[PEAR-BUG] Doc #20369 [Opn->Fbk]: Unclear usage of regexes in exclude patterns

Edit report at https://pear.php.net/bugs/bug.php?id=20369&edit=1

 ID:               20369
 Updated by:       [email protected]
 Reported By:      pear at larsheber dot de
 Summary:          Unclear usage of regexes in exclude patterns
-Status:           Open
+Status:           Feedback
 Type:             Documentation Problem
 Package:          PHP_CodeSniffer
 Package Version:  2.0.0RC1
 PHP Version:      Irrelevant
-Assigned To:      
+Assigned To:      squiz
 Roadmap Versions: 
 New Comment:

-Status:      Open
+Status:      Feedback
-Assigned To:
+Assigned To: squiz
1. Comma is used to separate patterns on the command line, so you need
to 
escape any commas you use in the patterns themselves. So I remove the
escape 
chars for commas only. The * -> .* change is just a convenience thing,
as was the 
norm when I added this feature years ago. It's easier to just do --
exclude=*/tests/*. Removing this would be a huge backwards compatibly
break, so 
I'd never do it.

2. I assume you mean this code from where files are excluded:
if (DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR === '\\') {
    $replacements['/'] = '\\\\';
}

That code isn't present when doing sniff exclusions. I don't think there
is any 
reason for that and it can be added in easily. Before I do, is this what
you are 
talking about specifically?


Previous Comments:
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[2014-08-11 08:57:11] pittiplatsch

Description:
------------
Hello,
due to quite incomplete docs I'm trying to find out the exact
possibilities of exclude patterns by inspecting the sources.

However, some questions remain:
1.
Obviously, exclude patterns are rendered as regexes. In some issues
concerning excl-pat's regular expression syntax is 

recommended (e.g. issue #19648).
However, what's the point then of hard-coded string-replace of "\\," to
"," and "*" to ".*" before processing the regex?
a)
I see some convenience to simply use "*" - but this leads to some
regexes failing where they shouldn't:
The regex "^application/test.*\.php" is changed to
"^application/test..*\.php" which leads the file "application/test.php"


to fail although my original regex includes this file!
b)
What about the "\\," to "," thing?

2.
Why are exclude patterns processed differently for global use and
per-sniff?
I have the concrete problem that (using Windows) for global usage both
patterns "application\\" and "application/" work 

perfectly fine, while on per-sniff basis only "application\\" works
which obviously prevents portability to *NIX systems.

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Edit this bug report at https://pear.php.net/bugs/bug.php?id=20369&edit=1