micromatch

What is micromatch?

The micromatch npm package is a fast, minimal glob utility for node.js and JavaScript. It is used to parse, match, and expand glob patterns against strings to filter, validate, or manipulate file paths, names, and other string lists.

What are micromatch's main functionalities?

Matching glob patterns

Match an array of strings to a glob pattern. In this example, it filters the list to include only files ending with '.js'.

const micromatch = require('micromatch');
const result = micromatch(['foo.js', 'bar.js'], '*.js');
console.log(result); // ['foo.js', 'bar.js']

Negating glob patterns

Use negation patterns to exclude matches. This example matches all '.js' files but excludes 'foo.js'.

const micromatch = require('micromatch');
const result = micromatch(['foo.js', 'bar.js', 'baz.txt'], ['*.js', '!foo.js']);
console.log(result); // ['bar.js']

Testing a filepath

Test a single filepath against a glob pattern to see if it matches. In this case, 'foobar.js' is a match for '*.js'.

const micromatch = require('micromatch');
const isMatch = micromatch.isMatch('foobar.js', '*.js');
console.log(isMatch); // true

Expanding braces

Expand braces in glob patterns to match multiple patterns. This example matches 'foo.js' and 'foo1.js' with a single pattern.

const micromatch = require('micromatch');
const result = micromatch(['foo.js', 'foo1.js'], 'foo{,1}.js');
console.log(result); // ['foo.js', 'foo1.js']

Other packages similar to micromatch

minimatch

Minimatch is a minimal matching utility that works with glob patterns. It is the matcher used internally by npm (at least at the time of writing), but it is slower and less feature-rich compared to micromatch.

globby

Globby is a wrapper for fast-glob and supports multiple patterns. It provides a higher-level API for matching against file paths and is built on top of micromatch, offering additional features like file system operations.

fast-glob

Fast-glob is a fast implementation of glob functionality with a focus on performance. It provides a similar API to micromatch but includes additional features like returning file stats along with matched paths.

node-glob

Node-glob is an older glob implementation for Node.js. It is callback-based and not as performant or modern as micromatch, but it has been widely used in the Node.js ecosystem.

README

micromatch

Glob matching for javascript/node.js. A faster alternative to minimatch (10-45x faster on avg), with all the features you're used to using in your Grunt and gulp tasks.

• 10-45x faster than [minimatch] on average (see benchmarks)
• Focus on core Bash 4.3 specification features that are actually used (or can be used) in node.js
• Supports passing glob patterns as a string or array
• Extensive unit tests

Features

Supports

All the mainstream glob features you're used to using in your gulp and Grunt tasks:

• Brace Expansion (foo/bar-{1..5}.md, one/{two,three}/four.md)
• Typical glob patterns (**/*, a/b/*.js, etc)
• Logical OR (foo/bar/(abc|xyz).js)
• Regex character classes (foo/bar/baz-[1-5].js)
• POSIX bracket expressions (**/[:alpha:][:digit:]/)
• extglobs (**/+(x|y), !(a|b), etc)

You can combine these to create whatever matching patterns you need.

Install with npm

npm i micromatch --save

Usage

var mm = require('micromatch');

mm(['a.js', 'b.md', 'c.txt'], '*.{js,txt}');
//=> ['a.js', 'c.txt']

Multiple patterns

Multiple patterns can also be passed:

mm(['a.md', 'b.js', 'c.txt', 'd.json'], ['*.md', '*.txt']);
//=> ['a.md', 'c.txt']

Negation patterns:

mm(['a.js', 'b.md', 'c.txt'], '!*.{js,txt}');
//=> ['b.md']

mm(['a.md', 'b.js', 'c.txt', 'd.json'], ['*.*', '!*.{js,txt}']);
//=> ['a.md', 'd.json']

Special characters

With the exception of brace expansion ({a,b}, {1..5}, etc), most of the special characters convert directly to regex, so you can expect them to follow the same rules and produce the same results as regex.

Square brackets

Given ['a.js', 'b.js', 'c.js', 'd.js', 'E.js']:

• [ac].js: matches both a and c, returning ['a.js', 'c.js']
• [b-d].js: matches from b to d, returning ['b.js', 'c.js', 'd.js']
• [b-d].js: matches from b to d, returning ['b.js', 'c.js', 'd.js']
• a/[A-Z].js: matches and uppercase letter, returning ['a/E.md']

Learn about regex character classes.

Parentheses

Given ['a.js', 'b.js', 'c.js', 'd.js', 'E.js']:

• (a|c).js: would match either a or c, returning ['a.js', 'c.js']
• (b|d).js: would match either b or d, returning ['b.js', 'd.js']
• (b|[A-Z]).js: would match either b or an uppercase letter, returning ['b.js', 'E.js']

As with regex, parenthese can be nested, so patterns like ((a|b)|c)/b will work. But it might be easier to achieve your goal using brace expansion.

Brace Expansion

In simple cases, brace expansion appears to work the same way as the logical OR operator. For example, (a|b) will achieve the same result as {a,b}.

