README.markdown

# require-directory

Recursively iterates over specified directory, `require()`'ing each file, and returning a nested hash structure containing those modules.

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## How To Use

### Installation (via [npm](https://npmjs.org/package/require-directory))

```bash
$ npm install require-directory
```

### Usage

A common pattern in node.js is to include an index file which creates a hash of the files in its current directory. Given a directory structure like so:

* app.js
* routes/
  * index.js
  * home.js
  * auth/
    * login.js
    * logout.js
    * register.js

`routes/index.js` uses `require-directory` to build the hash (rather than doing so manually) like so:

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory');
module.exports = requireDirectory(module);
```

`app.js` references `routes/index.js` like any other module, but it now has a hash/tree of the exports from the `./routes/` directory:

```javascript
var routes = require('./routes');

// snip

app.get('/', routes.home);
app.get('/register', routes.auth.register);
app.get('/login', routes.auth.login);
app.get('/logout', routes.auth.logout);
```

The `routes` variable above is the equivalent of this:

```javascript
var routes = {
  home: require('routes/home.js'),
  auth: {
    login: require('routes/auth/login.js'),
    logout: require('routes/auth/logout.js'),
    register: require('routes/auth/register.js')
  }
};
```

*Note that `routes.index` will be `undefined` as you would hope.*

### Specifying Another Directory

You can specify which directory you want to build a tree of (if it isn't the current directory for whatever reason) by passing it as the second parameter. Not specifying the path (`requireDirectory(module)`) is the equivelant of `requireDirectory(module, __dirname)`:

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory');
module.exports = requireDirectory(module, './some/subdirectory');
```

For example, in the [example in the Usage section](#usage) we could have avoided creating `routes/index.js` and instead changed the first lines of `app.js` to:

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory');
var routes = requireDirectory(module, './routes');
```

## Options

You can pass an options hash to `require-directory` as the 2nd parameter (or 3rd if you're passing the path to another directory as the 2nd parameter already). Here are the available options:

### Whitelisting

Whitelisting (either via RegExp or function) allows you to specify that only certain files be loaded.

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  whitelist = /onlyinclude.js$/,
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {include: whitelist});
```

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  check = function(path){
    if(/onlyinclude.js$/.test(path)){
      return true; // don't include
    }else{
      return false; // go ahead and include
    }
  },
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {include: check});
```

### Blacklisting

Blacklisting (either via RegExp or function) allows you to specify that all but certain files should be loaded.

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  blacklist = /dontinclude\.js$/,
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {exclude: blacklist});
```

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  check = function(path){
    if(/dontinclude\.js$/.test(path)){
      return false; // don't include
    }else{
      return true; // go ahead and include
    }
  },
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {exclude: check});
```

### Visiting Objects As They're Loaded

`require-directory` takes a function as the `visit` option that will be called for each module that is added to module.exports.

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  visitor = function(obj) {
    console.log(obj); // will be called for every module that is loaded
  },
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {visit: visitor});
```

The visitor can also transform the objects by returning a value:

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  visitor = function(obj) {
    return obj(new Date());
  },
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {visit: visitor});
```

### Renaming Keys

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  renamer = function(name) {
    return name.toUpperCase();
  },
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {rename: renamer});
```

### No Recursion

```javascript
var requireDirectory = require('require-directory'),
  hash = requireDirectory(module, {recurse: false});
```

## Run Unit Tests

```bash
$ npm run lint
$ npm test
```

## License

[MIT License](http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php)

## Author

[Troy Goode](https://github.com/TroyGoode) ([troygoode@gmail.com](mailto:troygoode@gmail.com))