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PathLength is a Node.js module for checking the lengths of file paths.

• Install
• CLI
• API
• Filters
• Bugs
• Contributors
• License

Install

Install using npm:

$ npm install --save pathlength

You'll need to have at least Node.js 4 or newer.

If you want to use the command line interface, which you probably do, you'll most likely want to install it globally so that you can run pathlength from anywhere:

$ npm install --global pathlength

CLI

Usage: pathlength [options] [file]


Options:

  -V, --version              output the version number
  -d, --debug                enable debug level logging
  -f, --filter <expression>  filter paths by length
  -F, --force                ignore errors for individual path checks
  -l, --limit <max>          limit number of results
  -p, --pretty               enable pretty formatting for supporting styles
  -r, --recursive            search directories recursively
  --stack                    print stack traces for errors
  -s, --style <name>         use style for output
  -h, --help                 output usage information

The command line interface is the primary intended use for PathLength and it's designed to be extremely simple and works on an opt-in principle.

Styles

As mentioned above, the CLI accepts a style option which, when specified, changes how the results are presented.

The pretty option can also be used to instruct styles to make present themselves prettier, however, this option is not supported by all styles, only those where it makes sense.

plain

This is the default style and outputs results in a plain format.

$ pathlength src
/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src [33, directory]
/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api [37, directory]
/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli [37, directory]
/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js [42, file]

The pretty option is ignored by this style.

csv

This style outputs each result as comma-separated values.

$ pathlength -s csv src
"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src","33","true"
"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api","37","true"
"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli","37","true"
"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js","42","false"

The pretty option is ignored by this style.

json

This style outputs the results as a JSON array.

$ pathlength -s json src
[{"directory":true,"length":33,"path":"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src"},{"directory":true,"length":37,"path":"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api"},{"directory":true,"length":37,"path":"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli"},{"directory":false,"length":42,"path":"/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js"}]

The pretty option will format the JSON nicely with good spacing, indentation, and spans multiple lines.

$ pathlength -ps json src
[
  {
    "directory": true,
    "length": 33,
    "path": "/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src"
  },
  {
    "directory": true,
    "length": 37,
    "path": "/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api"
  },
  {
    "directory": true,
    "length": 37,
    "path": "/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli"
  },
  {
    "directory": false,
    "length": 42,
    "path": "/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js"
  }
]

table

This style outputs the results as a table.

$ pathlength -s table src
+------+--------+------+
| Path | Length | Type |
+------+--------+------+
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src | 33 | Directory |
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api | 37 | Directory |
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli | 37 | Directory |
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js | 42 | File |
+------+--------+------+

The pretty option will format the table nicely with padded cells for aligned columns.

$ pathlength -ps table src
+--------------------------------------------+--------+-----------+
| Path                                       | Length | Type      |
+--------------------------------------------+--------+-----------+
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src          | 33     | Directory |
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api      | 37     | Directory |
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli      | 37     | Directory |
| /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js | 42     | File      |
+--------------------------------------------+--------+-----------+

However, using the pretty option with this style does mean that nothing is written to the output stream until all results are in. This is because the maximum column width cannot be calculated until all of the data is available.

xml

This style outputs the results as a XML document.

$ pathlength -s xml src
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><results><result directory="true" length="33" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src" /><result directory="true" length="37" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api" /><result directory="true" length="37" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli" /><result directory="false" length="42" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js" /></results>

The pretty option will format the XML nicely with good indentation and spans multiple lines.

$ pathlength -ps xml src
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<results>
  <result directory="true" length="33" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src" />
  <result directory="true" length="37" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api" />
  <result directory="true" length="37" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli" />
  <result directory="false" length="42" path="/home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js" />
</results>

yaml

This style outputs the results as a YAML array.

$ pathlength -s yaml src
[{directory: true, length: 33, path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src}, {directory: true, length: 37, path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api}, {directory: true, length: 37, path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli}, {directory: false, length: 42, path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js}]

The pretty option will format the YAML nicely with good indentation and spans multiple lines.

