FNMATCH(3) MachTen Programmer’s Manual FNMATCH(3)

NAME
fnmatch - match filename or pathname

SYNOPSIS
#include <fnmatch.h>

int
fnmatch(const char *pattern, const char *string, int flags)

DESCRIPTION
The fnmatch() function matches patterns according to the rules used by
the shell. It checks the string specified by the string argument to see
if it matches the pattern specified by the pattern argument.

The flags argument modifies the interpretation of pattern and string. The
value of flags is the bitwise inclusive OR of any of the following con-
stants, which are defined in the include file fnmatch.h.

FNM_NOESCAPE Normally, every occurrence of a backslash (‘´) followed by
a character in pattern is replaced by that character. This
is done to negate any special meaning for the character.
If the FNM_NOESCAPE flag is set, a backslash character is
treated as an ordinary character.

FNM_PATHNAME Slash characters in string must be explicitly matched by
slashes in pattern. If this flag is not set, then slashes
are treated as regular characters.

FNM_PERIOD Leading periods in strings match periods in patterns. The
definition of ‘‘leading’’ is related to the specification
of FNM_PATHNAME. A period is always ‘‘leading’’ if it is
the first character in string. Additionally, if
FNM_PATHNAME is set, a period is ‘‘leading’’ if it immedi-
ately follows a slash.

RETURN VALUES
The fnmatch() function returns zero if string matches the pattern speci-
fied by pattern, otherwise, it returns the value FNM_NOMATCH.

SEE ALSO
sh(1), glob(3), regex(3), wordexp(3)

STANDARDS
The fnmatch() function conforms to IEEE Std1003.2 (‘‘POSIX’’).

HISTORY
The fnmatch() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

BUGS
The pattern ‘*’ matches the empty string, even if FNM_PATHNAME is speci-
fied.

4.4BSD April 16, 1994 1