# Use Regular Expressions to Exclude GitHub Directories GitHub file paths do not contain the GitHub org name or repository names. They only contain the folder name(s) and file name. Hence a regular expression to match GitHub directories must only contain characters to just match the folder name and file name. ## Matching Files at the Repository Level These are the files that are directly located under a repository. They are not nested under any repository folders. If the file name is abcd.py and the repository name is Python repository, in a GitHub org called Python Project, then the file path would be Python Project/Python repository/abcd.py. However, as mentioned above, GitHub file paths do not include the GitHub org name and repository name, and hence the file path would just be abcd.py in this case. To exclude all such files (.py), you must create the regular expression as follows. ```regex .*\.py ``` Similarly, to exclude any other file types, you must replace `py` in the above pattern with your respective file extension. ## Matching Files Nested in Directories You can match files nested under repositories, by using the escape sequence character (\\) for every level of nesting. An escape sequence character is required to match a forward slash (/) used in directories. For instance, to match a file **abcd.py** under the folder **first** (effective GitHub file path is first/abcd.py), you must use the following regular expression. ```regex first\/.* ``` The above expression matches all the files under the **first** folder and not just the **abcd.py**. To match only Python files (.py extension), you must use the following regular expression. ```regex first\/.*\.py ``` To match only the **abcd.py** file, under the first folder, you must use the following regular expression. ```regex first\/abcd\.py ``` ## Matching Nested Directories To exclude all the files under a directory, you must match the entire directory. Consider that a directory is *first/second*. You wish to exclude all the files under this directory. Also, in this case, you must use the escape sequence character twice, since there are two levels of nesting and as a result, two forward slashes. ``` first\/second\/.* ``` This regex matches and excludes all the files under the directory. Similarly, to exclude files nested at multiple levels, you can use escape sequence character-based matching. ## Cheat Sheet This cheat sheet displays the regex to be used for various scenarios.
MatchRegexComments
first/abcd.py
first\/abcd.py
Match a file called abcd.py under a directory called first.
first/abcd.py, first/efgh.py,
first/ijkq.py
first\/.*.py
Match any file with .py extension under a directory called first.
first/abcd.py,
first/abcd.java,
first/abcd.cpp
first\/.*
Match any file under a directory called first.
first/second/abcd.py
first\/second\/abcd.py
Match a file called abcd.py under a directory called second, which is nested under another direcory called first.
first/second/abcd.py,
first/second/efgh.py,
first/second/ijkq.py
first\/second\/.*.py
Match any file with .py extension under a directory called second, which is nested under another direcory called first.
first/second/abcd.py,
first/second/efgh.java,
first/second/ijkq.cpp
first\/second\/.*
Match any file under a directory called second, which is nested under another direcory called first.
abcd.py
 .*.py
Match a file called abcd.py which is located directly undet the repository and not under any folder.
abcd.py,
efgh.java,
ijkq.cpp
.*
Match any file which is located directly undet the repository and not under any folder.
{% hint style="info" %} You can use [this link](https://regex-generator.olafneumann.org/?sampleText=2020-03-12T13%3A34%3A56.123Z%20INFO%20%20%5Borg.example.Class%5D%3A%20This%20is%20a%20%23simple%20%23logline%20containing%20a%20%27value%27.\&flags=i) to generate a regular expression that exactly matches your requirements. {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.nightfall.ai/github/policies/scope/github_regexp.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.