Here are some powerful features unique to brace expansion (versus character classes):

• range expansion: a{1..3}b/*.js expands to: ['a1b/*.js', 'a2b/*.js', 'a3b/*.js']
• nesting: a{c,{d,e}}b/*.js expands to: ['acb/*.js', 'adb/*.js', 'aeb/*.js']

Learn about brace expansion, or visit braces to ask questions and create an issue related to brace-expansion, or to see the full range of features and options related to brace expansion.

Methods

var mm = require('micromatch');

.isMatch

Returns true if a file path matches the given glob pattern.

Example

mm.isMatch('.verb.md', '*.md');
//=> false

mm.isMatch('.verb.md', '*.md', {dot: true});
//=> true

.contains

Returns true if a file path contains a match for the given glob pattern.

Example

mm.contains('a/b/c', 'a/b');
//=> true

mm.contains('a/b/c', 'a/*');
//=> true

.filter

Returns a function for filtering files with the given pattern.

Example

var fn = mm.filter('*.md', {dot: true});
['a.js', 'b.txt', 'c.md', '.verb.md'].filter(fn);
//=> ['c.md', '.verb.md']

.expand

Returns an object with a regex-compatible string and tokens.

mm.expand('*.js');
// results in:
// { glob: '(?!\\.)(?=.)[^/]*?\\.js',
//   tokens:
//    { pattern: '*.js',
//      dirname: '',
//      filename: '*.js',
//      basename: '*',
//      extname: '.js',
//      isDotGlob: false },
//   options: {} }

.makeRe

Create a regular expression for matching file paths based on the given pattern:

mm.makeRe('*.js');
//=> /^(?:(?!\.)(?=.)[^/]*?\.js)$/

Options

All options should work the same way as [minimatch].

options.dot

Match dotfiles.

Type: {Boolean}

Default: false

options.matchBase

Allow glob patterns without slashes to match a file path based on its basename.

Type: {Boolean}

Default: false

Example

mm(['a/b.js', 'a/c.md'], '*.js');
//=> []

mm(['a/b.js', 'a/c.md'], '*.js', {matchBase: true});
//=> ['a/b.js']

options.nobraces

Don't expand braces in glob patterns.

Type: {Boolean}

Default: false

options.nocase

Use a case-insensitive regex for matching files.

Type: {Boolean}

Default: false

options.nonull

If true, when no matches are found the actual (array-ified) glob pattern is returned instead of an empty array.

Type: {Boolean}

Default: false

options.cache

Cache the platform (e.g. win32) to prevent this from being looked up for every fil.

Type: {Boolean}

Default: true

Benchmarks

Run the benchmarks:

npm run benchmark

As of February 11, 2015:

#1: basename-braces.js
  micromatch.js x 25,776 ops/sec ±0.68% (98 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 3,335 ops/sec ±1.09% (98 runs sampled)

#2: basename.js
  micromatch.js x 24,676 ops/sec ±0.56% (95 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 4,908 ops/sec ±0.95% (97 runs sampled)

#3: braces-no-glob.js
  micromatch.js x 473,492 ops/sec ±0.64% (96 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 27,705 ops/sec ±1.78% (91 runs sampled)

#4: braces.js
  micromatch.js x 42,522 ops/sec ±0.63% (97 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 3,995 ops/sec ±1.36% (95 runs sampled)

#5: immediate.js
  micromatch.js x 24,048 ops/sec ±0.72% (95 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 4,786 ops/sec ±1.40% (95 runs sampled)

#6: large.js
  micromatch.js x 773 ops/sec ±0.62% (98 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 27.52 ops/sec ±0.66% (49 runs sampled)

#7: long.js
  micromatch.js x 7,388 ops/sec ±0.64% (99 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 608 ops/sec ±0.95% (95 runs sampled)

#8: mid.js
  micromatch.js x 41,193 ops/sec ±0.74% (99 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 2,724 ops/sec ±1.09% (97 runs sampled)

#9: multi-patterns.js
  micromatch.js x 12,909 ops/sec ±0.71% (93 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 2,798 ops/sec ±1.45% (95 runs sampled)

#10: no-glob.js
  micromatch.js x 430,787 ops/sec ±0.66% (98 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 47,222 ops/sec ±2.19% (86 runs sampled)

#11: range.js
  micromatch.js x 474,561 ops/sec ±0.69% (97 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 10,819 ops/sec ±2.20% (88 runs sampled)

#12: shallow.js
  micromatch.js x 239,098 ops/sec ±0.67% (96 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 27,782 ops/sec ±2.12% (92 runs sampled)

#13: short.js
  micromatch.js x 707,905 ops/sec ±0.97% (97 runs sampled)
  minimatch.js x 52,171 ops/sec ±2.45% (84 runs sampled)

Run tests

Install dev dependencies

npm i -d && npm test

Contributing

Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, please create an issue

Please be sure to run the benchmarks before/after any code changes to judge the impact before you do a PR. thanks!

Author

Jon Schlinkert

• github/jonschlinkert
• twitter/jonschlinkert

License

Copyright (c) 2014-2015 Jon Schlinkert
Released under the MIT license

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This file was generated by verb on February 11, 2015.