Changed Files

changed-files

Retrieve all changed files relative to the default branch (pull_request* based events) or a previous commit (push based event) returning the absolute path to all changed files from the project root.

Features

Boolean output indicating that certain files have been modified.
List all files that have changed.
- Between the current pull request branch and the default branch.
- Between the last commit and the current pushed change.
Restrict change detection to a subset of files.
- Report on files that have at least one change.
- Regex pattern matching on a subset of files.

Supported Platforms

Usage

NOTE: ⚠️

IMPORTANT: For push events you need to include fetch-depth: 0 OR fetch-depth: 2 depending on your use case.

When using persist-credentials: false with actions/checkout@v2 you'll need to specify a token using the token input.

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # windows-latest | macos-latest
    name: Test changed-files
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # OR "2" -> To retrieve the preceding commit.
      
      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
      
      - name: List all modified files
        run: |
          for file in "${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_modified_files }}"; do
            echo "$file was modified"
          done

Outputs

Acronym	Meaning
A	Added
C	Copied
M	Modified
D	Deleted
R	Renamed
T	Type changed
U	Unmerged
X	Unknown

Output	type	example	description
any_changed	`string`	`true` OR `false`	Returns `true` when any of the filenames provided using the `files` input has changed (ACMR)
only_changed	`string`	`true` OR `false`	Returns `true` when only files provided using the `files` input have changed.
other_changed_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select all modified files not listed in the files input i.e. a combination of all added, copied and modified files (ACM).
all_modified_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select all modified files i.e. a combination of all added, copied, modified and renamed files (ACMR).
all_changed_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select all paths () i.e. a combination of all options below.*
added_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that are Added (A)
copied_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that are Copied (C)
deleted_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that are Deleted (D)
modified_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that are Modified (M)
renamed_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that are Renamed (R)
type_changed_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that have their file type changed (T)
unmerged_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that are Unmerged (U)
unknown_files	`string`	`'new.txt path/to/file.png ...'`	Select only files that are Unknown (X)

Inputs

Input	type	required	default	description
token	`string`	`false`	`${{ github.token }}`	GITHUB_TOKEN or a repo scoped Personal Access Token
separator	`string`	`true`	`' '`	Output string separator
files	`string` OR `string[]`	`false`		Check for changes using only these list of file(s) (Defaults to the entire repo)
base_sha	`string`	`false`		Specify a different base commit SHA used for comparing changes
sha	`string`	`true`	`${{ github.sha }}`	Specify a different commit SHA used for comparing changes
files_from_source_file	`string`	`false`		Source file used to populate the files input

Example

...
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Get changed files using defaults
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
      
      - name: Get changed files using a comma separator
        id: changed-files-comma
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
        with:
          separator: ","

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

      - name: Run step when a file changes
        if: contains(steps.changed-files.outputs.modified_files, 'my-file.txt')
        run: |
          echo "Your file my-file.txt has been modified."

      - name: Run step when a file has been deleted
        if: contains(steps.changed-files.outputs.deleted_files, 'test.txt')
        run: |
          echo "Your test.txt has been deleted."

      - name: Get specific changed files
        id: changed-files-specific
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
        with:
          files: |
            my-file.txt
            test.txt
            new.txt
            test_directory
            .(png|jpeg)$   
            .(sql)$
            ^(mynewfile|custom)

      - name: Run step if any of the listed files above change
        if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.any_changed == 'true'
        run: |
          echo "One or more files listed above has changed."
          
      - name: Run step if only the files listed above change
        if: steps.changed-files-specific.outputs.only_changed == 'true'
        run: |
          echo "Only files listed above have changed."
      
      - name: Use a source file or list of file(s) to populate to files input.
        id: changed-files-specific-source-file
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
        with:
          files_from_source_file: |
            test/changed-files-list.txt

      - name: Use a source file or list of file(s) to populate to files input and optionally specify more files.
        id: changed-files-specific-source-file-and-specify-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
        with:
          files_from_source_file: |
            test/changed-files-list.txt
          files: |
            .github/workflows/rebase.yml

      - name: Use a different commit SHA
        id: changed-files-custom-sha
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
        with:
          sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
          
      - name: Use a different base SHA
        id: changed-files-custom-base-sha
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9
        with:
          base_sha: "2096ed0"

Running pre-commit on all modified files

...
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      
      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed-files
        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v8.9

      - name: Pre-commit
        uses: pre-commit/action@v2.0.0
        with:
          extra_args: -v --hook-stage push --files ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_modified_files }}
          token: ${{ secrets.github_token }}