PROLOG

       This  manual  page  is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of
       this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux  manual  page  for  details  of
       Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       fnmatch — match a filename string 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 POSIX.1‐2017, Section 2.13.1, Patterns 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 character in string.  In particular, "\\" shall
       match a <backslash> in string.  If pattern ends with an unescaped  <backslash>,  fnmatch()
       shall  return  a non-zero value (indicating either no match or an error).  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
       POSIX.1‐2017, 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 filename strings, 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 POSIX.1‐2017. 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
       proposed  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(), Section 2.6, Word Expansions

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, <fnmatch.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and  reproduced  in  electronic  form  from  IEEE  Std
       1003.1-2017,  Standard  for  Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface
       (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C)  2018  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 .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most  likely  to  have
       been  introduced  during  the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report
       such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .