Can't exclude directories using src glob

I can’t exclude a directory from being copied over when using a src glob. Here’s my task:

gulp.task('copy', function() {
    return gulp.src(['app/**', '!app/_tmp/**'])
        .pipe(gulp.dest('dist'));
});

Gulp copies over app/**, but app/_tmp/ is still being copied.

Expected:

+ app/
  + tmp/
      file1
      file2
  + css/
      styles.css
  + js/
      app.js
+ dist/
  + css/
      styles.css
  + js/
      app.js

Gulp output:

+ app/
  + tmp/
      file1
      file2
  + css/
      styles.css
  + js/
      app.js
+ dist/
  + tmp/
  + css/
      styles.css
  + js/
      app.js

Update: Clarified that the dist/_tmp/ directory does not contain any files

[stryju]

@aaronbushnell

gulp.src(['app/**', '!app/{_tmp,_tmp/**}'])

why?

• !app/_tmp would match only the folder, but not any file within it - since it’s not a globbing expression (a bug?)
• !app/_tmp/** would match the files IN the _tmp folder, but not the folder itself, so the empty folder would be created

using the !app/{_tmp,_tmp/**} pattern uses a pattern to combine the both requirements and says:

give me all the dirs/files in app folder EXCEPT for _tmp folder content and the _tmp directory itself

😃

[gfloyd]

The way I’ve made this work is to exclude the directory and the contents like so: gulp.src(['app/**', '!app/_tmp', '!app/_tmp/**'])