CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gitgithubgithub-actions
fweidemann14
fweidemann14

Reputation: 1983

GitHub Actions: how to target all branches EXCEPT master?

I want to be able to let an action run on any given branch except master. I am aware that there is a prebuilt filter action, but I want the exact opposite.

More like GitLab's except keyword. Since this is not inside the official docs, has anyone prepared a decent workaround?

Thank you very much.

Upvotes: 137

Views: 103194

Answers (2)

Samy
Samy

Reputation: 1960

There is now a branches-ignore option:

on:
  push:
    branches-ignore:
      - master

Note that you cannot use branches-ignore and branches in the same workflow.

Upvotes: 175

Electric Sheep
Electric Sheep

Reputation: 4330

Update: There is a newer filter described in Samy's answer that provides a more succinct way of achieving this.

The documentation has been updated with more information now:

When you specify a branches or tags filter, the workflow only runs if at least one pattern matches. Any changes to branches or tags that don't match a defined pattern will not trigger a workflow. The order that you define patterns matters:

  • A matching negative pattern after a positive match will exclude the ref again.
  • A matching positive pattern after a negative match will include the ref again.

So in order to exclude master, you need to ensure that a pattern matching everything is included first:

on:
  push:
    branches:    
      - '*'         # matches every branch that doesn't contain a '/'
      - '*/*'       # matches every branch containing a single '/'
      - '**'        # matches every branch
      - '!master'   # excludes master

Upvotes: 232

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