nanomatch

Fast, minimal glob matcher for node.js. Similar to micromatch, minimatch and multimatch, but complete Bash 4.3 wildcard support only (no support for exglobs, posix brackets or braces)

Please consider following this project's author, Jon Schlinkert, and consider starring the project to show your ❤️ and support.

Table of Contents

Details

• Install
• What is nanomatch?
• Getting started
  • Installing nanomatch
  • Usage
• Documentation
  • Escaping
• API
• Options
  • options.basename
  • options.bash
  • options.cache
  • options.dot
  • options.failglob
  • options.ignore
  • options.matchBase
  • options.nocase
  • options.nodupes
  • options.noglobstar
  • options.nonegate
  • options.nonull
  • options.nullglob
  • options.slash
  • options.star
  • options.snapdragon
  • options.sourcemap
  • options.unescape
  • options.unixify
• Features
• Bash expansion libs
• Benchmarks
  • Running benchmarks
  • Nanomatch vs. Minimatch vs. Multimatch
• About

Install

Install with npm:

$ npm install --save nanomatch

Release history

History

key

Changelog entries are classified using the following labels (from keep-a-changelog):

• added: for new features
• changed: for changes in existing functionality
• deprecated: for once-stable features removed in upcoming releases
• removed: for deprecated features removed in this release
• fixed: for any bug fixes
• bumped: updated dependencies, only minor or higher will be listed.

1.1.0 - 2017-04-11

Fixed

• adds support for unclosed quotes

Added

• adds support for options.noglobstar

1.0.4 - 2017-04-06

Housekeeping updates. Adds documentation section about escaping, cleans up utils.

1.0.3 - 2017-04-06

This release includes fixes for windows path edge cases and other improvements for stricter adherence to bash spec.

Fixed

• More windows path edge cases

Added

• Support for bash-like quoted strings for escaping sequences of characters, such as foo/"**"/bar where ** should be matched literally and not evaluated as special characters.

1.0.1 - 2016-12-12

Added

• Support for windows path edge cases where backslashes are used in brackets or other unusual combinations.

1.0.0 - 2016-12-12

Stable release.

[0.1.0] - 2016-10-08

First release.

What is nanomatch?

Nanomatch is a fast and accurate glob matcher with full support for standard Bash glob features, including the following "metacharacters": *, **, ? and [...].

Learn more

• Getting started: learn how to install and begin using nanomatch
• Features: jump to info about supported patterns, and a glob matching reference
• API documentation: jump to available options and methods
• Unit tests: visit unit tests. there is no better way to learn a code library than spending time the unit tests. Nanomatch has 36,000 unit tests - go become a glob matching ninja!

How is this different?

Speed and accuracy

Nanomatch uses snapdragon for parsing and compiling globs, which results in:

• Granular control over the entire conversion process in a way that is easy to understand, reason about, and customize.
• Faster matching, from a combination of optimized glob patterns and (optional) caching.
• Much greater accuracy than minimatch. In fact, nanomatch passes all of the spec tests from bash, including some that bash still fails. However, since there is no real specification for globs, if you encounter a pattern that yields unexpected match results after researching previous issues, please let us know.

Basic globbing only

Nanomatch supports basic globbing only, which is limited to *, **, ? and regex-like brackets.

If you need support for the other bash "expansion" types (in addition to the wildcard matching provided by nanomatch), consider using micromatch instead. (micromatch >=3.0.0 uses the nanomatch parser and compiler for basic glob matching)

Getting started

Installing nanomatch

Install with yarn

$ yarn add nanomatch

Install with npm

$ npm install nanomatch

Usage

Add nanomatch to your project using node's require() system:

var nanomatch = require('nanomatch');
 
// the main export is a function that takes an array of strings to match
// and a string or array of patterns to use for matching
nanomatch(list, patterns[, options]);

Params

• list {String|Array}: List of strings to perform matches against. This is often a list of file paths.
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob paterns to use for matching.
• options {Object}: Any supported options may be passed

Examples

var nm = require('nanomatch');
console.log(nm(['a', 'b/b', 'c/c/c'], '*'));
//=> ['a']
 
console.log(nm(['a', 'b/b', 'c/c/c'], '*/*'));
//=> ['b/b']
 
console.log(nm(['a', 'b/b', 'c/c/c'], '**'));
//=> ['a', 'b/b', 'c/c/c']

See the API documentation for available methods and options.

Documentation

Escaping

Backslashes and quotes can be used to escape characters, forcing nanomatch to regard those characters as a literal characters.

