Usage

Command Line

The formic command provides shell access to Ant glob functionality. Some examples are shown below.

Find all Python files under myapp:

$ formic myapp -i "*.py"

(Note that if a root directory is specified, it must come before the -i or -e)

Find all Python files under the current directory, but exclude __init__.py files:

$ formic -i "*.py" -e "__init__.py"

... and further refined by removing test directories and files:

$ formic -i "*.py" -e "__init__.py" "**/*test*/" "test_*"

This will search for files all Python files under the current directory excluding all __init__.py files, any file in directories whose name contains the word ‘test’, and any files that start test_.

Output from Formic is formatted like the Unix find command, and so can easily be combined with other executables, eg:

$ formic -i "**/*.bak" | xargs rm

... will delete all .bak files in or under the current directory (but excluding VCS directories such as .svn and .hg).

Full usage is documented in the formic.command package.

Library

The API provides the same functionality as the command-line but in a form more readily consumed by applications which need to gather collections of files efficiently.

The API is quite simple for normal use. The example below will gather all the Python files in and under the current working directory, but exclude all directories which contain ‘test’ in their name, and all files whose name starts with ‘test_’:

import formic
fileset = formic.FileSet(include="**.py",
                         exclude=["**/*test*/**", "test_*"]
                         )

for file_name in fileset:
    # Do something with file_name
    ...

A more detailed description can be found in the API.