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 .