changed-files

Retrieve all changed files and directories relative to a target branch, preceeding commit or the last remote commit returning relative paths from the project root.

Table of contents

• Features
• Usage
• Useful Acronyms
• Outputs
• Inputs
• Versioning
• Examples
• Real world usage
• Known Limitation
• Migration guide
• Credits
• Report Bugs
• Contributors ✨

Features

• Fast execution (0-10 seconds on average).
• Easy to debug.
• Scales to large repositories.
• Supports Git submodules.
• Escaped JSON output which can be used to run matrix jobs based on changed files.
• List changed directories.
  • Limit the matching changed directories to a maximum depth.
  • Optionally exclude the current directory
• Write outputs to a .txt or .json file at a specified location for further processing.
• Monorepos (Fetches a fixed number of commits).
• Supports all platforms (Linux, MacOS, Windows).
• GitHub-hosted runners support
• GitHub Enterprise Server support.
• self-hosted runners support.
• List all files and directories that have changed:
  • Between the current pull request branch and the last commit on the target branch.
  • Between the last commit and the current pushed change.
  • Between the last remote branch commit and the current HEAD.
• Restrict change detection to a subset of files and directories:
  • Boolean output indicating that certain files have been changed.
  • Using Glob pattern matching.
    • Globstar.
    • Brace expansion.

Usage

Warning:

• IMPORTANT: For push events when configuring actions/checkout the fetch-depth should be set to either fetch-depth: 0 OR fetch-depth: 2 depending on your use case.
• For monorepos where pulling all the branch history might not be desired, you can omit actions/checkout - fetch-depth for pull_request events.
• All multiline inputs should not use double or single quotes since the value is already a string seperated by a newline character. See Examples for more information.
• Ensure that persist-credentials is set to true when configuring actions/checkout if fetch-depth isn't set to 0.

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Event `push`: Compare the preceeding commit -> to the current commit of the main branch.
# Event `pull_request`: Compare the last commit of main -> to the current commit of a Pull Request branch.
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # windows-latest | macos-latest
    name: Test changed-files
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # OR "2" -> To retrieve the preceding commit.

      # Example 1
      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
        
        # To compare changes between the current commit and the last pushed remote commit set `since_last_remote_commit: true`. e.g
        # with:
        #   since_last_remote_commit: true 

      - name: List all changed files
        run: |
          for file in ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}; do
            echo "$file was changed"
          done

      # Example 2
      - name: Get changed files in the docs folder
        id: changed-files-specific
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
        with:
          files: docs/*.{js,html}  # Alternatively using: `docs/**` or `docs`

      - name: Run step if any file(s) in the docs folder change
        if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
        run: |
          echo "One or more files in the docs folder has changed."
          echo "List all the files that have changed: ${{ steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.all_changed_files }}"
      
      # Example 3
      - name: Get all changed .js file(s) or any file in the static folder excluding the docs folder
        id: changed-files-excluded
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
        with:
          files: |
            **.js
            static
          files_ignore: docs

      - name: Run step if any .js file(s) or any file in the static folder change
        if: steps.changed-files-excluded.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
        run: |
          echo "One or more .js file(s) or any file in the static folder but not in the doc folder has changed."
          echo "List all the files that have changed: ${{ steps.changed-files-excluded.outputs.all_changed_files }}"

To access more examples, navigate to the Examples section.

If you feel generous and want to show some extra appreciation:

Support this project with a ⭐

Useful Acronyms

Acronym	Meaning
A	Added
C	Copied
M	Modified
D	Deleted
R	Renamed
T	Type changed
U	Unmerged
X	Unknown

