Sunbelt Computer Software

Picomatch

Blazing fast and accurate glob matcher written in JavaScript.
No dependencies and full support for standard and extended Bash glob features, including braces, extglobs, POSIX brackets, and regular expressions.

Why picomatch?

Lightweight - No dependencies
Minimal - Tiny API surface. Main export is a function that takes a glob pattern and returns a matcher function.
Fast - Loads in about 2ms (that's several times faster than a single frame of a HD movie at 60fps)
Performant - Use the returned matcher function to speed up repeat matching (like when watching files)
Accurate matching - Using wildcards (* and ?), globstars (**) for nested directories, advanced globbing with extglobs, braces, and POSIX brackets, and support for escaping special characters with \ or quotes.
Well tested - Thousands of unit tests

See the library comparison to other libraries.

Install

Install with npm:

npm install --save picomatch

Usage

The main export is a function that takes a glob pattern and an options object and returns a function for matching strings.

const pm = require('{%= name %}');
const isMatch = pm('*.js');

console.log(isMatch('abcd')); //=> false
console.log(isMatch('a.js')); //=> true
console.log(isMatch('a.md')); //=> false
console.log(isMatch('a/b.js')); //=> false

API

{%= apidocs("./lib/picomatch.js") %}

Options

Picomatch options

The following options may be used with the main picomatch() function or any of the methods on the picomatch API.

Option	Type	Default value	Description
`basename`	`boolean`	`false`	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`.
`bash`	`boolean`	`false`	Follow bash matching rules more strictly - disallows backslashes as escape characters, and treats single stars as globstars (`**`).
`capture`	`boolean`	`undefined`	Return regex matches in supporting methods.
`contains`	`boolean`	`undefined`	Allows glob to match any part of the given string(s).
`debug`	`boolean`	`undefined`	Debug regular expressions when an error is thrown.
`dot`	`boolean`	`false`	Enable dotfile matching. By default, dotfiles are ignored unless a `.` is explicitly defined in the pattern, or `options.dot` is true
`expandRange`	`function`	`undefined`	Custom function for expanding ranges in brace patterns, such as `{a..z}`. The function receives the range values as two arguments, and it must return a string to be used in the generated regex. It's recommended that returned strings be wrapped in parentheses.
`fastpaths`	`boolean`	`true`	To speed up processing, full parsing is skipped for a handful common glob patterns. Disable this behavior by setting this option to `false`.
`flags`	`string`	`undefined`	Regex flags to use in the generated regex. If defined, the `nocase` option will be overridden.
format	`function`	`undefined`	Custom function for formatting the returned string. This is useful for removing leading slashes, converting Windows paths to Posix paths, etc.
`ignore`	`array	string`	`undefined`
`keepQuotes`	`boolean`	`false`	Retain quotes in the generated regex, since quotes may also be used as an alternative to backslashes.
`literalBrackets`	`boolean`	`undefined`	When `true`, brackets in the glob pattern will be escaped so that only literal brackets will be matched.
`matchBase`	`boolean`	`false`	Alias for `basename`
`maxLength`	`number`	`65536`	Limit the max length of the input string. An error is thrown if the input string is longer than this value.
`maxExtglobRecursion`	`number\|boolean`	`0`	Limit nested quantified extglobs and other risky repeated extglob forms. When the limit is exceeded, the extglob is treated as a literal string instead of being compiled to regex. Set to `false` to disable this safeguard.
`nobrace`	`boolean`	`false`	Disable brace matching, so that `{a,b}` and `{1..3}` would be treated as literal characters.
`nobracket`	`boolean`	`undefined`	Disable matching with regex brackets.
`nocase`	`boolean`	`false`	Make matching case-insensitive. Equivalent to the regex `i` flag. Note that this option is overridden by the `flags` option.
`noext`	`boolean`	`false`	Alias for `noextglob`
`noextglob`	`boolean`	`false`	Disable support for matching with extglobs (like `+(a
`noglobstar`	`boolean`	`false`	Disable support for matching nested directories with globstars (`**`)
`nonegate`	`boolean`	`false`	Disable support for negating with leading `!`
onIgnore	`function`	`undefined`	Function to be called on ignored items.
onMatch	`function`	`undefined`	Function to be called on matched items.
onResult	`function`	`undefined`	Function to be called on all items, regardless of whether or not they are matched or ignored.
`posix`	`boolean`	`false`	Support POSIX character classes ("posix brackets").
`prepend`	`boolean`	`undefined`	String to prepend to the generated regex used for matching.
`regex`	`boolean`	`false`	Use regular expression rules for `+` (instead of matching literal `+`), and for stars that follow closing parentheses or brackets (as in `)` and `]`).
`strictBrackets`	`boolean`	`undefined`	Throw an error if brackets, braces, or parens are imbalanced.
`strictSlashes`	`boolean`	`undefined`	When true, picomatch won't match trailing slashes with single stars.
`unescape`	`boolean`	`undefined`	Remove backslashes preceding escaped characters in the glob pattern. By default, backslashes are retained.
`windows`	`boolean`	`false`	Also accept backslashes as the path separator.

