[BUG] files_ignore input ignores negation with !

[luk-lo]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Does this issue exist in the latest version?

• I'm using the latest release

Describe the bug?

I have a scenario where I want to list all changes but ignore .txt files except if those files are below module3 via the files_ignore input:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11 # v4
     with: 
       ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
  - name: Non-txt file changes except in module3
     id: diff-non-txt
     uses: tj-actions/changed-files@af292f1e845a0377b596972698a8598734eb2796 # v40.0.0
     with:
       files_ignore: |
         **/*.txt
         !module3/**/*.txt

But if I modify e.g. module3/test/file.txt, it does not appear in all_changed_files. The log output looks to me like the entries in files_ignore are prepended with ! except when they already have a ! in front?

To Reproduce

I reproduced the behavior in luk-lo/test-issue#1

What OS are you seeing the problem on?

ubuntu-latest or ubuntu-22.04

Expected behavior?

I would expect the .txt files below module3 to not be ignored.

Relevant log output

##[debug]  "filesIgnore": "**/*.txt\n!module3/**/*.txt",
##[debug]  "filesIgnoreSeparator": "\n",
...
##[debug]files ignore patterns: !**/*.txt
##[debug]!module3/**/*.txt
##[debug]Input file patterns: 
##[debug]!**/*.txt
##[debug]!module3/**/*.txt
##[debug]File patterns: !**/*.txt,!module3/**/*.txt

Has all relevant logs been included?

• I've included all relevant logs

Anything else?

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[github-actions]

Thanks for reporting this issue, don't forget to star this project if you haven't already to help us reach a wider audience.

[jackton1]

@luk-lo The files_ignore input automatically prepends a ! to the pattern if it isn't there it doesn't conditionally allow certain patterns to the included.

If you intend to include module3/**/*.txt then you should use the files input instead. You can also include all other files with **

...
  - name: Non-txt file changes except in module3
     id: diff-non-txt
     uses: tj-actions/changed-files@af292f1e845a0377b596972698a8598734eb2796 # v40.0.0
     with:
       files: |
         **
         module3/**/*.txt
       files_ignore: '**/*.txt'

[luk-lo]

@jackton1 Thanks for the change and the quick response. My issue is that if I set files to module3/**/*.txt it restricts the selection to that pattern. I would like to check the entire repo, except for *.txt files, but include *.txt files below module3. Is that easily possible?

[jackton1]

Hi @luk-lo, yes it’s possible I’ve updated my comment above to reflect the change you’ll need to make

[luk-lo]

Hi @jackton1 thank you very much, that worked like a charm.

for the record: yaml does not like multi-line-string lines starting with ** so I had to smush it together as files: "**\nmodule3/**/*.txt"

[luk-lo]

@jackton1 sorry I spoke too early. With the new configuration, changes to .txt files outside of module3 are not ignored anymore. The ** in files overrides the **/*.txt in files_ignore in that case I think.

[jackton1]

Hi @luk-lo, this should be resolved now. You can re-run the workflow if you use the major version or upgrade to the latest patch release.

[luk-lo]

It works 👍 thanks again

[jackton1]

Hi @luk-lo a new release introduced a new input negation_patterns_first you’ll need to set this to true in order to get patterns to work for your use case.