Provided by: libregexp-wildcards-perl_1.05-3_all 
NAME
Regexp::Wildcards - Converts wildcard expressions to Perl regular expressions.
VERSION
Version 1.05
SYNOPSIS
use Regexp::Wildcards;
my $rw = Regexp::Wildcards->new(type => 'unix');
my $re;
$re = $rw->convert('a{b?,c}*'); # Do it Unix shell style.
$re = $rw->convert('a?,b*', 'win32'); # Do it Windows shell style.
$re = $rw->convert('*{x,y}?', 'jokers'); # Process the jokers and
# escape the rest.
$re = $rw->convert('%a_c%', 'sql'); # Turn SQL wildcards into
# regexps.
$rw = Regexp::Wildcards->new(
do => [ qw<jokers brackets> ], # Do jokers and brackets.
capture => [ qw<any greedy> ], # Capture *'s greedily.
);
$rw->do(add => 'groups'); # Don't escape groups.
$rw->capture(rem => [ qw<greedy> ]); # Actually we want non-greedy
# matches.
$re = $rw->convert('*a{,(b)?}?c*'); # '(.*?)a(?:|(b).).c(.*?)'
$rw->capture(); # No more captures.
DESCRIPTION
In many situations, users may want to specify patterns to match but don't need the full
power of regexps. Wildcards make one of those sets of simplified rules. This module
converts wildcard expressions to Perl regular expressions, so that you can use them for
matching.
It handles the "*" and "?" wildcards, as well as Unix bracketed alternatives "{,}", but
also "%" and "_" SQL wildcards. If required, it can also keep original "(...)" groups or
"^" and "$" anchors. Backslash ("\") is used as an escape character.
Typesets that mimic the behaviour of Windows and Unix shells are also provided.
METHODS
"new"
my $rw = Regexp::Wildcards->new(do => $what, capture => $capture);
my $rw = Regexp::Wildcards->new(type => $type, capture => $capture);
Constructs a new Regexp::Wildcard object.
"do" lists all features that should be enabled when converting wildcards to regexps.
Refer to "do" for details on what can be passed in $what.
The "type" specifies a predefined set of "do" features to use. See "type" for details on
which types are valid. The "do" option overrides "type".
"capture" lists which atoms should be capturing. Refer to "capture" for more details.
"do"
$rw->do($what);
$rw->do(set => $c1);
$rw->do(add => $c2);
$rw->do(rem => $c3);
Specifies the list of metacharacters to convert or to prevent for escaping. They fit into
six classes :
• 'jokers'
Converts "?" to "." and "*" to ".*".
'a**\\*b??\\?c' ==> 'a.*\\*b..\\?c'
• 'sql'
Converts "_" to "." and "%" to ".*".
'a%%\\%b__\\_c' ==> 'a.*\\%b..\\_c'
• 'commas'
Converts all "," to "|" and puts the complete resulting regular expression inside "(?:
... )".
'a,b{c,d},e' ==> '(?:a|b\\{c|d\\}|e)'
• 'brackets'
Converts all matching "{ ... , ... }" brackets to "(?: ... | ... )" alternations. If
some brackets are unbalanced, it tries to substitute as many of them as possible, and
then escape the remaining unmatched "{" and "}". Commas outside of any bracket-
delimited block are also escaped.
'a,b{c,d},e' ==> 'a\\,b(?:c|d)\\,e'
'{a\\{b,c}d,e}' ==> '(?:a\\{b|c)d\\,e\\}'
'{a{b,c\\}d,e}' ==> '\\{a\\{b\\,c\\}d\\,e\\}'
• 'groups'
Keeps the parenthesis "( ... )" of the original string without escaping them.
Currently, no check is done to ensure that the parenthesis are matching.
'a(b(c))d\\(\\)' ==> (no change)
• 'anchors'
Prevents the beginning-of-line "^" and end-of-line "$" anchors to be escaped. Since
"[...]" character class are currently escaped, a "^" will always be interpreted as
beginning-of-line.
'a^b$c' ==> (no change)
Each $c can be any of :
• A hash reference, with wanted metacharacter group names (described above) as keys and
booleans as values ;
• An array reference containing the list of wanted metacharacter classes ;
• A plain scalar, when only one group is required.
When "set" is present, the classes given as its value replace the current object options.
Then the "add" classes are added, and the "rem" classes removed.
Passing a sole scalar $what is equivalent as passing "set => $what". No argument means
"set => [ ]".