Backslashes

Use backslashes to escape single characters. For example, the following pattern would match foo/*/bar exactly:

'foo/\*/bar'

The following pattern would match foo/ followed by a literal *, followed by zero or more of any characters besides /, followed by /bar.

'foo/\**/bar'

Quoted strings

Use single or double quotes to escape sequences of characters. For example, the following patterns would match foo/**/bar exactly:

'foo/"**"/bar'
'foo/\'**\'/bar'
"foo/'**'/bar"

Matching literal quotes

If you need to match quotes literally, you can escape them as well. For example, the following will match foo/"*"/bar, foo/"a"/bar, foo/"b"/bar, or foo/"c"/bar:

'foo/\\"*\\"/bar'

And the following will match foo/'*'/bar, foo/'a'/bar, foo/'b'/bar, or foo/'c'/bar:

'foo/\\\'*\\\'/bar'

API

nanomatch

The main function takes a list of strings and one or more glob patterns to use for matching.

Params

• list {Array}: A list of strings to match
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob patterns to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Array}: Returns an array of matches

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm(list, patterns[, options]);
 
console.log(nm(['a.js', 'a.txt'], ['*.js']));
//=> [ 'a.js' ]

.match

Similar to the main function, but pattern must be a string.

Params

• list {Array}: Array of strings to match
• pattern {String}: Glob pattern to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Array}: Returns an array of matches

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.match(list, pattern[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.match(['a.a', 'a.aa', 'a.b', 'a.c'], '*.a'));
//=> ['a.a', 'a.aa']

.isMatch

Returns true if the specified string matches the given glob pattern.

Params

• string {String}: String to match
• pattern {String}: Glob pattern to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if the string matches the glob pattern.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.isMatch(string, pattern[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.isMatch('a.a', '*.a'));
//=> true
console.log(nm.isMatch('a.b', '*.a'));
//=> false

.some

Returns true if some of the elements in the given list match any of the given glob patterns.

Params

• list {String|Array}: The string or array of strings to test. Returns as soon as the first match is found.
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob patterns to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if any patterns match str

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.some(list, patterns[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.some(['foo.js', 'bar.js'], ['*.js', '!foo.js']));
// true
console.log(nm.some(['foo.js'], ['*.js', '!foo.js']));
// false

.every

Returns true if every element in the given list matches at least one of the given glob patterns.

Params

• list {String|Array}: The string or array of strings to test.
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob patterns to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if any patterns match str

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.every(list, patterns[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.every('foo.js', ['foo.js']));
// true
console.log(nm.every(['foo.js', 'bar.js'], ['*.js']));
// true
console.log(nm.every(['foo.js', 'bar.js'], ['*.js', '!foo.js']));
// false
console.log(nm.every(['foo.js'], ['*.js', '!foo.js']));
// false

.any

Returns true if any of the given glob patterns match the specified string.

Params

• str {String|Array}: The string to test.
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob patterns to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if any patterns match str

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.any(string, patterns[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.any('a.a', ['b.*', '*.a']));
//=> true
console.log(nm.any('a.a', 'b.*'));
//=> false

.all

Returns true if all of the given patterns match the specified string.

Params

• str {String|Array}: The string to test.
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob patterns to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if any patterns match str

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.all(string, patterns[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.all('foo.js', ['foo.js']));
// true
 
console.log(nm.all('foo.js', ['*.js', '!foo.js']));
// false
 
console.log(nm.all('foo.js', ['*.js', 'foo.js']));
// true
 
console.log(nm.all('foo.js', ['*.js', 'f*', '*o*', '*o.js']));
// true

.not

Returns a list of strings that do not match any of the given patterns.

Params

• list {Array}: Array of strings to match.
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob pattern to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Array}: Returns an array of strings that do not match the given patterns.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.not(list, patterns[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.not(['a.a', 'b.b', 'c.c'], '*.a'));
//=> ['b.b', 'c.c']

.contains

Returns true if the given string contains the given pattern. Similar to .isMatch but the pattern can match any part of the string.

Params

• str {String}: The string to match.
• patterns {String|Array}: Glob pattern to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if the patter matches any part of str.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.contains(string, pattern[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.contains('aa/bb/cc', '*b'));
//=> true
console.log(nm.contains('aa/bb/cc', '*d'));
//=> false

.matchKeys

Filter the keys of the given object with the given glob pattern and options. Does not attempt to match nested keys. If you need this feature, use glob-object instead.

