3 Match files using the patterns the shell uses, like stars and stuff.
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7 This is a glob implementation in JavaScript. It uses the `minimatch`
8 library to do its matching.
21 var glob = require("glob")
23 // options is optional
24 glob("**/*.js", options, function (er, files) {
25 // files is an array of filenames.
26 // If the `nonull` option is set, and nothing
27 // was found, then files is ["**/*.js"]
28 // er is an error object or null.
34 "Globs" are the patterns you type when you do stuff like `ls *.js` on
35 the command line, or put `build/*` in a `.gitignore` file.
37 Before parsing the path part patterns, braced sections are expanded
38 into a set. Braced sections start with `{` and end with `}`, with any
39 number of comma-delimited sections within. Braced sections may contain
40 slash characters, so `a{/b/c,bcd}` would expand into `a/b/c` and `abcd`.
42 The following characters have special magic meaning when used in a
45 * `*` Matches 0 or more characters in a single path portion
46 * `?` Matches 1 character
47 * `[...]` Matches a range of characters, similar to a RegExp range.
48 If the first character of the range is `!` or `^` then it matches
49 any character not in the range.
50 * `!(pattern|pattern|pattern)` Matches anything that does not match
51 any of the patterns provided.
52 * `?(pattern|pattern|pattern)` Matches zero or one occurrence of the
54 * `+(pattern|pattern|pattern)` Matches one or more occurrences of the
56 * `*(a|b|c)` Matches zero or more occurrences of the patterns provided
57 * `@(pattern|pat*|pat?erN)` Matches exactly one of the patterns
59 * `**` If a "globstar" is alone in a path portion, then it matches
60 zero or more directories and subdirectories searching for matches.
61 It does not crawl symlinked directories.
65 If a file or directory path portion has a `.` as the first character,
66 then it will not match any glob pattern unless that pattern's
67 corresponding path part also has a `.` as its first character.
69 For example, the pattern `a/.*/c` would match the file at `a/.b/c`.
70 However the pattern `a/*/c` would not, because `*` does not start with
73 You can make glob treat dots as normal characters by setting
74 `dot:true` in the options.
78 If you set `matchBase:true` in the options, and the pattern has no
79 slashes in it, then it will seek for any file anywhere in the tree
80 with a matching basename. For example, `*.js` would match
81 `test/simple/basic.js`.
85 If no matching files are found, then an empty array is returned. This
86 differs from the shell, where the pattern itself is returned. For
92 To get the bash-style behavior, set the `nonull:true` in the options.
97 * `man bash` (Search for "Pattern Matching")
100 * [minimatch documentation](https://github.com/isaacs/minimatch)
102 ## glob.hasMagic(pattern, [options])
104 Returns `true` if there are any special characters in the pattern, and
107 Note that the options affect the results. If `noext:true` is set in
108 the options object, then `+(a|b)` will not be considered a magic
109 pattern. If the pattern has a brace expansion, like `a/{b/c,x/y}`
110 then that is considered magical, unless `nobrace:true` is set in the
113 ## glob(pattern, [options], cb)
115 * `pattern` `{String}` Pattern to be matched
116 * `options` `{Object}`
118 * `err` `{Error | null}`
119 * `matches` `{Array<String>}` filenames found matching the pattern
121 Perform an asynchronous glob search.
123 ## glob.sync(pattern, [options])
125 * `pattern` `{String}` Pattern to be matched
126 * `options` `{Object}`
127 * return: `{Array<String>}` filenames found matching the pattern
129 Perform a synchronous glob search.
133 Create a Glob object by instantiating the `glob.Glob` class.
136 var Glob = require("glob").Glob
137 var mg = new Glob(pattern, options, cb)
140 It's an EventEmitter, and starts walking the filesystem to find matches
143 ### new glob.Glob(pattern, [options], [cb])
145 * `pattern` `{String}` pattern to search for
146 * `options` `{Object}`
147 * `cb` `{Function}` Called when an error occurs, or matches are found
148 * `err` `{Error | null}`
149 * `matches` `{Array<String>}` filenames found matching the pattern
151 Note that if the `sync` flag is set in the options, then matches will
152 be immediately available on the `g.found` member.
156 * `minimatch` The minimatch object that the glob uses.
157 * `options` The options object passed in.
