diff --git a/confsync/utils/file_utils.py b/confsync/utils/file_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67b1c6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/confsync/utils/file_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+"""File utility functions for ConfSync."""
+
+import hashlib
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import List, Optional
+
+
+def calculate_file_hash(content: str) -> str:
+    """Calculate SHA256 hash of content."""
+    return hashlib.sha256(content.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
+
+
+def read_file_safe(path: str, encoding: str = 'utf-8') -> Optional[str]:
+    """Safely read a file, returning None on error."""
+    try:
+        with open(path, 'r', encoding=encoding) as f:
+            return f.read()
+    except (IOError, OSError, UnicodeDecodeError) as e:
+        print(f"Warning: Could not read file {path}: {e}")
+        return None
+
+
+def write_file_safe(content: str, path: str, encoding: str = 'utf-8') -> bool:
+    """Safely write to a file, returning success status."""
+    try:
+        Path(path).parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        with open(path, 'w', encoding=encoding) as f:
+            f.write(content)
+        return True
+    except (IOError, OSError) as e:
+        print(f"Error: Could not write to file {path}: {e}")
+        return False
+
+
+def find_files_matching(
+    base_path: str,
+    patterns: List[str],
+    recursive: bool = False
+) -> List[str]:
+    """Find files matching any of the given patterns."""
+    base = Path(base_path)
+    matches: List[str] = []
+
+    for pattern in patterns:
+        if recursive:
+            matches.extend(str(m) for m in base.rglob(pattern))
+        else:
+            matches.extend(str(m) for m in base.glob(pattern))
+
+    return list(set(matches))
+
+
+def get_file_size(path: str) -> int:
+    """Get file size in bytes."""
+    try:
+        return os.path.getsize(path)
+    except OSError:
+        return 0
+
+
+def get_file_mtime(path: str) -> float:
+    """Get file modification time."""
+    try:
+        return os.path.getmtime(path)
+    except OSError:
+        return 0
+
+
+def ensure_directory(path: str) -> bool:
+    """Ensure directory exists, creating if necessary."""
+    try:
+        Path(path).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        return True
+    except OSError as e:
+        print(f"Error creating directory {path}: {e}")
+        return False
+
+
+def normalize_line_endings(content: str, style: str = 'unix') -> str:
+    """Normalize line endings to Unix (LF) or Windows (CRLF) style."""
+    if style == 'windows':
+        return content.replace('\n', '\r\n')
+    return content.replace('\r\n', '\n')
+
+
+def is_binary_content(content: bytes) -> bool:
+    """Check if content appears to be binary."""
+    text_chars = bytes([7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 27]) + bytes(range(0x20, 0x100))
+    return bool(content.translate(None, text_chars))
+
+
+def split_into_lines(content: str, max_line_length: int = 1000) -> List[str]:
+    """Split content into lines, handling various formats."""
+    return content.splitlines()
+
+
+def read_binary_file(path: str) -> Optional[bytes]:
+    """Read a binary file, returning None on error."""
+    try:
+        with open(path, 'rb') as f:
+            return f.read()
+    except (IOError, OSError) as e:
+        print(f"Warning: Could not read binary file {path}: {e}")
+        return None