Params

• object {Object}: The object with keys to filter.
• patterns {String|Array}: One or more glob patterns to use for matching.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Object}: Returns an object with only keys that match the given patterns.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.matchKeys(object, patterns[, options]);
 
var obj = { aa: 'a', ab: 'b', ac: 'c' };
console.log(nm.matchKeys(obj, '*b'));
//=> { ab: 'b' }

.matcher

Returns a memoized matcher function from the given glob pattern and options. The returned function takes a string to match as its only argument and returns true if the string is a match.

Params

• pattern {String}: Glob pattern
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed.
• returns {Function}: Returns a matcher function.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.matcher(pattern[, options]);
 
var isMatch = nm.matcher('*.!(*a)');
console.log(isMatch('a.a'));
//=> false
console.log(isMatch('a.b'));
//=> true

.capture

Returns an array of matches captured by pattern in string, ornull` if the pattern did not match.

Params

• pattern {String}: Glob pattern to use for matching.
• string {String}: String to match
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed
• returns {Boolean}: Returns an array of captures if the string matches the glob pattern, otherwise null.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.capture(pattern, string[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.capture('test/*.js', 'test/foo.js'));
//=> ['foo']
console.log(nm.capture('test/*.js', 'foo/bar.css'));
//=> null

.makeRe

Create a regular expression from the given glob pattern.

Params

• pattern {String}: A glob pattern to convert to regex.
• options {Object}: See available options for changing how matches are performed.
• returns {RegExp}: Returns a regex created from the given pattern.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.makeRe(pattern[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.makeRe('*.js'));
//=> /^(?:(\.[\\\/])?(?!\.)(?=.)[^\/]*?\.js)$/

.create

Parses the given glob pattern and returns an object with the compiled output and optional source map.

Params

• pattern {String}: Glob pattern to parse and compile.
• options {Object}: Any options to change how parsing and compiling is performed.
• returns {Object}: Returns an object with the parsed AST, compiled string and optional source map.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.create(pattern[, options]);
 
console.log(nm.create('abc/*.js'));
// { options: { source: 'string', sourcemap: true },
//   state: {},
//   compilers:
//    { ... },
//   output: '(\\.[\\\\\\/])?abc\\/(?!\\.)(?=.)[^\\/]*?\\.js',
//   ast:
//    { type: 'root',
//      errors: [],
//      nodes:
//       [ ... ],
//      dot: false,
//      input: 'abc/*.js' },
//   parsingErrors: [],
//   map:
//    { version: 3,
//      sources: [ 'string' ],
//      names: [],
//      mappings: 'AAAA,GAAG,EAAC,kBAAC,EAAC,EAAE',
//      sourcesContent: [ 'abc/*.js' ] },
//   position: { line: 1, column: 28 },
//   content: {},
//   files: {},
//   idx: 6 }

.parse

Parse the given str with the given options.

Params

• str {String}
• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an AST

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.parse(pattern[, options]);
 
var ast = nm.parse('a/{b,c}/d');
console.log(ast);
// { type: 'root',
//   errors: [],
//   input: 'a/{b,c}/d',
//   nodes:
//    [ { type: 'bos', val: '' },
//      { type: 'text', val: 'a/' },
//      { type: 'brace',
//        nodes:
//         [ { type: 'brace.open', val: '{' },
//           { type: 'text', val: 'b,c' },
//           { type: 'brace.close', val: '}' } ] },
//      { type: 'text', val: '/d' },
//      { type: 'eos', val: '' } ] }

.compile

Compile the given ast or string with the given options.

Params

• ast {Object|String}
• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object that has an output property with the compiled string.

Example

var nm = require('nanomatch');
nm.compile(ast[, options]);
 
var ast = nm.parse('a/{b,c}/d');
console.log(nm.compile(ast));
// { options: { source: 'string' },
//   state: {},
//   compilers:
//    { eos: [Function],
//      noop: [Function],
//      bos: [Function],
//      brace: [Function],
//      'brace.open': [Function],
//      text: [Function],
//      'brace.close': [Function] },
//   output: [ 'a/(b|c)/d' ],
//   ast:
//    { ... },
//   parsingErrors: [] }

.clearCache

Clear the regex cache.

Example

nm.clearCache();

Options

basename

options.basename

Allow glob patterns without slashes to match a file path based on its basename. Same behavior as minimatch option matchBase.

Type: boolean

Default: false

Example

nm(['a/b.js', 'a/c.md'], '*.js');
//=> []
 
nm(['a/b.js', 'a/c.md'], '*.js', {matchBase: true});
//=> ['a/b.js']

bash

options.bash

Enabled by default, this option enforces bash-like behavior with stars immediately following a bracket expression. Bash bracket expressions are similar to regex character classes, but unlike regex, a star following a bracket expression does not repeat the bracketed characters. Instead, the star is treated the same as an other star.

