# NAME

git-annex matchexpression - checks if an expression matches

# SYNOPSIS

git annex matchexpression `expression [data]`

# DESCRIPTION

This plumbing-level command is given a preferred content expression,
and some data, and checks if the expression matches the data. It exits 0 if
it matches, and 1 if not. If not enough data was provided, it displays an
error and exits with special code 42.

For example, this will exit 0:

	git annex matchexpression "include=*.png and largerthan=1mb" --file=foo.png --size=10mb

# OPTIONS

* `--file=`

  Provide the filename to match against. Note that the file does not have
  to actually exist on disk.

* `--size=`

  Tell what the size of the file is. The size can be specified with any
  commonly used units, for example, "0.5 gb" or "100 KiloBytes".

* `--key=`

  Tell what key is being matched against. This is needed for
  matching expressions like "copies=N" and "metadata=tag=foo" and
  "present", which all need to look up the information on file for a key.

  Many keys have a known size, and so --size is not needed when specifying
  such a key.

* `--largefiles`

  Parse the expression as an annex.largefiles expression, rather than a
  preferred content expression.

* `--mimetype=`

  Tell what the mime type of the file is. Only needed when using
  --largefiles with a mimetype= expression.

* `--mimeencoding=`

  Tell what the mime encoding of the file is. Only needed when using
  --largefiles with a mimeencoding= expression.

* `--explain`

  Display explanation of what parts of the preferred content expression
  match, and which parts don't match.

* Also the [[git-annex-common-options]](1) can be used.

# SEE ALSO

[[git-annex]](1)

[[git-annex-preferred-content]](1)

[[git-annex-matching-expression]](1)

[[git-annex-sim]](1)

# AUTHOR

Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>

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