header – File Header Management Script - by RedHatRanger

header is a Bash utility that automatically adds or updates a standardized metadata header at the top of files (YAML, Bash, Python, configs, etc.). It’s designed to help teams maintain consistent file documentation and versioning, while preserving shebangs (#!/usr/bin/env bash) and file permissions.

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✨ Features

• Adds a new header to files without one, or updates existing headers

• Preserves shebang (#!) line if present

• Preserves original file permissions

• Header fields managed automatically:

  • File – filename
  • Author – preserved if exists; otherwise set to provided or current user
  • Created On – preserved once set; otherwise added at creation
  • Last Modified – always updated
  • Modified By – always updated
  • Description – preserved unless explicitly updated
  • Version – starts at v1.0, increments by 0.1 on each modification

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📦 Installation

Save the script and make it executable:

sudo cp header /usr/local/bin/header
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/header

Optional Vim Integration

To automatically insert or update headers when editing YAML files, add the following to your ~/.vimrc (or globally in /etc/vim/vimrc):

autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.yml,*.yaml !header %  # Not Recommended as this will give a warning message each time to Load the File
autocmd FileType yaml setlocal et ai ts=2 sw=2 sts=2  # RECOMMENDED FOR 2-SPACED-TABS

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🚀 Usage

header [OPTIONS] FILE [FILE2 ...]

Options

Option	Description
-a, --author NAME	Set author (default: current user)
-m, --modified-by NAME	Set Modified By field (default: current user)
-d, --desc TEXT	Set Description. Use "-" to preserve existing
-f, --force-author	Overwrite existing Author with the provided name
-h, --help	Show usage

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📝 Examples

Add a new header

header --author "Alice" --desc "Production Configuration Template" sample.yaml

Update an existing header

header -m "Bob" -d "Alice's code, modified by Bob" sample_with_header.yaml

Replace the Author (force mode)

header --author "Bob" --force-author app.yaml

Multiple files

header --author devops --desc "Infra configs" config1.yaml config2.yaml

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🔍 Notes

• Preserves Author and Created On by default
• --force-author is required to overwrite Author
• --desc "-" preserves existing description
• Version auto-increments (v1.0, v1.1, v1.2, …)