minimatch

Use minimatch for matching file paths with glob patterns like *.js or **/*.ts, supporting advanced glob features and customizable options.

The glob matching library used internally by npm, converting glob expressions to JavaScript RegExp. Current version 10.x, ESM/CJS dual mode.

Trigger Scenarios

Use when the user needs glob matching, file pattern matching, or .gitignore-style matching.

Installation

bash

npm install minimatch

Basic Usage

js

import { minimatch } from 'minimatch';
// or: const { minimatch } = require('minimatch');

minimatch('bar.foo', '*.foo');  // true
minimatch('bar.foo', '*.bar');  // false
minimatch('bar.foo', '*.+(bar|foo)', { debug: true }); // true + stderr debug output

Supported Glob Features

• Brace Expansion — {a,b}, {1..3}
• Extended glob — +(a|b), *(a|b), ?(a|b), @(a|b), !(a|b)
• Globstar — ** matches any number of directory levels
• Posix character classes — [[:alpha:]] (full Unicode support, e.g., é)

Exported APIs

minimatch(path, pattern, options?)

Test whether a path matches a pattern:

js

minimatch('src/app.js', '*.js', { matchBase: true }); // true

minimatch.filter(pattern, options?)

Returns a filter function that can be passed to Array.filter:

js

const jsFiles = fileList.filter(minimatch.filter('*.js', { matchBase: true }));

minimatch.match(list, pattern, options?)

Performs fnmatch/glob style matching on a list of files. Returns the pattern itself when no matches are found and nonull: true:

js

minimatch.match(fileList, '*.js', { matchBase: true });

minimatch.escape(pattern)

Escapes all special characters in a glob pattern so it will match literal text only:

js

minimatch.escape('*.js'); // '\*.js'

minimatch.unescape(pattern)

Unescapes a pattern:

js

minimatch.unescape('\\*.js'); // '*.js'

minimatch.makeRe(pattern, options?)

Generates a RegExp object from a pattern:

js

const re = minimatch.makeRe('*.js');
re.test('foo.js'); // true

Minimatch Class

js

import { Minimatch } from 'minimatch';
const mm = new Minimatch('**/*.js', { dot: true });

mm.match('src/foo.js');      // true
mm.match('.hidden.js');      // true (because dot: true)
mm.hasMagic();                // true
mm.makeRe();                  // Returns RegExp
mm.negate;                    // false — whether it's a negated ! pattern
mm.comment;                   // false — whether it's a # comment pattern

mm.matchOne(fileArray, patternArray, partial?)

Matches path components after splitting by /, primarily used by glob-walkers to reduce filesystem calls.

All Options (all default to false)

Option	Description
debug	Output debug information to stderr
nobrace	Disable {a,b} and {1..3} brace expansion
noglobstar	Disable ** multi-level directory matching
dot	Allow matching filenames starting with . (disabled by default)
noext	Disable extglob patterns such as +(a|b)
nocase	Case-insensitive matching
nocaseMagicOnly	Only effective when nocase: true, makes case-insensitive only for parts containing magic characters
nonull	When minimatch.match finds no matches, return [pattern] instead of []
magicalBraces	Affects hasMagic(): treats braces without other magic characters as magic
matchBase	Patterns without / match against the path basename
nocomment	Disable comment patterns starting with #
nonegate	Disable negated ! patterns
flipNegate	Reverse the result of negated patterns (return false on match)
partial	Partial path matching, used when traversing directory trees to determine if a match is possible
windowsPathsNoEscape	On Windows, \ acts only as a path separator, not an escape character
windowsNoMagicRoot	On Windows + nocase, do NOT make UNC roots/drive letters case-insensitive
preserveMultipleSlashes	Preserve consecutive / (default a///b matches a/b)
optimizationLevel	Optimization level 0/1/2 (default 1), see reference documentation
platform	Defaults to process.platform, setting to 'win32' triggers Windows behavior

Security Warning (❗Important)

minimatch uses JavaScript regular expressions. Never pass user input as a pattern to this library —

If you build a system that takes user input and uses it directly as a regex pattern, whether with minimatch or any JS glob matcher, you will be pwned.

Future versions may switch to a non-backtracking matching algorithm, but this will not be backported.

Path Notes

• Use only / in patterns — \ is treated as an escape character
• On Windows, \ in paths is automatically matched against /
• UNC paths (//?/C:/..., //Server/Share/...) receive special handling

Reference Documentation

• Optimization level details → references/optimization.md