git-annex/doc/git-annex-matching-expression.mdwn

# NAME

git-annex-matching-expression - specifying a set of files

# DESCRIPTION

The annex.largefiles and annex.addunlocked configurations both use
expressions that match some files in the working tree.

# SYNTAX

The format of these expressions is similar to
[[git-annex-preferred-content]](1) expressions.

For example:

	largerthan=100kb and not (include=*.c or include=*.h)

This matches large files, but excludes C source files.

The following terms can be used:

* `include=glob` / `exclude=glob`

  Specify files to include or exclude.

  The glob can contain `*` and `?` to match arbitrary characters.

  Note that this matches on the whole filename, relative to the top 
  of the git directory. So, `include=foo` will include a file `foo`
  in the top, but not `subdir/foo`. To include both, use 
  `include=foo or include=*/foo`

* `smallerthan=size` / `largerthan=size`

  Matches only files smaller than, or larger than the specified size.

  The size can be specified with any commonly used units, for example,
  "0.5 gb" or "100 KiloBytes"

* `mimetype=glob`

  Looks up the MIME type of a file, and checks if the glob matches it.

  For example, `"mimetype=text/*"` will match many varieties of text files,
  including "text/plain", but also "text/x-shellscript", "text/x-makefile",
  etc.

  The MIME types are the same that are displayed by running `file --mime-type`

  This is only available to use when git-annex was built with the
  MagicMime build flag.

* `mimeencoding=glob`

  Looks up the MIME encoding of a file, and checks if the glob matches it.

  For example, `"mimeencoding=binary"` will match many kinds of binary
  files.

  The MIME encodings are the same that are displayed by running `file --mime-encoding`

  This is only available to use when git-annex was built with the
  MagicMime build flag.

* `anything`

  Matches any file.

* `nothing`

  Matches no files. (Same as "not anything")

* `not expression`

  Inverts what the expression matches.

* `and` / `or` / `( expression )`

  These can be used to build up more complicated expressions.

# SEE ALSO

[[git-annex]](1)

# AUTHOR

Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>

<http://git-annex.branchable.com/>

Warning: Automatically converted into a man page by mdwn2man. Edit with care.