changed-files

Effortlessly track all changed files and directories relative to a target branch, the current branch (preceding commit or the last remote commit), multiple branches, or custom commits returning relative paths from the project root using this GitHub action.

[!NOTE]

• This action solely identifies files that have changed for events such as pull_request*, push, merge_group, release, and many more. However, it doesn't detect pending uncommitted changes created during the workflow execution.

  See: https://github.com/tj-actions/verify-changed-files instead.

Table of contents

• Features 🚀
• Usage 💻
  • On pull_request 🔀
    • Using local .git directory 📁
    • Using Github's API :octocat:
  • On push ⬆️
  • Other supported events :electron:
• Inputs ⚙️
• Useful Acronyms 🧮
• Outputs 📤
• Versioning 🏷️
• Examples 📄
• Real-world usage 🌐
  • Open source projects 📦
  • Scalability Example 📈
• Important Notice ⚠️
• Migration guide 🔄
• Credits 👏
• Report Bugs 🐛
• Contributors ✨

Features 🚀

• Fast execution, averaging 0-10 seconds.
• Leverages either Github's REST API or Git's native diff command to determine changed files.
• Facilitates easy debugging.
• Scales to handle large/mono repositories.
• Supports Git submodules.
• Supports merge queues for pull requests.
• Generates escaped JSON output for running matrix jobs based on changed files.
• Lists changed directories.
  • Limits matching changed directories to a specified maximum depth.
  • Optionally excludes the current directory.
• Writes outputs to a designated .txt or .json file for further processing.
• Restores deleted files to their previous location or a newly specified location.
• Supports fetching a fixed number of commits, which improves performance.
• Compatible with all platforms (Linux, MacOS, Windows).
• Supports GitHub-hosted runners.
• Supports GitHub Enterprise Server.
• Supports self-hosted runners.
• Lists 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.
• Restricts change detection to a subset of files and directories:
  • Provides boolean output indicating changes in specific files.
  • Uses Glob pattern matching.
    • Supports Globstar.
    • Supports brace expansion.
    • Supports negation.
  • Uses YAML syntax for specifying patterns.
    • Supports YAML anchors & aliases.
    • Supports YAML multi-line strings.

And many more...

Usage 💻

[!IMPORTANT]

• Push Events: When configuring actions/checkout, make sure to set fetch-depth to either 0 or 2, depending on your use case.
• Mono Repositories: To avoid pulling the entire branch history, you can utilize the default actions/checkout's fetch-depth of 1 for pull_request events.
• Quoting Multiline Inputs: Avoid using single or double quotes for multiline inputs. The value is already a string separated by a newline character. Refer to the Examples section for more information.
• Credentials Persistence: If fetch-depth is not set to 0, make sure to set persist-credentials to true when configuring actions/checkout.
• Matching Files and Folders: To match all files and folders under a directory, this requires a globstar pattern e.g. dir_name/** which matches any number of subdirectories and files.

Visit the discussions for more information or create a new discussion for usage-related questions.

On pull_request 🔀

Detect changes to all files in a Pull request relative to the target branch or since the last pushed commit.

Using local .git directory 📁

name: CI

on:
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # Event `pull_request`: Compare the last commit of the main branch or last remote commit of the PR branch -> to the current commit of a PR branch.
  # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  changed_files:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # windows-latest || macos-latest
    name: Test changed-files
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      # Example 1
      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v45
        # 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
        env:
          ALL_CHANGED_FILES: ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}
        run: |
          for file in ${ALL_CHANGED_FILES}; do
            echo "$file was changed"
          done

      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      # Example 2
      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      - name: Get all changed markdown files
        id: changed-markdown-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v45
        with:
          # Avoid using single or double quotes for multiline patterns
          files: |
            **.md
            docs/**.md

      - name: List all changed files markdown files
        if: steps.changed-markdown-files.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
        env:
          ALL_CHANGED_FILES: ${{ steps.changed-markdown-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}
        run: |
          for file in ${ALL_CHANGED_FILES}; do
            echo "$file was changed"
          done

