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  12 .TH FNMATCH 5 "Mar 28, 1995"
  13 .SH NAME
  14 fnmatch \- file name pattern matching
  15 .SH DESCRIPTION
  16 .sp
  17 .LP
  18 The pattern matching notation described below  is used to specify patterns for
  19 matching strings in the shell. Historically, pattern matching notation is
  20 related to, but slightly different from, the regular expression notation. For
  21 this reason, the description of the rules for this pattern matching notation is
  22 based on the description of regular expression notation described on the
  23 \fBregex\fR(5) manual page.
  24 .SS "Patterns Matching a Single Character"
  25 .sp
  26 .LP
  27 The following \fIpatterns matching a single character\fR match a single
  28 character: \fIordinary characters\fR, \fIspecial pattern characters\fR and
  29 \fIpattern bracket expressions\fR. The pattern bracket expression will also
  30 match a single collating element.
  31 .sp
  32 .LP
  33 An ordinary character is a pattern that matches itself. It can be any character
  34 in the supported character set except for \fINUL\fR, those special shell
  35 characters that require quoting, and the following three special pattern
  36 characters. Matching is based on the bit pattern used for encoding the
  37 character, not on the graphic representation of the character. If any character
  38 (ordinary, shell special, or pattern special) is quoted, that pattern will
  39 match the character itself. The shell special characters always require
  40 quoting.
  41 .sp
  42 .LP
  43 When unquoted and outside a bracket expression, the following three characters
  44 will have special meaning in the specification of patterns:
  45 .sp
  46 .ne 2
  47 .na
  48 \fB\fB?\fR \fR
  49 .ad
  50 .RS 6n
  51 A question-mark is a pattern that will match any character.
  52 .RE
  53 
  54 .sp
  55 .ne 2
  56 .na
  57 \fB\fB*\fR \fR
  58 .ad
  59 .RS 6n
  60 An asterisk is a pattern that will match multiple characters, as described in
  61 \fBPatterns Matching Multiple Characters\fR, below.
  62 .RE
  63 
  64 .sp
  65 .ne 2
  66 .na
  67 \fB\fB[\fR \fR
  68 .ad
  69 .RS 6n
  70 The open bracket will introduce a pattern bracket expression.
  71 .RE
  72 
  73 .sp
  74 .LP
  75 The description of basic regular expression bracket expressions on the
  76 \fBregex\fR(5) manual page also applies to the pattern bracket expression,
  77 except that the exclamation-mark character \fB(\fR \fB!\fR \fB)\fR replaces the
  78 circumflex character (\fB^\fR) in its role in a \fInon-matching list\fR in the
  79 regular expression notation. A bracket expression starting with an unquoted
  80 circumflex character produces unspecified results.
  81 .sp
  82 .LP
  83 The restriction on a circumflex in a bracket expression is to allow
  84 implementations that support pattern matching using the circumflex as the
  85 negation character in addition to the exclamation-mark. A portable application
  86 must use something like \fB[\e^!\fR] to match either character.
  87 .sp
  88 .LP
  89 When pattern matching is used where shell quote removal is not performed (such
  90 as in the argument to the \fBfind\fR \fB-name\fR primary when \fBfind\fR is
  91 being called using one of the  \fBexec\fR functions, or in the \fIpattern\fR
  92 argument to the \fBfnmatch\fR(3C) function, special characters can be escaped
  93 to remove their special meaning by preceding them with a backslash character.
  94 This escaping backslash will be discarded. The sequence \fB\e\e\fR represents
  95 one literal backslash. All of the requirements and effects of quoting on
  96 ordinary, shell special and special pattern characters will apply to escaping
  97 in this context.
  98 .sp
  99 .LP
 100 Both quoting and escaping are described here because pattern matching must work
 101 in three separate circumstances:
 102 .RS +4
 103 .TP
 104 .ie t \(bu
 105 .el o
 106 Calling directly upon the shell, such as in pathname expansion or in a
 107 \fBcase\fR statement. All of the following will match the string or file
 108 \fBabc\fR:
 109 .sp
 110 
 111 .sp
 112 .TS
 113 l l l l l
 114 l l l l l .
