Binary visualizer, inspired by scanlime

visbin.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import math
import subprocess
from random import choice
from argparse import ArgumentParser

def random_filename():
    letters = [chr(ord("a") + x) for x in range(26)]
    return "".join([choice(letters) for _ in range(12)])

parser = ArgumentParser("visbin")
parser.add_argument("input_file")
parser.add_argument("width", type=int)
parser.add_argument("-o", "--outfile", required=False)
parser.add_argument("-a", "--auto-open", required=False, action="store_true")

args = parser.parse_args()

with open(args.input_file, "rb") as f:
    file_bytes = f.read()

padding_bytes = len(file_bytes) % args.width
height = math.ceil(len(file_bytes) / args.width)

pgm_header = f"P5 {args.width} {height} 255\n"
pgm_data = file_bytes + bytearray([255 for _ in range(padding_bytes)])

auto_open = args.auto_open
file_out = args.outfile
if not file_out:
    file_out = "/tmp/" + random_filename() + ".pgm"
    auto_open = True

with open(file_out, "wb") as f:
    f.write(bytearray(pgm_header, "ascii"))
    f.write(pgm_data)

if auto_open:
    subprocess.call(("xdg-open", file_out))