Outputs

OUTPUT	TYPE	DESCRIPTION
added_files	string	Returns only files that are Added (A).
all_changed_and_modified_files	string	Returns all changed and modified files i.e. a combination of (ACMRDTUX)
all_changed_files	string	Returns all changed files i.e. a combination of all added, copied, modified and renamed files (ACMR)
all_modified_files	string	Returns all changed files i.e. a combination of all added, copied, modified, renamed and deleted files (ACMRD).
all_old_new_renamed_files	string	Returns only files that are Renamed and list their old and new names. NOTE: This requires setting include_all_old_new_renamed_files to true (R)
any_changed	string	Returns true when any of the filenames provided using the files input has changed. i.e. using a combination of all added, copied, modified and renamed files (ACMR).
any_deleted	string	Returns true when any of the filenames provided using the files input has been deleted. (D)
any_modified	string	Returns true when any of the filenames provided using the files input has been modified. i.e. using a combination of all added, copied, modified, renamed, and deleted files (ACMRD).
copied_files	string	Returns only files that are Copied (C).
deleted_files	string	Returns only files that are Deleted (D).
modified_files	string	Returns only files that are Modified (M).
only_changed	string	Returns true when only files provided using the files input has changed. i.e. using a combination of all added, copied, modified and renamed files (ACMR).
only_deleted	string	Returns true when only files provided using the files input has been deleted. (D)
only_modified	string	Returns true when only files provided using the files input has been modified. (ACMRD).
other_changed_files	string	Returns all other changed files not listed in the files input i.e. using a combination of all added, copied, modified and renamed files (ACMR).
other_deleted_files	string	Returns all other deleted files not listed in the files input i.e. a combination of all deleted files (D)
other_modified_files	string	Returns all other modified files not listed in the files input i.e. a combination of all added, copied, modified, and deleted files (ACMRD)
renamed_files	string	Returns only files that are Renamed (R).
type_changed_files	string	Returns only files that have their file type changed (T).
unknown_files	string	Returns only files that are Unknown (X).
unmerged_files	string	Returns only files that are Unmerged (U).

Inputs

INPUT	TYPE	REQUIRED	DEFAULT	DESCRIPTION
base_sha	string	false		Specify a different base commit SHA used for comparing changes
diff_relative	string	false	"true"	Exclude changes outside the current directory and show path names relative to it. NOTE: This requires you to specify the top level directory via the path input.
dir_names	string	false	"false"	Output unique changed directories instead of filenames. NOTE: This returns . for changed files located in the current working directory which defaults to $GITHUB_WORKSPACE.
dir_names_exclude_current_dir	string	false	"false"	Exclude the current directory represented by . from the output when dir_names is set to true.
dir_names_exclude_root Use dir_names_exclude_current_dir instead.	string	false	"false"	Deprecated: Exclude the root directory represented by . from the output when dir_namesis set to true.
dir_names_max_depth	string	false		Limit the directory output to a maximum depth e.g test/test1/test2 with max depth of 2 returns test/test1.
escape_json	string	false	"true"	Escape JSON output.
fetch_depth	string	false	"50"	Depth of additional branch history fetched. NOTE: This can be adjusted to resolve errors with insufficient history.
files	string	false		File and directory patterns to detect changes using only these list of file(s) (Defaults to the entire repo) NOTE: Multiline file/directory patterns should not include quotes.
files_from_source_file	string	false		Source file(s) used to populate the files input.
files_from_source_file_separator	string	false	"\n"	Separator used to split the files_from_source_file input
files_ignore	string	false		Ignore changes to these file(s) NOTE: Multiline file/directory patterns should not include quotes.
files_ignore_from_source_file	string	false		Source file(s) used to populate the files_ignore input
files_ignore_from_source_file_separator	string	false	"\n"	Separator used to split the files_ignore_from_source_file input
files_ignore_separator	string	false	"\n"	Separator used to split the files_ignore input
files_separator	string	false	"\n"	Separator used to split the files input
include_all_old_new_renamed_files	string	false	"false"	Include all_old_new_renamed_files output. Note this can generate a large output See: #501.
json	string	false	"false"	Output list of changed files in a JSON formatted string which can be used for matrix jobs.
old_new_files_separator	string	false	" "	Split character for old and new renamed filename pairs.
old_new_separator	string	false	","	Split character for old and new filename pairs.
output_dir	string	false	".github/outputs"	Directory to store output files.
path	string	false	"."	Specify a relative path under $GITHUB_WORKSPACE to locate the repository.
quotepath	string	false	"true"	Use non ascii characters to match files and output the filenames completely verbatim by setting this to false
separator	string	false	" "	Split character for output strings
sha	string	false		Specify a different commit SHA used for comparing changes
since	string	false		Get changed files for commits whose timestamp is older than the given time.
since_last_remote_commit	string	false	"false"	Use the last commit on the remote branch as the base_sha. Defaults to the last non merge commit on the target branch for pull request events and the previous remote commit of the current branch for push events.
until	string	false		Get changed files for commits whose timestamp is earlier than the given time.
write_output_files	string	false	"false"	Write outputs to files in the .github/outputs folder by default.

Versioning

This GitHub Action follows the principles of Semantic Versioning for versioning releases.

