Dir.glob

Expands pattern, which is a pattern string or an Array of pattern strings, and returns an array containing the matching filenames. If a block is given, calls the block once for each matching filename, passing the filename as a parameter to the block.

The optional base keyword argument specifies the base directory for interpreting relative pathnames instead of the current working directory. As the results are not prefixed with the base directory name in this case, you will need to prepend the base directory name if you want real paths.

The results which matched single wildcard or character set are sorted in binary ascending order, unless false is given as the optional sort keyword argument. The order of an Array of pattern strings and braces are preserved.

Note that the pattern is not a regexp, it’s closer to a shell glob. See File::fnmatch for the meaning of the flags parameter. Case sensitivity depends on your system (File::FNM_CASEFOLD is ignored).

*

Matches any file. Can be restricted by other values in the glob. Equivalent to /.*/mx in regexp.

*

Matches all files

c*

Matches all files beginning with c

*c

Matches all files ending with c

*c*

Match all files that have c in them (including at the beginning or end).

Note, this will not match Unix-like hidden files (dotfiles). In order to include those in the match results, you must use the File::FNM_DOTMATCH flag or something like "{*,.*}".

**

Matches directories recursively if followed by /. If this path segment contains any other characters, it is the same as the usual *.

?

Matches any one character. Equivalent to /.{1}/ in regexp.

[set]

Matches any one character in set. Behaves exactly like character sets in Regexp, including set negation ([^a-z]).

{p,q}

Matches either literal p or literal q. Equivalent to pattern alternation in regexp.

Matching literals may be more than one character in length. More than two literals may be specified.

\

Escapes the next metacharacter.

Note that this means you cannot use backslash on windows as part of a glob, i.e. Dir["c:\foo*"] will not work, use Dir["c:/foo*"] instead.

Examples:

Dir["config.?"]                     #=> ["config.h"]
Dir.glob("config.?")                #=> ["config.h"]
Dir.glob("*.[a-z][a-z]")            #=> ["main.rb"]
Dir.glob("*.[^r]*")                 #=> ["config.h"]
Dir.glob("*.{rb,h}")                #=> ["main.rb", "config.h"]
Dir.glob("*")                       #=> ["config.h", "main.rb"]
Dir.glob("*", File::FNM_DOTMATCH)   #=> [".", "config.h", "main.rb"]
Dir.glob(["*.rb", "*.h"])           #=> ["main.rb", "config.h"]

Dir.glob("**/*.rb")                 #=> ["main.rb",
                                    #    "lib/song.rb",
                                    #    "lib/song/karaoke.rb"]

Dir.glob("**/*.rb", base: "lib")    #=> ["song.rb",
                                    #    "song/karaoke.rb"]

Dir.glob("**/lib")                  #=> ["lib"]

Dir.glob("**/lib/**/*.rb")          #=> ["lib/song.rb",
                                    #    "lib/song/karaoke.rb"]

Dir.glob("**/lib/*.rb")             #=> ["lib/song.rb"]