fnmatch to support escape characters

[fruch]

BPO	13929
Nosy	@terryjreedy, @merwok, @serhiy-storchaka
Superseder	bpo-8402: Add a function to escape metacharacters in glob/fnmatch

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2012-10-15.12:02:42.787>
created_at = <Date 2012-02-03.06:50:23.171>
labels = ['type-feature', 'library']
title = 'fnmatch to support escape characters'
updated_at = <Date 2012-10-15.12:02:42.784>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/fruch'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2012-10-15.12:02:42.784>
actor = 'serhiy.storchaka'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2012-10-15.12:02:42.787>
closer = 'serhiy.storchaka'
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2012-02-03.06:50:23.171>
creator = 'fruch'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 13929
keywords = []
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['152495', '152590', '152598', '152605', '172962']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['terry.reedy', 'eric.araujo', 'fruch', 'serhiy.storchaka']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'duplicate'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = '8402'
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue13929'
versions = ['Python 3.3']

[fruch]

fnmatch to support escape characters:
like that:

>>> name = "Document[Ver.2].doc"
>>> pattern = "*\[Ver.2\]*"
>>> fnmatch.fnmatch(name, pattern)
True

that's also fix glob module:
>>> pattern = "ipconfig /\?"
>>> glob.glob(pattern)
"ipconfig /?"

[terryjreedy]

The doc chapters are entitled "fnmatch — Unix filename pattern matching" and "glob — Unix style pathname pattern expansion". The first explicitly disclaims the feature you request: "Be aware there is no way to quote meta-characters.", suggests using re for anything beyond fnmatch, and shows to use .translate to make a start in doing so. For your example:

>>> re.match(r".*\[Ver\.2\].*",  "Document[Ver.2].doc")
<_sre.SRE_Match object at 0x000000000331AF38>

Indeed, fnmatch works by using translate() and re.match. What you are asking for in something in between the unix language and re. If one re feature is added, why not another?

So the scope of these modules is clearly circumscribed. I suspect their intent was to make it easy to translate unix shell scripts into Python.
What you are asking for in something in between. If you want to pursue this, post on python-list or python-ideas to garner more support. But I anticipate rejection as not needed and contrary to intent.

Not obvious from the doc is that an unmatch '[' or ']' is escaped:
>>> name = "Document[Ver.2.doc"
>>> pattern = "*[Ver.2*"
>>> fnmatch.fnmatch(name, pattern)
True
>>> name = "DocumentVer.2].doc"
>>> pattern = "*Ver.2]*"
>>> fnmatch.fnmatch(name, pattern)
True
I presume this matches the *nix behavior, but don't know.

[merwok]

[fnmatch] explicitly disclaims the feature you request: "Be aware there is no way to quote
meta-characters."

This reads like a warning to me, i.e. a potential future feature, not a design choice.

What you are asking for in something in between the unix language and re. If one re
feature is added, why not another?

When we use glob patterns in our shells, the shell language lets us escape what would otherwise be special characters. Python would be nicer to let us do the same.

[terryjreedy]

If indeed fnmatch does not match current shells, then I would agree that it should. It looks to me so easy to add that I though it must be a deliberate decision to exclude. In translate:
...
elif c == '\':
if i < n-1:
c2 = pat[i+1]
<specify what to do for \c2 for all cases of c2>
else:
<specify what to do for pattern ending in '\'>
else:
res = res + re.escape(c)
# the last two lines are current code, which is why '\' in patterns does not escape anything in the translated re.

Changing the meaning of '\' from ordinary character to escape char will break any code that depends on its current ordinariness.
>>> fn.fnmatch(r'\x', r'\?')
True # for x any 'ordinary' char, but not is '\?' means "match '?'.

This was another reason I closed, although I forgot to mention it. I suppose a new parameter 'escape = False' could be added to all 4 exposed functions to preserve back compatibility. Anyway, I have reopened for further discussion and specification.

[serhiy-storchaka]

bpo-8402 has discussion and patch(es).