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pathspec

Utility library for gitignore style pattern matching of file paths.

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Description


PathSpec
========

*pathspec* is a utility library for pattern matching of file paths. So far this
only includes Git's `gitignore`_ pattern matching.

.. _`gitignore`: http://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore


Tutorial
--------

Say you have a "Projects" directory and you want to back it up, but only
certain files, and ignore others depending on certain conditions::

	>>> from pathspec import PathSpec
	>>> # The gitignore-style patterns for files to select, but we're including
	>>> # instead of ignoring.
	>>> spec_text = """
	...
	... # This is a comment because the line begins with a hash: "#"
	...
	... # Include several project directories (and all descendants) relative to
	... # the current directory. To reference only a directory you must end with a
	... # slash: "/"
	... /project-a/
	... /project-b/
	... /project-c/
	...
	... # Patterns can be negated by prefixing with exclamation mark: "!"
	...
	... # Ignore temporary files beginning or ending with "~" and ending with
	... # ".swp".
	... !~*
	... !*~
	... !*.swp
	...
	... # These are python projects so ignore compiled python files from
	... # testing.
	... !*.pyc
	...
	... # Ignore the build directories but only directly under the project
	... # directories.
	... !/*/build/
	...
	... """

The ``PathSpec`` class provides an abstraction around pattern implementations,
and we want to compile our patterns as "gitignore" patterns. You could call it a
wrapper for a list of compiled patterns::

	>>> spec = PathSpec.from_lines('gitignore', spec_text.splitlines())

If we wanted to manually compile the patterns, we can use the ``GitIgnoreBasicPattern``
class directly. It is used in the background for "gitignore" which internally
converts patterns to regular expressions::

	>>> from pathspec.patterns.gitignore.basic import GitIgnoreBasicPattern
	>>> patterns = map(GitIgnoreBasicPattern, spec_text.splitlines())
	>>> spec = PathSpec(patterns)

``PathSpec.from_lines()`` is a class method which simplifies that.

If you want to load the patterns from file, you can pass the file object
directly as well::

	>>> with open('patterns.list', 'r') as fh:
	>>>     spec = PathSpec.from_lines('gitignore', fh)

You can perform matching on a whole directory tree with::

	>>> matches = set(spec.match_tree_files('path/to/directory'))

Or you can perform matching on a specific set of file paths with::

	>>> matches = set(spec.match_files(file_paths))

Or check to see if an individual file matches::

	>>> is_matched = spec.match_file(file_path)

There's actually two implementations of "gitignore". The basic implementation is
used by ``PathSpec`` and follows patterns as documented by `gitignore`_.
However, Git's behavior differs from the documented patterns. There's some
edge-cases, and in particular, Git allows including files from excluded
directories which appears to contradict the documentation. ``GitIgnoreSpec``
handles these cases to more closely replicate Git's behavior::

	>>> from pathspec import GitIgnoreSpec
	>>> spec = GitIgnoreSpec.from_lines(spec_text.splitlines())

You do not specify the style of pattern for ``GitIgnoreSpec`` because it should
always use ``GitIgnoreSpecPattern`` internally.


Performance
-----------

Running lots of regular expression matches against thousands of files in Python
is slow. Alternate regular expression backends can be used to improve
performance. ``PathSpec`` and ``GitIgnoreSpec`` both accept a ``backend``
parameter to control the backend. The default is "best" to automatically choose
the best available backend. There are currently 3 backends.

The "simple" backend is the default and it simply uses Python's ``re.Pattern``
objects that are normally created. This can be the fastest when there's only 1
or 2 patterns.

The "hyperscan" backend uses the `hyperscan`_ library. Hyperscan tends to be at
least 2 times faster than "simple", and generally slower than "re2". This can be
faster than "re2" under the right conditions with pattern counts of 1-25.

The "re2" backend uses the `google-re2`_ library (not to be confused with the
*re2* library on PyPI which is unrelated and abandoned). Google's re2 tends to
be significantly faster than "simple", and 3 times faster than "hyperscan" at
high pattern counts.

See `benchmarks_backends.md`_ for comparisons between native Python regular
expressions and the optional backends.


.. _`benchmarks_backends.md`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/blob/master/benchmarks_backends.md
.. _`google-re2`: https://pypi.org/project/google-re2/
.. _`hyperscan`: https://pypi.org/project/hyperscan/


FAQ
---


1. How do I ignore files like *.gitignore*?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

``GitIgnoreSpec`` (and ``PathSpec``) positively match files by default. To find
the files to keep, and exclude files like *.gitignore*, you need to set
``negate=True`` to flip the results::

	>>> from pathspec import GitIgnoreSpec
	>>> spec = GitIgnoreSpec.from_lines([...])
	>>> keep_files = set(spec.match_tree_files('path/to/directory', negate=True))
	>>> ignore_files = set(spec.match_tree_files('path/to/directory'))


License
-------

*pathspec* is licensed under the `Mozilla Public License Version 2.0`_. See
`LICENSE`_ or the `FAQ`_ for more information.