Type: boolean

Default: true

Example

var files = ['abc', 'ajz'];
console.log(nm(files, '[a-c]*'));
//=> ['abc', 'ajz']
 
console.log(nm(files, '[a-c]*', {bash: false}));

cache

options.cache

Disable regex and function memoization.

Type: boolean

Default: undefined

dot

options.dot

Match dotfiles. Same behavior as minimatch option dot.

Type: boolean

Default: false

failglob

options.failglob

Similar to the --failglob behavior in Bash, throws an error when no matches are found.

Type: boolean

Default: undefined

ignore

options.ignore

String or array of glob patterns to match files to ignore.

Type: String|Array

Default: undefined

matchBase

options.matchBase

Alias for options.basename.

nocase

options.nocase

Use a case-insensitive regex for matching files. Same behavior as minimatch.

Type: boolean

Default: undefined

nodupes

options.nodupes

Remove duplicate elements from the result array.

Type: boolean

Default: true (enabled by default)

Example

Example of using the unescape and nodupes options together:

nm.match(['a/b/c', 'a/b/c'], '**');
//=> ['abc']
 
nm.match(['a/b/c', 'a/b/c'], '**', {nodupes: false});
//=> ['a/b/c', 'a/b/c']

nonegate

options.noglobstar

Disable matching with globstars (**).

Type: boolean

Default: undefined

nm(['a/b', 'a/b/c', 'a/b/c/d'], 'a/**');
//=> ['a/b', 'a/b/c', 'a/b/c/d']
 
nm(['a/b', 'a/b/c', 'a/b/c/d'], 'a/**', {noglobstar: true});
//=> ['a/b']

nonegate

options.nonegate

Disallow negation (!) patterns, and treat leading ! as a literal character to match.

Type: boolean

Default: undefined

nonull

options.nonull

Alias for options.nullglob.

nullglob

options.nullglob

If true, when no matches are found the actual (arrayified) glob pattern is returned instead of an empty array. Same behavior as minimatch option nonull.

Type: boolean

Default: undefined

slash

options.slash

Customize the slash character(s) to use for matching.

Type: string|function

Default: [/\\] (forward slash and backslash)

star

options.star

Customize the star character(s) to use for matching. It's not recommended that you modify this unless you have advanced knowledge of the compiler and matching rules.

Type: string|function

Default: [^/\\]*?

snapdragon

options.snapdragon

Pass your own instance of snapdragon to customize parsers or compilers.

Type: object

Default: undefined

snapdragon

options.sourcemap

Generate a source map by enabling the sourcemap option with the .parse, .compile, or .create methods.

Examples

var nm = require('nanomatch');
 
var res = nm.create('abc/*.js', {sourcemap: true});
console.log(res.map);
// { version: 3,
//   sources: [ 'string' ],
//   names: [],
//   mappings: 'AAAA,GAAG,EAAC,iBAAC,EAAC,EAAE',
//   sourcesContent: [ 'abc/*.js' ] }
 
var ast = nm.parse('abc/**/*.js');
var res = nm.compile(ast, {sourcemap: true});
console.log(res.map);
// { version: 3,
//   sources: [ 'string' ],
//   names: [],
//   mappings: 'AAAA,GAAG,EAAC,2BAAE,EAAC,iBAAC,EAAC,EAAE',
//   sourcesContent: [ 'abc/**/*.js' ] }

unescape

options.unescape

Remove backslashes from returned matches.

Type: boolean

Default: undefined

Example

In this example we want to match a literal *:

nm.match(['abc', 'a\\*c'], 'a\\*c');
//=> ['a\\*c']
 
nm.match(['abc', 'a\\*c'], 'a\\*c', {unescape: true});
//=> ['a*c']

unixify

options.unixify

Convert path separators on returned files to posix/unix-style forward slashes.

Type: boolean

Default: true

Example

nm.match(['a\\b\\c'], 'a/**');
//=> ['a/b/c']
 
nm.match(['a\\b\\c'], {unixify: false});
//=> ['a\\b\\c']

Features

Nanomatch has full support for standard Bash glob features, including the following "metacharacters": *, **, ? and [...].