 115 \fBabc\fR       \fB"abc"\fR     \fBa"b"c\fR     \fBa\ebc\fR     \fBa[b]c\fR
 116 \fBa["b"]c\fR   \fBa[\eb]c\fR   \fBa["\eb"]c\fR \fBa?c\fR       \fBa*c\fR
 117 .TE
 118 
 119 The following will not:
 120 .sp
 121 
 122 .sp
 123 .TS
 124 l l l .
 125 \fB"a?c"\fR     \fBa\e*c\fR     \fBa\e[b]c\fR
 126 .TE
 127 
 128 .RE
 129 .RS +4
 130 .TP
 131 .ie t \(bu
 132 .el o
 133 Calling a utility or function without going through a shell, as described for
 134 \fBfind\fR(1) and the function \fBfnmatch\fR(3C)
 135 .RE
 136 .RS +4
 137 .TP
 138 .ie t \(bu
 139 .el o
 140 Calling utilities such as \fBfind\fR, \fBcpio\fR, \fBtar\fR or \fBpax\fR
 141 through the shell command line. In this case, shell quote removal is performed
 142 before the utility sees the argument.  For example, in:
 143 .sp
 144 find /bin -name e\ec[\eh]o -print
 145 .sp
 146 after quote removal, the backslashes are presented to \fBfind\fR and it treats
 147 them as escape characters. Both precede ordinary characters, so the \fBc\fR and
 148 \fBh\fR represent themselves and \fBecho\fR would be found on many historical
 149 systems (that have it in \fB/bin\fR). To find a file name that contained shell
 150 special characters or pattern characters, both quoting and escaping are
 151 required, such as:
 152 .sp
 153 \fBpax -r .\|.\|. "*a\e\|(\|\e?"\fR
 154 .sp
 155 to extract a filename ending with \fBa(?\fR.
 156 .RE
 157 .sp
 158 .LP
 159 Conforming applications are required to quote or escape the shell special
 160 characters (sometimes called metacharacters). If used without this protection,
 161 syntax errors can result or implementation extensions can be triggered. For
 162 example, the KornShell supports a series of extensions based on parentheses in
 163 patterns; see  \fBksh\fR(1)
 164 .SS "Patterns Matching Multiple Characters"
 165 .sp
 166 .LP
 167 The following rules are used to construct \fIpatterns matching multiple
 168 characters\fR from \fIpatterns matching a single character\fR:
 169 .RS +4
 170 .TP
 171 .ie t \(bu
 172 .el o
 173 The asterisk (*) is a pattern that will match any string, including the null
 174 string.
 175 .RE
 176 .RS +4
 177 .TP
 178 .ie t \(bu
 179 .el o
 180 The concatenation of \fIpatterns matching a single character\fR is a valid
 181 pattern that will match the concatenation of the single characters or collating
 182 elements matched by each of the concatenated patterns.
 183 .RE
 184 .RS +4
 185 .TP
 186 .ie t \(bu
 187 .el o
 188 The concatenation of one or more \fIpatterns matching a single character\fR
 189 with one or more asterisks is a valid pattern. In such patterns, each asterisk
 190 will match a string of zero or more characters, matching the greatest possible
 191 number of characters that still allows the remainder of the pattern to match
 192 the string.
 193 .RE
 194 .sp
 195 .LP
 196 Since each asterisk matches zero or more occurrences, the patterns \fBa*b\fR
 197 and  \fBa**b\fR have identical functionality.
 198 .sp
 199 .LP
 200 Examples:
 201 .sp
 202 .ne 2
 203 .na
 204 \fB\fBa[bc]\fR \fR
 205 .ad
 206 .RS 10n
 207 matches the strings \fBab\fR and \fBac\fR.
