drive and directory containing disk for display of directory structure, without listing files.

    /F — Include all files living in every directory.

    /A — Replace graphic characters used for linking lines with ext characters , instead of graphic characters. /a is used with code pages that do not support graphic characters and to send output to printers that do not properly interpret graphic characters.

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