158 * `aborted` Boolean which is set to true when calling `abort()`. There
159 is no way at this time to continue a glob search after aborting, but
160 you can re-use the statCache to avoid having to duplicate syscalls.
161 * `cache` Convenience object. Each field has the following possible
163 * `false` - Path does not exist
164 * `true` - Path exists
165 * `'FILE'` - Path exists, and is not a directory
166 * `'DIR'` - Path exists, and is a directory
167 * `[file, entries, ...]` - Path exists, is a directory, and the
168 array value is the results of `fs.readdir`
169 * `statCache` Cache of `fs.stat` results, to prevent statting the same
171 * `symlinks` A record of which paths are symbolic links, which is
172 relevant in resolving `**` patterns.
173 * `realpathCache` An optional object which is passed to `fs.realpath`
174 to minimize unnecessary syscalls. It is stored on the instantiated
175 Glob object, and may be re-used.
179 * `end` When the matching is finished, this is emitted with all the
180 matches found. If the `nonull` option is set, and no match was found,
181 then the `matches` list contains the original pattern. The matches
182 are sorted, unless the `nosort` flag is set.
183 * `match` Every time a match is found, this is emitted with the specific
184 thing that matched. It is not deduplicated or resolved to a realpath.
185 * `error` Emitted when an unexpected error is encountered, or whenever
186 any fs error occurs if `options.strict` is set.
187 * `abort` When `abort()` is called, this event is raised.
191 * `pause` Temporarily stop the search
192 * `resume` Resume the search
193 * `abort` Stop the search forever
197 All the options that can be passed to Minimatch can also be passed to
198 Glob to change pattern matching behavior. Also, some have been added,
199 or have glob-specific ramifications.
201 All options are false by default, unless otherwise noted.
203 All options are added to the Glob object, as well.
205 If you are running many `glob` operations, you can pass a Glob object
206 as the `options` argument to a subsequent operation to shortcut some
207 `stat` and `readdir` calls. At the very least, you may pass in shared
208 `symlinks`, `statCache`, `realpathCache`, and `cache` options, so that
209 parallel glob operations will be sped up by sharing information about
212 * `cwd` The current working directory in which to search. Defaults
214 * `root` The place where patterns starting with `/` will be mounted
215 onto. Defaults to `path.resolve(options.cwd, "/")` (`/` on Unix
216 systems, and `C:\` or some such on Windows.)
217 * `dot` Include `.dot` files in normal matches and `globstar` matches.
218 Note that an explicit dot in a portion of the pattern will always
220 * `nomount` By default, a pattern starting with a forward-slash will be
221 "mounted" onto the root setting, so that a valid filesystem path is
222 returned. Set this flag to disable that behavior.
223 * `mark` Add a `/` character to directory matches. Note that this
224 requires additional stat calls.
225 * `nosort` Don't sort the results.
226 * `stat` Set to true to stat *all* results. This reduces performance
227 somewhat, and is completely unnecessary, unless `readdir` is presumed
228 to be an untrustworthy indicator of file existence.
229 * `silent` When an unusual error is encountered when attempting to
230 read a directory, a warning will be printed to stderr. Set the
231 `silent` option to true to suppress these warnings.
232 * `strict` When an unusual error is encountered when attempting to
233 read a directory, the process will just continue on in search of
234 other matches. Set the `strict` option to raise an error in these
236 * `cache` See `cache` property above. Pass in a previously generated
237 cache object to save some fs calls.
238 * `statCache` A cache of results of filesystem information, to prevent
239 unnecessary stat calls. While it should not normally be necessary
240 to set this, you may pass the statCache from one glob() call to the
241 options object of another, if you know that the filesystem will not
242 change between calls. (See "Race Conditions" below.)
243 * `symlinks` A cache of known symbolic links. You may pass in a
244 previously generated `symlinks` object to save `lstat` calls when
245 resolving `**` matches.
246 * `sync` DEPRECATED: use `glob.sync(pattern, opts)` instead.
247 * `nounique` In some cases, brace-expanded patterns can result in the
248 same file showing up multiple times in the result set. By default,
249 this implementation prevents duplicates in the result set. Set this
250 flag to disable that behavior.
251 * `nonull` Set to never return an empty set, instead returning a set
252 containing the pattern itself. This is the default in glob(3).