      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      # Example 3
      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      - name: Get all test, doc and src files that have changed
        id: changed-files-yaml
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v45
        with:
          files_yaml: |
            doc:
              - '**.md'
              - docs/**
            test:
              - test/**
              - '!test/**.md'
            src:
              - src/**
          # Optionally set `files_yaml_from_source_file` to read the YAML from a file. e.g `files_yaml_from_source_file: .github/changed-files.yml`

      - name: Run step if test file(s) change
        # NOTE: Ensure all outputs are prefixed by the same key used above e.g. `test_(...)` | `doc_(...)` | `src_(...)` when trying to access the `any_changed` output.
        if: steps.changed-files-yaml.outputs.test_any_changed == 'true'  
        env:
          TEST_ALL_CHANGED_FILES: ${{ steps.changed-files-yaml.outputs.test_all_changed_files }}
        run: |
          echo "One or more test file(s) has changed."
          echo "List all the files that have changed: $TEST_ALL_CHANGED_FILES"

      - name: Run step if doc file(s) change
        if: steps.changed-files-yaml.outputs.doc_any_changed == 'true'
        env:
          DOC_ALL_CHANGED_FILES: ${{ steps.changed-files-yaml.outputs.doc_all_changed_files }}
        run: |
          echo "One or more doc file(s) has changed."
          echo "List all the files that have changed: $DOC_ALL_CHANGED_FILES"

      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      # Example 4
      # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      - name: Get changed files in the docs folder
        id: changed-files-specific
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v45
        with:
          files: docs/*.{js,html}  # Alternatively using: `docs/**`
          files_ignore: docs/static.js

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

Using Github's API :octocat:

name: CI

on:
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  # -------------------------------------------------------------
  # Event `pull_request`: Returns all changed pull request files.
  # --------------------------------------------------------------
  changed_files:
    # NOTE:
    # - This is limited to pull_request* events and would raise an error for other events.
    # - A maximum of 3000 files can be returned.
    # - For more flexibility and no limitations see "Using local .git directory" above.

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # windows-latest || macos-latest
    name: Test changed-files
    permissions:
      pull-requests: read

    steps:
      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v45

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

On push ⬆️

Detect changes to files made since the last pushed commit.

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  # -------------------------------------------------------------
  # Using GitHub's API is not supported for push events
  # -------------------------------------------------------------
  # 
  # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # Using local .git history
  # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # Event `push`: Compare the preceding remote commit -> to the current commit of the main branch 
  # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  changed_files:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # windows-latest || macos-latest
    name: Test changed-files
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # OR "2" -> To retrieve the preceding commit.

      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v45
      # NOTE: `since_last_remote_commit: true` is implied by default and falls back to the previous local commit.

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

Other supported events :electron:

• schedule
• release
• workflow_dispatch
• workflow_run
• merge_group
• issue_comment
• ...and many more

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 :star:

[!IMPORTANT]

• When using files_yaml* inputs:

  • All keys must start with a letter or _ and contain only alphanumeric characters, -, or _.

    For example, test or test_key or test-key or _test_key are all valid choices.

Inputs ⚙️

- uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v45
  id: changed-files
  with:
    # Github API URL.
    # Type: string
    # Default: "${{ github.api_url }}"
    api_url: ''

    # Specify a different base commit 
    # SHA or branch used for 
    # comparing changes 
    # Type: string
    base_sha: ''

    # 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. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "true"
    diff_relative: ''

    # Output unique changed directories instead 
    # of filenames. NOTE: This returns 
    # `.` for changed files located 
    # in the current working directory 
    # which defaults to `$GITHUB_WORKSPACE`. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    dir_names: ''

    # Include only directories that have 
    # been deleted as opposed to 
    # directory names of files that 
    # have been deleted in the 
    # `deleted_files` output when `dir_names` is 
    # set to `true`. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    dir_names_deleted_files_include_only_deleted_dirs: ''

    # Exclude the current directory represented 
    # by `.` from the output 
    # when `dir_names` is set to 
    # `true`. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    dir_names_exclude_current_dir: ''

