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what is prettyprint fr?

mre/prettyprint — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-18 · repo last pushed 2023-03-20

200RustAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

tl;dr

A Rust library that adds syntax highlighting, line numbers, and polished formatting to code printed in a terminal, now in maintenance mode with `bat` recommended for new projects.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Syntax highlighting
      Line numbers
      Themeable output
    Tech stack
      Rust
    Use cases
      CLI code display
      Documentation tools
      Teaching platforms
    Status
      Maintenance mode
      bat recommended
    Audience
      Rust developers
      CLI tool builders

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what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Add syntax-highlighted code output to a custom command-line tool or REPL.

VIBE 2

Build a documentation generator or code review tool that displays formatted code snippets.

VIBE 3

Show macro-expanded Rust code clearly, as this library was built for the cargo-inspect tool.

VIBE 4

Customize themes, headers, and line-number display for your own terminal output needs.

what's the stack?

Rust

how it stacks up fr

mre/prettyprintzaydmulani09/mnemomanyougz/velotype
Stars200193191
LanguageRustRustRust
Last pushed2023-03-20
MaintenanceDormant
Setup difficultyeasymoderateeasy
Complexity2/53/52/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperwriter

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · easy time til it works · 30min

In maintenance mode, the maintainer recommends bat as a library for new projects instead.

No license information was found in the explanation.

in plain english

prettyprint is a library that makes code and text look beautiful when printed to a terminal. It adds syntax highlighting (color-coding for different parts of code), line numbers, headers, and other visual polish that you'd normally have to build yourself. Think of it like taking plain code and making it look the way it does in a polished code editor or documentation website. The library works by taking code, either from a file or a string, and intelligently coloring different parts based on the programming language. So keywords show up in one color, strings in another, comments in another, and so on. You can customize it heavily: turn off line numbers if you want, add or remove the header, swap between different color themes, or change how it handles special characters. It's designed to handle the annoying details that come with printing to a terminal, like making sure output fits nicely on screen and works on Windows as well as Mac and Linux. Anyone building a command-line tool that displays code would find this useful. If you're making a documentation generator, a code review tool, a teaching platform, or even just a custom REPL that needs to show code beautifully, this library saves you from reinventing the wheel. The README specifically mentions it was built for cargo-inspect, a tool that shows you Rust code after macro expansion, a case where you really want nicely formatted output to understand what's happening under the hood. One thing to know: the maintainer notes that this library is in maintenance mode and recommends new projects consider using bat instead (another popular code-printing tool that now works as a library). That said, pull requests are still reviewed and dependencies are kept current, so it's stable enough to use, just maybe not the place to expect major new features going forward.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Show me how to use mre/prettyprint to add syntax-highlighted output to my Rust CLI tool.
prompt 2
Help me customize the color theme and disable line numbers in prettyprint's output.
prompt 3
Explain how prettyprint handles terminal width and cross-platform differences on Windows versus Mac and Linux.
prompt 4
Since prettyprint is in maintenance mode, help me evaluate whether to use bat as a library instead for my new project.

Frequently asked questions

what is prettyprint fr?

A Rust library that adds syntax highlighting, line numbers, and polished formatting to code printed in a terminal, now in maintenance mode with `bat` recommended for new projects.

What language is prettyprint written in?

Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust.

Is prettyprint actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2023-03-20).

What license does prettyprint use?

No license information was found in the explanation.

How hard is prettyprint to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is prettyprint for?

Mainly developer.

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