Glob Patterns

Several rule configuration options accept glob patterns instead of literal names, so that a single entry can cover a whole package or a family of declarations. detekt supports two pattern flavors. They differ in whether * and ? stop at the package separator, so check the documentation of the option you are configuring to see which one applies.

Both flavors are anchored: a pattern has to match the whole name, not just a part of it. java.util.Date therefore never matches java.util.DateFormat.

In either flavor, a pattern that is not a valid expression, such as a[b, fails the analysis with a pattern syntax error.

Neither flavor is related to the file path globs used by excludes and includes, which are described in detekt Configuration File.

Simple patterns

In this flavor * matches zero or more characters and ? matches exactly one character. Neither one stops at the package separator, so * and ? can both match a ..

Pattern	Matches	Does not match
java.util.Date	java.util.Date	java.util.DateFormat
java.util.*	java.util.Date, java.util.concurrent.Future	java.util
java.util.Dat?	java.util.Date	java.util.Dat, java.util.Dates
java?util	java.util, java_util	javautil
*.internal.*	com.example.internal.Foo	com.example.Foo

Because * also matches an empty string, java.util.* covers everything below java.util but not java.util itself. Write two entries if you need both.

A . is always a literal character and cannot be escaped. A pattern written as java\.util\.Date does not match java.util.Date, or any other ordinary qualified name, so write java.util.Date instead.

Package-aware patterns

In this flavor * and ? stop at the package separator, and ** is used to cross it:

• * matches zero or more characters within a single segment.
• ? matches exactly one character within a single segment.
• ** crosses package separators and must be followed by a .. Write it as a complete segment, as in a.**.Foo; attached to other characters, as in pre**.Foo, it no longer matches whole segments.

Pattern	Matches	Does not match
test.Foo	test.Foo	test.bar.Foo
test?Foo	testXFoo	test.Foo
**.Foo	test.Foo, test.bar.Foo	Foo
**.F*	test.Foo, test.bar.Foo	Foo
a.**.d.Foo	a.b.c.d.Foo	a.d.Foo

Written as a complete segment, ** needs at least one segment to match, so a.**.b.c.d.Foo does not match a.b.c.d.Foo.

This flavor is used by options that treat . as a package separator, most notably the ignoreAnnotated option described in Suppressors. It is the only flavor that understands **.