# [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory 7 messages from 2021-04-24 to 2021-04-27. Participants: Shoaib Meenai, Felipe Contreras, =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsA==?= Bjarmason. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/55551 ## Shoaib Meenai, 2021-04-24 02:52 Subject: [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory Message-ID: <79834D18-EAF4-4748-9B96-38AAA0760499@fb.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/79834D18-EAF4-4748-9B96-38AAA0760499%40fb.com ``` Hi all, When I use a `**/` glob pattern with `git diff`, it doesn't seem to match in the root directory. The documentation for gitgnore says that a leading `**/` should match in all directories, and I would expect it to behave the same way for `git diff`. For example: $ git --version git version 2.31.1.527.g47e6f16901 # built from the `next` branch $ mkdir /tmp/globtest && cd /tmp/globtest $ git init $ echo foo > foo $ mkdir sub $ echo subfoo > sub/foo $ git add . $ git commit -m 'Initial commit' $ echo bar > foo $ echo subbar > sub/foo $ git --no-pager diff '**/foo' diff --git a/sub/foo b/sub/foo index ef7889f..2b2ab6c 100644 --- a/sub/foo +++ b/sub/foo @@ -1 +1 @@ -subfoo +subbar Only the diff to `sub/foo` is printed, whereas I'd expect the change to the top-level `foo` to be printed as well. `git diff '**foo'` does behave as I would expect. This also happens with a `**` in the middle of a pattern; e.g., `sub/**/bar` will match `sub/dir/bar` but not `sub/bar`. Am I misunderstanding how `**` should work, or is this a bug? Thanks, Shoaib ``` ## Felipe Contreras, 2021-04-24 03:31 Subject: RE: [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory Message-ID: <608391297345f_10cb920875@natae.notmuch> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/608391297345f_10cb920875%40natae.notmuch In-Reply-To: <79834D18-EAF4-4748-9B96-38AAA0760499@fb.com> ``` Shoaib Meenai wrote: > Am I misunderstanding how `**` should work, or is this a bug? I would say this is a bug, but I'm not familiar with pathspecs. I stumbled upoon a very similar issue (I wanted to find all the *.jpg in the repository). I couldn't find another way to do it but: git diff ':(glob)**/foo' Cheers. -- Felipe Contreras ``` ## =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsA==?= Bjarmason, 2021-04-26 08:23 Subject: Re: [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory Message-ID: <87k0oq21md.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/87k0oq21md.fsf%40evledraar.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <79834D18-EAF4-4748-9B96-38AAA0760499@fb.com> ``` On Sat, Apr 24 2021, Shoaib Meenai wrote: > Hi all, > > When I use a `**/` glob pattern with `git diff`, it doesn't seem to > match in the root directory. The documentation for gitgnore says that a > leading `**/` should match in all directories, and I would expect it to > behave the same way for `git diff`. For example: > > $ git --version > git version 2.31.1.527.g47e6f16901 # built from the `next` branch > $ mkdir /tmp/globtest && cd /tmp/globtest > $ git init > $ echo foo > foo > $ mkdir sub > $ echo subfoo > sub/foo > $ git add . > $ git commit -m 'Initial commit' > $ echo bar > foo > $ echo subbar > sub/foo > $ git --no-pager diff '**/foo' > diff --git a/sub/foo b/sub/foo > index ef7889f..2b2ab6c 100644 > --- a/sub/foo > +++ b/sub/foo > @@ -1 +1 @@ > -subfoo > +subbar > > Only the diff to `sub/foo` is printed, whereas I'd expect the change to > the top-level `foo` to be printed as well. `git diff '**foo'` does behave > as I would expect. This also happens with a `**` in the middle of a > pattern; e.g., `sub/**/bar` will match `sub/dir/bar` but not `sub/bar`. > > Am I misunderstanding how `**` should work, or is this a bug? It's not a bug in behavior, but reading the documentation I think it's buggy in describing how it works. The behavior of ** here is to match anything, including a slash, but you yourself are providing the slash with "**/". This behavior is different under :(glob) where we would match "foo" on the top-level. See t/t3070-wildmatch.sh, is particular the "**/foo" test-case. We adopted this code from rsync originally, I think its manual page is better at describing how it works, as an aside I see they've since added a "***" which we won't have, and maybe some other features. ``` ## =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsA==?= Bjarmason, 2021-04-26 08:23 Subject: Re: [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory Message-ID: <87h7ju21kg.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/87h7ju21kg.fsf%40evledraar.