    # File and directory patterns to 
    # include in the output when 
    # `dir_names` is set to `true`. 
    # NOTE: This returns only the 
    # matching files and also the 
    # directory names. 
    # Type: string
    dir_names_include_files: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `dir_names_include_files` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    dir_names_include_files_separator: ''

    # Limit the directory output to 
    # a maximum depth e.g `test/test1/test2` 
    # with max depth of `2` 
    # returns `test/test1`. 
    # Type: string
    dir_names_max_depth: ''

    # Escape JSON output.
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "true"
    escape_json: ''

    # Exclude changes to submodules.
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    exclude_submodules: ''

    # Fail when the initial diff 
    # fails. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    fail_on_initial_diff_error: ''

    # Fail when the submodule diff 
    # fails. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    fail_on_submodule_diff_error: ''

    # Fetch additional history for submodules.
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    fetch_additional_submodule_history: ''

    # Depth of additional branch history 
    # fetched. NOTE: This can be 
    # adjusted to resolve errors with 
    # insufficient history. 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "25"
    fetch_depth: ''

    # Maximum number of retries to 
    # fetch missing history. 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "20"
    fetch_missing_history_max_retries: ''

    # File and directory patterns used 
    # to detect changes (Defaults to the entire repo if unset). NOTE: 
    # Multiline file/directory patterns should not 
    # include quotes. 
    # Type: string
    files: ''

    # Source file(s) used to populate 
    # the `files` input. 
    # Type: string
    files_from_source_file: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `files_from_source_file` input. 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    files_from_source_file_separator: ''

    # Ignore changes to these file(s). 
    # NOTE: Multiline file/directory patterns should 
    # not include quotes. 
    # Type: string
    files_ignore: ''

    # Source file(s) used to populate 
    # the `files_ignore` input 
    # Type: string
    files_ignore_from_source_file: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `files_ignore_from_source_file` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    files_ignore_from_source_file_separator: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `files_ignore` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    files_ignore_separator: ''

    # YAML used to define a 
    # set of file patterns to 
    # ignore changes 
    # Type: string
    files_ignore_yaml: ''

    # Source file(s) used to populate 
    # the `files_ignore_yaml` input. Example: https://github.com/tj-actions/changed-files/blob/main/test/changed-files.yml 
    # Type: string
    files_ignore_yaml_from_source_file: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `files_ignore_yaml_from_source_file` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    files_ignore_yaml_from_source_file_separator: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `files` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    files_separator: ''

    # YAML used to define a 
    # set of file patterns to 
    # detect changes 
    # Type: string
    files_yaml: ''

    # Source file(s) used to populate 
    # the `files_yaml` input. Example: https://github.com/tj-actions/changed-files/blob/main/test/changed-files.yml 
    # Type: string
    files_yaml_from_source_file: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `files_yaml_from_source_file` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    files_yaml_from_source_file_separator: ''

    # Include `all_old_new_renamed_files` output. Note this 
    # can generate a large output 
    # See: #501. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    include_all_old_new_renamed_files: ''

    # Output list of changed files 
    # in a JSON formatted string 
    # which can be used for 
    # matrix jobs. Example: https://github.com/tj-actions/changed-files/blob/main/.github/workflows/matrix-example.yml 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    json: ''

    # Output changed files in a 
    # format that can be used 
    # for matrix jobs. Alias for 
    # setting inputs `json` to `true` 
    # and `escape_json` to `false`. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    matrix: ''

    # Apply the negation patterns first. 
    # NOTE: This affects how changed 
    # files are matched. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    negation_patterns_first: ''

    # Split character for old and 
    # new renamed filename pairs. 
    # Type: string
    # Default: " "
    old_new_files_separator: ''

    # Split character for old and 
    # new filename pairs. 
    # Type: string
    # Default: ","
    old_new_separator: ''

    # Directory to store output files.
    # Type: string
    # Default: ".github/outputs"
    output_dir: ''

    # Output renamed files as deleted 
    # and added files. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    output_renamed_files_as_deleted_and_added: ''

    # Specify a relative path under 
    # `$GITHUB_WORKSPACE` to locate the repository. 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "."
    path: ''