The format of the version string is as follows:

major: is a major release number that indicates significant changes or new features that may not be backward compatible.

minor: is a minor release number that indicates minor changes or new features that are backward compatible.

patch : is a patch release number that indicates bug fixes or other small changes that are backward compatible.

Examples

Get all changed files in the current branch

...
    - name: Get changed files
      id: changed-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
...

Get all changed files and using a comma separator

...
    - name: Get all changed files and use a comma separator in the output
      id: changed-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        separator: ","
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files and list all added files

...
    - name: Get changed files
      id: changed-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36

    - name: List all added files
      run: |
        for file in ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.added_files }}; do
          echo "$file was added"
        done
...

See outputs for a list of all available outputs.

Get all changed files and optionally run a step if a file was modified

...
    - name: Get changed files
      id: changed-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36

    - name: Run a step if my-file.txt was modified
      if: contains(steps.changed-files.outputs.modified_files, 'my-file.txt')
      run: |
        echo "my-file.txt file has been modified."
...

See outputs for a list of all available outputs.

Get all changed files and write the outputs to a txt file

...

   - name: Get changed files and write the outputs to a txt file
     id: changed-files-write-output-files-txt
     uses: ./
     with:
       write_output_files: true

   - name: Verify the contents of the .github/outputs/added_files.txt file
     run: |
       cat .github/outputs/added_files.txt
...

Get all changed files and write the outputs to a json file

...
   - name: Get changed files and write the outputs to a json file
     id: changed-files-write-output-files-json
     uses: ./
     with:
       json: true
       write_output_files: true

   - name: Verify the contents of the .github/outputs/added_files.json file
     run: |
       cat .github/outputs/added_files.json
...

Get all changed files using a list of files

...
    - name: Get changed files
      id: changed-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        files: |
          my-file.txt
          *.sh
          *.png
          !*.md
          test_directory
          **/*.sql
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files using a list of files and take action based on the changes

...
    - name: Get changed files
      id: changed-files-specific
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        files: |
          my-file.txt
          *.sh
          *.png
          !*.md
          test_directory
          **/*.sql

    - name: Run step if any of the listed files above change
      if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
      run: |
        echo "One or more files listed above has changed."

    - name: Run step if only the files listed above change
      if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.only_changed == 'true'
      run: |
        echo "Only files listed above have changed."

    - name: Run step if any of the listed files above is deleted
      if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.any_deleted == 'true'
      run: |
        for file in ${{ steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.deleted_files }}; do
          echo "$file was deleted"
        done

    - name: Run step if all listed files above have been deleted
      if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.only_deleted == 'true'
      run: |
        for file in ${{ steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.deleted_files }}; do
          echo "$file was deleted"
        done
...

See outputs for a list of all available outputs.

Get all changed files using a source file or list of file(s) to populate to files input

...
    - name: Get changed files using a source file or list of file(s) to populate to files input.
      id: changed-files-specific-source-file
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        files_from_source_file: test/changed-files-list.txt
...

See inputs for more information.

Get changed files using a source file or list of file(s) to populate to files input and optionally specify more files

...
    - name: Get changed files using a source file or list of file(s) to populate to files input and optionally specify more files.
      id: changed-files-specific-source-file-and-specify-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        files_from_source_file: |
          test/changed-files-list.txt
        files: |
          test.txt
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files using a different SHA

...
    - name: Get changed files using a different SHA
      id: changed-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files using a different base SHA

...
    - name: Get changed files using a different base SHA
      id: changed-files
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        base_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files between the previous tag and the current tag

...
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  release:
    name: Release
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36

      - name: Get changed files in the .github folder
        id: changed-files-specific
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
        with:
          base_sha: ${{ steps.get-base-sha.outputs.base_sha }}
          files: .github/**

      - name: Run step if any file(s) in the .github folder change
        if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
        run: |
          echo "One or more files in the .github folder has changed."
          echo "List all the files that have changed: ${{ steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.all_changed_files }}"
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files for a repository located in a different path

...
    - name: Checkout into dir1
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
      with:
        fetch-depth: 0
        path: dir1

    - name: Run changed-files with defaults in dir1
      id: changed-files-for-dir1
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        path: dir1

    - name: List all added files in dir1
      run: |
        for file in ${{ steps.changed-files-for-dir1.outputs.added_files }}; do
          echo "$file was added"
        done
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files with non äšćįí characters i.e (Filename in other languages)

...
    - name: Run changed-files with quotepath disabled
      id: changed-files-quotepath
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        quotepath: "false"

