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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, 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 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 filenames, 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  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() , 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 Technology -- 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 .