Here are some examples of how they work:

Pattern	Description
*	Matches any string except for /, leading ., or /. inside a path
**	Matches any string including /, but not a leading . or /. inside a path. More than two stars (e.g. *** is treated the same as one star, and ** loses its special meaning
foo*	Matches any string beginning with foo
*bar*	Matches any string containing bar (beginning, middle or end)
*.min.js	Matches any string ending with .min.js
[abc]*.js	Matches any string beginning with a, b, or c and ending with .js
abc?	Matches abcd or abcz but not abcde

The exceptions noted for * apply to all patterns that contain a *.

Not supported

The following extended-globbing features are not supported:

• brace expansion (e.g. {a,b,c})
• extglobs (e.g. @(a|!(c|d)))
• POSIX brackets (e.g. [[:alpha:][:digit:]])

If you need any of these features consider using micromatch instead.

Bash expansion libs

Nanomatch is part of a suite of libraries aimed at bringing the power and expressiveness of Bash's matching and expansion capabilities to JavaScript, and - as you can see by the benchmarks - without sacrificing speed.

Related library	Matching Type	Example	Description
nanomatch (you are here)	Wildcards	*	Filename expansion, also referred to as globbing and pathname expansion, allows the use of wildcards for matching.
expand-tilde	Tildes	~	Tilde expansion converts the leading tilde in a file path to the user home directory.
braces	Braces	{a,b,c}	Brace expansion
expand-brackets	Brackets	[[:alpha:]]	POSIX character classes (also referred to as POSIX brackets, or POSIX character classes)
extglob	Parens	!(a\ | b)	Extglobs
micromatch	All	all	Micromatch is built on top of the other libraries.

There are many resources available on the web if you want to dive deeper into how these features work in Bash.

Benchmarks

Running benchmarks

Install dev dependencies:

npm i -d && node benchmark

Nanomatch vs. Minimatch vs. Multimatch

# globstar-basic (182 bytes) 
  minimatch x 69,512 ops/sec ±1.92% (88 runs sampled)
  multimatch x 63,376 ops/sec ±1.41% (89 runs sampled)
  nanomatch x 432,451 ops/sec ±0.92% (88 runs sampled)
 
  fastest is nanomatch (by 651% avg)
 
# large-list-globstar (485686 bytes) 
  minimatch x 34.02 ops/sec ±1.42% (59 runs sampled)
  multimatch x 33.58 ops/sec ±1.97% (58 runs sampled)
  nanomatch x 483 ops/sec ±1.06% (86 runs sampled)
 
  fastest is nanomatch (by 1429% avg)
 
# long-list-globstar (194085 bytes) 
  minimatch x 383 ops/sec ±0.74% (90 runs sampled)
  multimatch x 378 ops/sec ±0.59% (89 runs sampled)
  nanomatch x 990 ops/sec ±1.14% (85 runs sampled)
 
  fastest is nanomatch (by 260% avg)
 
# negation-basic (132 bytes) 
  minimatch x 242,145 ops/sec ±1.17% (89 runs sampled)
  multimatch x 76,403 ops/sec ±0.78% (92 runs sampled)
  nanomatch x 537,253 ops/sec ±1.44% (86 runs sampled)
 
  fastest is nanomatch (by 337% avg)
 
# not-glob-basic (93 bytes) 
  minimatch x 252,402 ops/sec ±1.33% (89 runs sampled)
  multimatch x 209,954 ops/sec ±1.30% (90 runs sampled)
  nanomatch x 1,716,468 ops/sec ±1.13% (86 runs sampled)
 
  fastest is nanomatch (by 742% avg)
 
# star-basic (93 bytes) 
  minimatch x 182,780 ops/sec ±1.41% (91 runs sampled)
  multimatch x 153,210 ops/sec ±0.72% (89 runs sampled)
  nanomatch x 599,621 ops/sec ±1.22% (90 runs sampled)
 
  fastest is nanomatch (by 357% avg)
 

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

Related projects

You might also be interested in these projects:

• extglob: Extended glob support for JavaScript. Adds (almost) the expressive power of regular expressions to glob… more | homepage
• is-extglob: Returns true if a string has an extglob. | homepage
• is-glob: Returns true if the given string looks like a glob pattern or an extglob pattern… more | homepage
• micromatch: Glob matching for javascript/node.js. A drop-in replacement and faster alternative to minimatch and multimatch. | homepage

Contributors

Commits	Contributor
164	jonschlinkert
1	devongovett

Author

Jon Schlinkert

• linkedin/in/jonschlinkert
• github/jonschlinkert
• twitter/jonschlinkert

License

Copyright © 2018, Jon Schlinkert. Released under the MIT License.

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This file was generated by verb-generate-readme, v0.6.0, on February 18, 2018.