Validate File Exists

A GitHub Action that validates whether specified files exist in your repository. This action helps ensure that required files are present before proceeding with your workflow, which is useful for validation steps or pre-deployment checks.

Inputs

Input	Description	Required
required-files	Comma-separated list of files to check for existence	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description
exists	'true' if all specified files exist

Usage

Basic Example

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - name: Validate configuration files
    uses: chrisreddington/validate-file-exists@v0.0.1
    with:
      required-files: README.md

Multiple Files Example

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - name: Validate configuration files
    uses: chrisreddington/validate-file-exists@v0.0.1
    with:
      required-files: 'README.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md'

Advanced Example with Error Handling

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - name: Validate critical files
    id: validate
    uses: chrisreddington/validate-file-exists@v0.0.1
    with:
      required-files: 'package.json, tsconfig.json, src/main.ts'
    continue-on-error: true

  - name: Handle validation failure
    if: steps.validate.outcome == 'failure'
    run: |
      echo "Critical files are missing - this may affect the build"
      exit 1

Error Handling

If any of the specified files are missing, the action will:

1. Fail with a detailed error message listing all missing files
2. Exit with a non-zero status code, which will cause the workflow to fail

Example error message:

Error: The following files do not exist: config.json, settings.yml

Input Validation

The action validates input parameters and provides clear error messages for common issues:

• Empty input: Throws error if no files are specified
• Invalid format: Handles cases with only commas or whitespace
• File filtering: Automatically filters out empty entries from comma-separated lists

Example validation errors:

Error: Input cannot be empty. Please provide a comma-separated list of files to validate.
Error: No valid files found in input. Please provide a comma-separated list of
file names.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.