🖥️ cpp-cli-shell

A modular, object-oriented command-line shell built in C++ — clean architecture, beginner-friendly, and easily extensible.

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📖 Overview

cpp-cli-shell is a lightweight interactive shell implemented in C++ using object-oriented principles. It demonstrates clean separation of concerns — parsing, command handling, file operations, and utilities are each isolated into their own modules, making the codebase easy to understand, maintain, and extend.

Built as a learning project to explore C++ OOP, modular design patterns, and CLI application development.

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🔁 Interactive Shell Loop	Continuously reads and executes user commands
🔍 Input Tokenizer	Parses raw input into structured command tokens
➕ Arithmetic	add command for integer addition
📄 File Reader	read command to display file contents
🔎 Text Search	search command to find words inside files
🧩 Modular Architecture	Clean OOP design — each concern in its own class

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🗂️ Project Structure

cpp-cli-shell/
├── main.cpp          # Shell entry point — runs the input loop
├── parser.h/.cpp     # Tokenizes raw input into command + args
├── commands.h/.cpp   # Dispatches and handles all commands
├── file_ops.h/.cpp   # File reading and word search logic
└── utils.h/.cpp      # String utilities (trim, helpers)

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• A C++ compiler (g++, clang++, or MSVC)
• C++17 or later

Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ashish7802/cpp-cli-shell.git
cd cpp-cli-shell

# Compile
g++ main.cpp parser.cpp commands.cpp file_ops.cpp utils.cpp -o cli_shell

Run

Linux / macOS:

./cli_shell

Windows (PowerShell):

.\cli_shell.exe

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💬 Supported Commands

hello                      → Prints a greeting message
add <a> <b>                → Adds two integers  (e.g. add 5 3  →  8)
read <filename>            → Displays the contents of a file
search <filename> <word>   → Searches for a word inside a file
exit                       → Exits the shell

Example session:

shell> hello
Hello, World!

shell> add 10 25
Result: 35

shell> read notes.txt
This is the content of notes.txt...

shell> search notes.txt hello
Found: 'hello' in notes.txt

shell> exit
Goodbye!

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🏗️ Architecture

The project follows a clean separation of concerns pattern:

• Parser — Responsible only for breaking raw input into tokens
• CommandHandler — Routes tokens to the correct command handler
• FileOps — Encapsulates all file I/O logic
• Utils — Stateless helper functions (string trimming, etc.)
• main.cpp — Thin orchestration layer that wires everything together

This makes adding new commands as simple as adding a new handler in commands.cpp — no other files need to change.

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🔧 Extending the Shell

To add a new command:

1. Add a private handler method in commands.h
2. Implement it in commands.cpp
3. Register it in the execute() dispatch block

// commands.cpp — add inside execute()
else if (tokens[0] == "mycommand") {
    handle_mycommand(tokens);
}

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

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👤 Author

Ashish Yadav

• GitHub: @ashish7802
• Portfolio: ashyada.netlify.app

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