Config overrides do not work for files in the parent directory

[Shayan-To]

I'm using prettier to format some json files with custom extensions (like VSCode's .code-workspace files). The files are in the parent directory of the project, so I'm running prettier --write ../**/*.{json-1,json-2}.

The problem I have is that I cannot tell prettier that parser for .json-1 files is "json". This is my config:

{
    "overrides": [
        {
            "files": "*.json-1",
            "options": {
                "parser": "json"
            }
        }
    ]
}

And when I run prettier, it gives me this output:

[error] No parser could be inferred for file: ../test.json-1

I have also tried changing "files": "*.json-1" to "files": "**/*.json-1" and "files": "../**/*.json-1", but the behavior is the same.

Environments:

• Prettier Version: 2.7.1
• Running Prettier via: CLI
• Runtime: Node.js v16.14.2
• Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04.4
• Prettier plugins (if any): --

Steps to reproduce:

Here's the repro (in the prettier-parent-overrides branch): https://github.com/Shayan-To/repros/tree/prettier-parent-overrides

Go into the project directory cd prettier-proj, and after npm install, run npm run repro.

There are files both in the parent directory, and in the project directory. Prettier can infer the parser for none of the files in the parent directory.

Expected behavior:

The overrides configurations for the files in the parent directory can be set.

Actual behavior:

There seems to be no way to set overrides configurations for the files in the parent directory.

[thorn0]

This is by design. Config files are resolved per file starting from the file's directory and up the tree. The current working directory doesn't participate in that process. It might probably be convenient to do what you want sometimes, but this use case doesn't look widespread enough to justify a huge change in how configs are resolved, sorry.

[Shayan-To]

@thorn0 I don't think I completely understand. Let me ask some questions.

You say the configs are per file. So you mean that I can add a prettierrc to a sub-directory of my project, and it will apply to files in that sub-directory?

What about files that are not inside the project directory? What if I'm formatting files in the parent directory (prettier --write ../**/*.json)? Will the prettierrc from the project directory apply there? Will the prettierrc from the parent directory apply there? How about editorconfig files in the project/parent directories?

And I don't understand why you are supporting reading configurations from .editorconfig files, but are not conforming to their standard. They say explicitly in their website that if a .editorconfig file is not root=true, then you should look in the parent directories for one with root=true.

I have a main project, and my node project is in a sub-directory. And by editorconfig's standard, I should be able to have my .editorconfig file in the main project directory (so in parent directory of prettier's project), and have its config applied to the whole directory and its sub-directories. Except, prettier does not respect that.

[thorn0]

you mean that I can add a prettierrc to a sub-directory of my project, and it will apply to files in that sub-directory?

Right

What if I'm formatting files in the parent directory (prettier --write ../**/*.json)? Will the prettierrc from the project directory apply there?

Only for files inside the project directory because your glob includes them.

Will the prettierrc from the parent directory apply there?

Yes

As for editorconfig, AFAIK, it's all intended too, but I can't comment more on it now. Feel free to search the issue tracker yourself to find the discussions that lead to the current state of things.

[thorn0]

Forgot about this: https://prettier.io/docs/en/cli.html#--find-config-path-and---config
You can specify the config file in the command line to get what you need.

[Shayan-To]

@thorn0 Thanks. Setting the config file explicitly worked very well for my use case. To provide some feedback...

I first moved my .prettierrc.json file to the parent folder, so it applies to all the files. Then I noticed the inconsistent behavior between .prettierrc.json files, and .prettierignore files (.prettierignore file must be in the project directory, and it will apply everywhere). Because of this inconsistency, I decided to put everything in the project directory, and use your suggestion and set the config file explicitly by --config switch.