253 * `debug` Set to enable debug logging in minimatch and glob.
254 * `nobrace` Do not expand `{a,b}` and `{1..3}` brace sets.
255 * `noglobstar` Do not match `**` against multiple filenames. (Ie,
256 treat it as a normal `*` instead.)
257 * `noext` Do not match `+(a|b)` "extglob" patterns.
258 * `nocase` Perform a case-insensitive match. Note: on
259 case-insensitive filesystems, non-magic patterns will match by
260 default, since `stat` and `readdir` will not raise errors.
261 * `matchBase` Perform a basename-only match if the pattern does not
262 contain any slash characters. That is, `*.js` would be treated as
263 equivalent to `**/*.js`, matching all js files in all directories.
264 * `nodir` Do not match directories, only files. (Note: to match
265 *only* directories, simply put a `/` at the end of the pattern.)
266 * `ignore` Add a pattern or an array of glob patterns to exclude matches.
267 Note: `ignore` patterns are *always* in `dot:true` mode, regardless
268 of any other settings.
269 * `follow` Follow symlinked directories when expanding `**` patterns.
270 Note that this can result in a lot of duplicate references in the
271 presence of cyclic links.
272 * `realpath` Set to true to call `fs.realpath` on all of the results.
273 In the case of a symlink that cannot be resolved, the full absolute
274 path to the matched entry is returned (though it will usually be a
277 ## Comparisons to other fnmatch/glob implementations
279 While strict compliance with the existing standards is a worthwhile
280 goal, some discrepancies exist between node-glob and other
281 implementations, and are intentional.
283 The double-star character `**` is supported by default, unless the
284 `noglobstar` flag is set. This is supported in the manner of bsdglob
285 and bash 4.3, where `**` only has special significance if it is the only
286 thing in a path part. That is, `a/**/b` will match `a/x/y/b`, but
289 Note that symlinked directories are not crawled as part of a `**`,
290 though their contents may match against subsequent portions of the
291 pattern. This prevents infinite loops and duplicates and the like.
293 If an escaped pattern has no matches, and the `nonull` flag is set,
294 then glob returns the pattern as-provided, rather than
295 interpreting the character escapes. For example,
296 `glob.match([], "\\*a\\?")` will return `"\\*a\\?"` rather than
297 `"*a?"`. This is akin to setting the `nullglob` option in bash, except
298 that it does not resolve escaped pattern characters.
300 If brace expansion is not disabled, then it is performed before any
301 other interpretation of the glob pattern. Thus, a pattern like
302 `+(a|{b),c)}`, which would not be valid in bash or zsh, is expanded
303 **first** into the set of `+(a|b)` and `+(a|c)`, and those patterns are
304 checked for validity. Since those two are valid, matching proceeds.
306 ### Comments and Negation
308 Previously, this module let you mark a pattern as a "comment" if it
309 started with a `#` character, or a "negated" pattern if it started
310 with a `!` character.
312 These options were deprecated in version 5, and removed in version 6.
314 To specify things that should not match, use the `ignore` option.
318 **Please only use forward-slashes in glob expressions.**
320 Though windows uses either `/` or `\` as its path separator, only `/`
321 characters are used by this glob implementation. You must use
322 forward-slashes **only** in glob expressions. Back-slashes will always
323 be interpreted as escape characters, not path separators.
325 Results from absolute patterns such as `/foo/*` are mounted onto the
326 root setting using `path.join`. On windows, this will by default result
327 in `/foo/*` matching `C:\foo\bar.txt`.
331 Glob searching, by its very nature, is susceptible to race conditions,
332 since it relies on directory walking and such.
334 As a result, it is possible that a file that exists when glob looks for
335 it may have been deleted or modified by the time it returns the result.
337 As part of its internal implementation, this program caches all stat
338 and readdir calls that it makes, in order to cut down on system
339 overhead. However, this also makes it even more susceptible to races,
340 especially if the cache or statCache objects are reused between glob
343 Users are thus advised not to use a glob result as a guarantee of
344 filesystem state in the face of rapid changes. For the vast majority
345 of operations, this is never a problem.
349 Any change to behavior (including bugfixes) must come with a test.
351 Patches that fail tests or reduce performance will be rejected.
357 # to re-generate test fixtures
360 # to benchmark against bash/zsh
363 # to profile javascript