How to make grunt-contrib-copy not copy LESS files? - gruntjs

Question

I have the following Gruntfile:
module.exports = function(grunt) {
//Project configuration.
grunt.initConfig({
copy: {
main: {
files: [
{
expand: true,
cwd: "source/",
src: ["!**/*.less", "**"],
dest: "compiled/"
},
],
},
},
});
grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-contrib-copy");
grunt.registerTask("default", ["copy"]);
};
My goal is to have it copy everything from the source folder to the compiled folder. For example, if this was my file structure before running Grunt...
[root]
- Gruntfile.js
- source
\- test.txt
\- sample.html
\- file.less
- compiled
...I am expecting to get...
[root]
- Gruntfile.js
- source
\- test.txt
\- sample.html
\- file.less
- compiled
\- test.txt
\- sample.html
...but instead I get:
[root]
- Gruntfile.js
- source
\- test.txt
\- sample.html
\- file.less
- compiled
\- test.txt
\- sample.html
\- file.less
I thought that setting the source to ["!**/*.less", "**"] would fix this, but that isn't the case. Why doesn't this work (what is it actually targeting) and how can I fix this?

Answer 1

Negating patterns should be placed after matching patterns since they negate the previous match:
copy: {
main: {
files: [
{
expand: true,
cwd: "source/",
src: ["**", "!**/*.less"],
dest: "compiled/"
},
],
},
}
See the globbing patterns docs for examples, like:
// All files in alpha order, but with bar.js at the end.
{src: ['foo/*.js', '!foo/bar.js', 'foo/bar.js'], dest: ...}
By placing "**" after your negating pattern, you're overriding it.