Can't pass dot/hidden files on command line

[ghost]

Hello,
since JavaScript config files are supported now, can you please consider adding a (at least optional) way to ask eslint to lint also hidden/dot files (e.g. .eslintrc.js or .eslintrc.json with the JSON plugin) if a name to a directory is passed (e.g. eslint .)?

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[eslintbot]

@radek-holy Thanks for the issue! If you're reporting a bug, please be sure to include:

1. The version of ESLint you are using (run eslint -v)
2. What you did (the source code and ESLint configuration)
3. The actual ESLint output complete with numbers
4. What you expected to happen instead

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[nzakas]

Are you asking to include all dot files or just .eslintrc.js?

Note you can pass .eslintrc.js directly on the command line already.

[ghost]

I'm asking to include all dot files. At least optionally. It is related to the feature request #4829 (I'd like to test all the rc files of all the linters).

[michaelficarra]

Can't you just pass **/.* explicitly? It's even easier than an option.

[ghost]

Yes, sure, I can. This is just a request for a nice to have feature. I thought that because ESLint started to support JavaScript configs, potentially every user who uses .eslintrc.js would like to lint the config as well and thus every such user would welcome if ESLint did that automatically. And since I thought that it would sound questionable if ESLint would make just one exception, I thought that it could test all dot files. Actually, I failed to find an example where a user would not want to test a .*.js file... If you don't share my beliefs, feel free to close this (or change this request to something acceptable).

[DarkPark]

@nzakas, sadly seems explicit eslint ./.eslintrc.js doesn't work - I don't receive any errors/warnings from this file

[michaelficarra]

@DarkPark Maybe there's nothing to warn about.

[ilyavolodin]

@DarkPark Could you try to run the same command with --debug flag and check if the file is actually getting linted?

[DarkPark]

@michaelficarra, I deliberately made some :)

[DarkPark]

v2.3.0

@ilyavolodin, eslint --debug ./.eslintrc.js gives:

  eslint:cli Running on files +0ms
  eslint:ignored-paths Looking for ignore file in /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config +30ms
  eslint:ignored-paths Could not find ignore file in cwd +2ms
  eslint:cli-engine Linting complete in: 2ms +2ms

[nzakas]

@DarkPark can you rename to eslintrc.js and run with --debug so we can see your expected output?

[DarkPark]

@nzakas, sure, here it is:

eslint --debug ./eslintrc.js

  eslint:cli Running on files +0ms
  eslint:ignored-paths Looking for ignore file in /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config +28ms
  eslint:ignored-paths Could not find ignore file in cwd +1ms
  eslint:cli-engine Processing /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config/eslintrc.js +4ms
  eslint:cli-engine Linting /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config/eslintrc.js +1ms
  eslint:config Constructing config for /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config/eslintrc.js +1ms
  eslint:config Using .eslintrc and package.json files +0ms
  eslint:config Loading /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config/.eslintrc.js +2ms
  eslint:config-file Loading JS config file: /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config/.eslintrc.js +1ms
  eslint:config Using /home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config/.eslintrc.js +187ms
  eslint:config Loading /home/dp/Projects/sdk/package.json +0ms
  eslint:config-file Loading package.json config file: /home/dp/Projects/sdk/package.json +1ms
  eslint:config-file Loading JSON config file: /home/dp/Projects/sdk/package.json +0ms
  eslint:config Merging command line environment settings +1ms
  eslint:config-ops Apply environment settings to config +0ms
  eslint:config-ops Creating config for environment commonjs +0ms
  eslint:cli-engine Linting complete in: 386ms +189ms

/home/dp/Projects/sdk/cjs/eslint-config/eslintrc.js
  19:9   warning  Extra space after key 'comma-dangle'               key-spacing
  19:25  warning  Missing space before value for key 'comma-dangle'  key-spacing
  19:26  error    Strings must use singlequote                       quotes

✖ 3 problems (1 error, 2 warnings)

[nzakas]

Thanks. So this looks like a bug, we should be linting anything passed on the command line. We should fix that.

[alberto]

@nzakas So if we do eslint node_modules should we also lint that?

What about eslint . with a node_modules folder?

[michaelficarra]

@alberto

So if we do eslint node_modules should we also lint that?

Yes because it was passed on the command line.

What about eslint . with a node_modules folder?

No because it wasn't passed on the command line.

[nzakas]

Agree with @michaelficarra

[alberto]

So, I guess we should also allow doing something like
eslint node_modules/some_module/some/deep/folder ?

Also, for reference, the current behaviour with hidden files is explicitly covered by our tests here.

[nzakas]

Yup

[alberto]

ok, one more question (sorry I keep coming at this, I'm trying to understand the reach and implications of this). What about glob patterns?

Should eslint **/*.js be expanded and run also on ignored folders (including node_modules and bower_components) ?
Should eslint **/.* be expanded and run on all hidden files?

[alberto]

@radek-holy as a workaround, you can run eslint --no-ignore .eslintrc.js

[nzakas]

@IanVS we have a bug where ! isn't working right now: #5728

We can wait until that gets resolved and then revisit this.

[IanVS]

I did a little digging, and I think I figured out what's going on. When you pass in . as the argument to eslint, we convert it into a glob like /absolute/path/to/your/path/**/*.js. We then use node-glob to get a list of files to process. By default, node-glob will not match files and folders which begin with a . (https://github.com/isaacs/node-glob#dots).

So, while the !.* ignore pattern is working correctly, the dotfiles are not being considered for linting at all. A workaround for this is to specify two patterns when you lint, as so:

eslint . .*

I also think it would be safe for us to use the dot: true option in node-glob so that dot files are always considered, but will normally be ignored because of our default ignore rules. If the rest of the team is satisfied with this solution, I'd be happy to submit a PR for it.

[nzakas]

@IanVS can you summarize what your proposal is at this point?

[alberto]

He's proposing to change glob options in glob-util to make it consider dot files and folders. This won't change anything by default since they are ignored by eslint, but it will allow unignoring them in .eslintignore. I'm 👍 on that.

[nzakas]

@alberto it's not clear if he meant just that or that and a command line flag.

@IanVS can you clarify?

[IanVS]

I no longer think it's necessary to include a command line option, since the same can be easily accomplished with a !.* pattern. Alberto's understanding was correct.

But, if we do this, dotfiles ending with .js (or specified extensions) will be linted when using --no-ignore. Is that acceptable?

[IanVS]

Regarding my last statement above, I think this highlights a deeper problem, similar to #5547. Using --no-ignore should not unignore the default ignores (dependency folders and dotfiles).

So to be clear, my proposal is:

1. Prevent dotfiles from being unignored by --no-ignore.
2. Return dotfiles from glob-util as described in Can't pass dot/hidden files on command line #4828 (comment).

[nzakas]

Sounds good.

[IanVS]

My point number one above should be covered by #5820. After that is merged, I'll work on number two.

[IanVS]

Sorry, I lost track of this. Will work on it shortly.

[alberto]

I think we should wait on this until #6710 is solved.

[IanVS]

@alberto, could you explain why? I know #6710 is an important enhancement, but this bug prevents use of ESLint altogether for some cases. And I don't see how the other issue is a blocker in any event.

[alberto]

Sorry, you are right maybe it's not needed. I was planning to fix #6710 and then fix this, because I was concerned there could be a performance impact with hidden folders created by tools, but I don't have any numbers.