    # Use non-ASCII characters to match 
    # files and output the filenames 
    # completely verbatim by setting this 
    # to `false` 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "true"
    quotepath: ''

    # Recover deleted files.
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    recover_deleted_files: ''

    # Recover deleted files to a 
    # new destination directory, defaults to 
    # the original location. 
    # Type: string
    recover_deleted_files_to_destination: ''

    # File and directory patterns used 
    # to recover deleted files, defaults 
    # to the patterns provided via 
    # the `files`, `files_from_source_file`, `files_ignore` and 
    # `files_ignore_from_source_file` inputs or all deleted 
    # files if no patterns are 
    # provided. 
    # Type: string
    recover_files: ''

    # File and directory patterns to 
    # ignore when recovering deleted files. 
    # Type: string
    recover_files_ignore: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `recover_files_ignore` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    recover_files_ignore_separator: ''

    # Separator used to split the 
    # `recover_files` input 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "\n"
    recover_files_separator: ''

    # Apply sanitization to output filenames 
    # before being set as output. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "true"
    safe_output: ''

    # Split character for output strings.
    # Type: string
    # Default: " "
    separator: ''

    # Specify a different commit SHA 
    # or branch used for comparing 
    # changes 
    # Type: string
    sha: ''

    # Get changed files for commits 
    # whose timestamp is older than 
    # the given time. 
    # Type: string
    since: ''

    # 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. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    since_last_remote_commit: ''

    # Skip initially fetching additional history 
    # to improve performance for shallow 
    # repositories. NOTE: This could lead 
    # to errors with missing history. 
    # It's intended to be used 
    # when you've fetched all necessary 
    # history to perform the diff. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    skip_initial_fetch: ''

    # Tags pattern to ignore.
    # Type: string
    tags_ignore_pattern: ''

    # Tags pattern to include.
    # Type: string
    # Default: "*"
    tags_pattern: ''

    # GitHub token used to fetch 
    # changed files from Github's API. 
    # Type: string
    # Default: "${{ github.token }}"
    token: ''

    # Get changed files for commits 
    # whose timestamp is earlier than 
    # the given time. 
    # Type: string
    until: ''

    # Use POSIX path separator `/` 
    # for output file paths on 
    # Windows. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    use_posix_path_separator: ''

    # Force the use of Github's 
    # REST API even when a 
    # local copy of the repository 
    # exists 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    use_rest_api: ''

    # Write outputs to the `output_dir` 
    # defaults to `.github/outputs` folder. NOTE: 
    # This creates a `.txt` file 
    # by default and a `.json` 
    # file if `json` is set 
    # to `true`. 
    # Type: boolean
    # Default: "false"
    write_output_files: ''

Useful Acronyms 🧮

[!IMPORTANT]

• When using files_yaml* inputs:

  • it's required to prefix all outputs with the key to ensure that the correct outputs are accessible.

    For example, if you use test as the key, you can access outputs like added_files, any_changed, and so on by prefixing them with the key test_added_files or test_any_changed etc.

Outputs 📤

Versioning 🏷️

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

The format of the version string is as follows:

• major: indicates significant changes or new features that may not be backward compatible.

• minor: indicates minor changes or new features that are backward compatible.

• patch: indicates bug fixes or other small changes that are backward compatible.

Examples 📄

Real-world usage 🌐

Open source projects 📦

• 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

• nhost: uses tj-actions/changed-files to automate testing based on changes detected

• qmk_firmware uses tj-actions/changed-files to run linters

• argo-cd uses tj-actions/changed-files to detect changed frontend or backend files

• argo-workflows uses tj-actions/changed-files to run specific jobs based on changes detected

And many more...

Scalability Example 📈

Important Notice ⚠️

[!IMPORTANT]

• 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 any 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.
• All essential 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 📖	Arthur 🐛 💻
Rodrigo Fior Kuntzer 💻 ⚠️ 🐛	Aleksey Levenstein 📖	Daniel Hill 📖	KeisukeYamashita 📖	Aravind 💻 🐛	Lukas Pfahler 💻

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