1# minimatch 2 3A minimal matching utility. 4 5[](http://travis-ci.org/isaacs/minimatch) 6 7 8This is the matching library used internally by npm. 9 10It works by converting glob expressions into JavaScript `RegExp` 11objects. 12 13## Usage 14 15```javascript 16var minimatch = require("minimatch") 17 18minimatch("bar.foo", "*.foo") // true! 19minimatch("bar.foo", "*.bar") // false! 20minimatch("bar.foo", "*.+(bar|foo)", { debug: true }) // true, and noisy! 21``` 22 23## Features 24 25Supports these glob features: 26 27* Brace Expansion 28* Extended glob matching 29* "Globstar" `**` matching 30 31See: 32 33* `man sh` 34* `man bash` 35* `man 3 fnmatch` 36* `man 5 gitignore` 37 38## Minimatch Class 39 40Create a minimatch object by instantiating the `minimatch.Minimatch` class. 41 42```javascript 43var Minimatch = require("minimatch").Minimatch 44var mm = new Minimatch(pattern, options) 45``` 46 47### Properties 48 49* `pattern` The original pattern the minimatch object represents. 50* `options` The options supplied to the constructor. 51* `set` A 2-dimensional array of regexp or string expressions. 52 Each row in the 53 array corresponds to a brace-expanded pattern. Each item in the row 54 corresponds to a single path-part. For example, the pattern 55 `{a,b/c}/d` would expand to a set of patterns like: 56 57 [ [ a, d ] 58 , [ b, c, d ] ] 59 60 If a portion of the pattern doesn't have any "magic" in it 61 (that is, it's something like `"foo"` rather than `fo*o?`), then it 62 will be left as a string rather than converted to a regular 63 expression. 64 65* `regexp` Created by the `makeRe` method. A single regular expression 66 expressing the entire pattern. This is useful in cases where you wish 67 to use the pattern somewhat like `fnmatch(3)` with `FNM_PATH` enabled. 68* `negate` True if the pattern is negated. 69* `comment` True if the pattern is a comment. 70* `empty` True if the pattern is `""`. 71 72### Methods 73 74* `makeRe` Generate the `regexp` member if necessary, and return it. 75 Will return `false` if the pattern is invalid. 76* `match(fname)` Return true if the filename matches the pattern, or 77 false otherwise. 78* `matchOne(fileArray, patternArray, partial)` Take a `/`-split 79 filename, and match it against a single row in the `regExpSet`. This 80 method is mainly for internal use, but is exposed so that it can be 81 used by a glob-walker that needs to avoid excessive filesystem calls. 82 83All other methods are internal, and will be called as necessary. 84 85### minimatch(path, pattern, options) 86 87Main export. Tests a path against the pattern using the options. 88 89```javascript 90var isJS = minimatch(file, "*.js", { matchBase: true }) 91``` 92 93### minimatch.filter(pattern, options) 94 95Returns a function that tests its 96supplied argument, suitable for use with `Array.filter`. Example: 97 98```javascript 99var javascripts = fileList.filter(minimatch.filter("*.js", {matchBase: true})) 100``` 101 102### minimatch.match(list, pattern, options) 103 104Match against the list of 105files, in the style of fnmatch or glob. If nothing is matched, and 106options.nonull is set, then return a list containing the pattern itself. 107 108```javascript 109var javascripts = minimatch.match(fileList, "*.js", {matchBase: true})) 110``` 111 112### minimatch.makeRe(pattern, options) 113 114Make a regular expression object from the pattern. 115 116## Options 117 118All options are `false` by default. 119 120### debug 121 122Dump a ton of stuff to stderr. 123 124### nobrace 125 126Do not expand `{a,b}` and `{1..3}` brace sets. 127 128### noglobstar 129 130Disable `**` matching against multiple folder names. 131 132### dot 133 134Allow patterns to match filenames starting with a period, even if 135the pattern does not explicitly have a period in that spot. 136 137Note that by default, `a/**/b` will **not** match `a/.d/b`, unless `dot` 138is set. 139 140### noext 141 142Disable "extglob" style patterns like `+(a|b)`. 143 144### nocase 145 146Perform a case-insensitive match. 147 148### nonull 149 150When a match is not found by `minimatch.match`, return a list containing 151the pattern itself if this option is set. When not set, an empty list 152is returned if there are no matches. 153 154### matchBase 155 156If set, then patterns without slashes will be matched 157against the basename of the path if it contains slashes. For example, 158`a?b` would match the path `/xyz/123/acb`, but not `/xyz/acb/123`. 159 160### nocomment 161 162Suppress the behavior of treating `#` at the start of a pattern as a 163comment. 164 165### nonegate 166 167Suppress the behavior of treating a leading `!` character as negation. 168 169### flipNegate 170 171Returns from negate expressions the same as if they were not negated. 172(Ie, true on a hit, false on a miss.) 173 174 175## Comparisons to other fnmatch/glob implementations 176 177While strict compliance with the existing standards is a worthwhile 178goal, some discrepancies exist between minimatch and other 179implementations, and are intentional. 180 181If the pattern starts with a `!` character, then it is negated. Set the 182`nonegate` flag to suppress this behavior, and treat leading `!` 183characters normally. This is perhaps relevant if you wish to start the 184pattern with a negative extglob pattern like `!(a|B)`. Multiple `!` 185characters at the start of a pattern will negate the pattern multiple 186times. 187 188If a pattern starts with `#`, then it is treated as a comment, and 189will not match anything. Use `\#` to match a literal `#` at the 190start of a line, or set the `nocomment` flag to suppress this behavior. 191 192The double-star character `**` is supported by default, unless the 193`noglobstar` flag is set. This is supported in the manner of bsdglob 194and bash 4.1, where `**` only has special significance if it is the only 195thing in a path part. That is, `a/**/b` will match `a/x/y/b`, but 196`a/**b` will not. 197 198If an escaped pattern has no matches, and the `nonull` flag is set, 199then minimatch.match returns the pattern as-provided, rather than 200interpreting the character escapes. For example, 201`minimatch.match([], "\\*a\\?")` will return `"\\*a\\?"` rather than 202`"*a?"`. This is akin to setting the `nullglob` option in bash, except 203that it does not resolve escaped pattern characters. 204 205If brace expansion is not disabled, then it is performed before any 206other interpretation of the glob pattern. Thus, a pattern like 207`+(a|{b),c)}`, which would not be valid in bash or zsh, is expanded 208**first** into the set of `+(a|b)` and `+(a|c)`, and those patterns are 209checked for validity. Since those two are valid, matching proceeds. 210
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