209 lines
8.8 KiB
Markdown
209 lines
8.8 KiB
Markdown
# godirwalk
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`godirwalk` is a library for traversing a directory tree on a file
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system.
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In short, why do I use this library?
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1. It's faster than `filepath.Walk`.
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1. It's more correct on Windows than `filepath.Walk`.
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1. It's more easy to use than `filepath.Walk`.
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1. It's more flexible than `filepath.Walk`.
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## Usage Example
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Additional examples are provided in the `examples/` subdirectory.
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This library will normalize the provided top level directory name
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based on the os-specific path separator by calling `filepath.Clean` on
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its first argument. However it always provides the pathname created by
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using the correct os-specific path separator when invoking the
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provided callback function.
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```Go
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dirname := "some/directory/root"
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err := godirwalk.Walk(dirname, &godirwalk.Options{
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Callback: func(osPathname string, de *godirwalk.Dirent) error {
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fmt.Printf("%s %s\n", de.ModeType(), osPathname)
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return nil
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},
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Unsorted: true, // (optional) set true for faster yet non-deterministic enumeration (see godoc)
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})
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```
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This library not only provides functions for traversing a file system
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directory tree, but also for obtaining a list of immediate descendants
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of a particular directory, typically much more quickly than using
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`os.ReadDir` or `os.ReadDirnames`.
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Documentation is available via
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[](https://godoc.org/github.com/karrick/godirwalk).
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## Description
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Here's why I use `godirwalk` in preference to `filepath.Walk`,
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`os.ReadDir`, and `os.ReadDirnames`.
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### It's faster than `filepath.Walk`
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When compared against `filepath.Walk` in benchmarks, it has been
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observed to run between five and ten times the speed on darwin, at
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speeds comparable to the that of the unix `find` utility; about twice
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the speed on linux; and about four times the speed on Windows.
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How does it obtain this performance boost? It does less work to give
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you nearly the same output. This library calls the same `syscall`
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functions to do the work, but it makes fewer calls, does not throw
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away information that it might need, and creates less memory churn
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along the way by reusing the same scratch buffer rather than
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reallocating a new buffer every time it reads data from the operating
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system.
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While traversing a file system directory tree, `filepath.Walk` obtains
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the list of immediate descendants of a directory, and throws away the
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file system node type information provided by the operating system
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that comes with the node's name. Then, immediately prior to invoking
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the callback function, `filepath.Walk` invokes `os.Stat` for each
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node, and passes the returned `os.FileInfo` information to the
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callback.
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While the `os.FileInfo` information provided by `os.Stat` is extremely
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helpful--and even includes the `os.FileMode` data--providing it
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requires an additional system call for each node.
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Because most callbacks only care about what the node type is, this
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library does not throw the type information away, but rather provides
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that information to the callback function in the form of a
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`os.FileMode` value. Note that the provided `os.FileMode` value that
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this library provides only has the node type information, and does not
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have the permission bits, sticky bits, or other information from the
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file's mode. If the callback does care about a particular node's
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entire `os.FileInfo` data structure, the callback can easiy invoke
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`os.Stat` when needed, and only when needed.
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#### Benchmarks
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##### macOS
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```Bash
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go test -bench=.
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goos: darwin
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goarch: amd64
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pkg: github.com/karrick/godirwalk
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BenchmarkFilepathWalk-8 1 3001274570 ns/op
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BenchmarkGoDirWalk-8 3 465573172 ns/op
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BenchmarkFlameGraphFilepathWalk-8 1 6957916936 ns/op
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BenchmarkFlameGraphGoDirWalk-8 1 4210582571 ns/op
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PASS
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ok github.com/karrick/godirwalk 16.822s
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```
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##### Linux
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```Bash
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go test -bench=.
