My Directory List & Print Extension

Two jobs, done simply:

1. Folder → text. Show, copy or export any folder as a tree, list, Markdown, CSV or JSON.
2. Text → folder. Turn a pasted tree or list into real folders and files, with a preview first and undo.

Folder → text

Right-click a folder in the Explorer:

my-site/
├── css/
│   └── main.css
├── js/
│   └── app.js
└── index.html

2 folders, 3 files, 4.1 KB

No Explorer? Run the same commands from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P, type Directory List). With one workspace folder it just uses it; with several it asks once.

Text → folder

1. Select the text (a tree, an indented list, a Markdown list or one path per line) and right-click → Create Folders and Files from Text.... Or copy it and run Directory List: Create Folders and Files from Text... from the Command Palette.
2. Check the preview: exactly which folders and files will be created, which already exist, and which lines were rejected.
3. Press Create. Changed your mind? Directory List: Undo Last Creation.

What it understands, automatically:

tree (Linux, macOS, Windows `tree /f`, ASCII)   indented / Markdown list      one path per line
my-site/                                        - **my-site/**                my-site/
├── css/                                          - **css/**                  my-site/css/main.css
│   └── main.css                                    - main.css                my-site/index.html
└── index.html                                    - index.html

• A name ending in / is a folder. Otherwise an item with children is a folder, and the rest are files.
• Comments (# ...), sizes ((1.2 KB)), -> link arrows, code fences and the "3 directories, 8 files" line are ignored.
• The preview offers Without "my-site/" folder if everything sits inside one top folder, and Change folder....

Why you can trust it

• Preview before anything is written. The same plan you see is the plan that runs.
• Never overwrites. Existing files are left exactly as they are. New files are created empty.
• Stays inside the folder you chose. .., absolute paths, odd characters and symbolic links that lead elsewhere are rejected.
• Undo is careful. It removes only what the last run created, and only empty files and empty folders. Files you edited are kept.
• Everything is logged. Directory List: Show Log lists every item created, kept or skipped.
• Listing never follows symbolic links, skips what you ignore, and stops at a safety limit (and says so).

Settings

CSV notes: values are quoted per RFC 4180, dates are ISO 8601, and a name starting with = or @ gets a leading ' so spreadsheets do not run it as a formula.

Upgrading from 1.0

All old command ids still work (keybindings and tasks keep running), but they are now hidden from the Palette and open the new flows. What changed:

• Listings are recursive (set maxDepth to 1 for the old one-level behavior) and use a compact format instead of five lines per file.
• The sorting question is now the sortBy setting. Fewer questions, same result.
• The ASCII parser was rewritten: it follows columns, so trees whose last branches use blank indentation, tree /f output and 2-space/tab indentation now work. The old parser turned └── ci.yml under such a branch into a file literally named └── ci.yml, in the wrong folder.
• The top folder of a tree is now created (or skipped on request) instead of being silently dropped.
• Existing files are no longer replaced by empty ones.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.txt.