Scan Options

In addition to the main picomatch options, the following options may also be used with the .scan method.

Option	Type	Default value	Description
`tokens`	`boolean`	`false`	When `true`, the returned object will include an array of tokens (objects), representing each path "segment" in the scanned glob pattern
`parts`	`boolean`	`false`	When `true`, the returned object will include an array of strings representing each path "segment" in the scanned glob pattern. This is automatically enabled when `options.tokens` is true

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
const result = picomatch.scan('!./foo/*.js', { tokens: true });
console.log(result);
// {
//   prefix: '!./',
//   input: '!./foo/*.js',
//   start: 3,
//   base: 'foo',
//   glob: '*.js',
//   isBrace: false,
//   isBracket: false,
//   isGlob: true,
//   isExtglob: false,
//   isGlobstar: false,
//   negated: true,
//   maxDepth: 2,
//   tokens: [
//     { value: '!./', depth: 0, isGlob: false, negated: true, isPrefix: true },
//     { value: 'foo', depth: 1, isGlob: false },
//     { value: '*.js', depth: 1, isGlob: true }
//   ],
//   slashes: [ 2, 6 ],
//   parts: [ 'foo', '*.js' ]
// }

Options Examples

options.expandRange

Type: function

Default: undefined

Custom function for expanding ranges in brace patterns. The [fill-range][] library is ideal for this purpose, or you can use custom code to do whatever you need.

Example

The following example shows how to create a glob that matches a folder

const fill = require('fill-range');
const regex = pm.makeRe('foo/{01..25}/bar', {
  expandRange(a, b) {
    return `(${fill(a, b, { toRegex: true })})`;
  }
});

console.log(regex);
//=> /^(?:foo\/((?:0[1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-5]))\/bar)$/

console.log(regex.test('foo/00/bar'))  // false
console.log(regex.test('foo/01/bar'))  // true
console.log(regex.test('foo/10/bar')) // true
console.log(regex.test('foo/22/bar')) // true
console.log(regex.test('foo/25/bar')) // true
console.log(regex.test('foo/26/bar')) // false

options.format

Type: function

Default: undefined

Custom function for formatting strings before they're matched.

Example

// strip leading './' from strings
const format = str => str.replace(/^\.\//, '');
const isMatch = picomatch('foo/*.js', { format });
console.log(isMatch('./foo/bar.js')); //=> true

options.onMatch

const onMatch = ({ glob, regex, input, output }) => {
  console.log({ glob, regex, input, output });
};

const isMatch = picomatch('*', { onMatch });
isMatch('foo');
isMatch('bar');
isMatch('baz');

options.onIgnore

const onIgnore = ({ glob, regex, input, output }) => {
  console.log({ glob, regex, input, output });
};

const isMatch = picomatch('*', { onIgnore, ignore: 'f*' });
isMatch('foo');
isMatch('bar');
isMatch('baz');

options.onResult

const onResult = ({ glob, regex, input, output }) => {
  console.log({ glob, regex, input, output });
};

const isMatch = picomatch('*', { onResult, ignore: 'f*' });
isMatch('foo');
isMatch('bar');
isMatch('baz');

Globbing features

Basic globbing (Wildcard matching)
Advanced globbing (extglobs, posix brackets, brace matching)

Basic globbing

Character	Description
`*`	Matches any character zero or more times, excluding path separators. Does not match path separators or hidden files or directories ("dotfiles"), unless explicitly enabled by setting the `dot` option to `true`.
`**`	Matches any character zero or more times, including path separators. Note that `` will only match path separators (`/`, and `\\` with the `windows` option) when they are the only characters in a path segment. Thus, `foo/bar` is equivalent to `foo/bar`, and `foo/ab/bar` is equivalent to `foo/ab/bar`, and more than two consecutive stars in a glob path segment are regarded as a single star. Thus, `foo/**/bar` is equivalent to `foo//bar`.
`?`	Matches any character excluding path separators one time. Does not match path separators or leading dots.
`[abc]`	Matches any characters inside the brackets. For example, `[abc]` would match the characters `a`, `b` or `c`, and nothing else.

