Excluding files in CVS directories in filename generation

Excluding files in CVS directories in filename generation

[Hannu Koivisto]

Greetings,

If I want a pattern that matches all files in the current directory
and its descendant directories excluding files in directories named
CVS, why doesn't

**/*~**/CVS/*(.)

work?  Files in "$(pwd)/CVS" are not excluded with that pattern and
instead I have to say

**/*~CVS/*~**/CVS/*(.)

which feels a bit too verbose.  Any solutions?

-- 
Hannu

Re: Excluding files in CVS directories in filename generation

[Peter Stephenson]

Hannu Koivisto wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> If I want a pattern that matches all files in the current directory
> and its descendant directories excluding files in directories named
> CVS, why doesn't
> 
> **/*~**/CVS/*(.)
> 
> work?  Files in "$(pwd)/CVS" are not excluded with that pattern and
> instead I have to say
> 
> **/*~CVS/*~**/CVS/*(.)

Yes, indeed.  Luckily, you can do:

(^CVS/)#*(.)

This is the more general form of ** --- the pattern in the parentheses
is used (here anything but the string CVS) instead of a `*' to match
directory names.  More precisely,
  **/
  (*/)#
are equivalent.  That's why you don't need another / after the parentheses.

You need extended_glob, but you must already have it set in this case.

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com>                  Software Engineer
CSR Ltd., Science Park, Milton Road,
Cambridge, CB4 0WH, UK                          Tel: +44 (0)1223 692070


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Re: Excluding files in CVS directories in filename generation

[Hannu Koivisto]

Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com> writes:

> Yes, indeed.  Luckily, you can do:
>
> (^CVS/)#*(.)
>
> This is the more general form of ** --- the pattern in the parentheses
> is used (here anything but the string CVS) instead of a `*' to match
> directory names.  More precisely,
>   **/
>   (*/)#
> are equivalent.  That's why you don't need another / after the
> parentheses.

Excellent, thanks!  I was aware of the general form but couldn't
think of actually using it to solve this problem :)

I would be interested to know why **/*~**/CVS/*(.) didn't work,
though.

-- 
Hannu

Re: Excluding files in CVS directories in filename generation

[Peter Stephenson]

Hannu Koivisto wrote:
> I would be interested to know why **/*~**/CVS/*(.) didn't work,
> though.

Ah, yes, it's not completely obvious.  It's because /'s after the ~
aren't special, and hence neither is **/.  So in fact it is looking for
the pattern `*/CVS/*' and trying to remove that, which doesn't occur.
You would need **/*~(*/|)CVS/*(.)

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com>                  Software Engineer
CSR Ltd., Science Park, Milton Road,
Cambridge, CB4 0WH, UK                          Tel: +44 (0)1223 692070


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This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
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This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
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Re: Excluding files in CVS directories in filename generation

[Pavol Juhas]

On Mon, Dec 08, 2003 at 07:36:30PM +0200, Hannu Koivisto wrote:
> Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com> writes:
> 
> > Yes, indeed.  Luckily, you can do:
> >
> > (^CVS/)#*(.)
> >
> > This is the more general form of ** --- the pattern in the parentheses
> > is used (here anything but the string CVS) instead of a `*' to match
> > directory names.  More precisely,
> >   **/
> >   (*/)#
> > are equivalent.  That's why you don't need another / after the
> > parentheses.
> 
> Excellent, thanks!  I was aware of the general form but couldn't
> think of actually using it to solve this problem :)
> 
> I would be interested to know why **/*~**/CVS/*(.) didn't work,
> though.

The exclusion pattern after ~ does not treat "/" or "**/" specially.  As
far as I understand, the pattern is then used in the same way as for
string matching.  So if **/* generates CVS/Entries, it is not excluded,
because [[ CVS/Entries != **/CVS/* ]] .  To exclude the CVS directory
and all files below, you can use **/*~(*/)#CVS(/*)# Another way is
**/*~*CVS* , however this would also exclude filenames that contain
"CVS" string (e.g., aCVSb or CVS1/file).

HTH,

Pavol