Path-Builder

Take an indented tree decription and generate paths for each item. For example, a path description file with the following layout:

basedir1
    dir1
    dir2
        *filescanbecreated.txt
        *README.md
           *oktoforwardindentforfiles.txt
basedir2
    dir1
    dir2
*fileatbaselevel.txt

generates

./basedir1/
./basedir1/dir1/
./basedir1/dir2/
./basedir1/dir2/filescanbecreated.txt
./basedir1/dir2/README.md
./basedir1/dir2/filescanbecreated.txt
./basedir1/dir2/oktoforwardindentforfiles.txt
./basedir2/
./basedir2/di1/
./basedir2/dir2/
./fileatbaselevel.txt

The default generator produces POSIX pathnames but options are available to define a prefix and separator for each line.

>echo pathBuilder.generateLines(inputString,{prefix:'c:\\', separator:'\\'})
...
...
c:\windows\style\dir\output\
...
...

The algorithm does not use recursion.
A Jasmine spec file is available under the ./spec directory

Usage:

Path-Builder has no dependencies. Install it using npm

npm install path-builder [--save|--dev-save]

add to code:

var pathBuilder = require('./path-builder');
var string = 'directory structure data using indents';
var pathArray = pathBuilder(string);
console.dir(pathArray);  

API

var pathArray = pathBuilder(stringToParse [,options]);

Parameters:

stringToParse: A newline separated string describing a directory tree using indents. Indenting may be all spaces or all tabs. A mixture of tabs and spaces is undefined.

• text prepended with the * symbol is treated as a file name rather than a path.
• space-indent layout makes a best-guess approximation of the indenting style by counting the number of spaces in the first indented line encountered. All indents going deeper use this spacing to determine nesting level.
• Nesting levels for directories can never be more than one level deeper relative to the current depth, regardless of the number of indents assigned. Indenting a line by 24 spaces on a 4-space indent size will only act as if it was indented by 4 spaces (1 level deeper).
• Nesting for files is similar to directories. A file indented the same as a directory places the file at the same level as the directory.

options: An optional object may be passed that alters certain aspects of the formatted output.

• prefix: string - precedes the first part of the derived path. The default is {prefix: './'}
• separator: string - the separator between each sub-path. The default is {separator: '/'}. A separator always trails the last directory. Files never add a training separator.

Return:

an array of tree items expressed as paths. Each line uses the defined prefix and spearator items to generate the line.

Assumptions:

• a line with a mixture of tabs and spaces produces an undefined output.
• the default options parameter is {prefix: './', separator: '/'}

License

MIT