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.

• 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 with npm:

npm install --save picomatch

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('picomatch');
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

Creates a matcher function from one or more glob patterns. The returned function takes a string to match as its first argument, and returns true if the string is a match. The returned matcher function also takes a boolean as the second argument that, when true, returns an object with additional information.

Params

• globs {String|Array}: One or more glob patterns.
• options {Object=}
• returns {Function=}: Returns a matcher function.

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
// picomatch(glob[, options]);

const isMatch = picomatch('*.!(*a)');
console.log(isMatch('a.a')); //=> false
console.log(isMatch('a.b')); //=> true

Example without node.js

For environments without node.js, picomatch/posix provides you a dependency-free matcher, without automatic OS detection.

const picomatch = require('picomatch/posix');
// the same API, defaulting to posix paths
const isMatch = picomatch('a/*');
console.log(isMatch('a\\b')); //=> false
console.log(isMatch('a/b')); //=> true

// you can still configure the matcher function to accept windows paths
const isMatch = picomatch('a/*', { options: windows });
console.log(isMatch('a\\b')); //=> true
console.log(isMatch('a/b')); //=> true

Test input with the given regex. This is used by the main picomatch() function to test the input string.

Params

• input {String}: String to test.
• regex {RegExp}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object with matching info.

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
// picomatch.test(input, regex[, options]);

console.log(picomatch.test('foo/bar', /^(?:([^/]*?)\/([^/]*?))$/));
// { isMatch: true, match: [ 'foo/', 'foo', 'bar' ], output: 'foo/bar' }

Match the basename of a filepath.

Params

• input {String}: String to test.
• glob {RegExp|String}: Glob pattern or regex created by .makeRe.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
// picomatch.matchBase(input, glob[, options]);
console.log(picomatch.matchBase('foo/bar.js', '*.js'); // true

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

Params

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

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
// picomatch.isMatch(string, patterns[, options]);

console.log(picomatch.isMatch('a.a', ['b.*', '*.a'])); //=> true
console.log(picomatch.isMatch('a.a', 'b.*')); //=> false

Parse a glob pattern to create the source string for a regular expression.

Params

• pattern {String}
• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object with useful properties and output to be used as a regex source string.

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
const result = picomatch.parse(pattern[, options]);

Scan a glob pattern to separate the pattern into segments.

Params

• input {String}: Glob pattern to scan.
• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object with

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
// picomatch.scan(input[, options]);

const result = picomatch.scan('!./foo/*.js');
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 }

Compile a regular expression from the state object returned by the parse() method.

Params

• state {Object}
• options {Object}
• returnOutput {Boolean}: Intended for implementors, this argument allows you to return the raw output from the parser.
• returnState {Boolean}: Adds the state to a state property on the returned regex. Useful for implementors and debugging.
• returns {RegExp}

Create a regular expression from a parsed glob pattern.

Params

• state {String}: The object returned from the .parse method.
• options {Object}
• returnOutput {Boolean}: Implementors may use this argument to return the compiled output, instead of a regular expression. This is not exposed on the options to prevent end-users from mutating the result.
• returnState {Boolean}: Implementors may use this argument to return the state from the parsed glob with the returned regular expression.
• returns {RegExp}: Returns a regex created from the given pattern.

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
const state = picomatch.parse('*.js');
// picomatch.compileRe(state[, options]);

console.log(picomatch.compileRe(state));
//=> /^(?:(?!\.)(?=.)[^/]*?\.js)$/

Create a regular expression from the given regex source string.

Params

• source {String}: Regular expression source string.
• options {Object}
• returns {RegExp}

Example

const picomatch = require('picomatch');
// picomatch.toRegex(source[, options]);

const { output } = picomatch.parse('*.js');
console.log(picomatch.toRegex(output));
//=> /^(?:(?!\.)(?=.)[^/]*?\.js)$/

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

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

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' ]
// }

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

• extglobs
• POSIX brackets
• Braces

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

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.

Picomatch does not do brace expansion. For brace expansion and advanced matching with braces, use micromatch instead. Picomatch has very basic support for braces.

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: `$^*+?()[]

Examples:

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

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

Performance comparison of picomatch and minimatch.

(Pay special attention to the last three benchmarks. Minimatch freezes on long ranges.)

# .makeRe star (*)
  picomatch x 4,449,159 ops/sec ±0.24% (97 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 632,772 ops/sec ±0.14% (98 runs sampled)

# .makeRe star; dot=true (*)
  picomatch x 3,500,079 ops/sec ±0.26% (99 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 564,916 ops/sec ±0.23% (96 runs sampled)

# .makeRe globstar (**)
  picomatch x 3,261,000 ops/sec ±0.27% (98 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 1,664,766 ops/sec ±0.20% (100 runs sampled)

# .makeRe globstars (**/**/**)
  picomatch x 3,284,469 ops/sec ±0.18% (97 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 1,435,880 ops/sec ±0.34% (95 runs sampled)

# .makeRe with leading star (*.txt)
  picomatch x 3,100,197 ops/sec ±0.35% (99 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 428,347 ops/sec ±0.42% (94 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - basic braces ({a,b,c}*.txt)
  picomatch x 443,578 ops/sec ±1.33% (89 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 107,143 ops/sec ±0.35% (94 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - short ranges ({a..z}*.txt)
  picomatch x 415,484 ops/sec ±0.76% (96 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 14,299 ops/sec ±0.26% (96 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - medium ranges ({1..100000}*.txt)
  picomatch x 395,020 ops/sec ±0.87% (89 runs sampled)
  minimatch x 2 ops/sec ±4.59% (10 runs sampled)

# .makeRe - long ranges ({1..10000000}*.txt)
  picomatch x 400,036 ops/sec ±0.83% (90 runs sampled)
  minimatch (FATAL ERROR: Ineffective mark-compacts near heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory)

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.

npm install && npm test

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

Jon Schlinkert

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Copyright © 2017-present, Jon Schlinkert. Released under the MIT License.