Documentation / technical / api-directory-listing.txton commit Document diff.external and mergetool.<tool>.path (77680ca)
   1directory listing API
   2=====================
   3
   4The directory listing API is used to enumerate paths in the work tree,
   5optionally taking `.git/info/exclude` and `.gitignore` files per
   6directory into account.
   7
   8Data structure
   9--------------
  10
  11`struct dir_struct` structure is used to pass directory traversal
  12options to the library and to record the paths discovered.  The notable
  13options are:
  14
  15`exclude_per_dir`::
  16
  17        The name of the file to be read in each directory for excluded
  18        files (typically `.gitignore`).
  19
  20`collect_ignored`::
  21
  22        Include paths that are to be excluded in the result.
  23
  24`show_ignored`::
  25
  26        The traversal is for finding just ignored files, not unignored
  27        files.
  28
  29`show_other_directories`::
  30
  31        Include a directory that is not tracked.
  32
  33`hide_empty_directories`::
  34
  35        Do not include a directory that is not tracked and is empty.
  36
  37`no_gitlinks`::
  38
  39        If set, recurse into a directory that looks like a git
  40        directory.  Otherwise it is shown as a directory.
  41
  42The result of the enumeration is left in these fields::
  43
  44`entries[]`::
  45
  46        An array of `struct dir_entry`, each element of which describes
  47        a path.
  48
  49`nr`::
  50
  51        The number of members in `entries[]` array.
  52
  53`alloc`::
  54
  55        Internal use; keeps track of allocation of `entries[]` array.
  56
  57
  58Calling sequence
  59----------------
  60
  61* Prepare `struct dir_struct dir` and clear it with `memset(&dir, 0,
  62  sizeof(dir))`.
  63
  64* Call `add_exclude()` to add single exclude pattern,
  65  `add_excludes_from_file()` to add patterns from a file
  66  (e.g. `.git/info/exclude`), and/or set `dir.exclude_per_dir`.  A
  67  short-hand function `setup_standard_excludes()` can be used to set up
  68  the standard set of exclude settings.
  69
  70* Set options described in the Data Structure section above.
  71
  72* Call `read_directory()`.
  73
  74* Use `dir.entries[]`.
  75
  76(JC)