Filename pattern matching library functions for DOS, Windows, and Unix.
Functions for matching filename patterns to filenames.
Written in C.
Provided as an object file (fpattern.obj)
and a header include source file (fpattern.h).
Filename patterns are composed of regular (printable) characters which may comprise a filename, as well as special pattern matching characters. A filename patterns is a special kind of regular expression, except that it is not as general and is designed to match only file and directory names instead of arbitrary text strings. The syntax is borrowed from Unix, and is a superset of the MS-DOS and Windows syntax.
Special pattern characters
. Matches a period (.).
Note that a period in a filename is not treated any
differently than any other character.
? Any.
Matches any single character except '/' or '\'.
* Closure.
Matches zero or more occurences of any characters other
than '/' or '\'. Leading '*' characters are allowed.
SUB Substitute (control-Z).
Similar to '*', this matches zero or more occurences of
any characters other than '/', '\', or '.'. Leading
'^Z' characters are allowed.
[ab] Set.
Matches the single character 'a' or 'b'.
If the dash '-' character is to be included, it must
immediately follow the opening bracket '['. If the
closing bracket ']' character is to be included, it must
be preceded by a quote '`'.
[a-z] Range.
Matches a single character in the range 'a' to 'z'.
Ranges and sets may be combined within the same set of
brackets.
[!R] Exclusive range.
Matches a single character not in the range 'R'.
If range 'R' includes the dash '-' character, the dash
must immediately follow the caret '!'.
! Not.
Makes the following pattern (up to the next '/') match
any filename except those what it would normally match.
/ Path separator (UNIX and DOS).
Matches a '/' or '\' pathname (directory) separator.
Multiple separators are treated like a single separator.
A leading separator indicates an absolute pathname.
\ Path separator (DOS).
Same as the '/' character. Note that this character
must be escaped if used within string constants ("\\").
\ Quote (UNIX).
Makes the next character a regular (nonspecial)
character. Note that to match the quote character
itself, it must be quoted. Note that this character
must be escaped if used within string constants ("\\").
` Quote (DOS).
Makes the next character a regular (nonspecial)
character. Note that to match the quote character
itself, it must be quoted.
On DOS and Windows (Win32) systems, upper and lower case alphabetic characters are considered identical, i.e., 'a' and 'A' match each other. (What constitutes a lowercase letter depends on the current locale settings.) On Unix, upper and lower case characters are different, i.e., 'foo' and 'FOO' are different filenames.
Spaces and control characters are treated as normal characters.
Examples
The following patterns in the left column will match the filenames in the middle column and will not match filenames in the right column:
Pattern Will Match Will Not Match
------- ---------- --------------
a a (only) (anything else)
a. a. (only) (anything else)
a?c abc, acc, arc, a.c a, ac, abbc
a*c ac, abc, abbc, acc, a.c a, ab, acb, bac
a* a, ab, abb, a., a.b b, ba
* a, ab, abb, a., .foo, a.foo (nothing)
*. a., ab., abb., a.foo. a, ab, a.foo, .foo
*.* a., a.b, ah.bc.foo a
^Z a, ab, abb a., .foo, a.foo
^Z. a., ab., abb. a, .foo, a.foo
^Z.* a, a., .foo, a.foo ab, abb
*2.c 2.c, 12.c, foo2.c, foo.12.c 2x.c
a[b-z]c abc, acc, azc (only) (anything else)
[ab0-9]x ax, bx, 0x, 9x zx
a[-.]b a-b, a.b (only) (anything else)
a[!a-z]b a0b, a.b, a@b aab, azb, aa0b
a[!-b]x a0x, a+x, acx a-x, abx, axxx
a[-!b]x a-x, a!x, abx (only) (anything else)
a[`]]x a]x (only) (anything else)
a``x a`x (only) (anything else)
oh`! oh! (only) (anything else)
is`?it is?it (only) (anything else)
!a?c a, ac, ab, abb, acb, a.foo abc, a.c, azc