Matching behavior vs. Bash

Picomatch's matching features and expected results in unit tests are based on Bash's unit tests and the Bash 4.3 specification, with the following exceptions:

Bash will match foo/bar/baz with *. Picomatch only matches nested directories with **.
Bash greedily matches with negated extglobs. For example, Bash 4.3 says that !(foo)* should match foo and foobar, since the trailing * bracktracks to match the preceding pattern. This is very memory-inefficient, and IMHO, also incorrect. Picomatch would return false for both foo and foobar.

Advanced globbing

Extglobs

Pattern	Description
`@(pattern)`	Match only one consecutive occurrence of `pattern`
`*(pattern)`	Match zero or more consecutive occurrences of `pattern`
`+(pattern)`	Match one or more consecutive occurrences of `pattern`
`?(pattern)`	Match zero or one consecutive occurrences of `pattern`
`!(pattern)`	Match anything but `pattern`

Examples

const pm = require('picomatch');

// *(pattern) matches ZERO or more of "pattern"
console.log(pm.isMatch('a', 'a*(z)')); // true
console.log(pm.isMatch('az', 'a*(z)')); // true
console.log(pm.isMatch('azzz', 'a*(z)')); // true

// +(pattern) matches ONE or more of "pattern"
console.log(pm.isMatch('a', 'a+(z)')); // false
console.log(pm.isMatch('az', 'a+(z)')); // true
console.log(pm.isMatch('azzz', 'a+(z)')); // true

// supports multiple extglobs
console.log(pm.isMatch('foo.bar', '!(foo).!(bar)')); // false

// supports nested extglobs
console.log(pm.isMatch('foo.bar', '!(!(foo)).!(!(bar))')); // true

// risky quantified extglobs are treated literally by default
console.log(pm.makeRe('+(a|aa)'));
//=> /^(?:\+\(a\|aa\))$/

// increase the limit to allow a small amount of nested quantified extglobs
console.log(pm.isMatch('aaa', '+(+(a))', { maxExtglobRecursion: 1 })); // true

POSIX brackets

POSIX classes are disabled by default. Enable this feature by setting the posix option to true.

Enable POSIX bracket support

console.log(pm.makeRe('[[:word:]]+', { posix: true }));
//=> /^(?:(?=.)[A-Za-z0-9_]+\/?)$/

Supported POSIX classes

The following named POSIX bracket expressions are supported:

[:alnum:] - Alphanumeric characters, equ [a-zA-Z0-9]
[:alpha:] - Alphabetical characters, equivalent to [a-zA-Z].
[:ascii:] - ASCII characters, equivalent to [\\x00-\\x7F].
[:blank:] - Space and tab characters, equivalent to [ \\t].
[:cntrl:] - Control characters, equivalent to [\\x00-\\x1F\\x7F].
[:digit:] - Numerical digits, equivalent to [0-9].
[:graph:] - Graph characters, equivalent to [\\x21-\\x7E].
[:lower:] - Lowercase letters, equivalent to [a-z].
[:print:] - Print characters, equivalent to [\\x20-\\x7E ].
[:punct:] - Punctuation and symbols, equivalent to [\\-!"#$%&\'()\\*+,./:;<=>?@[\\\\\\]^_`{|}~].
[:space:] - Extended space characters, equivalent to [ \\t\\r\\n\\v\\f].
[:upper:] - Uppercase letters, equivalent to [A-Z].
[:word:] - Word characters (letters, numbers and underscores), equivalent to [A-Za-z0-9_].
[:xdigit:] - Hexadecimal digits, equivalent to [A-Fa-f0-9].

See the Bash Reference Manual for more information.

Braces

Picomatch only does brace expansion of comma-delimited lists (e.g. a/{b,c}/d). For advanced matching with braces, use [micromatch][], which supports advanced syntax such as ranges (e.g. {01..03}) and increments (e.g. {2..10..2}).

Matching special characters as literals

If you wish to match the following special characters in a filepath, and you want to use these characters in your glob pattern, they must be escaped with backslashes or quotes:

Special Characters

Some characters that are used for matching in regular expressions are also regarded as valid file path characters on some platforms.

To match any of the following characters as literals: $^*+?()[]{}| or a leading !, you must escape the character with a backslash, or wrap a sequence of characters in quotes.

Examples:

console.log(pm.makeRe('foo/bar \\(1\\)'));
console.log(pm.makeRe('foo/bar \\(1\\)'));

Library Comparisons

The following table shows which features are supported by [minimatch][], [micromatch][], [picomatch][], [nanomatch][], [extglob][], [braces][], and [expand-brackets][].

