Node/JavaScript glob file/path matching syntax, wildcards, etc

Question

I just found http://gruntjs.com/configuring-tasks#globbing-patterns, which is the most helpful reference I've found.

I keep seeing:

For more on glob pattern syntax, see the node-glob and minimatch documentation.

Yet, I can't seem to find an exhaustive list of the syntax/usage. These tests might be the best reference, yet still not particularly easy to decipher.

It seems I must be missing some critical source of documentation.

I'm wondering the differences between:

path
path/
path/*
path/*.*
path/**
path/**/
path/**/*
path/**/*.*

and any other important variations that are related that I might have omitted. I'm guessing this applies differently when doing a node-glob style matching ('public/**/*.*') and a .gitignore (node_modules), because in the former, you need to explicitly include everything, many layers deep, and in gitignore, this is handled automatically by ignoring any directory. Is this correct?

Answer 1

First of all, I have never worked with node-glob or minimatch libraries. But probably I can still help. There's kind of known syntax for glob pattern matching, but frankly, a quick search in Google shows nothing short and clear. Probably this - http://hgbook.red-bean.com/read/file-names-and-pattern-matching.html#id381184 - is the best resource I've found. The article in Wikipedia is exhaustive and not readable - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_(programming).

In short, IMHO for node-glob:

• * - stands for any number of characters for a filename, but can't stand for /
• ** - same as * but crosses folder boundaries
• [abxy] - can replace any one character from a list; [0-9] can stand for any number

Hence to your example:

• path/* - all files and folders in path not recoursive
• path/** - everything in path recoursively
• path/*.* - all files and folders with point in name; matches a.txt, .hidden, noextension., folder.out, ...

From minimatch documentation - https://github.com/isaacs/minimatch, - it does the same, but utilizes richer and slightly more difficult syntax of Regular Expressions. You may look here for a comprehesive reference - http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_regexp.asp. In short, path/.* stands for anything below the path, but it's not clear if recursive or not. You may probably test it.