$ pathlength -ps yaml src
- directory: true
  length: 33
  path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src
- directory: true
  length: 37
  path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/api
- directory: true
  length: 37
  path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/cli
- directory: false
  length: 42
  path: /home/neocotic/dev/pathlength/src/index.js

API

While most of you will be using PathLength via its CLI, the API can also be used and is designed to be just as simple to use. It uses ECMAScript 2015's promises to handle the asynchronous flow:

It's best to take a look at the code and or inspect the results yourself to see all of the information available.

check([options])

Scans files and directories within the current working directory and checks the length of their real path using the options provided.

This method returns a Promise that is resolved with all results. However, progress can be monitored by listening to events that are emitted by pathlength.

Options

| Option | Description | Default | | ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------- | | cwd | Directory from which to begin scanning paths | process.cwd() | | filter | Filter (or filter expression to be parsed) to be used to control which paths are included in the results | All | | force | Enable to ignore errors for individual path checks | false | | limit | Maximum number of results (unlimited if negative) | Unlimited | | recursive | Search for paths recursively within cwd | false |

Events

| Event | Description | | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | check | Fired once the options have been derived and the filter, if any, been parsed but before any paths are scanned and checked | | checkpath | Fired immediately before a path is checked | | result | Fired immediately after a path is checked along with its findings | | end | Fired once all paths have been scanned and checked | | error | Fired whenever an error occurs |

Examples

pathlength.check({ cwd: '/', filter: '>255', force: true, recursive: true })
  .then((results) => {
    console.log(`${results.length} paths found that are longer than 255 characters`);
  });

Filters

While using the CLI, you'll always be using filter expressions; strings that are parsed into filter objects. This will be common for the API as well as it's much easier and cleaner to read.

A filter consists of a logical operator followed by an operand that is evaluated against the length of each path. The operand can only consist of positive numerical value. The parser for filter expressions is quite strict and will throw an error if it doesn't match the expected pattern. Any leading, trailing, or separating whitespace is ignored by the parser.

The following operators are supported and each can be imported directly via the API exposed by src/api/Operator, if needed.

| Operator | Aliases | API | Description | | -------- | -------------- | -------------------------- | ------------------------ | | eq | = == === | EQUALS | Equal to | | ne | ! != !== | NOT_EQUALS | Not equal to | | gt | > | GREATER_THAN | Greater than | | gte | >= | GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO | Greater than or equal to | | lt | < | LESS_THAN | Less than | | lte | <= | LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO | Less than or equal to |

When using filter expressions the operator can be represented either by its name (e.g. eq) or any of its aliases (e.g. ==).

For example; the filter expression ">255" will only match paths whose length is greater than 255 characters.

The API also allows Filter instances - which are also the result of parsing filter expressions - to be passed as the filter option. This can be useful if your code will be calling check with the same filter multiple times as it can avoid unnecessary parsing.

You can construct the Filter yourself or use Filter.parse to create an instance parsed from a filter expression:

const pathlength = require('pathlength');
const Filter = require('pathlength/src/api/Filter');
const Operator = require('pathlength/src/api/Operator');

// The following are equivalents
pathlength.check({ filter: new Filter(Operator.GREATER_THAN, 255) }).then((results) => ...);
pathlength.check({ filter: new Filter('>', 255) }).then((results) => ...);
pathlength.check({ filter: Filter.parse('>255') }).then((results) => ...);
pathlength.check({ filter: '>255' }).then((results) => ...);

Bugs

If you have any problems with PathLength or would like to see changes currently in development you can do so here.

Contributors

If you want to contribute, you're a legend! Information on how you can do so can be found in CONTRIBUTING.md. We want your suggestions and pull requests!

A list of PathLength contributors can be found in AUTHORS.md.

License

See LICENSE.md for more information on our MIT license.