dir_iterator: new API for iterating over a directory tree

The iterator interface is modeled on that for references, though no
vtable is necessary because there is (so far?) only one type of
dir_iterator.

There are obviously a lot of features that could easily be added to this
class:

* Skip/include directory paths in the iteration
* Shallow/deep iteration
* Letting the caller decide which subdirectories to recurse into (e.g.,
  via a dir_iterator_advance_into() function)
* Option to iterate in sorted order
* Option to iterate over directory paths before vs. after their contents

But these are not needed for the current patch series, so I refrain.

Signed-off-by: Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

1 files changed, 87 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/dir-iterator.h b/dir-iterator.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..27739e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dir-iterator.h
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+#ifndef DIR_ITERATOR_H
+#define DIR_ITERATOR_H
+
+/*
+ * Iterate over a directory tree.
+ *
+ * Iterate over a directory tree, recursively, including paths of all
+ * types and hidden paths. Skip "." and ".." entries and don't follow
+ * symlinks except for the original path.
+ *
+ * Every time dir_iterator_advance() is called, update the members of
+ * the dir_iterator structure to reflect the next path in the
+ * iteration. The order that paths are iterated over within a
+ * directory is undefined, but directory paths are always iterated
+ * over before the subdirectory contents.
+ *
+ * A typical iteration looks like this:
+ *
+ *     int ok;
+ *     struct iterator *iter = dir_iterator_begin(path);
+ *
+ *     while ((ok = dir_iterator_advance(iter)) == ITER_OK) {
+ *             if (want_to_stop_iteration()) {
+ *                     ok = dir_iterator_abort(iter);
+ *                     break;
+ *             }
+ *
+ *             // Access information about the current path:
+ *             if (S_ISDIR(iter->st.st_mode))
+ *                     printf("%s is a directory\n", iter->relative_path);
+ *     }
+ *
+ *     if (ok != ITER_DONE)
+ *             handle_error();
+ *
+ * Callers are allowed to modify iter->path while they are working,
+ * but they must restore it to its original contents before calling
+ * dir_iterator_advance() again.
+ */
+
+struct dir_iterator {
+	/* The current path: */
+	struct strbuf path;
+
+	/*
+	 * The current path relative to the starting path. This part
+	 * of the path always uses "/" characters to separate path
+	 * components:
+	 */
+	const char *relative_path;
+
+	/* The current basename: */
+	const char *basename;
+
+	/* The result of calling lstat() on path: */
+	struct stat st;
+};
+
+/*
+ * Start a directory iteration over path. Return a dir_iterator that
+ * holds the internal state of the iteration.
+ *
+ * The iteration includes all paths under path, not including path
+ * itself and not including "." or ".." entries.
+ *
+ * path is the starting directory. An internal copy will be made.
+ */
+struct dir_iterator *dir_iterator_begin(const char *path);
+
+/*
+ * Advance the iterator to the first or next item and return ITER_OK.
+ * If the iteration is exhausted, free the dir_iterator and any
+ * resources associated with it and return ITER_DONE. On error, free
+ * dir_iterator and associated resources and return ITER_ERROR. It is
+ * a bug to use iterator or call this function again after it has
+ * returned ITER_DONE or ITER_ERROR.
+ */
+int dir_iterator_advance(struct dir_iterator *iterator);
+
+/*
+ * End the iteration before it has been exhausted. Free the
+ * dir_iterator and any associated resources and return ITER_DONE. On
+ * error, free the dir_iterator and return ITER_ERROR.
+ */
+int dir_iterator_abort(struct dir_iterator *iterator);
+
+#endif