How can I keep a directory?

[ben4d85]

Issue description or question

When using webpack-clean, what option do I need to pass to keep a whole directory, i.e. to ensure the directory does not get deleted?

Example

My output directory is dist. I want index.js to be deleted, but I want to keep the .git folder.

- dist
-- .git
-- index.js

Attempt

I have tried the following. But this stops it from deleting anything at all. Might it have to do with the . in .git? What is the correct way to use this, please?

        new CleanWebpackPlugin({
            cleanOnceBeforeBuildPatterns: ['!.git'],
        }),

[Casey Milstead]

I was confused as well. I think this setting overrides the default include so you have to put it back.

To clean your output, but exclude a whole directory, this should do the trick:

new CleanWebpackPlugin({
    cleanOnceBeforeBuildPatterns: ['**/*', '!.git', '!.git/**/*']
})

[Kayson Wu]

@johnagan Can you simplify the option to exclude directories?

Now

cleanOnceBeforeBuildPatterns: ['**/*', '!dir', '!dir/**/*']

Expect

cleanOnceBeforeBuildPatterns: ['**/*', '!dir']

If a directory is allowed to be emptied, then this directory should also be deleted.

[stepbackj]

I was able to exclude a directory and all its subdirectories/files using

cleanOnceBeforeBuildPatterns: ['**/*', '!dir/**']