Benchmarks

Performance comparison of picomatch and minimatch.

# .makeRe star (*)
  picomatch x 3,251,247 ops/sec ±0.25% (95 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 497,224 ops/sec ±0.11% (100 runs sampled)

# .makeRe star; dot=true (*)
  picomatch x 2,624,035 ops/sec ±0.16% (98 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 446,244 ops/sec ±0.63% (99 runs sampled)

# .makeRe globstar (**)
  picomatch x 2,524,465 ops/sec ±0.13% (99 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 1,396,257 ops/sec ±0.58% (96 runs sampled)

# .makeRe globstars (**/**/**)
  picomatch x 2,545,674 ops/sec ±0.10% (99 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 1,196,835 ops/sec ±0.63% (98 runs sampled)

# .makeRe with leading star (*.txt)
  picomatch x 2,537,708 ops/sec ±0.11% (100 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 345,284 ops/sec ±0.64% (96 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - basic braces ({a,b,c}*.txt)
  picomatch x 505,430 ops/sec ±1.04% (94 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 107,991 ops/sec ±0.54% (99 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - short ranges ({a..z}*.txt)
  picomatch x 371,179 ops/sec ±2.91% (77 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 14,104 ops/sec ±0.61% (99 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - medium ranges ({1..100000}*.txt)
  picomatch x 384,958 ops/sec ±1.70% (82 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 2.55 ops/sec ±3.22% (11 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - long ranges ({1..10000000}*.txt)
  picomatch x 382,552 ops/sec ±1.52% (71 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 0.83 ops/sec ±5.67% (7 runs sampled))

Philosophies

The goal of this library is to be blazing fast, without compromising on accuracy.

Accuracy

The number one of goal of this library is accuracy. However, it's not unusual for different glob implementations to have different rules for matching behavior, even with simple wildcard matching. It gets increasingly more complicated when combinations of different features are combined, like when extglobs are combined with globstars, braces, slashes, and so on: !(**/{a,b,*/c}).

Thus, given that there is no canonical glob specification to use as a single source of truth when differences of opinion arise regarding behavior, sometimes we have to implement our best judgement and rely on feedback from users to make improvements.

Performance

Although this library performs well in benchmarks, and in most cases it's faster than other popular libraries we benchmarked against, we will always choose accuracy over performance. It's not helpful to anyone if our library is faster at returning the wrong answer.

About

Contributing

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

Please read the contributing guide for advice on opening issues, pull requests, and coding standards.

Running Tests

Running and reviewing unit tests is a great way to get familiarized with a library and its API. You can install dependencies and run tests with the following command:

npm install && npm test

Building docs

(This project's readme.md is generated by verb, please don't edit the readme directly. Any changes to the readme must be made in the .verb.md readme template.)

To generate the readme, run the following command:

npm install -g verbose/verb#dev verb-generate-readme && verb

Author

Jon Schlinkert

Feature	`minimatch`	`micromatch`	`picomatch`	`nanomatch`	`extglob`	`braces`	`expand-brackets`
Wildcard matching (`*?+`)	✔	✔	✔	✔	-	-	-
Advancing globbing	✔	✔	✔	-	-	-	-
Brace matching	✔	✔	✔	-	-	✔	-
Brace expansion	✔	✔	-	-	-	✔	-
Extglobs	partial	✔	✔	-	✔	-	-
Posix brackets	-	✔	✔	-	-	-	✔
Regular expression syntax	-	✔	✔	✔	✔	-	✔
File system operations	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Sunbelt Computer Software

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Picomatch

Why picomatch?

Table of Contents

Install

Usage

API

Options

Picomatch options

Scan Options

Options Examples

options.expandRange

options.format

options.onMatch

options.onIgnore

options.onResult

Globbing features

Basic globbing

Matching behavior vs. Bash

Advanced globbing

Extglobs

POSIX brackets

Braces

Matching special characters as literals

Library Comparisons

Benchmarks

Philosophies

About

Author

License

Sunbelt Computer Software

PL/B Language Development and Support

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Picomatch

Why picomatch?

Table of Contents

Install

Usage

API

Options

Picomatch options

Scan Options

Options Examples

options.expandRange

options.format

options.onMatch

options.onIgnore

options.onResult

Globbing features

Basic globbing

Matching behavior vs. Bash

Advanced globbing

Extglobs

POSIX brackets

Braces

Matching special characters as literals

Library Comparisons

Benchmarks

Philosophies

About

Author

License