The directory listing API is used to enumerate paths in the work tree, optionally taking .git/info/exclude and .gitignore files per directory into account.

Data structure

struct dir_struct structure is used to pass directory traversal options to the library and to record the paths discovered. The notable options are:

exclude_per_dir

The name of the file to be read in each directory for excluded files (typically .gitignore).

collect_ignored

Include paths that are to be excluded in the result.

show_ignored

The traversal is for finding just ignored files, not unignored files.

show_other_directories

Include a directory that is not tracked.

hide_empty_directories

Do not include a directory that is not tracked and is empty.

no_gitlinks

If set, recurse into a directory that looks like a git directory. Otherwise it is shown as a directory.

The result of the enumeration is left in these fields
entries[]

An array of struct dir_entry, each element of which describes a path.

nr

The number of members in entries[] array.

alloc

Internal use; keeps track of allocation of entries[] array.

Calling sequence

Note: index may be looked at for .gitignore files that are CE_SKIP_WORKTREE marked. If you to exclude files, make sure you have loaded index first.

  • Prepare struct dir_struct dir and clear it with memset(&dir, 0, sizeof(dir)).

  • Call add_exclude() to add single exclude pattern, add_excludes_from_file() to add patterns from a file (e.g. .git/info/exclude), and/or set dir.exclude_per_dir. A short-hand function setup_standard_excludes() can be used to set up the standard set of exclude settings.

  • Set options described in the Data Structure section above.

  • Call read_directory().

  • Use dir.entries[].

(JC)