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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

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

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 (* or 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:*.