What is glob?
The glob npm package allows users to match file paths against specified patterns similar to how shell works. It is widely used for tasks such as file searching, filtering, and bulk operations on sets of files.
What are glob's main functionalities?
File Pattern Matching
Match files using the patterns the shell uses, like stars and stuff.
const glob = require('glob');
glob('**/*.js', function (er, files) {
// files is an array of filenames.
// If the `nonull` option is set, and nothing
// was found, then files is ["**/*.js"]
// er is an error object or null.
console.log(files);
});
Synchronous File Pattern Matching
Perform a synchronous glob search.
const glob = require('glob');
const files = glob.sync('**/*.js');
// files is an array of filenames found matching the pattern.
console.log(files);
Pattern Matching with Promises
Use glob with Promises for better async control flow.
const glob = require('glob');
const util = require('util');
const globPromise = util.promisify(glob);
globPromise('**/*.js').then(files => {
console.log(files);
}).catch(err => {
console.error('Error occurred:', err);
});
Other packages similar to glob
minimatch
Minimatch is a minimal matching utility that works similarly to glob but focuses on the pattern matching algorithm itself. It is actually used by glob under the hood for its matching capabilities.
fast-glob
Fast-glob is an alternative to glob that claims to be faster due to its use of streams and parallel processing. It provides a similar API and is often used when performance is a critical factor.
micromatch
Micromatch is a smaller, more efficient, and highly configurable globbing library. It provides a powerful and expressive API for pattern matching and is designed to be faster and safer than minimatch.
Glob
This is a glob implementation in JavaScript. It uses the minimatch
library to do its matching.
Attention: node-glob users!
The API has changed dramatically between 2.x and 3.x. This library is
now 100% JavaScript, and the integer flags have been replaced with an
options object.
Also, there's an event emitter class, proper tests, and all the other
things you've come to expect from node modules.
And best of all, no compilation!
Usage
var glob = require("glob")
glob("**/*.js", options, function (er, files) {
})
Features
Please see the minimatch
documentation for more details.
Supports these glob features:
- Brace Expansion
- Extended glob matching
- "Globstar"
**
matching
See:
Glob Class
Create a glob object by instanting the glob.Glob
class.
var Glob = require("glob").Glob
var mg = new Glob(pattern, options)
It's an EventEmitter.
Properties
minimatch
The minimatch object that the glob uses.options
The options object passed in.matches
A FastList object
containing the matches as they are found.error
The error encountered. When an error is encountered, the
glob object is in an undefined state, and should be discarded.aborted
Boolean which is set to true when calling abort()
. There
is no way at this time to continue a glob search after aborting.
Events
end
When the matching is finished, this is emitted with all the
matches found. If the nonull
option is set, and no match was found,
then the matches
list contains the original pattern. The matches
are sorted, unless the nosort
flag is set.match
Every time a match is found, this is emitted with the pattern.partial
Emitted when a directory matches the start of a pattern, and
is then searched for additional matches.error
Emitted when an unexpected error is encountered.abort
When abort()
is called, this event is raised.
Methods
Options
All the options that can be passed to Minimatch can also be passed to
Glob to change pattern matching behavior. Additionally, these ones
are added which are glob-specific, or have glob-specific ramifcations.
All options are false by default.
cwd
The current working directory in which to search. Since, unlike
Minimatch, Glob requires a working directory to start in, this
defaults to process.cwd()
.root
Since Glob requires a root setting, this defaults to
path.resolve(options.cwd, "/")
.mark
Add a /
character to directory matches.follow
Use stat
instead of lstat
. This is only relevant if
stat
or mark
are true.nosort
Don't sort the results.stat
Set to true to stat/lstat all results. This reduces performance
somewhat, but guarantees that the results are files that actually
exist.silent
When an error other than ENOENT
or ENOTDIR
is encountered
when attempting to read a directory, a warning will be printed to
stderr. Set the silent
option to true to suppress these warnings.strict
When an error other than ENOENT
or ENOTDIR
is encountered
when attempting to read a directory, the process will just continue on
in search of other matches. Set the strict
option to raise an error
in these cases.