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goos: linux
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goarch: amd64
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pkg: github.com/karrick/godirwalk
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BenchmarkFilepathWalk-12 1 1609189170 ns/op
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BenchmarkGoDirWalk-12 5 211336628 ns/op
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BenchmarkFlameGraphFilepathWalk-12 1 3968119932 ns/op
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BenchmarkFlameGraphGoDirWalk-12 1 2139598998 ns/op
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PASS
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ok github.com/karrick/godirwalk 9.007s
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```
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### It's more correct on Windows than `filepath.Walk`
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I did not previously care about this either, but humor me. We all love
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how we can write once and run everywhere. It is essential for the
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language's adoption, growth, and success, that the software we create
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can run unmodified on all architectures and operating systems
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supported by Go.
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When the traversed file system has a logical loop caused by symbolic
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links to directories, on unix `filepath.Walk` ignores symbolic links
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and traverses the entire directory tree without error. On Windows
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however, `filepath.Walk` will continue following directory symbolic
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links, even though it is not supposed to, eventually causing
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`filepath.Walk` to terminate early and return an error when the
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pathname gets too long from concatenating endless loops of symbolic
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links onto the pathname. This error comes from Windows, passes through
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`filepath.Walk`, and to the upstream client running `filepath.Walk`.
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The takeaway is that behavior is different based on which platform
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`filepath.Walk` is running. While this is clearly not intentional,
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until it is fixed in the standard library, it presents a compatibility
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problem.
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This library correctly identifies symbolic links that point to
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directories and will only follow them when `FollowSymbolicLinks` is
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set to true. Behavior on Windows and other operating systems is
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identical.
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### It's more easy to use than `filepath.Walk`
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Since this library does not invoke `os.Stat` on every file system node
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it encounters, there is no possible error event for the callback
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function to filter on. The third argument in the `filepath.WalkFunc`
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function signature to pass the error from `os.Stat` to the callback
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function is no longer necessary, and thus eliminated from signature of
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the callback function from this library.
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Also, `filepath.Walk` invokes the callback function with a solidus
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delimited pathname regardless of the os-specific path separator. This
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library invokes the callback function with the os-specific pathname
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separator, obviating a call to `filepath.Clean` in the callback
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function for each node prior to actually using the provided pathname.
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In other words, even on Windows, `filepath.Walk` will invoke the
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callback with `some/path/to/foo.txt`, requiring well written clients
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to perform pathname normalization for every file prior to working with
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the specified file. In truth, many clients developed on unix and not
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tested on Windows neglect this subtlety, and will result in software
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bugs when running on Windows. This library would invoke the callback
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function with `some\path\to\foo.txt` for the same file when running on
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Windows, eliminating the need to normalize the pathname by the client,
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and lessen the likelyhood that a client will work on unix but not on
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Windows.
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### It's more flexible than `filepath.Walk`
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#### Configurable Handling of Symbolic Links
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The default behavior of this library is to ignore symbolic links to
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directories when walking a directory tree, just like `filepath.Walk`
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does. However, it does invoke the callback function with each node it
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finds, including symbolic links. If a particular use case exists to
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follow symbolic links when traversing a directory tree, this library
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can be invoked in manner to do so, by setting the
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`FollowSymbolicLinks` parameter to true.
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#### Configurable Sorting of Directory Children
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The default behavior of this library is to always sort the immediate
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descendants of a directory prior to visiting each node, just like
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`filepath.Walk` does. This is usually the desired behavior. However,
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this does come at a performance penalty to sort the names when a
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directory node has many entries. If a particular use case exists that
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does not require sorting the directory's immediate descendants prior
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to visiting its nodes, this library will skip the sorting step when
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the `Unsorted` parameter is set to true.
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#### Configurable Post Children Callback
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This library provides upstream code with the ability to specify a
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callback to be invoked for each directory after its children are
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processed. This has been used to recursively delete empty directories
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after traversing the file system in a more efficient manner. See the
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`examples/clean-empties` directory for an example of this usage.
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#### Configurable Error Callback
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This library provides upstream code with the ability to specify a
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callback to be invoked for errors that the operating system returns,
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allowing the upstream code to determine the next course of action to
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take, whether to halt walking the hierarchy, as it would do were no
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error callback provided, or skip the node that caused the error. See
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the `examples/walk-fast` directory for an example of this usage.
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