What is globby?
The globby npm package is a JavaScript library that provides a convenient interface for file system pattern matching using glob patterns. It is built on top of node-glob and fast-glob, offering a powerful and flexible way to match file paths against specified patterns. It supports multiple patterns, negated patterns, and can handle file system operations asynchronously or synchronously.
What are globby's main functionalities?
Asynchronous file pattern matching
This feature allows you to match files using glob patterns asynchronously. The example code shows how to match all files in a directory and its subdirectories, excluding the 'node_modules' directory.
const globby = require('globby');
globby(['**/*', '!node_modules']).then(paths => {
console.log(paths);
});
Synchronous file pattern matching
This feature allows you to match files using glob patterns synchronously. The example code demonstrates how to perform the same operation as the asynchronous example, but in a synchronous manner.
const globby = require('globby');
const paths = globby.sync(['**/*', '!node_modules']);
console.log(paths);
Expand directories
This feature automatically expands directory patterns to match files with specified extensions. The example code matches all JavaScript and TypeScript files within the 'src' directory.
const globby = require('globby');
globby(['src/**'], { expandDirectories: ['js', 'ts'] }).then(paths => {
console.log(paths);
});
Stream interface
This feature provides a stream interface for handling large sets of matched files. The example code creates a stream that emits paths for all files in a directory and its subdirectories.
const globby = require('globby');
const stream = globby.stream('**/*');
stream.on('data', path => {
console.log(path);
});
Other packages similar to globby
fast-glob
fast-glob is a fast and efficient library for pattern matching. It is one of the underlying libraries used by globby. Compared to globby, fast-glob provides lower-level control but lacks some convenience features like negated patterns and directory expansion.
node-glob
node-glob is the original glob implementation for Node.js. It is also used by globby under the hood. While it is feature-rich, globby provides a more modern and simpler API, as well as additional features like promise support and multiple pattern matching.
micromatch
micromatch is a minimal matching utility that provides glob matching functionality. It is designed to be faster and more efficient than node-glob. However, globby offers a more user-friendly API and additional features like asynchronous matching and directory expansion.
globby
User-friendly glob matching
Based on fast-glob
but adds a bunch of useful features.
Features
- Promise API
- Multiple patterns
- Negated patterns:
['foo*', '!foobar']
- Expands directories:
foo
→ foo/**/*
- Supports
.gitignore
and similar ignore config files - Supports
URL
as cwd
Install
$ npm install globby
Usage
├── unicorn
├── cake
└── rainbow
import {globby} from 'globby';
const paths = await globby(['*', '!cake']);
console.log(paths);
API
Note that glob patterns can only contain forward-slashes, not backward-slashes, so if you want to construct a glob pattern from path components, you need to use path.posix.join()
instead of path.join()
.
globby(patterns, options?)
Returns a Promise<string[]>
of matching paths.
patterns
Type: string | string[]
See supported minimatch
patterns.
options
Type: object
See the fast-glob
options in addition to the ones below.
expandDirectories
Type: boolean | string[] | object
Default: true
If set to true
, globby
will automatically glob directories for you. If you define an Array
it will only glob files that matches the patterns inside the Array
. You can also define an object
with files
and extensions
like below:
import {globby} from 'globby';
(async () => {
const paths = await globby('images', {
expandDirectories: {
files: ['cat', 'unicorn', '*.jpg'],
extensions: ['png']
}
});
console.log(paths);
})();
Note that if you set this option to false
, you won't get back matched directories unless you set onlyFiles: false
.
gitignore
Type: boolean
Default: false
Respect ignore patterns in .gitignore
files that apply to the globbed files.
ignoreFiles
Type: string | string[]
Default: undefined
Glob patterns to look for ignore files, which are then used to ignore globbed files.
This is a more generic form of the gitignore
option, allowing you to find ignore files with a compatible syntax. For instance, this works with Babel's .babelignore
, Prettier's .prettierignore
, or ESLint's .eslintignore
files.
globbySync(patterns, options?)
Returns string[]
of matching paths.
globbyStream(patterns, options?)
Returns a stream.Readable
of matching paths.
Since Node.js 10, readable streams are iterable, so you can loop over glob matches in a for await...of
loop like this:
import {globbyStream} from 'globby';
(async () => {
for await (const path of globbyStream('*.tmp')) {
console.log(path);
}
})();
generateGlobTasks(patterns, options?)
Returns an Promise<object[]>
in the format {patterns: string[], options: Object}
, which can be passed as arguments to fast-glob
. This is useful for other globbing-related packages.
Note that you should avoid running the same tasks multiple times as they contain a file system cache. Instead, run this method each time to ensure file system changes are taken into consideration.
generateGlobTasksSync(patterns, options?)
Returns an object[]
in the format {patterns: string[], options: Object}
, which can be passed as arguments to fast-glob
. This is useful for other globbing-related packages.
Takes the same arguments as generateGlobTasks
.
isDynamicPattern(patterns, options?)
Returns a boolean
of whether there are any special glob characters in the patterns
.
Note that the options affect the results.
This function is backed by fast-glob
.
isGitIgnored(options?)
Returns a Promise<(path: URL | string) => boolean>
indicating whether a given path is ignored via a .gitignore
file.
Takes cwd?: URL | string
as options.
import {isGitIgnored} from 'globby';
const isIgnored = await isGitIgnored();
console.log(isIgnored('some/file'));
isGitIgnoredSync(options?)
Returns a (path: URL | string) => boolean
indicating whether a given path is ignored via a .gitignore
file.
Takes cwd?: URL | string
as options.
Globbing patterns
Just a quick overview.
*
matches any number of characters, but not /
?
matches a single character, but not /
**
matches any number of characters, including /
, as long as it's the only thing in a path part{}
allows for a comma-separated list of "or" expressions!
at the beginning of a pattern will negate the match
Various patterns and expected matches.
globby for enterprise
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Related
- multimatch - Match against a list instead of the filesystem
- matcher - Simple wildcard matching
- del - Delete files and directories
- make-dir - Make a directory and its parents if needed