$rw->do(set => 'jokers'); # Only translate jokers.
$rw->do('jokers'); # Same.
$rw->do(add => [ qw<sql commas> ]); # Translate also SQL and commas.
$rw->do(rem => 'jokers'); # Specifying both 'sql' and
# 'jokers' is useless.
$rw->do(); # Translate nothing.
The "do" method returns the Regexp::Wildcards object.
"type"
$rw->type($type);
Notifies to convert the metacharacters that corresponds to the predefined type $type.
$type can be any of :
• 'jokers', 'sql', 'commas', 'brackets'
Singleton types that enable the corresponding "do" classes.
• 'unix'
Covers typical Unix shell globbing features (effectively 'jokers' and 'brackets').
• $^O values for common Unix systems
Wrap to 'unix' (see perlport for the list).
• "undef"
Defaults to 'unix'.
• 'win32'
Covers typical Windows shell globbing features (effectively 'jokers' and 'commas').
• 'dos', 'os2', 'MSWin32', 'cygwin'
Wrap to 'win32'.
In particular, you can usually pass $^O as the $type and get the corresponding shell
behaviour.
$rw->type('win32'); # Set type to win32.
$rw->type($^O); # Set type to unix on Unices and win32 on Windows
$rw->type(); # Set type to unix.
The "type" method returns the Regexp::Wildcards object.
"capture"
$rw->capture($captures);
$rw->capture(set => $c1);
$rw->capture(add => $c2);
$rw->capture(rem => $c3);
Specifies the list of atoms to capture. This method works like "do", except that the
classes are different :
• 'single'
Captures all unescaped "exactly one" metacharacters, i.e. "?" for wildcards or "_" for
SQL.
'a???b\\??' ==> 'a(.)(.)(.)b\\?(.)'
'a___b\\__' ==> 'a(.)(.)(.)b\\_(.)'
• 'any'
Captures all unescaped "any" metacharacters, i.e. "*" for wildcards or "%" for SQL.
'a***b\\**' ==> 'a(.*)b\\*(.*)'
'a%%%b\\%%' ==> 'a(.*)b\\%(.*)'
• 'greedy'
When used in conjunction with 'any', it makes the 'any' captures greedy (by default
they are not).
'a***b\\**' ==> 'a(.*?)b\\*(.*?)'
'a%%%b\\%%' ==> 'a(.*?)b\\%(.*?)'
• 'brackets'
Capture matching "{ ... , ... }" alternations.
'a{b\\},\\{c}' ==> 'a(b\\}|\\{c)'
$rw->capture(set => 'single'); # Only capture "exactly one"
# metacharacters.
$rw->capture('single'); # Same.
$rw->capture(add => [ qw<any greedy> ]); # Also greedily capture
# "any" metacharacters.
$rw->capture(rem => 'greedy'); # No more greed please.
$rw->capture(); # Capture nothing.
The "capture" method returns the Regexp::Wildcards object.
"convert"
my $rx = $rw->convert($wc);
my $rx = $rw->convert($wc, $type);
Converts the wildcard expression $wc into a regular expression according to the options
stored into the Regexp::Wildcards object, or to $type if it's supplied. It successively
escapes all unprotected regexp special characters that doesn't hold any meaning for
wildcards, then replace 'jokers', 'sql' and 'commas' or 'brackets' (depending on the "do"
or "type" options), all of this by applying the 'capture' rules specified in the
constructor or by "capture".
EXPORT
An object module shouldn't export any function, and so does this one.
DEPENDENCIES
Carp (core module since perl 5), Scalar::Util, Text::Balanced (since 5.7.3).
CAVEATS
This module does not implement the strange behaviours of Windows shell that result from
the special handling of the three last characters (for the file extension). For example,
Windows XP shell matches *a like ".*a", "*a?" like ".*a.?", "*a??" like ".*a.{0,2}" and so
on.
SEE ALSO
Text::Glob.
AUTHOR
Vincent Pit, "<perl at profvince.com>", <http://www.profvince.com>.
You can contact me by mail or on "irc.perl.org" (vincent).
BUGS
Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-regexp-wildcards at rt.cpan.org", or
through the web interface at
<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Regexp-Wildcards>. I will be notified,
and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.
SUPPORT
You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.
perldoc Regexp::Wildcards
Tests code coverage report is available at
<http://www.profvince.com/perl/cover/Regexp-Wildcards>.
COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
Copyright 2007,2008,2009,2013 Vincent Pit, all rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
terms as Perl itself.