 208 .RE
 209 
 210 .sp
 211 .ne 2
 212 .na
 213 \fB\fBa*d\fR \fR
 214 .ad
 215 .RS 10n
 216 matches the strings \fBad\fR, \fBabd\fR and \fBabcd\fR, but not the string
 217 \fBabc\fR.
 218 .RE
 219 
 220 .sp
 221 .ne 2
 222 .na
 223 \fB\fBa*d*\fR \fR
 224 .ad
 225 .RS 10n
 226 matches the strings \fBad\fR, \fBabcd\fR, \fBabcdef\fR, \fBaaaad\fR and
 227 \fBadddd\fR.
 228 .RE
 229 
 230 .sp
 231 .ne 2
 232 .na
 233 \fB\fB*a*d\fR \fR
 234 .ad
 235 .RS 10n
 236 matches the strings \fBad\fR, \fBabcd\fR, \fBefabcd\fR, \fBaaaad\fR and
 237 \fBadddd\fR.
 238 .RE
 239 
 240 .SS "Patterns Used for Filename Expansion"
 241 .sp
 242 .LP
 243 The rules described so far in \fBPatterns\fR \fBMatching\fR \fBMultiple\fR
 244 \fBCharacters\fR and \fBPatterns\fR \fBMatching\fR \fBa\fR \fBSingle\fR
 245 \fBCharacter\fR are qualified by the following rules that apply when pattern
 246 matching notation is used for filename expansion.
 247 .RS +4
 248 .TP
 249 1.
 250 The slash character in a pathname must be explicitly matched by using one
 251 or more slashes in the pattern; it cannot be matched by the asterisk or
 252 question-mark special characters or by a bracket expression. Slashes in the
 253 pattern are identified before bracket expressions; thus, a slash cannot be
 254 included in a pattern bracket expression used for filename expansion. For
 255 example, the pattern \fBa[b/c]d\fR will not match such pathnames as \fBabd\fR
 256 or \fBa/d\fR. It will only match a pathname of literally \fBa[b/c]d\fR.
 257 .RE
 258 .RS +4
 259 .TP
 260 2.
 261 If a filename begins with a period (.), the period must be explicitly
 262 matched by using a period as the first character of the pattern or immediately
 263 following a slash character. The leading period will not be matched by:
 264 .sp
 265 \(bu the asterisk or question-mark special characters
 266 .sp
 267 \(bu a bracket expression containing a non-matching list, such as:
 268 .sp
 269 \fB[!a]\fR
 270 .sp
 271 a range expression, such as:
 272 .sp
 273 \fB[%\(mi0]\fR
 274 .sp
 275 or a character class expression, such as:
 276 .sp
 277 \fB[[:punct:]]\fR
 278 .sp
 279 It is unspecified whether an explicit period in a bracket expression matching
 280 list, such as:
 281 .sp
 282 \fB[.abc]\fR
 283 .sp
 284 can match a leading period in a filename.
 285 .RE
 286 .RS +4
 287 .TP
 288 3.
 289 Specified patterns are matched against existing filenames and pathnames,  as
 290 appropriate.  Each component that contains a pattern character requires read
 291 permission in the directory containing that component. Any component, except
 292 the last, that does not contain a pattern character requires search permission.
 293 For example, given the pattern:
 294 .sp
 295 \fB/foo/bar/x*/bam\fR
 296 .sp
 297 search permission is needed for directories \fB/\fR and \fBfoo\fR, search and
 298 read permissions are needed for directory \fBbar\fR, and search permission is
 299 needed for each \fBx*\fR directory.
 300 .sp
 301 If the pattern matches any existing filenames or pathnames, the pattern will be
 302 replaced with those filenames and pathnames, sorted according to the collating
 303 sequence in effect in the current locale. If the pattern contains an invalid
 304 bracket expression or does not match any existing filenames or pathnames, the
 305 pattern string is left unchanged.
 306 .RE
 307 .SH SEE ALSO
 308 .sp
 309 .LP
 310 \fBfind\fR(1), \fBksh\fR(1), \fBfnmatch\fR(3C), \fBregex\fR(5)