This Github Action enables conditional execution of workflow steps and jobs, based on the files modified by pull request, feature branch or in pushed commits.
It saves time and resources especially in monorepo setups, where you can run slow tasks (e.g. integration tests or deployments) only for changed components. Github workflows built-in path filters don‘t allow this because they don’t work on a level of individual jobs or steps.
Real world usage examples:
base
input parameter must not be the same as the branch that triggered the workflowbase
input parameter is same as the branch that triggered the workflow:base
input parameter is commit SHA:base
commitbase
input parameter is same as the branch that triggered the workflow:base
input parameter is set to HEAD
- uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: changes with: filters: | src: - 'src/**' # run only if some file in 'src' folder was changed if: steps.changes.outputs.src == 'true' run: ...
For more scenarios see examples section.
'
or "
. Otherwise you will get an error if it starts with *
.git
binary.act -P ubuntu-latest=nektos/act-environments-ubuntu:18.04
list-files: csv
formatchanges
outputlist-files: shell
and list-files: escape
optionsFor more information see CHANGELOG
- uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 with: # Defines filters applied to detected changed files. # Each filter has a name and list of rules. # Rule is a glob expression - paths of all changed # files are matched against it. # Rule can optionally specify if the file # should be added, modified or deleted. # For each filter there will be corresponding output variable to # indicate if there's a changed file matching any of the rules. # Optionally there can be a second output variable # set to list of all files matching the filter. # Filters can be provided inline as a string (containing valid YAML document) # or as a relative path to separate file (e.g.: .github/filters.yaml). # Multiline string is evaluated as embedded filter definition, # single line string is evaluated as relative path to separate file. # Filters syntax is documented by example - see examples section. filters: '' # Branch, tag or commit SHA against which the changes will be detected. # If it references same branch it was pushed to, # changes are detected against the most recent commit before the push. # Otherwise it uses git merge-base to find best common ancestor between # current branch (HEAD) and base. # When merge-base is found, it's used for change detection - only changes # introduced by current branch are considered. # All files are considered as added if there is no common ancestor with # base branch or no previous commit. # This option is ignored if action is triggered by pull_request event. # Default: repository default branch (e.g. master) base: '' # How many commits are initially fetched from base branch. # If needed, each subsequent fetch doubles the # previously requested number of commits until the merge-base # is found or there are no more commits in the history. # This option takes effect only when changes are detected # using git against base branch (feature branch workflow). # Default: 100 initial-fetch-depth: '' # Enables listing of files matching the filter: # 'none' - Disables listing of matching files (default). # 'csv' - Coma separated list of filenames. # If needed it uses double quotes to wrap filename with unsafe characters. # 'json' - Matching files paths are formatted as JSON array. # 'shell' - Space delimited list usable as command line argument list in Linux shell. # If needed it uses single or double quotes to wrap filename with unsafe characters. # 'escape'- Space delimited list usable as command line argument list in Linux shell. # Backslash escapes every potentially unsafe character. # Default: none list-files: '' # Relative path under $GITHUB_WORKSPACE where the repository was checked out. working-directory: '' # Personal access token used to fetch list of changed files # from Github REST API. # It's used only if action is triggered by pull request event. # Github token from workflow context is used as default value. # If empty string is provided, action falls back to detect # changes using git commands. # Default: ${{ github.token }} token: ''
'true'
- if any of changed files matches any of filter rules'false'
- if none of changed files matches any of filter rules${FILTER_NAME}_count
to the count of matching files.${FILTER_NAME}_files
. It will contain list of all files matching the filter.changes
- JSON array with names of all filters matching any of changed files.jobs: tests: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: filters: | backend: - 'backend/**' frontend: - 'frontend/**' # run only if 'backend' files were changed - name: backend tests if: steps.filter.outputs.backend == 'true' run: ... # run only if 'frontend' files were changed - name: frontend tests if: steps.filter.outputs.frontend == 'true' run: ... # run if 'backend' or 'frontend' files were changed - name: e2e tests if: steps.filter.outputs.backend == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.frontend == 'true' run: ...
jobs: # JOB to run change detection changes: runs-on: ubuntu-latest # Set job outputs to values from filter step outputs: backend: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.backend }} frontend: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.frontend }} steps: # For pull requests it's not necessary to checkout the code - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: filters: | backend: - 'backend/**' frontend: - 'frontend/**' # JOB to build and test backend code backend: needs: changes if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }} runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - ... # JOB to build and test frontend code frontend: needs: changes if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.frontend == 'true' }} runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - ...
jobs: # JOB to run change detection changes: runs-on: ubuntu-latest outputs: # Expose matched filters as job 'packages' output variable packages: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.changes }} steps: # For pull requests it's not necessary to checkout the code - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: filters: | package1: src/package1 package2: src/package2 # JOB to build and test each of modified packages build: needs: changes strategy: matrix: # Parse JSON array containing names of all filters matching any of changed files # e.g. ['package1', 'package2'] if both package folders contains changes package: ${{ fromJSON(needs.changes.outputs.packages) }} runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - ...
on: pull_request: branches: # PRs to following branches will trigger the workflow - master - develop jobs: build: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: filters: ... # Configure your filters
on: push: branches: # Push to following branches will trigger the workflow - feature/** jobs: build: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 with: # This may save additional git fetch roundtrip if # merge-base is found within latest 20 commits fetch-depth: 20 - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: base: develop # Change detection against merge-base with this branch filters: ... # Configure your filters
on: push: branches: # Push to following branches will trigger the workflow - master - develop - release/** jobs: build: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: # Use context to get branch where commits were pushed. # If there is only one long lived branch (e.g. master), # you can specify it directly. # If it's not configured, the repository default branch is used. base: ${{ github.ref }} filters: ... # Configure your filters
on: push: branches: # Push to following branches will trigger the workflow - master - develop - release/** jobs: build: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 # Some action which modifies files tracked by git (e.g. code linter) - uses: johndoe/some-action@v1 # Filter to detect which files were modified # Changes could be for example automatically committed - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: base: HEAD filters: ... # Configure your filters
- uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: # Path to file where filters are defined filters: .github/filters.yaml
- uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: # &shared is YAML anchor, # *shared references previously defined anchor # src filter will match any path under common, config and src folders filters: | shared: &shared - common/** - config/** src: - *shared - src/**
- uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: # Changed file can be 'added', 'modified', or 'deleted'. # By default the type of change is not considered. # Optionally it's possible to specify it using nested # dictionary, where type(s) of change composes the key. # Multiple change types can be specified using `|` as delimiter. filters: | shared: &shared - common/** - config/** addedOrModified: - added|modified: '**' allChanges: - added|deleted|modified: '**' addedOrModifiedAnchors: - added|modified: *shared
- uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: # Enable listing of files matching each filter. # Paths to files will be available in `${FILTER_NAME}_files` output variable. # Paths will be escaped and space-delimited. # Output is usable as command line argument list in Linux shell list-files: shell # In this example changed files will be checked by linter. # It doesn't make sense to lint deleted files. # Therefore we specify we are only interested in added or modified files. filters: | markdown: - added|modified: '*.md' - name: Lint Markdown if: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.markdown == 'true' }} run: npx textlint ${{ steps.filter.outputs.markdown_files }}
- uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2 id: filter with: # Enable listing of files matching each filter. # Paths to files will be available in `${FILTER_NAME}_files` output variable. # Paths will be formatted as JSON array list-files: json # In this example all changed files are passed to following action to do # some custom processing. filters: | changed: - '**' - name: Lint Markdown uses: johndoe/some-action@v1 with: files: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.changed_files }}
The scripts and documentation in this project are released under the MIT License