# minimatch
A minimal matching utility.
[](http://travis-ci.org/isaacs/minimatch)
This is the matching library used internally by npm.
It works by converting glob expressions into JavaScript `RegExp`
objects.
## Usage
```javascript
var minimatch = require("minimatch")
minimatch("bar.foo", "*.foo") // true!
minimatch("bar.foo", "*.bar") // false!
minimatch("bar.foo", "*.+(bar|foo)", { debug: true }) // true, and noisy!
```
## Features
Supports these glob features:
* Brace Expansion
* Extended glob matching
* "Globstar" `**` matching
See:
* `man sh`
* `man bash`
* `man 3 fnmatch`
* `man 5 gitignore`
## Windows
**Please only use forward-slashes in glob expressions.**
Though windows uses either `/` or `\` as its path separator, only `/`
characters are used by this glob implementation. You must use
forward-slashes **only** in glob expressions. Back-slashes in patterns
will always be interpreted as escape characters, not path separators.
Note that `\` or `/` _will_ be interpreted as path separators in paths on
Windows, and will match against `/` in glob expressions.
So just always use `/` in patterns.
## Minimatch Class
Create a minimatch object by instantiating the `minimatch.Minimatch` class.
```javascript
var Minimatch = require("minimatch").Minimatch
var mm = new Minimatch(pattern, options)
```
### Properties
* `pattern` The original pattern the minimatch object represents.
* `options` The options supplied to the constructor.
* `set` A 2-dimensional array of regexp or string expressions.
Each row in the
array corresponds to a brace-expanded pattern. Each item in the row
corresponds to a single path-part. For example, the pattern
`{a,b/c}/d` would expand to a set of patterns like:
[ [ a, d ]
, [ b, c, d ] ]
If a portion of the pattern doesn't have any "magic" in it
(that is, it's something like `"foo"` rather than `fo*o?`), then it
will be left as a string rather than converted to a regular
expression.
* `regexp` Created by the `makeRe` method. A single regular expression
expressing the entire pattern. This is useful in cases where you wish
to use the pattern somewhat like `fnmatch(3)` with `FNM_PATH` enabled.
* `negate` True if the pattern is negated.
* `comment` True if the pattern is a comment.
* `empty` True if the pattern is `""`.
### Methods
* `makeRe` Generate the `regexp` member if necessary, and return it.
Will return `false` if the pattern is invalid.
* `match(fname)` Return true if the filename matches the pattern, or
false otherwise.
* `matchOne(fileArray, patternArray, partial)` Take a `/`-split
filename, and match it against a single row in the `regExpSet`. This
method is mainly for internal use, but is exposed so that it can be
used by a glob-walker that needs to avoid excessive filesystem calls.
All other methods are internal, and will be called as necessary.
### minimatch(path, pattern, options)
Main export. Tests a path against the pattern using the options.
```javascript
var isJS = minimatch(file, "*.js", { matchBase: true })
```
### minimatch.filter(pattern, options)
Returns a function that tests its
supplied argument, suitable for use with `Array.filter`. Example:
```javascript
var javascripts = fileList.filter(minimatch.filter("*.js", {matchBase: true}))
```
### minimatch.match(list, pattern, options)
Match against the list of
files, in the style of fnmatch or glob. If nothing is matched, and
options.nonull is set, then return a list containing the pattern itself.
```javascript
var javascripts = minimatch.match(fileList, "*.js", {matchBase: true})
```
### 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.
### nobrace
Do not expand `{a,b}` and `{1..3}` brace sets.
### noglobstar
Disable `**` matching against multiple folder names.
### dot
Allow patterns to match filenames starting with a period, even if
the pattern does not explicitly have a period in that spot.
Note that by default, `a/**/b` will **not** match `a/.d/b`, unless `dot`
is set.
### noext
Disable "extglob" style patterns like `+(a|b)`.
### nocase
Perform a case-insensitive match.
### nonull
When a match is not found by `minimatch.match`, return a list containing
the pattern itself if this option is set. When not set, an empty list
is returned if there are no matches.
### 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 the path `/xyz/123/acb`, but not `/xyz/acb/123`.
### nocomment
Suppress the behavior of treating `#` at the start of a pattern as a
comment.
### nonegate
Suppress the behavior of treating a leading `!` character as negation.
### flipNegate
Returns from negate expressions the same as if they were not negated.
(Ie, true on a hit, false on a miss.)
### partial
Compare a partial path to a pattern. As long as the parts of the path that
are present are not contradicted by the pattern, it will be treated as a
match. This is useful in applications where you're walking through a
folder structure, and don't yet have the full path, but want to ensure that
you do not walk down paths that can never be a match.
For example,
```js
minimatch('/a/b', '/a/*/c/d', { partial: true }) // true, might be /a/b/c/d
minimatch('/a/b', '/**/d', { partial: true }) // true, might be /a/b/.../d
minimatch('/x/y/z', '/a/**/z', { partial: true }) // false, because x !== a
```
### windowsPathsNoEscape
Use `\\` as a path separator _only_, and _never_ as an escape
character. If set, all `\\` characters are replaced with `/` in
the pattern. Note that this makes it **impossible** to match
against paths containing literal glob pattern characters, but
allows matching with patterns constructed using `path.join()` and
`path.resolve()` on Windows platforms, mimicking the (buggy!)
behavior of earlier versions on Windows. Please use with
caution, and be mindful of [the caveat about Windows
paths](#windows).
For legacy reasons, this is also set if
`options.allowWindowsEscape` is set to the exact value `false`.
## Comparisons to other fnmatch/glob implementations
While strict compliance with the existing standards is a worthwhile
goal, some discrepancies exist between minimatch and other
implementations, and are intentional.
If the pattern starts with a `!` character, then it is negated. Set the
`nonegate` flag to suppress this behavior, and treat leading `!`
characters normally. This is perhaps relevant if you wish to start the
pattern with a negative extglob pattern like `!(a|B)`. Multiple `!`
characters at the start of a pattern will negate the pattern multiple
times.
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, or set the `nocomment` flag to suppress this behavior.
The double-star character `**` is supported by default, unless the
`noglobstar` flag is set. This is supported in the manner of bsdglob
and bash 4.1, where `**` only has special significance if it is the only
thing in a path part. That is, `a/**/b` will match `a/x/y/b`, but
`a/**b` will not.
If an escaped pattern has no matches, and the `nonull` flag is 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?"`. This is akin to setting the `nullglob` option in bash, except
that it does not resolve escaped pattern characters.
If brace expansion is not disabled, then it is performed before any
other interpretation of the glob pattern. Thus, a pattern like
`+(a|{b),c)}`, which would not be valid in bash or zsh, is expanded
**first** into the set of `+(a|b)` and `+(a|c)`, and those patterns are
checked for validity. Since those two are valid, matching proceeds.
Note that `fnmatch(3)` in libc is an extremely naive string comparison
matcher, which does not do anything special for slashes. This library is
designed to be used in glob searching and file walkers, and so it does do
special things with `/`. Thus, `foo*` will not match `foo/bar` in this
library, even though it would in `fnmatch(3)`.
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