globrex

What is globrex?

The globrex npm package is designed to convert glob expressions into regular expressions. This allows for matching strings against complex patterns, commonly used for file matching in file systems. It supports a wide range of glob patterns, including wildcards, choice groups, and negated patterns.

What are globrex's main functionalities?

Convert glob to regex

This feature allows you to convert a simple glob pattern, like '*.js', into its equivalent regular expression. This is useful for matching filenames or strings that end with '.js'.

const globrex = require('globrex');
const { regex } = globrex('*.js');
console.log(regex); // Outputs the regex equivalent of the '*.js' glob pattern

Extended glob patterns

Globrex supports extended glob patterns, such as negated patterns using '!(pattern)'. This example demonstrates converting a negated glob pattern into a regex, which matches any '.js' file that does not start with 'pattern' or 'pattern2'.

const globrex = require('globrex');
const { regex } = globrex('!(pattern|pattern2)*.js');
console.log(regex); // Outputs the regex for negated patterns

Path mode

In path mode, with 'globstar' option enabled, globrex can convert glob patterns that match files in a directory and its subdirectories. This is particularly useful for file system operations where you need to match files across multiple directories.

const globrex = require('globrex');
const { regex } = globrex('path/**/*.js', { globstar: true });
console.log(regex); // Outputs the regex for matching any '.js' file in the 'path' directory and its subdirectories

Other packages similar to globrex

minimatch

Minimatch is a minimal matching utility that implements the glob pattern matching found in shells. It is similar to globrex but focuses more on providing a comprehensive solution for matching strings against glob patterns directly, rather than converting them to regex.

micromatch

Micromatch is a highly optimized glob matching library that offers a wider range of features and better performance compared to globrex. It supports advanced pattern matching and is designed to be a drop-in replacement for minimatch with additional capabilities.

node-glob

Node-glob is a glob implementation in JavaScript for Node.js. It uses minimatch under the hood but provides filesystem-specific extensions. Unlike globrex, which focuses on converting globs to regex, node-glob is more about performing actual file matching operations in the file system.

README

globrex

Simple but powerful glob to regular expression compiler.

Install

npm install globrex --save

Core Features

• extended globbing: transform advance ExtGlob features
• simple: no dependencies
• paths: split paths into multiple RegExp segments

Usage

const globrex = require('globrex');

const result = globrex('p*uck')
// => { regex: /^p.*uck$/, string: '^p.*uck$', segments: [ /^p.*uck$/ ] }

result.regex.test('pluck'); // true

API

globrex(glob, options)

Type: function
Returns: { regex, string, segments }

Transform globs intp regular expressions. Returns object with the following properties:

regex

Type: RegExp

JavaScript RegExp instance.

Note: Read more about how to use RegExp on MDN.

string

Type: String

Regex string representation of the glob.

segments

Type: Array

Array of RegExp instances seperated by /. This can be usable when working with paths or urls.

Example array could be:

[ /^foo$/, /^bar$/, /^([^\/]*)$/, '^baz\\.(md|js|txt)$' ]

Note: This only makes sense for POSIX paths like /foo/bar/hello.js or URLs. Not globbing on regular strings.

glob

Type: String

Glob string to transform.

options.extended

Type: Boolean
Default: false

Enable all advanced features from extglob.

Matching so called "extended" globs pattern like single character matching, matching ranges of characters, group matching, etc.

Note: Interprets [a-d] as [abcd]. To match a literal -, include it as first or last character.

options.globstar

Type: Boolean
Default: false

When globstar is false globs like '/foo/*' are transformed to the following '^\/foo\/.*$' which will match any string beginning with '/foo/'.

When the globstar option is true, the same '/foo/*' glob is transformed to '^\/foo\/[^/]*$' which will match any string beginning with '/foo/' that does not have a '/' to the right of it. '/foo/*' will match: '/foo/bar', '/foo/bar.txt' but not '/foo/bar/baz' or '/foo/bar/baz.txt'.

Note: When globstar is true, '/foo/**' is equivelant to '/foo/*' when globstar is false.

options.strict

Type: Boolean
Default: false

Be forgiving about mutiple slashes, like /// and make everything after the first / optional. This is how bash glob works.

options.flags

Type: String
Default: ''

RegExp flags (e.g. 'i' ) to pass to the RegExp constructor.

options.windows

Type: Boolean
Default: System OS

Split segment as a windows path, otherwise splut as unix. Defaults to the OS running the package.

References

Learn more about advanced globbing here

• mywiki.wooledge.org/glob
• linuxjournal

License

MIT © Terkel Gjervig