Difference between any_changed and only_changed

[chadtomkiss]

I have a step to get a list of changes in a directory:

- name: Get changed app files
    id: changed-files-app
    uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v44
    with:
      files: |
        app/**

If I change a file in app then:

any_changed: true
only_changed: false

In what scenario would only_changed be set to true?

My intention is to only run particular commands when files in app have changed but not in a different folder say docs

[jackton1]

Hi @chadtomkiss, with the following code

- name: Get changed app files
    id: changed-files-app
    uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v44
    with:
      files: |
        app/**

any_changed: This would be true if the full sets of commits being compared include a change to any files in the app folder, including subfolders. If the full sets of commits compared only include changes made to other files and folders outside the app folder, then any_changed would be false.

only_changed: On the other hand, this would be true only when the full sets of commits compared only include changes to the app folder if any other files change, then only_changed would be false.

You want to use any_changed for most use cases if you have a filter.

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1: Changes in app Folder Only

• Files Changed: app/main.py, app/utils/helper.py

• any_changed: true

• only_changed: true

Scenario 2: Changes in app Folder and Other Folders

• Files Changed: app/main.py, docs/readme.md

• any_changed: true

• only_changed: false

Scenario 3: No Changes in app Folder

• Files Changed: docs/readme.md, tests/test_main.py

• any_changed: false

• only_changed: false

Scenario 4: Changes in Subfolders of app

• Files Changed: app/subfolder/config.yaml, app/subfolder/utils.py

• any_changed: true

• only_changed: true