minimatch

What is minimatch?

The minimatch npm package is a minimal matching utility that implements the string pattern matching functionality, commonly known as 'globbing'. It is used to match text strings with wildcard characters, such as '*' for multiple characters or '?' for a single character. It is often used in file path matching and filtering operations.

What are minimatch's main functionalities?

Basic string matching

This feature allows for basic pattern matching where a string is tested against a pattern. Wildcards like '*' and '?' can be used to match multiple or single characters respectively.

"use strict";
const minimatch = require("minimatch");

// Match a literal string
console.log(minimatch("foo.js", "foo.js")); // true

// Match with a single wildcard
console.log(minimatch("foo.js", "*.js")); // true

// Match with a single character wildcard
console.log(minimatch("foo.js", "f?o.js")); // true

Negation

This feature allows patterns to be negated so that they match strings that do not match the given pattern.

"use strict";
const minimatch = require("minimatch");

// Negate the match
console.log(minimatch("foo.js", "!foo.js")); // false
console.log(minimatch("bar.js", "!foo.js")); // true

Match options

Minimatch allows for additional options to be set, such as case-insensitivity, to customize the matching behavior.

"use strict";
const minimatch = require("minimatch");

// Match with options
const options = {nocase: true};
console.log(minimatch("FOO.JS", "*.js", options)); // true

Other packages similar to minimatch

micromatch

Micromatch is a faster and more efficient globbing library with a broader feature set compared to minimatch. It offers advanced pattern matching with support for multiple patterns and extended globbing features.

glob

Glob is a package that provides pattern matching and file system operations. It is more focused on file system globbing rather than string pattern matching, but it uses minimatch under the hood for its matching capabilities.

multimatch

Multimatch extends minimatch to allow for multiple patterns to be specified at once. It is useful when you need to match against an array of patterns rather than a single pattern.

anymatch

Anymatch is a package that allows for matching strings against not just patterns, but also against regular expressions and functions. It provides a more flexible matching mechanism compared to minimatch.

README

minimatch

A minimal matching utility.

This is the matching library used internally by npm.

Eventually, it will replace the C binding in node-glob.

It works by converting glob expressions into JavaScript RegExp objects.

Usage

var minimatch = require("minimatch")

minimatch("bar.foo", "*.foo") // true!
minimatch("bar.foo", "*.bar") // false!

Features

Supports all glob features.

See:

• man sh
• man fnmatch
• man 5 gitignore

Departures from zsh/bash/ksh/sh

If the pattern starts with a ! character, then it is negated.

If a pattern starts with #, then it is treated as a comment, and will not match anything. (Use \# to match a literal # at the start of a line.)

The double-star ** is always supported, instead of requiring a special flag.

If an escaped pattern has no matches, and the null flag is not set, then minimatch.match returns the pattern as-provided, rather than interpreting the character escapes. For example, minimatch.match([], "\\*a\\?") will return "\\*a\\?" rather than "*a?".

Functions

minimatch(path, pattern, options)

Main export. Tests a path against the pattern using the options.

minimatch.filter(pattern, options)

Returns a function that tests its supplied argument, suitable for use with Array.filter.

minimatch.match(list, pattern, options)

Match against the list of files, in the style of fnmatch or glob. If nothing is matched, then return the pattern (unless { null: true } in the options.)

minimatch.makeRe(pattern, options)

Make a regular expression object from the pattern.

Options

All options are false by default.

debug

Dump a ton of stuff to stderr.

null

Return an empty list from minimatch.match, instead of a list containing the pattern itself.

nocase

Perform a case-insensitive match.

cache

An LRU cache with .get(k) and .set(k,v) methods. By default, an instance of node-lru-cache is used, with 1000 max entries.

slash

If set, then a/* will match a/ as well as a/b.

matchBase

If set, then patterns without slashes will be matched against the basename of the path if it contains slashes. For example, a?b would match xyz/123/acb.

partial

Internal. Used by minimatch.makeRe.

dot

Allow patterns to match paths starting with a period, even if the pattern does not explicitly start with a period.