    - name: Run changed-files with quotepath disabled for a specified list of file(s)
      id: changed-files-quotepath-specific
      uses: ./
      with:
        files: test/test-è.txt
        quotepath: "false"
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files using the last successful commit of the base branch

• Push event

  ...
        - name: Get branch name
          id: branch-name
          uses: tj-actions/branch-names@v6
  
        - uses: nrwl/nx-set-shas@v3
          id: last_successful_commit_push
          with:
            main-branch-name: ${{ steps.branch-name.outputs.current_branch }} # Get the last successful commit for the current branch.
            workflow-id: 'test.yml'
  
        - name: Run changed-files with the commit of the last successful test workflow run
          id: changed-files-base-sha-push
          uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
          with:
            base_sha: ${{ steps.last_successful_commit_push.outputs.base }}
  ...

• Pull request events

  ...
        - name: Get branch name
          id: branch-name
          uses: tj-actions/branch-names@v5
  
        - uses: nrwl/nx-set-shas@v3
          id: last_successful_commit_pull_request
          with:
            main-branch-name: ${{ steps.branch-name.outputs.base_ref_branch }} # Get the last successful commit on master or main branch
            workflow_id: 'test.yml'
  
        - name: Run changed-files with the commit of the last successful test workflow run on main
          id: changed-files-base-sha-pull-request
          uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
          with:
            base_sha: ${{ steps.last_successful_commit_pull_request.outputs.base }}
  ...

Warning: This setting overrides the commit sha used by setting since_last_remote_commit to true. It is recommended to use either solution that works for your use case.

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files but only return the directory names

...
    - name: Run changed-files with dir_names
      id: changed-files-dir-names
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        dir_names: "true"
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files and return JSON formatted outputs

...
    - name: Run changed-files with json output
      id: changed-files-json
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        json: "true"
...

See inputs for more information.

Get all changed files by commits pushed in the past

...
    - name: Get changed-files since 2022-08-19
      id: changed-files-since
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        since: "2022-08-19"

    - name: Get changed-files until 2022-08-20
      id: changed-files-until
      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v36
      with:
        until: "2022-08-20"
...

See inputs for more information.

Real world usage

• vitejs/vite: uses tj-actions/changed-files to automate testing

• qgis/QGIS: uses tj-actions/changed-files to automate spell checking

• coder/code-server: uses tj-actions/changed-files to automate detecting changes and run steps based on the outcome

• tldr-pages/tldr: uses tj-actions/changed-files to automate detecting spelling errors

• nodejs/docker-node: uses tj-actions/changed-files to generate matrix jobs based on changes detected

• refined-github: uses tj-actions/changed-files to automate test URL validation in added/edited files

• aws-doc-sdk-examples: uses tj-actions/changed-files to automate testing

And many more...

Known Limitation

Warning:

• Spaces in file names can introduce bugs when using bash loops. See: #216 However, this action will handle spaces in file names, with a recommendation of using a separator to prevent hidden issues.

  

Migration guide

With the switch from using grep's Extended regex to match files to the natively supported workflow glob pattern matching syntax introduced in v13 you'll need to modify patterns used to match files.

...
      - name: Get specific changed files
        id: changed-files-specific
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v24
        with:
          files: |
-            \.sh$
-            .(sql|py)$
-            ^(dir1|dir2)
+            *.{sh,sql,py}
+            dir1
+            dir2

• Free software: MIT license

Credits

This package was created with cookiecutter-action.

• tj-actions/auto-doc
• tj-actions/verify-changed-files
• tj-actions/demo
• tj-actions/demo2
• tj-actions/demo3
• tj-actions/release-tagger

Report Bugs

Report bugs at https://github.com/tj-actions/changed-files/issues.

If you are reporting a bug, please include:

• Your operating system name and version.
• Any details about your workflow that might be helpful in troubleshooting. (NOTE: Ensure that you include full log outputs with debugging enabled)
• Detailed steps to reproduce the bug.

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

Josh Soref 📖	Nick Landers 💻	Krasimir Nikolov 💻 📖	Ivan Pizhenko 💻 📖	talva-tr 💻	Ikko Ashimine 📖	James 📖
James Cheng 📖	Masaya Suzuki 💻	fagai 📖	Constantine Peresypkin 💻	Mathieu Dupuy 📖	Joe Moggridge 📖	Charles Santos 💻
Kostiantyn Korniienko 📖	Logan Pulley 💻	Kenji Miyake 💻	adonisgarciac 💻 📖	Chiel Fernhout 📖	Alberto Perdomo 📖

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!