file_absent

No file matching paths may exist in the walked tree. The inverse of file_exists.

Fix: file_remove — delete every violating file.

Optional root_only: true (like file_exists) restricts the check to the repository root: a file forbidden at the root does not fire on nested copies of the same name. Optional git_tracked_only: true restricts the check to files in git’s index. With it set, the rule fires only on tracked paths regardless of .gitignore state — closing the gap where a git add -f’d file slips past the walker’s gitignore filter. Outside a git repo the rule becomes a silent no-op.

Optional content_prefix_hex narrows a name match with a content check: a matching file fires only if its bytes begin with one of the listed hex signatures. This separates real binary junk from unrelated files that share a name pattern — macOS AppleDouble sidecars (._*) start with 00 05 16 07 and .DS_Store with 00 00 00 01 "Bud1", whereas Hadoop writes ._<name>.crc checksum files that begin with crc\0. A file that cannot be read, or is shorter than every signature, does not match; an empty list (the default) keeps the name-only behaviour.

What “exists” means: alint walks the filesystem and honours .gitignore by default, so a file_absent rule fires whenever a matching file is present in the walked tree, not when it’s tracked in git. Files filtered by .gitignore are invisible to the rule. See The walker and .gitignore for the full semantics, the --no-gitignore flag, and the gap between this and git’s actual index.

Options

Option	Type	Required	Default	Description
content_prefix_hex	list of string		[]	When non-empty, a file matching paths is reported only if its raw content begins with one of these byte signatures, each given as an even-length hex string (e.g. "00051607"). This separates genuine binary junk from unrelated files that merely share the name pattern: macOS AppleDouble sidecars start with 00 05 16 07 and .DS_Store with 00 00 00 01 "Bud1", whereas Hadoop writes ._<name>.crc checksum files that begin with crc\0 and are not macOS junk. A file that cannot be read, or is shorter than every signature, does not match. Empty (the default) keeps the historical name-only behaviour.
git_tracked_only	boolean		false	Restrict matches to files tracked in git’s index: entries present in the walked tree but not in git ls-files are skipped. No effect outside a git repo. Default false.
root_only	boolean		false	If true, only a file matching paths directly at the repository root is forbidden; a nested match with the same name is allowed.

Plus the common paths, level, id, and when fields. This table is generated from the JSON Schema; option types and defaults are authoritative.

Example

A repository with stray .bak files

The rule fires on this repository:

Cargo.lock.bak
Cargo.toml
src/
src/main.rs.bak

With this .alint.yml:

version: 1
rules:
  - id: no-bak-files
    kind: file_absent
    paths: "**/*.bak"
    level: error

A repository with no .bak files

This repository is compliant:

Cargo.toml
src/
src/main.rs

With this .alint.yml:

version: 1
rules:
  - id: no-bak-files
    kind: file_absent
    paths: "**/*.bak"
    level: error