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Labels

Grog uses labels and patterns, heavily inspired by Bazel, to identify specific resources (targets) or groups of resources within your project’s structure.

Target Labels

Section titled “Target Labels”

A target label is a unique identifier for a specific resource within your Grog project. It follows a canonical format:

//path/to/target:name
  • //: Indicates the root of your project workspace.
  • package/path: The path from the root to the directory containing the resource’s definition. For resources defined in the root directory, the package path is empty (//:target_name).
  • :: Separates the package path from the target name.
  • target_name: The name of the specific resource defined within that package.

Shorthand Notation:

If the target_name is the same as the last component of the package/path, you can use a shorthand notation:

package/path
 -> Equivalent to //package/path:path
//foo/bar
 -> Equivalent to //foo/bar:bar

Relative Notation:

Within a Grog BUILD file - or when running a command from that package - you can refer to targets within the same package using a relative label notation starting with a colon (:):

:target_name # Refers to target_name within the current package

For example, if used within my_repo/package/BUILD.json, :my_target is equivalent to //package:my_target.

Target Patterns

Section titled “Target Patterns”

Target patterns allow you to refer to multiple targets at once using wildcards. They are useful for commands that operate on groups of targets.

Recursive Wildcard (...):

The ... wildcard matches all packages recursively under a given path.

  • //package/path/...: Matches all targets in package/path and all sub-packages recursively.
    • Example: //src/... matches all targets in src, src/app, src/lib, etc.
  • //...: Matches all targets in all packages in the entire workspace.

Specific Target Name with Recursive Wildcard:

You can combine the recursive wildcard with a specific target name to match targets with that name in any matched package:

  • //package/path/...:target_name: Matches any target named target_name in package/path or any of its sub-packages.
    • Example: //test/...:all_tests matches the all_tests target in the test package and any sub-package under test.

All Targets in a Package with all:

You can match all targets directly within a specific package (non-recursively) using :... or :all.

  • //package/path:...: Matches all targets defined directly in the package/path package.
  • //package/path:all: Equivalent to //package/path:....

Note: A pattern like //package/path without a colon or wildcard is treated as shorthand for //package/path:path, similar to target labels. To match all targets within the package/path directory only, use //package/path:....