FNMATCH(P) POSIX Programmer's Manual FNMATCH(P)
NAME
fnmatch - match a filename or a pathname
SYNOPSIS
#include <fnmatch.h>
int fnmatch(const char *pattern, const char *string, int flags);
DESCRIPTION
The fnmatch() function shall match patterns as described in the Shell and Utilities volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 2.13.1, Pat-
terns Matching a Single Character, and Section 2.13.2, Patterns Matching Multiple Characters. It checks the string specified by the string
argument to see if it matches the pattern specified by the pattern argument.
The flags argument shall modify the interpretation of pattern and string. It is the bitwise-inclusive OR of zero or more of the flags
defined in <fnmatch.h>. If the FNM_PATHNAME flag is set in flags, then a slash character ( '/' ) in string shall be explicitly matched by a
slash in pattern; it shall not be matched by either the asterisk or question-mark special characters, nor by a bracket expression. If the
FNM_PATHNAME flag is not set, the slash character shall be treated as an ordinary character.
If FNM_NOESCAPE is not set in flags, a backslash character ( '' ) in pattern followed by any other character shall match that second char-
acter in string. In particular, "\" shall match a backslash in string. If FNM_NOESCAPE is set, a backslash character shall be treated as
an ordinary character.
If FNM_PERIOD is set in flags, then a leading period ( '.' ) in string shall match a period in pattern; as described by rule 2 in the
Shell and Utilities volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 2.13.3, Patterns Used for Filename Expansion where the location of "leading" is
indicated by the value of FNM_PATHNAME:
* If FNM_PATHNAME is set, a period is "leading" if it is the first character in string or if it immediately follows a slash.
* If FNM_PATHNAME is not set, a period is "leading" only if it is the first character of string.
If FNM_PERIOD is not set, then no special restrictions are placed on matching a period.
RETURN VALUE
If string matches the pattern specified by pattern, then fnmatch() shall return 0. If there is no match, fnmatch() shall return
FNM_NOMATCH, which is defined in <fnmatch.h>. If an error occurs, fnmatch() shall return another non-zero value.
ERRORS
No errors are defined.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
None.
APPLICATION USAGE
The fnmatch() function has two major uses. It could be used by an application or utility that needs to read a directory and apply a pattern
against each entry. The find utility is an example of this. It can also be used by the pax utility to process its pattern operands, or by
applications that need to match strings in a similar manner.
The name fnmatch() is intended to imply filename match, rather than pathname match. The default action of this function is to match file-
names, rather than pathnames, since it gives no special significance to the slash character. With the FNM_PATHNAME flag, fnmatch() does
match pathnames, but without tilde expansion, parameter expansion, or special treatment for a period at the beginning of a filename.
RATIONALE
This function replaced the REG_FILENAME flag of regcomp() in early proposals of this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. It provides virtually
the same functionality as the regcomp() and regexec() functions using the REG_FILENAME and REG_FSLASH flags (the REG_FSLASH flag was pro-
posed for regcomp(), and would have had the opposite effect from FNM_PATHNAME), but with a simpler function and less system overhead.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
glob() , wordexp() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <fnmatch.h>, the Shell and Utilities volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE
and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained
online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
IEEE
/The Open Group 2003 FNMATCH(P)