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SHELLEXP(3)						     Library Functions Manual						       SHELLEXP(3)

NAME

       shellexp - match string against a cruft filter pattern

SYNOPSIS

       extern int shellexp(const char *string, const char *pattern);

DESCRIPTION

       The shellexp() function is similar to fnmatch(3), but works with cruft patterns instead of standard glob(7) patterns.  The function returns
       a true value if string matches the cruft pattern pattern, and a false value (0) otherwise. Returns -1 in case of pattern syntax error.

       Cruft patterns are similar to glob(7) patterns, but are not fully compatible. The following special characters are supported:

       ? (a question mark)
	      matches exacly one character of string other than a slash.

       *      matches zero or more characters of string other than a slash.

       /** or /**/
	      matches zero or more path components in string.  Please note that you can only use ** when directly following a slash, and  further-
	      more, only when either directly preceding a slash or at the very end of pattern.	A ** followed by anything other than a slash makes
	      pattern invalid. A ** following anything else than a slash reduces it to having the same effect as *.

       [character-class]
	      Matches any character between the brackets exactly once. Named character classes are NOT supported. If the first	character  of  the
	      class  is  !   or ^, then the meaning is inverted (matches any character NOT listed between the brackets).  If you want to specify a
	      literal closing bracket in the class, then specify it as the first (or second, if you want to negate) character  after  the  opening
	      bracket.	Also, simple ASCII-order ranges are supported using a dash character (see examples section).

       Any other character matches itself.

EXAMPLES

       /a/b*/*c
	      matches /a/b/xyz.c, as well as /a/bcd/.c, but not /a/b/c/d.c.

       /a/**/*.c
	      matches all of the following: /a/a.c, /a/b/a.c, /a/b/c/a.c and /a/b/c/d/a.c.

       /a/[0-9][^0-9]*
	      matches /a/1abc, but not /a/12bc.

BUGS

       Uses  constant-length 1000 byte buffers to hold filenames. Also uses recursive function calls, which are not very efficient. Does not vali-
       date the pattern before matching, so any pattern errors (unbalanced brackets or misplaced **) are only reported when and  if  the  matching
       algorithm reaches them.

SEE ALSO

       fnmatch(3), glob(3), cruft(8) and dash-search(1).

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Marcin Owsiany <porridge@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).

								 October 17, 2007						       SHELLEXP(3)