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <608391297345f_10cb920875@natae.notmuch> ``` On Sat, Apr 24 2021, Felipe Contreras wrote: > Shoaib Meenai wrote: >> Am I misunderstanding how `**` should work, or is this a bug? > > I would say this is a bug, but I'm not familiar with pathspecs. I replied on the "is it a bug" upthread... > I stumbled upoon a very similar issue (I wanted to find all the *.jpg in > the repository). I couldn't find another way to do it but: > > git diff ':(glob)**/foo' Maybe I'm missing something, but if you want to find all *.jpg isn't that just: git diff '*.jpg' ? ``` ## Shoaib Meenai, 2021-04-26 20:45 Subject: Re: [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory Message-ID: <123C2F2F-7B85-4EDD-A8D9-172CA566391D@fb.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/123C2F2F-7B85-4EDD-A8D9-172CA566391D%40fb.com In-Reply-To: <608391297345f_10cb920875@natae.notmuch> ``` > On 4/23/21, 8:32 PM, "Felipe Contreras" wrote: > Shoaib Meenai wrote: >> Am I misunderstanding how `**` should work, or is this a bug? > > I would say this is a bug, but I'm not familiar with pathspecs. > > I stumbled upoon a very similar issue (I wanted to find all the *.jpg in > the repository). I couldn't find another way to do it but: > > git diff ':(glob)**/foo' Ah, "pathspec" is the piece of vocabulary that I was missing. Looking at the git documentation for pathspecs, I can see how this is supposed to behave, and `:(glob)` is exactly the behavior I'm looking for. Thank you! > > Cheers. > > -- > Felipe Contreras ``` ## Shoaib Meenai, 2021-04-26 20:48 Subject: Re: [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CE391060-0F01-449A-BBAA-B0C577D759A6%40fb.com In-Reply-To: <87k0oq21md.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com> ``` > On 4/26/21, 1:23 AM, "=?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsA==?= Bjarmason" wrote: > On Sat, Apr 24 2021, Shoaib Meenai wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> When I use a `**/` glob pattern with `git diff`, it doesn't seem to >> match in the root directory. The documentation for gitgnore says that a >> leading `**/` should match in all directories, and I would expect it to >> behave the same way for `git diff`. For example: >> >> $ git --version >> git version 2.31.1.527.g47e6f16901 # built from the `next` branch >> $ mkdir /tmp/globtest && cd /tmp/globtest >> $ git init >> $ echo foo > foo >> $ mkdir sub >> $ echo subfoo > sub/foo >> $ git add . >> $ git commit -m 'Initial commit' >> $ echo bar > foo >> $ echo subbar > sub/foo >> $ git --no-pager diff '**/foo' >> diff --git a/sub/foo b/sub/foo >> index ef7889f..2b2ab6c 100644 >> --- a/sub/foo >> +++ b/sub/foo >> @@ -1 +1 @@ >> -subfoo >> +subbar >> >> Only the diff to `sub/foo` is printed, whereas I'd expect the change to >> the top-level `foo` to be printed as well. `git diff '**foo'` does behave >> as I would expect. This also happens with a `**` in the middle of a >> pattern; e.g., `sub/**/bar` will match `sub/dir/bar` but not `sub/bar`. >> >> Am I misunderstanding how `**` should work, or is this a bug? > > It's not a bug in behavior, but reading the documentation I think it's > buggy in describing how it works. > > The behavior of ** here is to match anything, including a slash, but you > yourself are providing the slash with "**/". > > This behavior is different under :(glob) where we would match "foo" on > the top-level. > > See t/t3070-wildmatch.sh, is particular the "**/foo" test-case. > > We adopted this code from rsync originally, I think its manual page is > better at describing how it works, as an aside I see they've since added > a "***" which we won't have, and maybe some other features. Got it, thank you! I was providing a slash myself because my intention was to only match paths that are exactly "foo", whereas e.g. '**foo' would also match 'some_prefix_and_then_foo'. `:(glob)` does exactly what I want though; thank you. ``` ## Felipe Contreras, 2021-04-27 19:58 Subject: Re: [BUG] ** glob pattern in git diff doesn't match root directory Message-ID: <60886cdb7c3a2_222c20818@natae.notmuch> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/60886cdb7c3a2_222c20818%40natae.notmuch In-Reply-To: <87h7ju21kg.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com> ``` =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsA==?= Bjarmason wrote: > On Sat, Apr 24 2021, Felipe Contreras wrote: > > I stumbled upoon a very similar issue (I wanted to find all the *.jpg in > > the repository). I couldn't find another way to do it but: > > > > git diff ':(glob)**/foo' > > Maybe I'm missing something, but if you want to find all *.jpg isn't > that just: > > git diff '*.jpg' > > ? Right, actually I misremembered; it was all '.gitignore' files. If I do '*.gitignore' that matches all the files, but also any $x.gitignore files. If I want only '.gitignore' files I need ':(glob)**/.gitignore'. Cheers. -- Felipe Contreras ```