:doc:`/index`

.. _exclude_paths_label:

Exclude Paths
=============

Exclude part of your object tree from comparison.
use exclude_paths and pass a set or list of paths to exclude, if only one item is being passed, then just put it there as a string. No need to pass it as a list then.

Example
    >>> t1 = {"for life": "vegan", "ingredients": ["no meat", "no eggs", "no dairy"]}
    >>> t2 = {"for life": "vegan", "ingredients": ["veggies", "tofu", "soy sauce"]}
    >>> print (DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_paths="root['ingredients']"))  # one item pass it as a string
    {}
    >>> print (DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_paths=["root['ingredients']", "root['ingredients2']"]))  # multiple items pass as a list or a set.
    {}

Also for root keys you don't have to pass as "root['key']". You can instead just pass the key:

Example
    >>> t1 = {"for life": "vegan", "ingredients": ["no meat", "no eggs", "no dairy"]}
    >>> t2 = {"for life": "vegan", "ingredients": ["veggies", "tofu", "soy sauce"]}
    >>> print (DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_paths="ingredients"))  # one item pass it as a string
    {}
    >>> print (DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_paths=["ingredients", "ingredients2"]))  # multiple items pass as a list or a set.
    {}


.. _include_paths_label:

Include Paths
=============

Only include this part of your object tree in the comparison.
Use include_paths and pass a set or list of paths to limit diffing to only those paths. If only one item is being passed, just put it there as a string—no need to pass it as a list then.

Example
    >>> t1 = {"for life": "vegan", "ingredients": ["no meat", "no eggs", "no dairy"]}
    >>> t2 = {"for life": "vegan", "ingredients": ["veggies", "tofu", "soy sauce"]}
    >>> print (DeepDiff(t1, t2, include_paths="root['for life']"))  # one item pass it as a string
    {}
    >>> print (DeepDiff(t1, t2, include_paths=["for life", "ingredients2"]))  # multiple items pass as a list or a set and you don't need to pass the full path when dealing with root keys. So instead of "root['for life']" you can pass "for life"
    {}


When passing include_paths, all the children of that path will be included too.

Example
    >>> t1 = {
    ...     "foo": {"bar": "potato"},
    ...     "ingredients": ["no meat", "no eggs", "no dairy"]
    ... }
    >>> t2 = {
    ...     "foo": {"bar": "banana"},
    ...     "ingredients": ["bread", "cheese"]
    ... }
    >>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, include_paths="foo")
    {'values_changed': {"root['foo']['bar']": {'new_value': 'banana', 'old_value': 'potato'}}}


.. _wildcard_paths_label:

Wildcard (Glob) Paths
---------------------

Both ``exclude_paths`` and ``include_paths`` support wildcard patterns for matching multiple paths at once:

- ``[*]`` or ``.*`` matches exactly **one** path segment (any key, index, or attribute).
- ``[**]`` or ``.**`` matches **zero or more** path segments at any depth.

Wildcard patterns must use the full ``root`` prefix (shorthand keys are not supported for wildcards).

Exclude all ``password`` fields regardless of the parent key:
    >>> t1 = {"users": {"alice": {"name": "Alice", "password": "s1"}, "bob": {"name": "Bob", "password": "s2"}}}
    >>> t2 = {"users": {"alice": {"name": "Alice", "password": "x1"}, "bob": {"name": "Bob", "password": "x2"}}}
    >>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_paths=["root['users'][*]['password']"])
    {}

Include only ``name`` fields at any depth:
    >>> t1 = {"a": {"name": "A", "secret": 1}, "b": {"name": "B", "secret": 2}}
    >>> t2 = {"a": {"name": "X", "secret": 1}, "b": {"name": "Y", "secret": 2}}
    >>> result = DeepDiff(t1, t2, include_paths=["root[*]['name']"])
    >>> set(result.get('values_changed', {}).keys()) == {"root['a']['name']", "root['b']['name']"}
    True

Use ``[**]`` to match at any depth:
    >>> t1 = {"config": {"db": {"password": "old"}, "cache": {"password": "old"}}}
    >>> t2 = {"config": {"db": {"password": "new"}, "cache": {"password": "new"}}}
    >>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_paths=["root[**]['password']"])
    {}

Literal keys named ``*`` or ``**`` are not treated as wildcards when quoted:
    >>> t1 = {"*": 1, "a": 2}
    >>> t2 = {"*": 10, "a": 20}
    >>> result = DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_paths=["root['*']"])
    >>> "root['a']" in result.get('values_changed', {})
    True

When both ``exclude_paths`` and ``include_paths`` apply to the same path, exclusion takes precedence.

Wildcards also work with ``DeepHash`` and ``DeepSearch`` exclude_paths.


.. _exclude_regex_paths_label:

Exclude Regex Paths
-------------------

You can also exclude using regular expressions by using `exclude_regex_paths` and pass a set or list of path regexes to exclude. The items in the list could be raw regex strings or compiled regex objects.
    >>> import re
    >>> t1 = [{'a': 1, 'b': 2}, {'c': 4, 'b': 5}]
    >>> t2 = [{'a': 1, 'b': 3}, {'c': 4, 'b': 5}]
    >>> print(DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_regex_paths=r"root\[\d+\]\['b'\]"))
    {}
    >>> exclude_path = re.compile(r"root\[\d+\]\['b'\]")
    >>> print(DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_regex_paths=[exclude_path]))
    {}

example 2:
    >>> t1 = {'a': [1, 2, [3, {'foo1': 'bar'}]]}
    >>> t2 = {'a': [1, 2, [3, {'foo2': 'bar'}]]}
    >>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, exclude_regex_paths="\['foo.'\]")  # since it is one item in exclude_regex_paths, you don't have to put it in a list or a set.
    {}

Tip: DeepDiff is using re.search on the path. So if you want to force it to match from the beginning of the path, add `^` to the beginning of regex.



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