In summary, you may use *pathspec* with any closed or open source project
without affecting the license of the larger work so long as you:

- give credit where credit is due,

- and release any custom changes made to *pathspec*.

.. _`Mozilla Public License Version 2.0`: http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0
.. _`LICENSE`: LICENSE
.. _`FAQ`: http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/FAQ.html


Source
------

The source code for *pathspec* is available from the GitHub repo
`cpburnz/python-pathspec`_.

.. _`cpburnz/python-pathspec`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec


Installation
------------

*pathspec* is available for install through `PyPI`_::

	pip install pathspec

*pathspec* can also be built from source. The following packages will be
required:

- `build`_ (>=0.6.0)

*pathspec* can then be built and installed with::

	python -m build
	pip install dist/pathspec-*-py3-none-any.whl

The following optional dependencies can be installed:

- `google-re2`_: Enables optional "re2" backend.
- `hyperscan`_: Enables optional "hyperscan" backend.
- `typing-extensions`_: Improves some type hints.

.. _`PyPI`: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pathspec
.. _`build`: https://pypi.org/project/build/
.. _`typing-extensions`: https://pypi.org/project/typing-extensions/


Documentation
-------------

Documentation for *pathspec* is available on `Read the Docs`_.

The full change history can be found in `CHANGES.rst`_ and `Change History`_.

An upgrade guide is available in `UPGRADING.rst`_ and `Upgrade Guide`_.

.. _`CHANGES.rst`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/blob/master/CHANGES.rst
.. _`Change History`: https://python-path-specification.readthedocs.io/en/stable/changes.html
.. _`Read the Docs`: https://python-path-specification.readthedocs.io
.. _`UPGRADING.rst`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/blob/master/UPGRADING.rst
.. _`Upgrade Guide`: https://python-path-specification.readthedocs.io/en/stable/upgrading.html


Other Languages
---------------

The related project `pathspec-ruby`_ (by *highb*) provides a similar library as
a `Ruby gem`_.

.. _`pathspec-ruby`: https://github.com/highb/pathspec-ruby
.. _`Ruby gem`: https://rubygems.org/gems/pathspec


Change History
==============


1.0.4 (2026-01-26)
------------------

- `Issue #103`_: Using re2 fails if pyre2 is also installed.

.. _`Issue #103`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/issues/103


1.0.3 (2026-01-09)
------------------

Bug fixes:

- `Issue #101`_: pyright strict errors with pathspec >= 1.0.0.
- `Issue #102`_: No module named 'tomllib'.


.. _`Issue #101`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/issues/101
.. _`Issue #102`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/issues/102


1.0.2 (2026-01-07)
------------------

Bug fixes:

- Type hint `collections.abc.Callable` does not properly replace `typing.Callable` until Python 3.9.2.


1.0.1 (2026-01-06)
------------------

Bug fixes:

- `Issue #100`_: ValueError(f"{patterns=!r} cannot be empty.") when using black.


.. _`Issue #100`: https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/issues/100


1.0.0 (2026-01-05)
------------------

Major changes:

- `Issue #91`_: Dropped support of EoL Python 3.8.
- Added concept of backends to allow for faster regular expression matching. The backend can be controlled using the `backend` argument to `PathSpec()`, `PathSpec.from_lines()`, `GitIgnoreSpec()`, and `GitIgnoreSpec.from_lines()`.
- Renamed "gitwildmatch" pattern back to "gitignore". The "gitignore" pattern behaves slightly differently when used with `PathSpec` (*gitignore* as documented) than with `GitIgnoreSpec` (replicates *Git*'s edge cases).

API changes:

- Breaking: protected method `pathspec.pathspec.PathSpec._match_file()` (with a leading underscore) has been removed and replaced by backends. This does not affect normal usage of `PathSpec` or `GitIgnoreSpec`. Only custom subclasses will be affected. If this breaks your usage, let me know by `opening an issue <https://github.com/cpburnz/python-pathspec/issues>`_.
- Deprecated: "gitwildmatch" is now an alias for "gitignore".
- Deprecated: `pathspec.patterns.GitWildMatchPattern` is now an alias for `pathspec.patterns.gitignore.spec.GitIgnoreSpecPattern`.
- Deprecated: `pathspec.patterns.gitwildmatch` module has been replaced by the `pathspec.patterns.gitignore` package.
- Deprecated: `pathspec.patterns.gitwildmatch.GitWildMatchPattern` is now an alias for `pathspec.patterns.gitignore.spec.GitIgnoreSpecPattern`.
- Deprecated: `pathspec.patterns.gitwildmatch.GitWildMatchPatternError` is now an alias for `pathspec.patterns.gitignore.GitIgnorePatternError`.
- Removed: `pathspec.patterns.gitwildmatch.GitIgnorePattern` has been deprecated since v0.4 (2016-07-15).
- Signature of method `pathspec.pattern.RegexPatte