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);
//=> ['unicorn', 'rainbow']

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);
	//=> ['cat.png', 'unicorn.png', 'cow.jpg', 'rainbow.jpg']
})();

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

Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription.

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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