API to locate, but not load, config files

[cspotcode]

Coming from #172

It would be nice to use cosmiconfig to locate but not load a config file. This mechanism already exists internally but is not part of the API.

Ideally the API will allow requesting candidate files one at a time. If the first candidate should be skipped, the next is requested. This behavior already exists internally, via the ignoreEmptySearchPlaces option.

If it matches the (async) iterator interface, users can do:

const explorer = createExplorer({/* ...options */});
let config;
for(const configPath of explorer.locateSync()) {
    config = attemptToLoad(configPath);
    if(config) break;
}

[davidtheclark]

Thanks for filing this @cspotcode.

What are the reasons https://github.com/sindresorhus/find-up doesn't fulfill this need?

I'm partly wondering because it might, and partly to make sure that we're aware of whatever the key difference is, so we'd preserve that in a locate-only implementation.

[cspotcode]

find-up sounds like it fits the bill; I wasn't aware of it. I'll do some reading.

[cspotcode]

find-up was perfect, thanks for the suggestion. mochajs/mocha#3830

Since I went that route, I'm no longer investigating cosmiconfig for mocha. I appreciate you taking the time to discuss my use-case and potential implementations. Please don't feel the need to keep this issue open on my account.

[davidtheclark]

Great, @cspotcode 👍